A series of new jobs ads posted by Spotify tip that the music streamer is “on its way to creating its first physical products and setting up an operational organisation for manufacturing, supply chain, sales and marketing.” The target appears to be Apple, Amazon and Google smart speakers that could favor access to music services other than Spotify.
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Spotify is planning to enter the highly competitive smart speaker market by manufacturing and selling its own connected music hardware.
“Spotify is on its way to creating its first physical products, and setting up an operational organisation for manufacturing, supply chain, sales & marketing,” begins one of several Spotify job ads just posted to hire staff to launch the project.
“You will define and manage Distribution, Supply, Logistics, fulfillment and Customer Service for Hardware Products,” one of the ads continues. “Above all, your work will impact the way the world experiences music.”
Spotify has relied on partnerships with hardware and software manufactures to make its streaming service available on connected devices in homes and automobiles. Google, Amazon and Apple, who each own their own Spotify competitor, are now also top manufacturers of smart speakers. It would spell trouble for Spotify if their devices denied access or otherwise favored their own streamers.
Independent smart speaker manufacturers like Sonos either have or are planning Spotify access. But Apple’s new HomePod speakers and Apple Watch, do not offer direct access to Spotify.
With Spotify prepping a late spring direct stock offering and the Wall Street Journal predicting that Apple Music could overtake in the U.S. by summer, Spotify’s push into hardware makes sense.