There is a shared passion but a misaligned vision. This makes teams siloed, with seldom cross-collaboration and continuous disagreements and miscommunication over work flow. Growing pains have been especially rough here, and only seem to be getting worse.
Preferential treatment of some over others with respect to promotions, salary increases, invitations, role preferences, etc. Leadership gate keeps frequently and is not quiet about it, then boasts its diverse and inclusive culture. I've noticed that every BIPOC employee in my time has either quit, been laid off or fired, conveniently not seen a renewal to their contract, or are on their way out. I was shocked to see this mentioned in multiple reviews with absolutely no acknowledgement internally. I even heard that some leaders refuse to complete their diversity training (although this is unconfirmed, I would not be shocked.)
Many are rude and arrogant. There are a myriad of internal tensions, some even personal.
Employees get moved around to positions they don't want and their needs are consistently unmet and unsupported. Music business jobs empirically underpay. Stem consistently underpays even the average.
Most individuals do not know or care about music. Some industry leaders are on boarded for specific roles and optics, but most employees, including much of the executive board, are comprised of glorified sales / product / engineering / finance heads. And it shows. The only truly impressive department is marketing. Smoke and mirrors.
Ultimately the business model is not actually that beneficial for artists. Clear royalty accounting and consistent payments were groundbreaking in 2015, but are so commoditized and omnipresent now that Stem will have to work increasingly hard in coming years to find their edge in the business. The fees are low but the product is half-baked and the funding available to artists is never competitive enough to win and sustain business.
There are so many new music x tech companies with not only compelling, cutting-edge value propositions, but also real, genuine individuals who know the industry and care for each other. I would suggest that anyone considering working at Stem look elsewhere. I am.
