SPOTIFY’S FINANCIAL CATCH 22:  In recent weeks I’ve touched on the relationship between Spotify’s label deals and their ability (or inability) to go public.  The following Motley Fool article absolutely nails their dilemma from the viewpoint of potential IPO investors.  At the heart of the problem is the inconvenient fact that Spotify’s core operations are not profitable.  Meaning that during every hour of listening they pay more in royalties and operational costs than they take in subscription and ad revenues.  So to keep the lights on they’ve gone through a series of fund-raising rounds via VC investors, which has raised their “paper valuation” to an unrealistic $8B.  So an IPO will become the day of reckoning, as Wall Street investors will decide for themselves the true value of Spotify as a company.  This is about to get interesting.  http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/08/30/spotify-ipo-prospects-continue-to-worsen.aspx?source=yahoo-2&utm_campaign=article&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=yahoo-2&yptr=yahoo

THE POWER OF AUDIO:  Enough about the other guys already, let’s talk about the Mighty P!  The Drum has an equally in depth piece on our current ad model, and the prospects for monetization as we balance ad growth with eventual on-demand functionality.  This article covers a ton – so spend some time with it.  Lizzie Widhelm and Heidi Browning do a nice job articulating our inherent strengths as a mobile audio platform.  Great snippets to use in your next sales call!  http://www.thedrum.com/news/2016/08/30/pandora-poised-renaissance-audio

GROCERY GROWTH:  And finally in industry news, I think the following Business Insider article on Walmart’s success with their Neighborhood Market concept is interesting.  The idea that grocery is a more “Amazon proof” segment for retailers is insightful, as consumers still like to hand pick their produce and meats.  Over the past decade mass merch retailers, like Target and even WM themselves, have placed big bets on grocery within their mega stores.  The results have been choppy.  Maybe the success of stand-alones like Neighborhood Market will spur more competitors to go down this road.  Who knew grocery would become such a hot button category?!?  http://www.businessinsider.com/walmarts-neighborhood-market-is-crushing-the-competition-2016-8?amp

Have a great Wednesday guys!