Lefsetz still throwing cheap shots from the cheap seats

Sadly many people like watching a train wreck. Which is why Bob Lefsetz pulls a crowd, first in music and now in tech.

He's completely wrong about Twitter, where he questions whether the company is "fixable". (link)

Lefsetz credits Chris Sacca for criticizing the company, yet Sacca's letter What Twitter Can Be is about Twitter's unrealized value. It's hardly critical in the sense that Lefsetz implies.

Sacca's concern is management's inability to clearly convey Twitter's existing value and future potential. The inability to innovate at the pace required of a tech company, and absent this undertake adequate M&A. Sacca sees blue sky and the challenges he outlines aren't exactly a death sentence.

Moving on, in a two-word critique and a very Spinal Tap moment, Lefsetz says Apple's streaming music service "is toast". (link)

He writes, "But to call it an also-ran would be generous. Turns out to win, or at least play the game in a meaningful way, you've got to have a freemium offering. And Apple Music does not." Nonsense.

To "win" (and tech is binary in this regard) paying subscribers matter. Spotify doesn’t have enough, just yet, and Apple's advantage is that it doesn't need them survive. Who do you think can stay the course?

I'm a Spotify subscriber and I like the service, but they lost me with their half-assed attempt at a family plan. With Apple's better value proposition I'll make the switch.*

Lefsetz believes that the "customer doesn't want Apple Music, doesn't need Apple Music". He's probably correct. Surely that's true for Spotify too?

Listening to Slipknot, chillin’ in Incline Village.

* UPDATE: It's 2017 and I am still a Spotify subcsriber. I experienced technical difficulties with Apple Music, and the UI/UX left me cold.