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Spotify’s Internal Structure: Three Horizontal Layers
Spotify has a three-layered horizontal structure in its organization. The first layer is the platform layer, which encompasses the Spotify technology platform. The second layer is the experience layer, known as the Spotify Experience Layer, which includes all the applications and surfaces used by users, such as mobile apps, cars, and desktop. The third layer is the personalization layer, responsible for all aspects of personalization, including recommending songs, podcasts, or audiobooks for individual users. These three layers act as a synchronization function, ensuring that everything goes through them before reaching the end user. This structure may slow down processes, but it allows the organization to handle complexity and ensures that all vertical businesses, such as the podcast, music, and audiobook business, have to go through these synchronization functions before shipping anything to the user.
