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Spotify has significantly scaled back its direct ticket sales division following widespread job cuts at the company last year. In December 2022, Spotify eliminated over 1500 roles, accounting for 17% of its workforce, as business conditions changed.
Most of the employees supporting Spotify’s ticketing platform were impacted by these layoffs, according to a report. A former employee said management wants to restart ticket sales by late 2024, but struggling early results may lead Spotify to acquire a ticketing company instead of rebuilding internally.
The substantial downsizing of the ticketing team casts doubt on Spotify’s long-term plans for selling tickets directly through its platform. The initiative began in August 2022 focused on smaller artists. Initial testing showed promising artist engagement and fan interaction increases, as noted by a top executive. However, expansion stalled later in 2023 due to technology effectiveness concerns.
This followed other workforce reductions earlier in the year, including 500 jobs in January and 200 podcast roles in June. This marked a shift from a period of fast growth that doubled Spotify’s employee count in just three years.
In a December memo to staff, CEO Daniel Ek acknowledged the changed environment required right-sizing the company for upcoming challenges. He recognized the impact on valuable staffers leaving. While subscriber additions remained strong, Spotify continues working to consistently profit as the bulk of revenue goes to music owners. The viability of Spotify’s ticketing division moving forward remains unclear.
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