Spotify news

Spotify super premium will offer better audio, remixing tools and pre-sale tickets according to latest rumours

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Spotify • 2 min read

Spotify super premium will offer better audio, remixing tools and pre-sale tickets according to latest rumours

Spotify has been promising a higher priced subscription product for ages. With both the majors and Spotify boss Daniel Ek now regularly talking up the potential of super-premium, sources say it will arrive later this year offering better audio, remixing tools and access to pre-sale tickets…

Chris Cooke • 17 Feb 2025

MLC asks judge to reconsider Spotify ruling, otherwise the “injustice will be manifest”

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Spotify • 2 min read

MLC asks judge to reconsider Spotify ruling, otherwise the “injustice will be manifest”

Last month a US judge dismissed the lawsuit filed by The MLC against Spotify over its decision to reclassify its premium subscription product as a music + audiobooks bundle, reducing what it has to pay to songwriters and publishers. The MLC now wants the judge to reconsider that ruling…

Chris Cooke • 14 Feb 2025

Spotify says publishers issuing takedowns against podcasts is a “press stunt” in response to the MLC’s bundling lawsuit being dismissed

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Spotify • 3 min read

Spotify says publishers issuing takedowns against podcasts is a “press stunt” in response to the MLC’s bundling lawsuit being dismissed

Music publishers in the US have started issuing takedown notices in relation to unlicensed music in Spotify podcasts. Spotify says the move is a “weak response” to a judge last week dismissing the music industry’s lawsuit over its use of a bundling loophole to pay less to American songwriters…

Chris Cooke • 05 Feb 2025

Spotify wants to be “the best in the world at building AI products” and is focused on “accelerated execution”... but still no super-premium launch

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Spotify • 8 min read

Spotify wants to be “the best in the world at building AI products” and is focused on “accelerated execution”... but still no super-premium launch

Spotify has now been profitable for four quarters straight - a strong indication that its cost cutting and monetisation efforts are paying off. Now, says the company, it’s going to focus on high quality users and “accelerated execution” with AI playing a key part in its onward strategy…

Sam Taylor • 04 Feb 2025

Judge throws out MLC’s audiobooks bundle lawsuit, says Spotify can keep cutting songwriter royalties through its “cynical trick”

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MLC • 5 min read

Judge throws out MLC’s audiobooks bundle lawsuit, says Spotify can keep cutting songwriter royalties through its “cynical trick”

The MLC’s lawsuit targeting Spotify’s “cynical trick” to reduce royalties to songwriters through its US-subscriber audiobooks bundle has been thrown out by the court, with the judge saying there is “no set of facts” that the collecting society could use to support its position…

Sam Taylor • 30 Jan 2025

Universal Music’s new Spotify deal could be a knock-out blow for streaming platform’s audiobook bundling trick

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Spotify • 4 min read

Universal Music’s new Spotify deal could be a knock-out blow for streaming platform’s audiobook bundling trick

Universal Music has signed a big new deal with Spotify, and it’s precisely what Lucian Grainge “envisioned” when he coined the buzzword “streaming 2.0”, apparently. More importantly, it seems to address the audiobook bundling dispute when it comes to Universal’s songs catalogue in the US…

Chris Cooke • 27 Jan 2025

Amazon adds audiobooks access to its music service, though won’t rely on bundling discount in the US

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Amazon • 3 min read

Amazon adds audiobooks access to its music service, though won’t rely on bundling discount in the US

American music publishers say they are “optimistic” that Amazon adding audiobooks to its music subscription service won’t impact on the royalties received by songwriters. Unlike with Spotify, which used the addition of audiobooks to claim a discount on what it pays under the US compulsory licence…

Chris Cooke • 20 Nov 2024

Spotify’s Ek puts a damper on ‘super premium’ hype, bigs up AI and innovation as the future

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Spotify • 5 min read

Spotify’s Ek puts a damper on ‘super premium’ hype, bigs up AI and innovation as the future

The super premium opportunity maybe isn’t as exciting as some people would have you believe, and no one can really agree what it would even be anyway. That was a key takeaway from yesterday’s Spotify earnings call, as Daniel Ek doubles down on AI and innovation as the future of streaming…

Sam Taylor • 13 Nov 2024

Spotify should have put up prices long ago; TikTok not a promo platform; AI will be a great tool for making music; Sony will take “more organic” approach to working with artists beyond releases, says Rob Stringer

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Sony Music • 4 min read

Spotify should have put up prices long ago; TikTok not a promo platform; AI will be a great tool for making music; Sony will take “more organic” approach to working with artists beyond releases, says Rob Stringer

Sony Music CEO Rob Stringer spoke at a Bloomberg’s Screentime conference last week, about getting more money out of TikTok, streaming subscribers, and opportunities for Sony and its artists. Those opportunities are stronger for Sony, he said, because it’s part of a wider entertainment group…

Chris Cooke • 14 Oct 2024

Spotify committed to work-from-anywhere policy, except on the night shift

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Spotify • 3 min read

Spotify committed to work-from-anywhere policy, except on the night shift

Spotify’s HR chief has revealed that the company’s work-from-anywhere policy, instigated during COVID, will stay in place, even though other tech companies are telling employees to return to their offices. She has also spoken about the impact of last year’s job cuts at Spotify…

Chris Cooke • 09 Oct 2024

The MLC and Spotify’s legal back-and-forth rumbles on as MLC says Spotify is “relying on new purported facts”

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Spotify • 2 min read

The MLC and Spotify’s legal back-and-forth rumbles on as MLC says Spotify is “relying on new purported facts”

The back and forth in the big bundling dispute between Spotify and US collecting society The MLC continues. Last month Spotify urged the court to dismiss The MLC’s lawsuit. In a new legal filing, The MLC argues that the legal standard for dismissal at this stage has not been met…

Chris Cooke • 23 Sep 2024

EU consumer group sues Apple for €62 million over ‘Apple tax’ price hike on competing music subscriptions

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Apple • 3 min read

EU consumer group sues Apple for €62 million over ‘Apple tax’ price hike on competing music subscriptions

In March the EU fined Apple €1.8 billion after concluding that rules the tech giant enforced against music apps were unlawful. Those rules meant consumers signing up to Spotify via its iOS app paid 30% more because of an Apple commission. A new lawsuit says Apple should now refund those commissions…

Chris Cooke • 19 Sep 2024