Spotify

The latest version of the iOS & Android Spotify apps provides users with much better organization of both their music and podcasts.

At the top of the screen, you now have Music and Podcasts tabs, so these are now kept completely separate …

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During the WWDC 2019 Keynote, Apple announced watchOS 6 for Apple Watch. While watchOS 6 didn’t get as much stage time as other new software releases, it still looks like a great release. One of the features that is most interesting to me is the API for streaming audio. In watchOS 5, Apple offered streaming on Apple Podcasts and Apple Music, but it left out the ability for third-party developers to access it. Spotify used Apple Watch as one of the reasons Apple isn’t play fair with how it treats its own products vs how it interacts with competitors. I argued that Spotify wants all the benefits of Apple’s platform, but without giving Apple any revenue. With the new streaming API for watchOS 6, it’s time for Spotify to ship or shut up.
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The European Commission is still waiting for Apple to formally respond to the Spotify complaint of anti-competitive actions, says Europe’s competition commissioner.

Margrethe Vestager said that the commission was officially investigating the claim, but hasn’t yet had a response from Apple …

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Inaccurate and missing metadata isn’t just a pain for music lovers – it can also cost artists, songwriters, and others billions in unpaid royalties from streaming music services, suggests a new report.

One example given was a musician who missed out on $40,000 in royalties because a clash between two different metadata databases removed many of his credits …

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In March, we covered Spotify’s It’s time to play fair campaign where the company laid out reasons it felt Apple wasn’t playing fair. Like most services, Apple obligates Spotify to pay a 30% cut in order to use in-app purchases when signing up new subscribers (it drops to 15% in year two of the subscription). Ultimately, Spotify wanted the EU to probe Apple Music in relation to how Apple treats its competitors vs its own business.
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Spotify paid subscribers have now reached 100M, double the last number Apple Music reported back in January.

Spotify announced the number in its latest earnings report, for the first quarter of the year …

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Apple Music has been steadily growing over the past few years, and giving Spotify more competition along the way. Now, a new report from The Wall Street Journal says that Apple has overtaken Spotify in paid US subscribers for the first time.

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When streaming music started to take off, there were many pundits suggesting that it would be the death of the music industry, with total revenues plunging. In fact, says the industry’s worldwide trade body, the opposite has been true.

Streaming music has seen total recording industry revenue rise for the fourth year running …

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Yesterday morning, Apple responded to Spotify’s aggressive PR campaign regarding its App Store policies. Now, Spotify has fired back at Apple yet again, this time calling the company a “monopolist” and saying its policies hurt consumers and competition.

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On Wednesday, Spotify filed a complaint with the European Commission regarding Apple’s App Store policies and started an aggressive PR campaign to back it up. Apple has today published a public statement in response to Spotify’s argument.

Apple says that Spotify is spreading a ‘misleading rhetoric’. They cite how Spotify makes most of its revenue from advertising and mobile carrier partner deals, of which Apple takes no cut at all. The In-App Purchase subscriptions are a small percentage of Spotify’s business — and Spotify wants to pay Apple zero for those subscription sales meaning they are essentially taking the benefits of a free app and Apple receives no compensation at all from Spotify’s operations.

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Industry observers have been commenting on three potential risks from the complaint Spotify has made against Apple in regard to its App Store policies.

An anonymous source close to Spotify has also explained why the same complaint hasn’t been levied against Google, which also takes a cut from in-app purchases …

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Earlier today, Spotify launched a new website called It’s Time to Play Fair, where it proceeded to lay out a timeline and “facts” about how Apple mistreats companies like Spotify. I saw a few snippets of it this morning, but once I had a chance to read the entire thing I almost laughed out loud.

The delusion that the entire site has is a poor attempt to build a Steve Jobs’ style reality distortion field. Spotify had a “Facts” page, and I want to respond to it point by point. Before you a leave comment that I am an Apple fanboy, I would like to point you to articles where I prove that is not the case.
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Spotify has filed a complaint with the European Commission regarding Apple’s App Store practices, the company announced in a blog post. Spotify says Apple’s App Store rules limit choice and stifle innovation.

Spotify targets Apple’s 30% cut — it refers to as a ‘tax’ — as a key element of its complaint but also references rules about how Apple restricts third-party app developers from communicating with customers. Ultimately, Spotify wants Apple Music to be forced to abide by the same rules that Apple imposes on third-party apps.

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If you have been considering a Spotify Premium account, the company is upping the ante with a new offer. Just under a year ago, it offered a deal to bundle in a basic Hulu plan for $12.99/month – a $5/month saving – but it’s now going one better and making Hulu completely free …

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While Spotify recently launched its service in India, Warner Music Group is still fighting the company over rights in the country. However, it looks like Warner Music’s intentions go beyond India.

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