Sonos’ CEO had to learn the hard way and that just because you build it doesn’t mean they’ll come. Or if they do come, you better make sure the app is ready when they arrive. Sonos declared CEO Patrick Spence was exiting stage left Sunday, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing posted Monday and other outlets. Spence’s resignation comes months after a tumultuous year centered on a single headphone launch and a near-universally detested app update.
According to the filing, Spence is also giving up his spot on Sonos’ board. He will keep on in an advisory role through June. He’ll receive a $7,500 per-month parachute until he’s fully departed. Stepping in Spence’s place as interim CEO is current Sonos board member and former Snap and Pandora app executive Tom Conrad. Perhaps his experience with the age-old music streaming radio app may supply some much-needed juice to resolve Sonos’ app situation. Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman wrote that Conrad told employees at the company, “We’ve let far too many people down.”
Gizmodo reached out to Sonos for comment, but we did not hear back.
Last year was supposed to be a big one for Sonos. The audio company unveiled its first wireless headphones, the $450 Sonos Ace. They had great-quality sound but cost too much for what you got, especially since the landmark “Audio Swap” feature initially required you to own an $800 sound bar and connect to what was—at the time—a redesigned and largely detested app. At launch, the app lacked quality music library search, and users needed to use a Mac or PC app to set sleep timers—a feature offered in previous mobile app versions.
Sonos vowed to make its app more usable and delayed two of its planned product releases, including its Era 100 Pro professional speakers and Arc Ultra soundbar, to shore up its app issues. Due to cloud connectivity requirements, Spence claimed they could not offer users the older S2 app version. The company extended the audio swap to other soundbars. In October, the then-CEO put out an action plan to fix things, including a promise to broaden the scope of its beta testing program and roll out new app updates every two to four weeks. At the time, Sonos said “more than 80% of the app’s missing features” were restored, and it planned to get to 100% by the end of the year.
Despite that promise, users recently reported issues with app responsiveness at the start of the new year. One Redditor on Sunday noted they still got a “no products found” error for their Sonos speaker nine months after the new app’s initial release.
If Sonos’ app enshittification backfired, it was only due to the extraordinarily vocal community surrounding its products. But according to reports from The Verge, the community wasn’t the only one unhappy with Spence and the SNAFU surrounding its new app and headphones. The company’s morale was reportedly in the toilet going into the second half of 2024. Layoffs and the reportedly cratering sales of Sonos’ 2024 products, including the Ace headphones, didn’t help the dour mood.
We’ve seen many apps and products slide the way Sonos has. If anything, this latest development proves that if communities can stay strong and aware, voting with your wallet is still an effective strategy against the worst whims of corporations.
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