pbels Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 NAVIGATING AN INDUSTRY IN TRANSITION, INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF MUSIC 3 MINS AGO • BY JOHN MACFARLANE, CEO • NEWS At Sonos, we’ve always taken a long-term view. We design products to look and sound great in your home for a target of ten years, and to get better in that time. We made a bet that streaming would fundamentally change the way we enjoy music, and we organized ourselves to deliver the best experiences for listening out loud. We chose to fill the most space with the fewest speakers rather than to make the most gadgets for the smallest space; to deliver lasting experiences over disposable technology; to provide access to all the streaming services in the world, not just the most popular ones; and we chose to develop our products with WiFi instead of Bluetooth, which was far more challenging for our engineers but superior for our owners. These are all choices we stand by today. While often difficult in the moment, they ultimately serve Sonos, our partners and our customers well in the long run. Today, the entire music ecosystem is in transition – ultimately for the better – and so is Sonos. We have a good idea of how this will evolve over time, and we’ve never been more bullish on what it means for music fans. But we also know that to continue to innovate and bring compelling new experiences to market, we need to invest heavily against the opportunity. “We’re making a decision to substantially and confidently increase our investment in the future of music.” Building a company capable of sustained innovation, steady growth and future vitality requires that we run the business profitably. We’re not chasing short-term gains or answering to impatient investors. Rather, we’re making a decision to substantially and confidently increase our investment in the future of music. The short term – and very difficult – consequence of this decision is we’ve had to make some changes to our team. We do this with a heavy heart, as we are in the process of letting go of some Sonos employees who have played important roles getting us to this point. We wish them well, and we’re doing everything we can to make their transition as smooth as possible. As we look to the future there are two big areas that we’re leaning into: paid streaming services, and voice control. Paid streaming For the first ten years of Sonos, we focused on music lovers who had ripped music libraries on their computers, and helped them listen to these collections around their home. We observed with great interest as the music ecosystem started to first test and then to organize around paid streaming music services. We pioneered the integration of these services starting with Rhapsody, Napster, Spotify, Google Play Music, and many others. At first, these services were confined to specific countries, but that improved over time as the labels began to see the success of the paid subscription model. Then this past year, when Apple announced its entry with Apple Music, we saw and helped drive a dramatic acceleration of paid music subscriptions. With Apple’s influence, the entire ecosystem – labels, artists, management – began to embrace and advance streaming all over the world. Now, this shift is irreversibly started, and everyone in the ecosystem is adjusting to a world of streaming services. The Beatles library, now available on all the streaming services, is a perfect example of how labels are leaning into streaming. The shift is not complete as a few laggards continue to cling to fading business models, but it’s inevitable now. The only question that remains is how fast the growth of paid subscription services will be. Now the path forward for the music industry is crystal clear, so too is our path at Sonos. We’re doubling down on our long-held conviction that streaming music is the dominant form of consumption now and in the future. We believe that listeners will grow increasingly dissatisfied with the solutions they’ve cobbled together for listening at home. “Now that music fans can finally play anything anywhere, we’re going to focus on building incredibly rich experiences that were all but unimaginable when we started the company.” Now that music fans can finally play anything anywhere, we’re going to focus on building incredibly rich experiences that were all but unimaginable when we started the company, and will be at the vanguard of what it means to listen to music at home. This is a significant long-term development effort against which we’re committing significant resources. Voice: A simple and easy path to music in the home … We’re fans of what Amazon has done with Alexa and the Echo product line. Voice recognition isn’t new; today it’s nearly ubiquitous with Siri, OK Google, and Cortana. But the Echo found a sweet spot in the home and will impact how we navigate music, weather, and many, many other things as developers bring new ideas and more content to the Alexa platform. Alexa/Echo is the first product to really showcase the power of voice control in the home. Its popularity with consumers will accelerate innovation across the entire industry. What is novel today will become standard tomorrow. Here again, Sonos is taking the long view in how best to bring voice-enabled music experiences into the home. Voice is a big change for us, so we’ll invest what’s required to bring it to market in a wonderful way. Our mission is to fill every home with music. I start every day by asking myself how we can do that better, and how we can serve our music lovers better now and over the long haul. We know the future is one where paid streaming and voice control play significant roles, and we’re committed to running a sustainable, profitable business so that we can fund innovation in these and other areas for decades to come. These last few weeks have been tough for everyone at Sonos. We’re a tight bunch, so saying goodbye is particularly painful. But I know that making these changes is the right thing to do for Sonos as we look to the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 Lovely article to cover forced resignations as anything other than a way to reduce cost and try and not have people wonder how 'well' Sonos is truly doing. Cover bad news with a completely non-committal 'plan' for new and exiting ways to go about re-inventing the wheel. It's obvious where 'Sonos' went to marketing school Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 Quote Then this past year, when Apple announced its entry with Apple Music, we saw and helped drive a dramatic acceleration of paid music subscriptions. With Apple’s influence, the entire ecosystem – labels, artists, management – began to embrace and advance streaming all over the world. Wow what a load of crap. Apple did what now? APPLE changed peoples mind on streaming service less than half a year ago? Apple Music has 11 million paying subscribers as of February last I saw. While that's an impressive growth number as such - it's not even close to Slacker, SiriusXM, let alone giants like Spotify, Pandora and SoundCloud. Heck, iHeart is many times larger - and it operates ONLY in the US. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfh Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 22 minutes ago, Cyknight said: It's obvious where 'Sonos' went to marketing school The same place all the Control4 execs did? ("... as a few laggards continue to cling to fading business models") Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 8 minutes ago, jfh said: The same place all the Control4 execs did? ("... as a few laggards continue to cling to fading business models") LOL - out of context, but I should have expected it. Let's turn this thread into bashing C4 for their business model shall we? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfh Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 37 minutes ago, Cyknight said: LOL - out of context, but I should have expected it. Let's turn this thread into bashing C4 for their business model shall we? Nah, plenty of other threads for that. I just couldn't resist, especially since I thought of C4 instantly when I first read the article and saw the fading business model reference. But at least the Sonos execs went to marketing school ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfh Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 Back on topic - what do people think this means for Sonos and C4? With the new native support in C4 I've been thinking about removing my Sonos Connects from the system since I only have one Play5 left (my dealer set it up in C4, but I can never get the speaker to play). At one point it seemed like Sonos was almost a requirement in a C4 system - now, not so much (and especially if Sonos wants to implement some sort of pay-to-stream service model). One take away from this article is the emergence of voice control. Hope C4 gets on that bandwagon fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jreinardy Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 I agree about the native support for streaming services in the controllers changing the need for Sonos, but since getting an EA-3 controller I am using it more as a 2nd stream source for Pandora. With an HC-250 digitizing the audio for distribution, I was less than thrilled with the sound quality from the Sonos, but now it is at least back to parity with the native streaming. BTW, I highly recommend the EA-3 as an upgrade for an HC-250 running Director like I was. If Sonos builds in voice control to their units, I believe there is an opportunity to be a voice gateway for Control4, which could drive unit sales for both companies. I have been following the progress of Amazon Echo integration and have implemented the Raspberry Pi Homekit bridge in my system for Siri control as discussed elsewhere in this forum. The Siri integration works, but the setup is pretty arduous. I think the Echo integration also works, but there are some pretty significant limitations to the API that make it a less than ideal solution. I think there is a place for a flexible voice control solution that would provide full access to device commands. By going this direction, Sonos gains the ability to be a control mechanism for devices far beyond music players, and C4 gains another voice control option. Seems like a win-win to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mandiola Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 I'm hoping that they end up implementing AVS as their voice service instead of trying to roll their own. When it comes to the home automation side there really needs to be just one service handling voice otherwise it becomes a pieced together mess, and that this point I'm rooting for what amazon has introduced so far seeing as they are betting on integration. Sonos itself has been great in my C4 system, I still prefer it over the C4 matrix/amps. Hopefully the two (voice control & sound) can come together. It works pretty good on my echo but I have been wishing that I could just tell it to play the music on my Sonos without having to hack something together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Leeds UK Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 OK - Sonos, Hue and Amazon is way to go C4 will become the software to run it all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 2 hours ago, jfh said: Back on topic - what do people think this means for Sonos and C4? One take away from this article is the emergence of voice control. Hope C4 gets on that bandwagon fast. Back on topic - you're seeing a press release that they just fired a bunch of high-cost techs, blotted over by making it seem a press release about new functions that do not exist. They aren't even really saying they are actively DOING anything about voice control at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfh Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 8 hours ago, Cyknight said: Back on topic - you're seeing a press release that they just fired a bunch of high-cost techs, blotted over by making it seem a press release about new functions that do not exist. They aren't even really saying they are actively DOING anything about voice control at all. I agree - that was a press release that essentially said nothing about the future of Sonos (though it seems they like the idea of a "pay to stream" model). Sorry I wasn't more clear in my question - I'm more interested in "Is Sonos still relevant to the typical C4 customer and to C4 in general" and "how would anything Sonos hints at chage that for better or worse?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Paxton Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 I still use sonos alot in some zones ( kitchen, Garage ) Using play speakers and the solution works great with a Play hidden away and a T3 on the wall. In my main zone I still use a ZP80 (connect) but will be dropping it as soon as Spotify is natively supported on the HC800. After reading the above, I think they are leaning towards a constant revenue stream (pay to stream), The of Reliability of sonos products cant be good for the companys Financial health, My ZP80 that I purchased 10 years ago is still rocking strong so on that product sonos has had £35 per year from me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 8 hours ago, jfh said: I agree - that was a press release that essentially said nothing about the future of Sonos (though it seems they like the idea of a "pay to stream" model). Sorry I wasn't more clear in my question - I'm more interested in "Is Sonos still relevant to the typical C4 customer and to C4 in general" and "how would anything Sonos hints at chage that for better or worse?" Sonos is relevant for C4 as long as there are popular services Control4 doesn't do natively - and there will remain some at least for sure - Spotify first and foremost at this time, but I've had several others specifically requested. IF (and that's a big if) Sonos would add voice control DIRECTLY to the devices - in other words microphones in each device, or separate devices as microphones, AND IF (another big if) C4 would be able to use it - well that would be a whole different scenario. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdepaola Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 21 hours ago, Cyknight said: LOL - out of context, but I should have expected it. Let's turn this thread into bashing C4 for their business model shall we? You did kind of start the "Bashing", just pointing that out. Funny that their new hardware has microphones built in already... I'm going to make a prediction that before the end of 2016 you'll see voice control on the Sonos hardware and its going to be Alexa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jreinardy Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 On the surface, Sonos Amps seem like an eventual replacement for the Speakerpoints currently in my system, unless there is something coming from C4. If that bought me additional microphones for voice control, it would be significant as well. Maybe I am missing something, but I appear to be looking at rewiring to use multi-zone amps or buying EA-1's to stay with C4 hardware where I only have ethernet. Regarding the prediction of Alexa and Sonos, I would be wary of depending on Amazon for something so strategic, I think Sonos would need Amazon a whole lot more than Amazon would need Sonos in that relationship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therockhr Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 21 hours ago, jfh said: Back on topic - what do people think this means for Sonos and C4? With the new native support in C4 I've been thinking about removing my Sonos Connects from the system since I only have one Play5 left (my dealer set it up in C4, but I can never get the speaker to play). At one point it seemed like Sonos was almost a requirement in a C4 system - now, not so much (and especially if Sonos wants to implement some sort of pay-to-stream service model). One take away from this article is the emergence of voice control. Hope C4 gets on that bandwagon fast. Sonos still has the best options for streaming services out there. The main 2 services I use are Spotify and Sirius which C4 does not do. I wish C4 wouldn't have built the audio into all their new controllers. It seems as though keeping stuff like audio and the OSD would add to the development time and errors when updating the controller software. Sonos and Autonomic seem to do such a good job with the media services it just seems like that development could have went elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMHarman Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 Regarding the prediction of Alexa and Sonos, I would be wary of depending on Amazon for something so strategic, I think Sonos would need Amazon a whole lot more than Amazon would need Sonos in that relationship. Similarly Amazon EC is critical for Netflix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jreinardy Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 That's very true, though I think Netflix is an important revenue stream for Amazon in that case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfried Posted November 17, 2016 Share Posted November 17, 2016 Has Control4 added native music streaming for the Amazon music service now (with the new 2.9 version)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted November 17, 2016 Share Posted November 17, 2016 Has Control4 added native music streaming for the Amazon music service now (with the new 2.9 version)? Still no. Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knowitall Posted November 18, 2016 Share Posted November 18, 2016 Sonos has and is begging for investors. They should've gone public and cashed in 6 years ago if they were gonna push the same stale shit for 15 years. They still #1 and I love their product but it's over for them imo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knowitall Posted November 18, 2016 Share Posted November 18, 2016 The freshest product they have is the play1 which was introduced circa 2013. But they have a psudeo Apple Store in NYC!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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