RAIN Notes: December 16
— Slipping Into The Role (Slipstream / Jonathan Lane)
— Spotify Rapped (Spotify)
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Spotify
Spotify “Super Premium” — hints become expectations for 2025
Spotify, the most popular music streaming service in the world, serving over 100 million tracks to 240 million monthly active users, does not have a high-resolution (“lossless”) audio option. That lack is an unusual lag for a dominant consumer service which leads the industry with many other consumer innovations. The missing piece could be plugged in soon. Continue Reading
RAIN Notes: October 11
— Turning Tables (Seeking Alpha / Spotify)
— Taming A Wild Card (True Native Media)
— Like A Wild Horse (IAB)
Spotify sunsets podcast attribution pioneer Chartable
Podcast analytics and attribution company Chartable will be closed by parent company Spotify. The streaming giant acquired Chartable in February, 2022. At the time, Chartable and the likewise acquired Podsights gave Spotify a formidable podcast tech stack. The sunsetting appears to be a simplification of internal brands and functions. Click for more info and announcement language. Continue Reading
RAIN Notes: August 5
— Retracting The Recoil (Spotify)
— Seeing The Audio (Washington Post)
— Speaking The Grit (iHeartPodcasts)
In wake of earnings, Spotify upgrades Ads Manager self-serve platform
A new look; better targeting; new ad formats. Those are the chief attributes of Spotify’s relaunch of its self-serve audio advertising platform. Oh — and a new name. BEFORE: Spotify Ad Studio. NOW: Spotify Ads Manager. (See RAIN’s coverage of… Continue Reading
Spotify Q2 earnings: A full quiver of upward-pointing arrows
“I said that while many believe that Spotify has a great product, we needed to prove that we could also be a great business. I think we’re really starting to show this now.” (Daniel Ek, CEO, Spotify) That’s from Spotify’s Q2 earnings release. Click for numbers and charts.
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Wondery grabs pod star Dax Shepard from Spotify; comprehensive distro, ads, dev, merch
Wondery grabs Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard from Spotify in comprehensive sales, distribution, development, merchandise deal. Click for details. Continue Reading
Spotify raises subscription rates; pitches innovation, features, and “best experience”
National news organizations are headlining Spotify news this morning: The international streaming giant will raise its premium subscription price. One national publication puts the pricing decision in the context of “Streaming Inflation Continues.” Spotify raised its subscription rates a year ago; before that was a 12-year stretch of stable pricing. Continue Reading
Spotify kills Car Thing in product streamlining; “We understand it may be disappointing.” Yup.
Spotify’s announced discontinuation of its Car Thing interface, a dedicated device for streaming Spotify in-car, has been met by owners with disappointment, bafflement, requests, and anger. We sample the disappointment and outrage. Continue Reading
Spotify paywalls lyrics. Users recoil.
Spotify has placed a limit on free song lyrics which appear to the ad-supported, no-pay version of the app. Meant as an inducement to upgrade membership, and possibly succeeding to some extent, the shift is generating predictable upset. We review the outrage. Continue Reading
Spotify exits the IAB; podcasting particularly affected; a signal of extraordinay self-sufficiency
In what is seemingly a statement of global self-sufficiency, Spotify is no longer represented on the IAB’s list of compliant podcast companies. The movement feels momentous in its abruptness, absence of presage, widespread reaction, and inherent implication. Click for details. Continue Reading