Reddit user OhItsTom found Spotify’s group session feature in the desktop version of Spotify’s debug window.
Mobile users with Spotify Premium have been able to do this for years, but a desktop version has been missing — looks like that’s getting rectified soon.
Bloomberg reports Spotify “has already begun talking to partners about the product” adding full-length music videos to its app. After Spotify’s podcast plan went awry, it appears the company could try to take a bite out of YouTube (which also deeply integrates videos into its YouTube Music service) and TikTok.
The app’s divisive redesign earlier this year added short video clips with videos of artists discussing music, in addition to the existing Canvas background animations.
The company is entering the ‘next phase’ of its podcast strategy — but will it learn from its mistakes?
The former Daily Show host’s new show will launch later this year, drawing on his signature humor and wit to interview influential figures and comment on hot topics.
The as-yet-unnamed podcast isn’t exclusive to Spotify, however, and will be available on “numerous platforms.” This might be Spotify experimenting to retain big names following notable celebrity podcasters departing the platform and layoffs within its podcasting department.
That’s pretty much what Spotify is doing here. I saw this ad for the company’s subscription-based Soundtrap after opening the Mac app this morning.
Amid layoffs and a “realignment” of its podcasts business, you get the sense that Spotify is growing desperate to make money any way it can.
Very curious what the click through on this looks like. Maybe someone out there needed one last push to become the next Jack Antonoff. Or, more likely, they just wanted to hear their Daily Mix.
It may also enable streaming fraud, reports The Financial Times, where bots are directed to target tracks to generate revenue.
Spotify has removed tens of thousands of AI-generated songs uploaded to its service by startup Boomy because of suspected “artificial streaming.” (Though Spotify did not confirm this.) It’s another example of generative AI enabling misuse by creating a flood of content.
[The Financial Times]
On an earnings call today, Daniel EK called Epic’s single win — which will let app developers tell users about non-Apple payment options — “very important.” But mostly, he said the US still needs a law to be passed to open up mobile devices from the control of Apple and Google.
Here’s Ek on why he sees this as a big issue:
“When I started as a 14 year-old entrepreneur, the internet was this democratic place that anyone, anywhere in the world could have an impact, and right now we’re in a place where billions of consumers are using the internet primarily through smartphones and ... there’s literally two companies now that control all of that on the internet and they can unilaterally change the rules.”
Universal Music Group (UMG) has allegedly urged streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music to crack down on AI-music services that are training off of their copyrighted music libraries.
It’s not clear exactly what the streaming services can do. In the meantime, UMG has been issuing takedown requests on AI-generated songs appearing on the platforms and warned that it “will not hesitate” to protect the rights of its artists.
[FinancialTimes]
In the wake of the Joe Rogan controversy last year, Spotify tried to smooth things over with a $100 million diversity fund. According to Bloomberg, the company has fulfilled less than 10% of that commitment so far.
You’re going to have strong feelings about this redesign.
Subscribers to Command Line just got highlights from an interview I did yesterday with Gustav Söderström, Spotify’s co-president who oversees all of product and engineering. We talk about the controversial redesign that introduces a TikTok-like feed to Spotify and why it’s happening, plus why Spotify reorg’d earlier this year.
The full conversation is coming out on Decoder next week.
[The Verge]
