Spring is in the air, and Spotify is headed for a direct listing on the NY Stock Exchange on April 3rd. Unfortunately for the streaming platform and its IPO, investors don’t seem too confident about its future. ________________________ Guest post by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.0 Spotify’s direct listing on…
Category archives: Digital Music
Bootleggers Find New Home On Spotify [Chris Castle]
After a suspicious incident where what appeared to be bootlegs of R&B artist Aaliyah appeared on Spotify, evidence is building that bootleggers are now taking advantage of streaming service’s lack of policing. ___________________________ Guest post by Chris Castle of Music, Technology, Policy Vanessa Okoth-Obbo’s eye-opening and must-read post about possible…
Spotify Tests In-App Voice Assistance: See It In Action
Spotify is testing Siri-like voice control within its music streaming app. Those testing the feature see a microphone icon and tapping it enables voice commands like “play my Discover Weekly,” “show Roger McGuinn,” “play Darlingside” or "play some new folk.” Spotify has confirmed to that this is “just a test…
How The Copyright Stranglehold Dooms Spotify [Op-Ed]
Legacy entertainment companies have a long and sordid history of burying innovation and applying a stranglehold to companies which create new services in accordance with consumers’ contemporary desires, a pattern which may soon repeat with Spotify, writes Mike Masnick of Techdirt. _______________________ Guest post by Mike Masnick of Techdirt For…
Spotify Losing Millions On Underpriced Subscriptions, Analysis Of 7000 Users Reveals
[UPDATED] Subscription metrics platform ProfitWell collected date from 7000 users and found that the music streamer is leaving some serious money on the table. For example, consumers are willing to pay $19 per month for a family plan that includes five users, according to the analysts, which is $4 or…
Apple Music Has 38M Paid Subs, 8M Trials, Up 2M Monthly
[UPDATED] Apple Music has added 2 million subscribers since the Wall Street Journal reported 36 million in early February. Apple exec Eddy Cue told the crowd at SXSW Monday that Apple Music now has 38 million paid subscribers along with 8 million trial users. Cue went on to say that,…
Streaming Music Presages The End Of Ownership… Of Everything [George Howard]
Music is often the proverbial canary in a cold mine, says George Howard. Here, he explores how the rise of streaming led to a full fledged shift to a cloud-based media, making the idea of actual ownership is becoming increasingly antiquated. __________________________ Guest post by George Howard , this first…
Spotify, Google, Amazon ‘Can’t Find’ Neville Brothers, Other NOLA Songwriters
"Address Unknown" Notices Of Intent has been a problem in the music industry for some time, with music streamers and big tech companies dodging royalty payments in over sixty million instances. Chris Castle looks at how NOIs have impacted New Orleans songwriters, and what SoundExchange is doing about it. ___________________________…
Apple Deleting iTunes LP Format: Beginning Of The End?
Apple is deleting the iTunes LP format. The news was shared with labels and distributors two weeks ago; and now an email to iTunes’ music partners has surfaced that states clearly, "Apple will no longer accept new submissions of iTunes LPS after March 2018." ______________________________ Apple is killing the iTunes…
Spotify As A Hardware Company? The Pro And Cons
There has been a good deal of speculation lately that Spotify is considering launching a series of Spotify branded streaming hardware. As with any such new business venture, there are several pros and cons to this new direction which we explore here. _____________________________ Guest post by Bobby Owsinski of Music…