Sonos is facing the real threat that their business is about to tank, as existing speaker owners who have faced three months of “hell” as one publication described it following the release of a dud app that crashed services, desert the audio brand and new customers who are not prepared to take the risk on a brand that has a long history of problems.
Currently a wave of publications along with angry Sono’s customers, are calling for the sacking of Sonos boss Patrick Spence, who is now considering the concept of going back to an old app in an effort to get Sono’s customers back operational following his latest app disaster.
In the 12 years that we have been running Sonos he has constantly had to apologise for a multitude of problems at the US audio Company, with his judgement now being seriously questioned as the share value in the Company that has fallen 17.48% this month alone continues to fall.
Year to date the stock is down 30.4%.
ChannelNews has consistently challenged Sonos for their questionable business decisions, and more so the attitude of their executives, now we are not alone, with several publications now calling for the sacking of Spence while raising questions about the running of the business as opposed to the quality of their speakers.
This past week, Digital Trends, along with multiple people on the Sonos Community site and several mainstream US media have questioned the decision making of Spence following another disaster that is impacting owners and the future of the business.
We got a firsthand experience years ago of how Sonos management operate and the type of executives they employ, when they demanded that we pull down a perfectly accurate story on a new speaker that was set to be launched after we leaked information weeks ahead of a launch.
“We don’t want that story up yet” local PR management demand.
“If you don’t pull it down, we will ban you from any future Sonos launches” they claimed.
We refused pointing out that we are in the news business, and we do not kiss the backside of brands, simply to get marketing dollars.
The same PR executive then banned us.
A few months later the same inhouse PR executive in what appeared to be drunken state due to their slurred conversation, then berated us for revealing that Sonos US had sacked a local PR Company, Weber Shandwick who they had personally appointed, this was the same agency that had been dropped by Lenovo weeks earlier.
“They are my friends; they don’t deserve this” she claimed.
When we pointed out that she would have a problem banning us, as we were already banned, she then started berating 4Square Media staff and my family.
Sonos US did nothing about it when we complained directly to Spence.
Phil Nickinson the AV Sections editor at Digital Trends, wrote recently “Let’s just come out and say what many people are thinking, and more than a few are saying: Sonos needs a new chief executive”.
I’ve written previously that I don’t particularly care who runs Sonos. I don’t know Patrick Spence. (I think I’ve been in the room with him once, at the Sonos One launch event in October 2017 in New York City.) I don’t own Sono’s stock. I do, however, own a number of Sonos speakers and have enjoyed the system for years. Until this year”.
He added “I’d also like to think I can recognize a basic need for accountability after this summer’s major Sonos software meltdown”.
At ChannelNews we have been following Sonos since 2005 when they turned up at that years’ CES Show with a new networked speaker.
Sonos was founded as Rincon Audio, in August 2002 by John MacFarlane, Craig Shelburne, Tom Cullen and Trung Mai.
The company changed its name to Sonos in May 2004.
In January 2017, MacFarlane announced via the company’s blog that he would be stepping down from his role as CEO, and that he would be succeeded in this position by former COO Patrick Spence.
Since then, the Company has faced several major problems.
In two interviews with ChannelNews prior to the Company being floated in 2018 McFarlane said that the Company was profitable and had been “for a number of years.
Documents provided to support the float proved that this was not the case, and that Sonos had been struggling for several years and still is.
In Australia, the brand was initially picked up by Melbourne audio distributor Niv Novack who got the Sonos speakers ranged at specialist dealers.
He then cut an exclusive deal with JB Hi Fi.
At the time the specialist dealers were using Sono’s speakers to install networked audio in houses.
Recently many of those early pioneers moved to drop Sonos with the Company reporting a fall in custom install business worldwide.
Sono’s owners have been in “their own special circle of hell” wrote Digital Trends with many of their Australian customers contacting ChannelNews over the failure of their latest app upgrade.
The sad part is that Spence and his management team appear to have no idea what really happened, or how to issue a quick fix.
The problem in buying a Sonos speaker in the past was that you were tied into a Sonos proprietary system which the Company envisioned would lead to monthly subscription fees, but that idea went pear shaped as customers demanded open standards.
On April 23, 2024, Sonos announced its “most extensive app redesign ever, creating an unprecedented streaming experience that allows listeners to organize their Favorite playlists, stations, albums and more from over 100 services on one customizable Home screen.” they told audio media.
“As we are always pushing ourselves to innovate, and listening to feedback from our passionate customers, we felt now was the time to reimagine our app experience,” Sonos CEO Patrick Spence said in a press release announcing the update.
“After thorough development and testing, we are confident this redesigned app is easier, faster, and better. It once again raises the bar for the home music listening experience and sets up our ability to expand into new categories and experiences.”
The only problem is that there was no thorough development, more a bunch of software engineers working from home who appear to have not communicated with each other sand when it went pear shaped, they had to call in one of the founders of the Company to try and fix their problems.
There appear to have been no real beta testing with real customers or even early dev software for media organisations.
When the app went public and real customers started to activate the app an abundance of real issues emerged.
Some had to do with features — some basic, some niche then there were the features that had been removed from the app.
it was a tech nightmare and three months on Sonos is still trying to work out how to fix the problem that has nobbled tens of thousands of their customers.
One thing we have learned about Sonos is that management are incredibly arrogant which is why a public apology from Sonos — and its CEO — didn’t come for two months.
Spence claimed, “We know that too many of you have experienced significant problems with our new app which rolled out on May 7,” he wrote. “And I want to begin by personally apologizing for disappointing you. There isn’t an employee at Sonos who isn’t pained by having let you down, and I assure you that fixing the app for all of our customers and partners has been and continues to be our number one priority.”
He added “Since I took over as CEO, one of my particular points of emphasis has been the imperative for Sonos to move faster,” Spence said on the earnings call. “That is what led to my promise to deliver at least two new products every year — a promise we have successfully delivered on. With the app, however, my push for speed backfired.”
Engaget claims that customers have been understandably upset since early May, which is well-documented in the r/sonos subreddit. But, user satisfaction isn’t the only issue that the company is facing. With the new version of the app so busted it had to be fixed before missing items could be added, Sonos has delayed the launch of two new products that were ready to go on sale in Q4. Spence said that the company enlisted “the original software architect of the Sonos experience,” Nick Millington, to do “whatever it takes” to remedy the issues.
And it’s not just a headache for customers. Sonos dealers and installers, which make up a significant part of the company’s business, are allegedly so frustrated with what they encounter trying to do their jobs that some of them have paused sales. “As an installer when you try and talk this up to somebody to buy, it is extremely embarrassing at this point when you have to just say ‘well, the parent company is having issues,’ it makes you look like the jackass,” one Reddit post explained.
The irony is that both customers and the audio industry are still waiting for a solution, investors are deserting the brand and Spence is facing an uncertain future.
