Spotify has announced the addition of a new subscription designed for family sharing. Under the Spotify Family plan, up to four family members can be added to a single billing account while keeping their listening histories and playlists separate. All people in the family will have access to the full set of Premium features. Continue Reading
In July, we wrote that Playlists.net, a platform for sharing Spotify playlists, was looking for a buyer. Today, the hoped-for deal was announced. The UK startup ShareMyPlaylists has been acquired by the artist and services arm of American recording giant Warner Music Group. Financial details of the purchase were not disclosed. Continue Reading
David Lowery, musicians’ advocate and the foremost critic of streaming music, posted a column in which he prescribes solutions to “fix” the streaming music business model — or, more accurately, his issues with it. Lowery’s arrows are pointed at Spotify, and his suggestions are surprising. Along the way, he misses some reality points. Continue Reading
Vodafone has continued its trend of partnering with streaming services. This time, Vodafone Australia has tied up with Spotify for a deal that will give the telecom’s customers access to the premium listening plan. Details of the arrangement or for a potential discount on the Premium plan were not disclosed. According to the streaming platform, about 1.5 million Aussies regularly stream music on their smartphones. Continue Reading
The British Phonographic Industry group reported that UK listeners have streamed 10.2 billion tracks to date this year, almost double the 5.4 billion tracks streamed last year in the same period. People are listening to tunes more than 300 million times each week. Continue Reading
Spotify UK saw impressive growth in revenue for 2013 thanks to a 42% spike in subscriptions. The company credited its partnership with Vodafone, which led to the inclusion of Spotify in new customer bundles, and the launch of a student discount with the jump in paid plans. Total revenue for the UK subsidiary increased 40% to £131.3 million for 2013. Profit that year totaled £2.5 million, compared with a loss of £11 million in 2012. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the Internet: Prince criticizes U2; do lawsuits for pre-1972 royalties threaten digital music?; Spotify’s semi-secret info sessions; what’s up at The Echo Nest. Continue Reading
Deezer may be getting a leg up in the South African market for music streaming thanks to a partnership with Vodacom Group. Bloomberg cited an unnamed person familiar with the negotiations who said the Vodafone unit would offer its customers access to Deezer through an exclusive year-long deal. Neither Deezer nor Vodacom offered comment on the report. Continue Reading
The latest outburst in the high-profile Spotify debate does more than just criticize streaming, it condemns it. Rosanne Cash, who testified in a congressional music-licensing hearing this summer, stirred up mixed reactions with two recent Facebook posts in which she equated streaming with music piracy, and also continued her impassioned campaign to alter U.S. copyright regulations. Continue Reading
After several weeks on an invite-only basis, Spotify has made its official entrance into Canada. The Swedish streaming platform staked a claim to “one of the most extensive Canadian music catalogues available,” with access to more than 20 million songs in the market. It noted a “comprehensive Quebecois library” within those millions of tunes, according to VentureBeat. Continue Reading
Monday distraction: Paul Lamere, Director of Development Platform at The Echo Nest, which is owned by Spotify, has created an entertaining hack that anyone can try — Where Is the Drama? The idea is to use waveform analysis to identify a song’s climactic section. The experiment is fun, if nothing else. Read how Lamere accomplished this hack, and where you can test it. Continue Reading
Data from App Annie revealed that music services are among the top performers for in-app purchases in August. The analytics firm found that Spotify, Pandora, and Apple’s music apps were among the leaders for in-app revenue. All three ranked in the top 10 revenue generators for non-game apps. Continue Reading