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Business Week

Spotify’s Business Disruptive Factor (And Why Vinyl May Finally Be Obsolete)

by Daria Steigman on August 1, 2011

Spotify, Business Models, Disruption, Spotify has landed in America.

The music-streaming service with 15 million songs in its catalogue is likely to be disruptive to the music industry in a way that Apple only dreamt of. Here are three reasons:

1. My vinyl is finally obsolete. I have a large collection of albums and cassettes that I’ve been reluctant to jettison–even if I listen to them only rarely. Enter Spotify, and I’m listening to The Go-Betweens, The Mekons, and Gang of Four again.

2. I don’t need a bigger iPod. It drove me crazy that I only had access to a small portion of my music library on the go (not to mention all the CDs that I’ve yet to burn). Until Spotify came around, I was thinking of investing in a mega-gigabyte iPod just to have everything at hand. Now I can stream what I want or download a playlist to listen to offline.

3. I can hear what my friends are listening to. Once our school days are over, most of us don’t talk music that much. Heck, if it weren’t for my brother (who totally turned me on to hip hop by suggesting artists to explore), my music collection would be stuck in the 20th century. Spotify lets me subscribe to my friends’ playlists. It’s digital curation, the music edition.

BusinessWeek has a terrific article about Spotify. One snippet that really stands out:

“Americans own their music; Swedes rent it… If Spotify gets what it wants, your records will no longer define you. Your playlists will.”

It’s an interesting piece about a changing marketplace, and worth reading.

Have you tried Spotify? Agree or disagree that this model will change the business landscape?

Update: A link to the BusinessWeek article has now been added thanks to alert reader Bill Farrell, who was able to find it online.

Disclosure: I received a beta invite to Spotify via a Klout Perk. Within two days I had upgraded to a Premium (paid) subscription.

Photo by Pink Sherbert Photography (Flickr).

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What You Can Learn from Otis Elevator’s CEO

by Daria Steigman on April 12, 2011

what you can learn from this CEO, business, crisis management, Didier Michaud-Daniel is one savvy CEO. The president of Otis Elevator sprang into action the moment he heard about the earthquake in Japan. According to an article in Business Week, he called the head of his Japanese division and told him to “keep me informed, second by second.” And then he stayed on top of the situation.

Read the complete article here. It’s short, but it’s packed with great takeaways about (1) knowing your business really well; (2) crisis planning; (3) understanding your role; and (4) mobilizing your workforce.

And there’s a great quote from Michaud-Daniel on being present: “When you have to manage a crisis situation, you need to have your nose on the window.”

Photo by Kat Mereand (Flickr).

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Can Money Buy Workplace Happiness?

by Daria Steigman on April 6, 2010

I had a professor in graduate school who insisted that money could buy happiness. He was teaching a personnel course, and he was going through a silly exercise of putting plus signs before job “satisfiers” (i.e., good boss, challenging tasks, room to grow) and “dissatisfiers” (i.e., tyrannical boss, boredom, no opportunity for advancement). People were nodding their heads in agreement–except me.

I questioned the assumption that a good salary would make someone happy. Rather, despite a chorus of “I’ll be happy if I’m paid well” from many of my classmates, I insisted that this belonged in the other column in his little chart. (Golden handcuffs anyone?)

Business Week has a great piece on this topic. Author Scott Shane looks at what he calls

“a paradox in the data: On average, the self-employed make less money, work more hours, and experience more work-related stress than the wage employed. Self-employed people have higher job satisfaction, however, than those who work for others.”

The reason? Flexibility and freedom. It’s a short article, and worth reading. The data comes from the Pew Research Center, which looked at differences in how “self-employed” and “not self-employed” ranked their job satisfaction and answered the question “Why Do You Work?”

Today’s (April 6) Sally Forth comic strip is also on point.

Photo by Smile My Day (Flickr).

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Second Look: Innovation and Cloud Computing

by Daria Steigman on September 9, 2009

Each week I’m highlighting 3 or 4 posts, surveys, and other news that I have read and/or tweeted about that you may not have seen. As the name implies, I think they deserve a second look.

Here’s your second look for this week:

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3 Ways Accenture is Reinventing its Business Model

by Daria Steigman on August 27, 2009

Interesting article from Business Week on Accenture‘s new partnership with tech startup Bug Labs. The deal allows Accenture to customize technology solutions.

I can’t speak to the tech side, but here are three takeaways from a business perspective:

1. Smart companies proactively anticipate their clients needs. Accenture is doing just that. The article notes: “Before, the $25.3 billion company typically waited for clients to come to its consultants with problems. Now it’s pitching products and services to any and all who might need them.”

2. In tough times, you have to reinvent yourself. In forging this partnership, Accenture is opening the door to new types of business opportunities.

3. You have to be open to change. Accenture’s reputation isn’t exactly that of a disruptor, and yet the organization was open to partnering with someone who is. Contrast Bug Labs’ Web site and blog (and the language they use) to Accenture’s site, and you’ll know we’re talking about very different cultures.

Now it’s your turn. What’s your takeaway?

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