World domination comes at a price — a literal ARPU price. In its Q3 2018 report, Spotify revealed a disheartening fact for investors – average revenue per user (ARPU) continues to decline. This marks the second straight fiscal quarter the streaming mus…
Category archives: music streaming
SoundCloud Is Doubling Down on Pre-Release Collaboration With Expanded Private Sharing
SoundCloud is pushing another differentiation play, this time for pre-release collaboration. Since walking through the valley of near-bankruptcy last year, SoundCloud has been aggressively developing a number of differentiating features. Now, that inc…
Tidal Is Now Integrated Into Samsung Wearables — And the Apple Watch Is Next
Tidal has announced its app is now available on a wide variety of Samsung wearable devices. Those devices include the Samsung Galaxy Watch, Gear Sport, Gear S2 & S3, and its fitness-oriented products the Gear Fit2 & Pro versions. The new suppor…
Spotify Unveils Publishing Analytics Platform
Spotify continues to build on its analytics platform, this time for publishers. Several months ago, Spotify unveiled a new feature on its For Artists platform – free direct uploads. Bridging the gap between artists and the streaming music service, musi…
Apple Music Unveils Preferred Digital Distributor List
With its preferred digital distributor list, should we expect Apple Music to soon allow direct uploads for artists? The Cupertino company has quietly launched its ‘Apple Preferred Distribution Program.’ With the launch of its program, Apple Music has n…
Spotify Enables Smart Speaker Streaming for Free Users
Spotify announced today that free members can now listen to their music through speakers that support Spotify Connect. The new integration will require hardware companies to support the new Spotify Connect SDK. This new change means that 104 million S…
Despite YouTube Music’s Relaunch, YouTube Premium Falls Out of the Top 10 Streaming Services In the U.S.
Is YouTube Music drawing any subscribers? Just-released data on YouTube Premium suggests a very sluggish start. YouTube’s latest music subscription service is failing to boost YouTube Premium in any substantial way, according to recent research. Acco…
Spotify for Artists Will Charge for Certain Services, Daniel Ek Says
Is Spotify really the key to identifying real fans? More importantly, can the streaming music giant successfully monetize its Artists platform? In is Q3 2018 report, Spotify revealed one thing – despite the cash burn, the service continues to grow. M…
Amazon Music Reveals Another Trick: Alexa-Powered New Release Notifications
Amazon Music has quietly released a feature that allows users to follow their favorite artists using Alexa. Amazon Music subscribers in the US can now ask Alexa to follow their favorite artist. Once set, the user will receive notifications when a new …
Spotify Reportedly Launches in Dubai and the MENA Region
Spotify continues expanding its global reach. As expected, Spotify has finally launched in Dubai and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Two months ago, Gulf News obtained an e-mail outlining Spotify’s plans in the region. First, the compan…