Spotify Will Now Notify You Of New Releases

Spotify is introducing a feature that will notify listeners when their favorite artists and podcast producers have a new release out. Taking the form of a bell icon you’ll find at the top of the app’s home interface, the What’s New panel collects new
releases from bands, musicians and shows you follow on the platform. Spotify plans to roll out the feature to all Android and iOS users over the coming weeks.

Apple Music Pays Artists More Per Stream Than Spotify

Apple Music told artists it pays a penny per stream in a letter reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Apple’s penny-per-stream payment structure—which music-industry experts say can dip lower (roughly double what Spotify).

The Wall Street Journal says Spotify pays an average of about one-third to one-half penny per stream, however, its larger user base generates many more streams. Apple’s payments come out of monthly subscription revenue from users.

In June 2019 Apple said it had more than 60 million Music subscribers. Spotify has 155 million paid subscribers — and 355 total when you figure in those who listen to the ad-supported version.  Apple Music doesn’t offer a free, ad-supported option. Both Apple Music and Spotify Premium subscriptions are $9.99 a month. 

Apple, Spotify And Others To Fund New Music Royalties Collective

Apple, Spotify and other major music streaming services have agreed to fund a new licensing collective created by the Music Modernization Act to collect and distribute so-called mechanical royalties to songwriters and publishers, reports Law360 (you need a subscription to read the article).

The collective will collect royalties from streaming services such as Apple Music and Spotify and distribute the money to songwriters, publishers, and other music copyright holders.The streamers will pay $33.5 million for startup costs and anticipates $28.5 million for costs in 2021, the first year that the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) will be active, the collective and the streamers, represented by a newly designated nonprofit Digital Licensee Coordinator.

Bloomberg Law says this is a critical step toward ensuring rights holders receive their share of streaming revenue, which now composes 63% of all music revenue, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. The existing system, where streaming services must seek permission from individual rights holders to use their songs, created a trail of unpaid musicians and lawsuits.

Music Streaming Services Fighting Big Royalties Increase, Except Apple

Spotify, Google, Pandora, and Amazon are all appealing a U.S. Copyright Royalty Board ruling that would see songwriter royalty payouts increase by 44%; however, Apple isn’t appealing, reports Variety.

A joint statement from Spotify, Google, and Pandora reads: “The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), in a split decision, recently issued the U.S. mechanical statutory rates in a manner that raises serious procedural and substantive concerns. If left to stand, the CRB’s decision harms both music licensees and copyright owners. Accordingly, we are asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to review the decision.”

Apple Music Now Has More U.S. Subscribers Than Spotify

Apple Music has now surpassed Spotify’s U.S.-based subscriber number, and will probably widen the lead by Christmas, according to Digital Music News

News detailing the subscriber tallies of several streaming music services, including Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, and Sirius XM.  That report ranks Apple Music as first in the U.S., at least among primarily on-demand music streaming services (Sirius XM Satellite Radio, which operates in North America exclusively, has more than 33 million subscribers). Both Apple Music and Spotify have more than 20 million subscribers in America, with Apple now a hair ahead. (The source requested that Digital Music News withhold exact subscriber numbers beyond mentioning “20 million plus,” to “protect confidentiality.”)

Apple Music May Overtake Spotify In The Summer

Citing unnamed"people in the record business," the Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has been adding 5% to its U.S. subscriber base every month versus "just" 2% for Spotify. Assuming that pace continues, Apple would overtake Spotify in the world's biggest music market this summer. Spotify is a music, podcast, and video streaming service that was officially launched on Oct. 7, 2008. Apple’s streaming music service was launched in June 2015.

Microsoft Says Goodbye To Groove Music, Switching Customers To Spotify

Microsoft has announced that it's saying goodbye to  its Groove Music services after December 31st, 2017. Unlike in the past, there isn't another Microsoft-branded service waiting in the wings. Instead, the company is transitioning everyone over to Spotify. The Groove Music app will offer to migrate your collection and playlists through an update, starting with a preview version this week and more broadly on October 9th. Groove Music Pass subscribers will have the option of migrating to Spotify until January 31st. And if you paid for Music Pass beyond December, you'll get a refund for the amount of time you didn't get to play. Thoughts ?

Spotify Is Heading To The Xbox One

According to The Verge, Spotify is heading to the Xbox One. The site says multiple sources say that the app is coming soon and is currently being tested internally. PlayStation currently has an exclusive deal with the streaming-music service, which has been in place since 2015.

Apple Music And Spotify Help Music Business' To The Road Of Recovery

The music business is enjoying a recovery thanks to the growth of paid streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify. This is after almost 2 decades of decline caused by piracy and falling prices. Retail spending on recorded music grew 8.1%  to $3.4 billion in the first half of 2016, according to a draft midyear report from the Recording Industry Association of America that was obtained by Bloomberg News. That means the U.S. industry is on pace to expand for the second straight year - the first back-to-back growth since 1998-1999.

Spotify Now Has 40 Million Subscribes

Spotify has announced that it has reached 40 million subscribers. The company is far ahead of competitor Apple Music, which only has 17 million paying subscribers. CEO Daniel Ek had this to say on Twitter: 

40 is the new 30.
Million. 😄

— Daniel Ek (@eldsjal) September 14, 2016

Spotify has been growing for the past 2 years at a steady rate. In March, the company hit 30 million paying subscribers, and it had just 15 million subscribers back in January 2015.  

Spotify Will Punish Artists If They Have An Exclusive Deal With Apple

According to Bloomberg, artists who make exclusive deals for Apple Music (of any kind) will find be made harder to find on Spotify's platform and are less likely to be included in featured playlists once they become available after the Apple Music exclusivity ends. This has reportedly been ongoing for around a year with tracks by Tidal-exclusive artists. Competition is ramping up between the services. Spotify claims to have 30 million subscribers, and Apple Music claims to have 15 million users.

Spotify Now Features Full Tour Dates List To Artist Page

Spotify has added a full tab to its Artist pages that lists all upcoming shows. The listings and ticketing links are thanks to Songkick, and part of their expanding partnership. Spotify and Songkick already let fans know when artists are playing near them via personalized concert recommendations and a geo-targeted “On Tour” section. The “Concerts” tab is now available to all users in the Spotify desktop app. 

Spotify Now Has A Dedicated Gaming Section

The music streaming service Spotify has launched a new segment dedicated to gamers. Spotify Gaming will be a separate section on Spotify and app that features curated playlists, soundtracks, and contributed song lists from notable personalities from the gaming world. 

Spotify’s New Privacy Policy Will Make Users Switch To Apple Music

Looks like Spotify is facing some backlash over its new privacy policy, which gives the company the right to read personal information on users' phones, including photos, contact information and location data. The policy says: "With your permission, we may collect information stored on your mobile device, such as contacts, photos, or media files." It adds: "Depending on the type of device that you use to interact with the service and your settings, we may also collect information about your location based on, for example, your phone's GPS location or other forms of locating mobile devices." The new terms of service concludes by telling users: "If you don't agree with the terms of this privacy policy, then please don't use the service." Compared to Apple’s policy to respect the privacy of its users Spotify may be losing some customers to Apple today.  What do you think ? Do you Use Spotify ? After seeing this are you going to switch to Apple Music ? 

Spotify Is Now On PS4 And PS3

Sony has announced that Spotify is now on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3. You don't need PlayStation Plus to use it, and it looks like you don't need a Spotify premium membership. You can use the iOS or Android app, Spotify users can control their music on the console. This allows you to add custom soundtracks without pausing.