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Spotify is releasing new engagement and control features for podcasts on its platform: auto-generated and time-synced transcripts, expanded Podcast Chapters, and updated Podcast Show pages.

 

Podcast transcripts enable listeners to skim through episodes without having to listen through them. On Spotify, transcripts can be accessed from the “read along” section on the screen by scrolling down while an episode is playing.

 

Spotify is now making transcripts richer and easier to follow by making them “more visually and textually accessible.” The auto-transcription feature is built on OpenAI’s Whisper technology, which makes it possible to translate podcasts into different languages. Spotify also plans to further develop this feature in the future, and hints at the ability to add media to transcripts, which could be useful for when a creator is describing an image in the episode, for instance.

Spotify Announces New Podcast Engagement Tools, Including Auto-Generated Transcripts



Spotify has made some changes to its Ambassador Ads program that pays creators to read ads promoting Spotify content. As part of the update, Spotify will no longer enable podcasters of white noise to participate in the program, 1st of October onwards. White noise podcasts are a type of content where relaxing sounds like rain or static are played in loops.

 

The reason behind Spotify excluding white noise podcasters from the program seems to be self-explanatory. Since ambient noises are frequently used as background noises, they don’t really serve the purpose of regular podcasts, which is to engage listeners. Spotify, therefore, believes that their cost isn’t well spent.

Spotify's Ambassador Ads Program to Stop Supporting White Noise Podcasters



Spotify is introducing new updates dedicated to podcasters that will let them customize their show page and get more detailed analytics about their listeners. Podcasters will be able to highlight their best episodes, select preview clips for new listeners when their podcast is recommended to them, recommend content from other Spotify podcasters, and discover new ways to monetize their content.

 

The new customization tools will help podcasters enhance their presence on the platform by offering a tailored introduction to their show that represents them and their content in the most authentic way.

 

There will soon be an option for podcasters to add links to their social accounts in their bio to help fans learn more about them. They will also be enabled to point new listeners to their best episodes on their show page, hence maximizing the opportunity of gaining new fans. 

 

With a feature called ‘host recommendations,’ podcasters will be able to select up to two pieces of content from other creators on Spotify, including podcasts, music albums, playlists, and audiobooks, and pin it to the top of the “More like this” tab. This can serve as a good way to reach new audiences, as well as personalize one’s playlists with content from other creators.

Spotify Announces New Updates for Creators to Make the Most Out of their Content on the Platform

Half a Billion Users Added To Paid Music Streaming in a Decade


Global music industry revenues have grown by 9 percent in 2022, all credit goes to the continuing growth in streaming subscriptions. According to the IFPI’s latest Global Music Report, 2022 marked the eighth consecutive year of growth for the music industry that had previously struggled with declining revenues for 15 years.

Half a Billion Users Added To Paid Music Streaming in a Decade #Infographic



Spotify recently announced at its Stream On event that it is revamping its app to expand user experience beyond music by introducing people to different kinds of content. In other words, Spotify’s new display that consists of full screen images and videos, seems to resemble TikTok and Instagram feeds.

 


Over the years, Spotify has worked to introduce a variety of functions in its app in addition to music streaming. These include video podcasts, audiobooks, and live audio. Spotify has now redesigned the app to help make these content forms easily discoverable. The new home screen shows album and playlist covers at the top, while video podcasts could be seen running on autoplay to give users a peek into the content.

Spotify Transforms its App Design to Bring Attention to Things More than Just Music



Founder of Spotify Daniel Ek has been reported to have cofounded a new health and fitness startup based in Sweden, called Neko Health. The company relies on artificial intelligence to help people detect health problems using non-invasive body scans.

 

Neko Health’s 360-degree body scan technology has been primarily developed to help prevent diseases with early detection of symptoms. It is equipped with over 70 sensors that gather information from more than “50 million data points on skin, heart, vessels, respiration, microcirculation and more.” Its self-learning AI-powered system then analyses the gathered information and provides results for clients.

Spotify Founder Daniel Ek Cofounds Swedish Healthcare Startup ‘Neko Health’

Most Preferred Digital Audio Streaming Platforms in The U.K. and The U.S.

 

Digital audio streaming has made its place in a big way in the past ten years. The data provided by Statista’s Digital Music Outlook shows that the market size of music streaming increased to US$30.33 billion in 2022, reaching a total of 776.2 million users.

 

The pandemic years brought an actual growth in the podcast industry, as people wanted means of entertainment while staying at home which drove up listenership and advertiser investment. According to Megaphone, a podcast technology company owned by Spotify, where 2021 was a time of “content explosion”, 2022 has been one of “diversification”, as the most noteworthy jumps in podcast downloads came from markets newer to the medium, such as Spain (+298 percent), Italy (+244 percent), and France (+375 percent), while the highest growth in unique listeners in terms of age groups was the 13-17 year olds (+49 percent) and the 55-64 year olds (+45 percent).

 

Most Preferred Digital Audio Streaming Platforms in The U.K. and The U.S. #Infographic

All Songs with Over 1 Billion Spotify Streams


Spotify is a registered Swedish audio streaming and media services provider. It was found on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the leading music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active users, including 195 million paying subscribers, as of September 2022.

 

Spotify is relatively a new application. It was launched in Europe in 2008 and ultimately moved into the American market in 2011. Since then, the Stockholm-based company has become the world’s most popular audio streaming service with users across 183 markets.

 

With such a vast user base, many famous artists on Spotify have seen their biggest hit songs engage millions of streams. In July 2021, Spotify formed the Billions Club, which is a playlist that comprises of every song to reach the 1 billion milestone.

 

All Songs with Over 1 Billion Spotify Streams #Infographic

 


Spotify just announced that it now has 72 million paid subscribers and 381 million monthly active users, which is a 19% year-over-year increase. This suggests that Spotify is currently leading the global music streaming industry.

 


Moreover, in this quarter, Spotify’s average revenue per user increased to around $5.03, which is a 4% year-over-year rise. The company also managed to recover a loss of €101 million from the previous year, with a profit of €2 million up.

Spotify Boasts Rise in Number of Subscribers, Active Users, and Revenue

 


Facebook has partnered with Spotify and has released a miniplayer for its News Feed. As a result, users can play Spotify music and podcasts within Facebook’s app. Users can share content from Spotify to Facebook and then play the music while scrolling through Facebook.

 

The feature will initially be available in 27 markets, including the US, before rolling out globally. It is being launched for both iOS and Android.

Facebook Releases ‘Miniplayer’ for its App in Collaboration with Spotify

Apple Music pays twice per stream as Spotify does

According to the reports, Apple is all ready to send letters to all the artists and in the letters, the tech giant has claimed that Apple Music pays one cent per stream that is almost twice as much as Spotify pays to its artists. A lot of the streaming services are trying to be generous for the artists since the global pandemic of Covid-19 has ruined all the schedules for concerts, live shows, etc. For the same concern, Apple has been reported to invest recently in UnitedMasters which is an independent music platform for artists.

Apple Music pays twice per stream as Spotify does

Spotify designs a new and fresh look for its Desktop App and Web Player

In order to make the use much easier and for a better experience, the company has overhauled and redesigned its desktop app and web player, according to Spotify. The company researched and tested the new design for various months and also got feedback from users to ensure that the new design will be better than before.



The biggest change in the experience would be that while switching from the desktop app to the web player, the same general design will be seen for both for a seamless experience. In addition, the search has been repositioned and sent to the left side of the navigation page with a redesigned Home experience. The profile page of a user will have top tracks and artists featured on top for a quicker search.

The editing and customization of the playlist have also been made a lot easier along with a dropdown menu located at the top-right corner that enables the listeners to view their Recently played tracks or edit the Queue.

Spotify designs a new and fresh look for its Desktop App and Web Player


On Wednesday, some world-famous artists including Dua Lipa and Rana Del Rey’s Spotify pages got hacked by an apparent Taylor Swift fan who replaced the celebrities’ images with his own.  


The attacker who disclosed his name as ‘'Daniel’' further asked people to add him on Snapchat and also posted messages about Donald Trump and Taylor Swift, like ‘'Trump 2020’' and "Best of all shout out to my queen Taylor Swift". 


This action was bizarre, and Spotify’s security has been questioned. Spotify was quick to notice the behavior and reversed the changes that were made to the pages, which now appear to be back to normal.  

Some Artists’ Spotify Pages got Hacked by a Taylor Swift Fan Apparently


Spotify is currently testing a new feature that is similar to Snapchat Stories. The feature will be put alongside some of the playlists on Spotify. A few Stories-like video clips have already been spotted on the Christmas Hits playlists shared by popular artists like Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Lopez, and Pentatonix, where they talked about their personal anecdotes about Christmas and their song writing processes. 


Tapping an icon on the top left of each supported playlist would display the short videos and the interface is pretty much like that of Instagram and Snapchat Stories: tapping on the left and right sides of the screen will help you navigate backward and forward through the series of videos, respectively. 

Spotify is Testing a Feature Similar to Snapchat Stories


Apple just announced a new program called the App Store Small Business Program, which will implement App Store fees for small business owners and independent developers. A number of companies seem quite unhappy with Apple’s move and have openly criticized it.  


Spotify criticized Apple’s new program in a statement saying that its App Store policies are ‘'arbitrary and capricious’'. ‘'While we find their fees to be excessive and discriminatory, Apple's tying of its own payment system to the ‌App Store‌ and the communications restrictions it uses to punish developers who choose not to use it, put apps like Spotify at a significant disadvantage to their own competing service.’', Spotify’s statement read. 


Spotify further added that it hopes that regulators would ‘'ignore Apple's "window dressing" and act with urgency to protect consumer choice, ensure fair competition, and create a level playing field for all.’' 


This isn’t the first time that Spotify is criticizing the tech giant. Apple and Spotify have had a long-term rivalry, where Spotify has accused the company of anti-competitive behavior. Spotify even filed a formal complaint against Apple, accusing the company of using the App Store to deliberately disadvantage other app developers. The matter eventually ended up in an EU Commission antitrust investigation.  


On the other hand, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney also released a statement following Apple’s announcement of the program, where he said that Apple is again ‘'breaking the promise of treating all developers equally.’' 


‘'By giving special 15 percent terms to select robber barons like Amazon, and now also to small indies, Apple is hoping to remove enough critics that they can get away with their blockade on competition and 30 percent tax on most in-app purchases. But consumers will still pay inflated prices marked up by the Apple tax.’', Sweeney added.  

Spotify and Epic Speak up Against Apple’s App Store Small Business Program

Top-rated Podcasts publishers in the world

Podcasts have gained enormous popularity in the past few years; however, there are still some marketers who believe that podcasts are overhyped, but it won’t affect its popularity. Every year, millions of people are attracted to the podcasts, and the publishers actively keep on posting different yet exciting new content for the viewers.

Top-rated Podcasts publishers in the world #infographic


Spotify just updated its iPhone and iPad app with a new home screen widget after a brief beta testing period. The new home screen widget provides quick access to recently played playlists, artists, albums, and podcasts. 


The widget is available in both small and medium sizes and can be accessed by updating the Spotify app to version 8.5.80 or later.  

Spotify’s Updated Home Screen Widget is Now Available for iOS 14 and iPadOS 14




Spotify has added a new, much asked-for feature to its apps for both Windows and Mac - the apps can now directly start streaming to Chromecast devices. These apps could control pre-existing Chromecast streams previously, but couldn't start streaming directly. Users were required to start a Chromecast stream on their iOS or Android and control it through the desktop app with the help of Spotify Connect.

Spotify's Desktop Apps Now Directly Stream to Chromecast Devices

Spotify introducing podcast charts

Apart from the gigantic music library, Spotify is also a home of podcasts. There are tons of podcasts on the music app, ranging from comedy to documentary podcasts. However, the podcasts area is being revamped, and a new feature called podcast charts is being introduced.

The demand for podcast shows is high on Spotify, and it makes sense for them to overhaul its structure to give the audience what they love. With this, Spotify will be up to par with other popular podcast players such as Apple Podcasts. The podcast genre will also see a substantial newer audience listening to the shows.

As of now, there will be two podcast charts that will be introduced, Trending and Top. Each of the charts will be based on different algorithms. Trending will boast 50 rising shows on the platform based on the increasing rate of listeners of a particular show, much like YouTube’s trending tab. The top will feature 200 most popular shows being listened to in the region. Yes, the Top feature will be separated by region.

Spotify introducing podcast charts


After the downfall of the music industry for two consecutive years, it is now finally ready to bounce back. With an 8.2% rise in the revenues of the music industry since last year, it has been observed that the transition in music has greatly affected the overall revenue of the music industry. In the beginning, music was only available to the people in the form of CDs or cassettes. Even the radios played a long list of songs once in a while, but, with time, everything started to become more available and digitized.

The rebirth of the Music Industry due to streaming and subscription #infographic

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