According to sources struggling audio Company Sonos is set to charge an annual subscription fee to use their proprietary app, which is used to get access to their SonosNet network, the move to generate revenue this way comes as the business struggles to grow the market for their networked speaker offering.

According to several sources Sonos is looking to charge $80 a year subscription basically to get updates and access to their app which is essential when you buy a Sonos speaker, with many users claiming that it’s a “totally unnecessary” network, with brands such as Apple, Google and Amazon able to deliver an open standard wireless network, unlike Sonos.

This is the same Company who in the past tried to nobble customers older Sono’s speakers in an effort to get them to upgrade to a new speaker.

During the past month Sonos shares have fallen another 5% with the stock trading at $15.83, this is despite Sonos management announcing a move into the headphone market later this year.

When Sonos first launched their network speakers, customers had to log into a proprietary network that was clunky, and unstable, now Sonos wants to charge customers $80 a month to stay connected.

A user of Sonos speakers, subs and their soundbar wrote on Redit, “I recently had some serious issues with my SonosNet system (Arc, Sub, 2x SL, 2x One, 2x Roam, Move, Beam).
Basically, the system fell apart over night.

I ‘m familiar with enterprise networking and therefore would consider myself as experienced in this area.

I fiddled around a lot with the system…I chose to completely reset the system. He then wrote ‘What’s the benefit of SonosNet, anyway? I see some increased performance of the App, when using Sono’s net instead of full WiFi. That’s nice, but brings in another player on 2.4 GHz, and this adds noise.

On the other hand, Amazon, Google, and Apple seems to be able to do Multiroom without a proprietary network and, from what I saw a friend’s homes, that works perfectly fine.

Sonos is not in good shape, in their latest financials year-over-year revenue decreased by 5.5% to $1,655.3 million in fiscal 2023.

GAAP net loss reported at $10.3 million, compared to a net income of $67.4 million in the previous year.

Adjusted EBITDA fell to $153.9 million from $226.5 million last year, with a margin decrease from 12.9% to 9.3%.

Sono’s sales in Asia Pacific slumped 32% in the last quarter and now as the US business desperately moves to a new subscription revenue streams questions are being asked as to whether Sonos has peaked.

In their last financial report Sonos revealed that sales dropped in every product category including Asia Pacific. What is alarming, is that their once growth custom installer business is looking decidedly problematic despite Westan being given the rights to the Sonos product range for the channel in Australia.