Daniel Ek has no plans to sell off Spotify to a larger tech company. That came from a Q&A with reporters in Stockholm. He cautioned that selling off European startups to U.S. tech enterprises was hoiding back the EU tech industry. Continue Reading
Spotify has hired Troy Carter as its global head of creator services. Carter has a long history in music, spending 15 years in talent management and founding entertainment company Atom Factory. So far, the speculation is that Carter could be tasked with securing exclusive releases for the streaming service. Continue Reading
The partnership between Spotify and lyrics provider Musixmatch has dissolved as of May 27. As a result, the Lyrics button in Spotify’s interface no longer displays the words to the currently playing song. That feature first appeared on the desktop version of the service last February. Continue Reading
Twitter has added Spotify support to its audio cards. Any of the streaming service’s 30 million tracks can be turned into the audio post on Twitter. The cards will only play 30-second previews and will link to the full song in Spotify. Continue Reading
Spotify has debuted a new outlet for brands to get involved with the streaming company’s popular playlists. Sponsored Playlist puts a brand’s name on one of Spotify’s curated playlists, with the sponsorship options designed to match marketing needs with a musical audience. This marketing option is now available in the U.S. and in beta in the UK. Continue Reading
Spotify has signed a deal with Dubset Media Holdings that will bring more mixes onto the streaming platform. Dubset’s MixBank technology can be used to identify copyrighted music in a user-generated song, which means the appropriate labels and publishers can clear the samples used in a mix. Continue Reading
Spotify’s recently released 2015 financials created an interesting story: strong revenue growth and market domination, along with widening losses at the bottom line. Midia Research founder Mark Mulligan peels back the layers to analyze underlying dynamics. “Rights costs are the Spotify’s Achilles Heel.” Can scaling audience growth give Spotify enough leverage to gain better label rates? If not, the outcome might be unwelcome to those rights-holders. This guest column is a must-read. Continue Reading
Bottom-line profit in the streaming music business is elusive, and progress is measured less by reduced losses as by audience and revenue growth. That’s why Spotify is so happy about its 2015 financials. Continue Reading
Spotify has altered the pricing structure for its family plan. Under the new pricing, a family plan includes up to six individual Premium accounts for $14.99. The feature set for the plan is unchanged. Continue Reading
Spotify has hired Francis Keeling as its new vice president, global head of licensing, effective June 1. Keeling joins the streaming service after a 14-year tenure at Universal Music Group. “Francis is one of the very best in the business,” said Stefan Blom, Spotify’s chief content officer. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: One ex-radio career news specialist decries the downfall of an award-winning station; pirates interfere with licensed radio; Microsoft kills off its in-phone radio tuner. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: More records for Drake’s record; a rational take on Radiohead and Spotify; Spotify exec talks Apple Music impact. Continue Reading