Spotify Reports Growth and A Hint of Profitability, But Questions Remain [Mark Mulligan]

MIDiA analyst Mark Mulligan takes a deep dive into Spotify’s latest public numbers and finds some areas for real concern. "Spotify is growing its subscriber base markedly more quickly than it is growing its premium revenue," says Mulligan, and that is resulting in declining average revenue per user (APRU). ____________________________…

Why Spotify Isn’t Simply A Music Company [Cherie Hu]

In this piece Cherie Hu looks at how Spotify’s major investments in third party licensing deals and original podcast development are validating investor predictions and causing it to become the Netflix of audio while potentially putting its brand at risk. ____________________________________ Guest post by Cherie Hu on Medium On October…

Spotify paid $343m for podcasting companies Gimlet Media and Anchor

SEC filing reveals that Spotify spent €300m on the pair of companies
The post Spotify paid $343m for podcasting companies Gimlet Media and Anchor appeared first on Music Business Worldwide.

5 of Spotify’s biggest imminent challenges in 2019

In many ways, Spotify enjoyed a spectacular end to 2018. The company finished the year with its first ever quarterly operating profit – €94m ($107 million) — something that challenged many of the long-term naysayers about its business model. In additio…

Listen to Our Valentine’s Day Playlist: 21 Savage, Sega Bodega, Octavian & More

This Valentine’s Day we’ve decided to share the love by putting together a playlist of all our favourite love songs. There are nostalgic classics from the likes of Zapp & Roger, Nelly, and Nirvana as well as some newer cuts from Octavian, Sega Bodega, 21 Savage and more. Our blend of tracks beats rapidly between UKG anthems, sadboy […]

The post Listen to Our Valentine’s Day Playlist: 21 Savage, Sega Bodega, Octavian & More appeared first on Point Blank’s Online Magazine.

Spotify, Deezer Demand ‘Fairness In the Platform Economy’ from European Lawmakers

Spotify and Deezer continue to flex their digital music muscle in the EU political arena. A little over a year ago, major streaming music services teamed up in Europe. Spotify, Deezer, and SoundCloud, among other music streamers, launched a new digital…

Spotify Isn’t Wasting Time on Its Podcast Expansion – Chuck D Among the First to Be ‘Signed’

Spotify hasn’t wasted any time rolling out more exclusive podcasts. Last week, during its Q4 2018 earnings call, Spotify confirmed two new acquisitions. Betting big on podcasts, the streaming music giant has acquired Gimlet Media and Anchor. Financial …

Streaming Music Revenue Up, But Per Song Rates May Have Dropped In 2018

In this piece, Bobby Owsinski breaks down some complex recent streaming data, which highlights the disparity between the royalty rates paid out by major streamers (with YouTube coming up particularly short) as well as the contextual challenge of drawing accurate information from these kinds of data sets. __________________________ Guest post…

Spotify Will Now Suspend and Terminate Accounts Which Use Ad Blockers

Will Spotify’s heavy-handed approach against ad blockers increase its ad-supported revenue, or ultimately drive some users away? Thinking about using an ad blocker to stream music for free on Spotify? Well, think again. According to a new report, Spoti…

Creating Better Spotify Playlists: Best Practices

Like it or not, music consumers and the industry as whole are all neck deep in playlist culture by this point. The good news is, building playlists is a skill like any other, and skills can be honed. In this piece we look at some of the best practices for…