What Spotify does: Spotify provides on-demand streaming services for all entertainment forms.
Mission: Spotify's mission is to help amplify the creativity of artists by providing a platform that helps them connect with fans and be rewarded for their exceptional talents.
Size and Presence: Spotify has offices in 9 locations across the United States and currently employs around 3,435 staff.
Best Known For: Spotify is popular amongst other streaming platforms for its ability to deliver a smooth streaming experience on diverse entertainment forms for a pocket-friendly price.
The good bits: Spotify offers an idyllic workspace with great opportunities provided for workers along the board. They host several events to incorporate bonding and keep the team spirit high.
The not-so-good bits: While Spotify as a top-class brand satisfies a global audience, the demands of workers could increase which could lead to an unbalanced work/life relationship.
As with most brands with global influence, Spotify was created to proffer solutions to music piracy. It was founded by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon in 2006 and was open for public use on 7 October 2008 but by invitation only.
In July 2011, Spotify was introduced to the United States and featured a period where new users could stream as much music as they want. This free period was ad-supported and lasted six months but was just enough to gain Spotify the sort of exposure it wanted.
This blissful streaming service was restricted after six months but was active in shaping the Spotify structure we see today. In 2017, Spotify expanded its operation in the United States in New York City.
Spotify since its induction has since grown by hundreds of millions in premium users from 1 million across Europe to over 133 million in 2020.
Spotify has remained on top of other streaming services thanks to its unique agile culture lined with simplicity.
The Spotify culture embodies a people-centric, independent approach. This approach helps employees focus on communication and accountability which eventually leads to growth, innovation, and sustained success. Overall, this culture ensures agility over long periods.
They look to incorporate similar virtues of communication and accountability in both technical and cultural facets of the brand.
Using the key cultural element, Spotify organizes its work environment into different groups that operate autonomously and with agility.
The vibe in Spotify is friendly yet effective with everyone given a chance to be themselves and work in ways that suit them. The genuinely friendly vibe at Spotify is a true product of their excellent culture.
As a brand that looks to positively influence the world by giving everyone something to cheer about, Spotify takes its recruitment process seriously. The recruitment process could be quite lengthy but it looks further than a talent search and aims to build employees with the right character who can become part of a long-standing culture.
There are four main stages in Spotify’s recruitment process with each one testing different strengths of graduates or interns.
In the first stage of the recruitment exercise, graduates and interns have their resumes checked to obtain basic information about them. Applicants who pass this phase are invited into an electronic interview to clarify aspects the recruitment team would love to expand on.
Graduates or intern hopefuls who pass this stage are handed a technical session where they get drilled about the technical intricacies of their potential roles.
In the next stage, graduate or intern applicants undergo a technical interview where they are tasked with solving programming questions. This test is done in real-time with the solutions they proffer being evaluated profoundly.
The final stage in the recruitment process is the big on-site interview where applicants get tested in an array of ways. There are five assessments in this interview which include; Whiteboard programming, a case interview, a test on system design, a meeting with the team, and a culture interview.
Amongst all five assessment sessions, meet the team and culture interview are crucial in seeing how graduate or internship applicants fit into the Spotify model.
Selected graduates or interns who pass these rigorous assessments are contacted with employment offers and are integrated into the organization. Overall, the recruitment process from resume submission to offer of employment takes an average of 38 days.
Spotify uniquely does business so, of course, working at Spotify brings on a whole new adventure and importantly improves the overall skillset.
Graduates and interns at Spotify enjoy a plethora of development opportunities enhanced by the supportive, autonomous nature of the brand.
Interns are exposed to student programs that put them at the heart of projects they are passionate to work on.
Programs like the Aspiring Marketing Professionals Program and Technology Fellowship Program allow interns to immerse themselves in the Spotify culture and a business model that has grown to be a multi-billion-dollar empire.
Graduate employees at Spotify enjoy an excellent degree of flexibility with relevant support provided to help employees soar in their niche.
Reaching further heights of flexibility, Spotify embraces its global presence to give graduates loads of opportunities to work with culturally diverse individuals. It launched a remote work program that hands its employees room to develop while balancing their roles in a leading brand.
Spotify offers graduates an average annual salary of $118,609 including bonuses. Interns generally earn around $64,727 annually with around $14K additional pay.
Spotify claims to channel its global reach to act with purpose and to be socially responsible in how they operate. They are looking to help shape a world that welcomes everyone with open arms spreading justice and equity.
Spotify uses its platform as a stepping stone to becoming the voice for marginalized individuals giving them a voice of change.
They've introduced several training sessions and podcast advice. fostered brand campaigns, and created a soothing response to urgent cultural situations. They recently partnered with partners HeadCount, Civic Alliance, BallotReady, and Election Protection Hotline to influence historic participation in the US election in 2020.
Recently, Spotify introduced Sound Up to act as a guide for wishful podcasters. It is one of the many ways they foster equity.
Certain artists, especially podcasters on Spotify, have been on the receiving end of a backlash. One of the more notable ones is the Joe Rogan podcast where it was alleged that the podcast misinformed the audience about the COVID vaccine.
Joe Rogan’s podcast has also come under criticism for using racial slurs on one of his podcast episodes.
The Spotify brand chose to support Rogan and has lost quite a lot of followers following the incident. Some artists have withdrawn their publications from the brand citing their disagreement with the policies of the music streaming giant.