According to nme.com, Spotify has announced they are going to cut down 17 percent of their workforce in order to save costs. The streaming platform laid off 6 percent of their staff earlier back in January by saying they were doing so to help promote “speed.” But this time it is different because chief executive Daniel Ek has  mentioned that he has made the “difficult” decision as economic growth has “slowed dramatically.” Spotify employs around 9,000 people, which means 1,500 jobs will be lost in the current round of layoffs.

In the following statement Ek says:“I recognize this will impact a number of individuals who have made valuable contributions. To be blunt, many smart, talented and hard-working people will be departing us.” Eh also added that the cuts would be incredibly painful “for our team.”

Ek has also addressed Spotify’s recent announcement about the company had made profit. Spotify has reportedly made a profit of €65million (£55.7million) for the September-November quarter, which is the first quarterly profit for more than a year.

“We debated making smaller reductions throughout 2024 and 2025. Yet, considering the gap between our financial goal state and our current operational costs, I decided that a substantial action to rightsize our costs was the best option to accomplish our objectives.” said Ek.

Spotify has claimed they will offer five months of severance pay, holiday pay and healthcare coverage for their severance period. The company will also offer immigration support to employees and career support. The streaming platform  has recently made controversial changes to its platform by including a streaming threshold of 1,000 plays to generate royalties.

The change has garnered criticism from the likes of Weird Al Yankovic, who took aim at the platform in his #SpotifyWrapped artist video. “It’s my understanding that I had over 80 million streams on Spotify this year so, if I’m doing the math right, that means I earned $12. Enough to get myself a nice sandwich at a restaurant.” said Yankovic.

Spotify also announced they are cutting their services in Uruguay because of the country’s copyright law that would require “equitable remuneration” for artists. “Changes that could force Spotify to pay twice for the same music would make out business of connecting artists and fans unsustainable, and regrettably leaves us no choice but to stop being available in Uruguay,” said a spokesperson for Spotify.

In other news, Taylor Swift was announced as Spotify’s Top Artist of the year by earning over $100 million in royalties and revenue from Spotify alone.