Spotify has acknowledged an issue that’s causing some of its paid Premium subscribers to encounter ads when trying to play music. In an X post published on Thursday by Spotify’s customer service account, the company said it’s looking into the problem and linked to its Community website where the issue has been documented by users […]
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Music streamer SoundCloud announced a partnership with Ticketmaster and Universe, owned by Live Nation, to let artists list events on their profile in a customized way. The company said it would create more promotion opportunities for artists in the future in partnership with Ticketmaster through a new promotion program but didn’t give any more details. […]
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Iâm hard-pressed to find another example of a tech company announcing something and then waiting over four years to actually ship it, but thatâs exactly the situation weâve reached with Spotify and its long-delayed HiFi feature. The latest reports indicate itâs finally coming in a matter of months as part of a Music Pro package that Spotify hopes will ensure the serviceâs continued profitability.
But this has become quite the saga.
First introduced on February 22nd 2021, Spotify HiFi was to roll out later that year â or such was the original plan, anyway. In that story, I wrote âyour turn, Apple Music,â which is funny in retrospect since Apple Music managed to successfully deliver lossless and high-resolution audio just a few months later (and at no added cost for subscribers). Amazon stopped charging extra for lossless music at around the same time.
By all accounts, this aggressive approach from both companies totally derailed Spotify HiFi, which was always going to demand an upcharge over the serviceâs regular Premium subscription. The company went radio silent on the feature, and Spotify spokespeople never provided any meaningful updates on its status.
On Thursday, Spotify announced that it now accepts audiobooks narrated using ElevenLabs’ AI voice technology. Given that ElevenLabs is currently among the most recognized AI audio providers, this new partnership is expected to boost the quantity of AI-narrated audiobooks on the platform. To upload an audiobook narrated by AI, authors need to download the file […]
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Spotify is bringing more AI-narrated audiobooks to its platform via a new partnership with ElevenLabs. On Thursday, the audio streaming giant announced it would begin accepting audiobooks recorded using ElevenLabs’ AI voice software, saying it “recognizes the potential of digital voice-narration to grow and expand the audiobook market.”
To be clear, AI-recorded audiobooks are already permitted on Spotify, albeit with several restrictions. Spotify’s audiobook distribution platform, Findaway Voices, only accepts digitally recorded audiobooks from “specific partners” — having previously also partnered with Google Play Books — and requires each recording to undergo review before publishing. ElevenLabs is one of the most recognizable AI voice providers on the market, however, which could lead to a surge in synthetically voiced audiobooks on Spotify’s platform.
Authors can use ElevenLabs to narrate their audiobooks in 32 languages, with a wide selection of synthetic voices to choose from. The free version of the software only provides 10 minutes of text-to-voice per month. There are several premium tiers available that expand this limitation, but users will need at least the $99 monthly Pro subscription to generate 500 minutes of narration — roughly the length of the average audiobook.
While Spotify says it “firmly believes in the power of human narration,” the company believes that digital voices could make audiobook production more cost-effective for smaller authors and make it easier to create audiobooks of older, backlist titles that would otherwise be ignored. Spotify says that all AI-narrated titles will have their metadata marked and be clearly identified to listeners in book descriptions with “this audiobook is narrated by a digital voice.”
It’s been nearly four years since Spotify announced a HiFi tier for its music streaming service that would support lossless audio. That wait could end this year, Bloomberg reports, as the company works to finalize details, including streaming rights.
Spotify could charge as much as $5 or $6 extra per month for the new tier — said to be named “Music Pro” — which is in line with estimates CEO Daniel Ek shared last year. Spotify’s Premium tier currently starts at $11.99 per month before family or student discounts, the result of two price hikes in as many years.
Competitors like Apple Music include lossless streaming in their services’ base price, but Spotify reportedly plans to justify the extra charge by including more features in Music Pro, including song remixing and concert ticket sales that would grant subscribers exclusive deals and early access.
Earlier this month, Spotify signed a new multi-year licensing agreement with Warner Music Group to secure future streaming rights and help “shape the future of audio-visual streaming,” with HiFi presumably included in that vision. It inked a similar deal with Universal Music Group in late January, with UMG specifically teasing HiFi streaming and offering further ideas of what a “superfan” music service could offer. Notable suggestions included priority access to deluxe edition content and early music releases, as well as exclusive listening party invites and artist Q&A sessions.
It’s taken a little longer than expected, but it looks like the world’s biggest music streaming service may finally be ready to turn up the volume on HiFi in 2025.
Courtesy of Hangout
Joseph Perla thinks the way we listen to music is due for a shake-up.
Spotify, the largest music streaming service, has been focused on AI and podcasting. And TikTok, a breakthrough platform for music discovery and marketing, could still be banned in the US.
Perla, CEO of social music platform Hangout, wants to make the music listening experience more human.
"I'm building a whole new kind of social platform that's focused on connection and unity and harmony," Perla told Business Insider. "And I'm doing that with music."
Hangout, which launched in November, lets people connect around music on both web and mobile through listening rooms where users can queue songs, chat, and discover new music. Hangout has surpassed 1.1 million registered users since launching, according to the company.
It's not the first time Perla has built a music product. He was the VP of technology of Turntable.fm, a similar music service where users could collaboratively play music in chat rooms. Turntable's original iteration ran from 2011 to 2013. It was relaunched by CEO Billy Chasen in 2021 with backing from Andreessen Horowitz. Chasen's version has since rebranded to Deepcut.fm.
When building Hangout, Perla said it was crucial to secure rights to music off the bat. Through partnerships with labels like Sony Music, Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, and Merlin (a digital rights agency that covers independent labels), Hangout is able to host over 100 million full-length tracks on the platform. Users can also connect their Spotify, Apple Music, or Soundcloud accounts.
"That means that we have content for everybody's taste, everybody's genre," Perla said. "As we scale up the platform to more and more users, we will have a Hangout for you that fits your exact taste, that has five other people that love exactly that kind of thing that you like."
Hangout has both public and private rooms where users can listen to music, but private hangouts do require a paid subscription. The company is using a freemium model for monetization early on, with paid subscriptions running between $5 and $50 a month.
Perla said Hangout also wants to be a hub for music marketing as artists prepare to launch albums and tours. It has already hosted listening parties and AMAs with musicians, such as Empire of the Sun, Greta Van Fleet, and Cage the Elephant.
Hangout's launch comes at a time when consumers are craving new social networking platforms.
"We don't want to be the everything platform, but we think what we've made a much healthier way of having a social experience," Perla said.
Other social music apps have also gained traction in the past few years, like group-listening platforms Stationhead and social music feed Airbuds. Spotify itself has made a play in social listening, launching a feature called Jam in 2023 that lets groups sync their listening. It has collaborative playlists, too.
In August, Hangout announced that it had closed a $8.2 million seed round from investors such as Founders Fund, Elizabeth Street Ventures, and 468 Capital.
Read the 26-page pitch deck Hangout used to raise capital:
Note: Hangout has redacted details and amended some pages so that the document could be shared externally.
Turntable Labs
Turntable Labs
"In the 2000s there was pent up demand for on-demand solo streaming," the slide reads. It then lists several services that were popular at the time: Napster, Pirate Bay, Kazaa, LimeWire, eDonkey, Morpheus, and SoulSeek.
Turntable Labs
The slide says that Spotify "captured the opportunity."
Turntable Labs
"Over a decade later, Groovy proved there was pent up demand for social listening," the slide says.
The pitch deck page says that Groovy had 250 million users.
Turntable Labs
"Due to piracy, Groovy app abruptly shut down by the music industry in 2022," the page reads.
Turntable Labs
"We will capture latent demand for group streaming," the slide says. It also lists several music apps that were shut down, including Perla's previous venture, Turntable.
Turntable Labs
Turntable Labs
"Nobody social licensed all the music … until us," the slide reads. It also says that Hangout has over 100 million full tracks on its platform.
Turntable Labs
"Even TikTok couldn't get global licenses for its new music service," the slide reads.
TikTok shut down its music streaming app in 2024 and never launched it in the US.
Turntable Labs
"We are building the next generation social goliath," the slide reads, adding that social platforms primarily have not had "music at the core."
The slide includes an axis of social and entertainment platforms, including Discord, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Hulu.
Turntable Labs
Hangout@Work is the startup's enterprise offering. It pitches the product as "the soundtrack to a stronger team at work."
The slide includes testimonials as well.
Turntable Labs
Perla includes his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and his career highlights. He worked at Turntable, Facebook, and Lyft.
Turntable Labs
Turntable Labs
Turntable Labs
Turntable Labs
Turntable Labs
Turntable Labs
Turntable Labs
Turntable Labs
In this slide, Hangout ranks itself against other social and streaming platforms, including Instagram and Spotify. NPS scores are used to gauge customer loyalty.
Turntable Labs
Here's what it lists about its partnerships with the music industry:
Turntable Labs
Here's what the slide lists:
Turntable Labs
"What will we get after launch in the first 12 months?" the slide desk asks.
Here's the "expected 2025 traction" it lists:
1-3 million SaaS licenses
Only 50,000 to
break-even
Turntable Labs
Hangout launched its product in 2024 and plans to launch its avatar store in 2025. It also plans to raise a Series A investment round in 2025, while eyeing an IPO down the road.
Turntable Labs
It lists two scenarios:
Target Case
Moderate Case
Turntable Labs
Spotify and Warner Music Group have inked a new multi-year deal covering publishing and recorded music that aims to “shape the future of audio-visual streaming.” In its announcement, Spotify says the agreement will expand the streaming platform’s catalog of audio and visual content and provide “new paid subscription tiers.”
Spotify and Warner Music Group didn’t disclose financial details for the deal or the number of years it will be in place. No specifics were included about the future subscription offerings either, but it could plausibly include a “deluxe” streaming tier to deliver the long-awaited HiFi lossless audio features Spotify announced back in 2021.
This speculation is bolstered by a similar deal Spotify signed with Universal Music Group last week. That agreement referenced additional subscription tiers anchored in UMG’s “Streaming 2.0” principles, which envisions superfans paying “Super-Premium” subscriptions for features like higher quality audio. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek mentioned in remarks for the company’s recent earnings report that “the higher priced premium tier we’ve discussed” is expected to be released this year and that Spotify would “aggressively pursue” opportunities to bring new music experiences to the platform.
“For Spotify, 2025 is a year of accelerated execution, and our partners at Warner Music Group share our commitment to rapid innovation and sustained investment in our leading music offerings,” Ek said in the deal announcement. “Together, we’re pushing the boundaries of what’s possible for audiences worldwide — making paid music subscriptions more appealing while supporting artists and songwriters alike.”
The new Warner Music Group agreement also introduces a direct licensing model with Warner Chappell Music, which Spotify says “builds on the companies’ existing alignment” around royalty payments for artists. The platform reportedly has lower per-stream artist payout rates than rival services like Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music and has been widely criticized by artists who claim Spotify’s payouts are too small.
Spotify’s global head of music communications Chris Macowski told The Verge that Spotify optimizes for “higher overall payout,” and attributes competitors’ higher per-stream rates to “low engagement” on services where subscribers “listen to less music.”
The new multi-year agreement comes as Warner Music Group announced it had purchased a controlling stake in Tempo Music. The catalog company owns rights to songs by Wiz Khalifa, Florida Georgia Line, and Shane McAnally, with Billboard reporting the WMG acquisition deal to be worth “several hundred million dollars.”
Update, February 6th: Added comment from Spotify on per-stream payout rates.
Spotify and Warner Music Group (WMG) have unveiled a new multi-year agreement that covers both recorded music and music publishing, the companies announced on Thursday. WMG owns labels behind popular artists like Dua Lipa, Coldplay, and Ed Sheeran. The companies said in a press release that “the new deal will help deliver new fan experiences, […]
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AP and Getty Images
YouTube is the biggest video platform in the world. It's central to popular culture. It's a $50 billion business for Google, its parent company.
But Google would like you to know that YouTube is also a place where lots of people listen to — and watch — podcasts.
"YouTube continues to be the leader in streaming watchtime and podcasts," the company noted in its fourth-quarter earnings release on Tuesday. That's a glancing, anodyne statement. But it's also meaningful: I've never seen Google mention podcasting in its messages to Wall Street before.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai also mentioned YouTube's embrace of podcasting in his scripted comments at the beginning of the earnings call. So did Philipp Schindler, the company's chief business officer.
To underline this: Companies like Google spend a lot of time figuring out what they do and don't want to highlight during earnings. So, dropping "podcasts" into the messaging isn't a random choice.
It also makes lots of sense. As we noted last fall, Donald Trump leaned heavily into podcasts in the 2024 election — which meant Donald Trump also leaned heavily into YouTube.
That's because increasing numbers of people are using YouTube to consume podcasts — either to actually watch them, like a low-budget TV chat show, or to simply ignore the video and listen to them in the background. Edison Research says YouTube has now become the most popular way for people to consume podcasts, period.
You could see YouTube CEO Neal Mohan leaning into YouTube's new prominence in the political landscape last month when he posted photos of himself at a pre-inauguration party alongside a slew of Trump-friendly podcasters, including Ben Shapiro, Glenn Beck, and Lex Fridman. (Fridman also got a shout-out during the earnings call.)
Ahead of the inauguration this weekend, we brought together a group of incoming officials and next gen media - podcasters & political commentators who were a major force on @YouTube this year. We're excited to see what they do next! pic.twitter.com/jLTmR7oApG
— Neal Mohan (@nealmohan) January 21, 2025
But YouTube won't have podcasting and video to itself. Spotify, which has long had video as an option for its podcasters, is trying hard to get some of its highest-profile podcasters to become video stars as well.
On Tuesday morning, Spotify announced its fourth-quarter earnings, marking its first full year of profitability since its inception 17 years ago. The operating income for the quarter reached a record €477 million ($509.48 million) and amounted to €1.4 billion ($1.495 billion) for the 2024 fiscal year. Spotify also reported an addition of 35 million monthly […]
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Spotify raked in enough cash and new subscribers in 2024 to celebrate its first full year of profitability since the service was launched in 2008. The announcement comes as part of Spotify’s fourth-quarter earnings release, with net profits at €1.14 billion (around $1.17 billion) for the whole of 2024, compared to the €532 million (around $549 million) in losses reported last year.
Spotify said in November that it was on track to hit its profitability milestone. Total yearly revenue grew to €15.6 billion (about $16.1 billion) from the €13.2 billion (about $13.6 billion) reported for 2023. That was driven in part by an 11 percent year-over-year increase in Premium subscribers, jumping from 236 million to 263 million, while the total number of monthly active users rose 12 percent to 675 million.
The growth in subscribers comes despite raising the price of its Premium subscriptions twice within an 11-month period. The jump from $9.99 to $10.99 per month in July 2023 marked the first time that Spotify had increased its US pricing since launching in the country in 2011, and was later followed by an increase to $11.99 a month in June 2024.
New AI playlist and audiobook features have rolled out across the same period, but there’s still no mention in today’s report of when Spotify’s long-promised lossless streaming option could launch.
“I am very excited about 2025 and feel really good about where we are as both a product and as a business,” says Spotify CEO Daniel Ek. “We will continue to place bets that will drive long-term impact, increasing our speed while maintaining the levels of efficiency we achieved last year. It’s this combination that will enable us to build the best and most valuable user experience, grow sustainably, and deliver creativity to the world.”
Youtube; Getty Images; Chelsea Jia Feng/BI
Early-day YouTubers like Trisha Paytas, Tana Mongeau, Logan Paul, and many others are cashing in on the podcast boom by creating a new identity, audience, and brand.
Paytas, who built an audience of 5 million YouTube subscribers with personal vlogs from her kitchen floor and public feuds, has taken her career to the next level through her podcast "Just Trish," for example. She signed last year with the Hollywood talent agency CAA and expanded her business with a merchandise line and cross-country tour. Mongeau, who rose to fame with her NSFW storytime videos, cohosts a podcast called "Cancelled," which has helped reinvent her image and reframe her online persona as more relatable. And, Paul's "Impaulsive" podcast has both helped him stay relevant and establish a more mature audience.
Thanks to video, podcasting has taken on an entirely new meaning and is attracting more digital creators. Once a solo audio-only experience, today's creator podcasts mimic talk shows. The boom in video podcasts has also grown YouTube into a top podcasting platform in the US.
"For existing YouTube creators, podcasting on YouTube gives them more tools in their creative tool belt," Kai Chuk, YouTube's head of podcasting, told Business Insider. "It gives them more flexibility to create in ways that hopefully make their lives easier."
Podcasts have helped more creators expand their businesses and make money through memberships, touring, and merchandise.
For instance, Paytas, who posts video episodes of her podcast on YouTube, also publishes bonus content like extra episodes and reaction videos behind a Patreon paywall for her 46,309 paying members.
Many podcasts use a similar strategy, including "Pretty Basic," which creates paywalled content for Patreon, "Brooke and Connor Make a Podcast," which uses the creator startup Fourthwall, and the "H3 Show," which has a tiered membership through YouTube.
Lauren Riihimaki, who goes by LaurDIY on YouTube, initially built a kid and family-friendly following online with her viral crafting and DIY videos.
Riihimaki, 31, now hosts a podcast called "Wild 'Til 9" with her husband, where the couple shares relationship advice and speaks about more mature topics like marriage and life in your 30s.
"I've been a creator for like 13 or 14 years," Riihimaki told BI. "Part of how I've been able to sustain this career is by being flexible in the art of the pivot. I ended up with a very family-friendly audience with a younger demographic. Growing older, I no longer felt connected to the content."
Podcasts are helping creators like Riihimaki engage audiences in new ways.
"The podcast was an opportunity for me to have a totally clean slate and a brand new audience," she said.
Chuk said YouTube encourages podcasters to use tools that build community among their listeners, like going live, using its premieres feature that lets fans watch a new video together and chat in real time, and interacting in the chat.
"If you're watching a podcast live, that's a very different feel as an audience member than just clicking on something that's been pre-recorded," Chuk said. "You feel like you're part of the experience."
YouTube has also found that audiences tend to watch podcasts on their TVs and with friends. Last year, viewers watched over 400 million hours of podcasts monthly on living room devices, tuning into podcasts similar to a late-night talk show, according to YouTube.
"People want to watch their favorite podcasts in the comfort of their living room," Chuk said. "It makes sense. But that's certainly something we didn't expect three or four years ago."
Alex Cooper might be the best example of an influencer who's turned a podcast into a sprawling business empire. Cooper's podcast company, Unwell Network, offers several shows, and she recently launched an electrolyte drink called Unwell Hydration.
For the average creator, there are several ways to monetize a podcast, from memberships and merchandise to live shows and brand deals. And the podcast format can open up more revenue streams than traditional YouTube videos.
For instance, podcasts are typically over an hour long, which makes them an easy format for a live show or tour. The longer the podcast, the more advertisements a creator can place. Unlike an average YouTube video, a podcast typically includes multiple ads sprinkled throughout the show and even product placement.
Some podcasts also have a distinct brand and a logo, which may make it easier to create merchandise around.
Creators don't need to be Cooper-level famous to earn big from their shows, either.
TikTok star Jake Shane has taken his viral success to YouTube and Spotify with his podcast, "Therapuss," where Shane interviews guests in a talk-show format. He's spun his podcast success into a cross-country tour.
"It's a unique medium that's matured so much," said Casey Adams, founder of the podcast agency Listener.com. "It's very early still, in terms of what a successful business looks like on the back end of podcasting."
On YouTube, Chuk said the company has seen a rise in new podcast genres like kids and sports. Recently, kids' content studio Pocket.watch partnered with GoKidGo to launch music and mystery-led podcasts for kids with YouTube talent like Diana Kidisyuk and the creators behind the YouTube channel "GEM Sisters."
"This is a brand and a channel that can create so much enterprise value if you do it right," Adams said. "It's not just let me get a mic and talk to my friend. It's like a real business, a real brand."
Courtesy of Sophia Omarji
In January 2023, I moved from the UK to Sweden for my dream job at Spotify. I'd been at the company since July 2022, when I joined as a user experience research intern, and secured a full-time associate role and later a promotion.
As a music psychology graduate, joining Spotify was a dream come true. I never expected to reach that point in my career fresh out of college — I assumed it would take years.
At the end of 2023, I was among the 17% affected by layoffs at the company I'd dreamed of joining. Since then, I've processed the reality of being laid off and navigated the emotional and professional challenges that come with it.
The year since has been anything but straightforward, from grappling with visa issues to navigating Sweden's competitive job market. It has also been a time of profound learning and unexpected growth.
I woke up and rolled over to see two emails from work. One was sent to the whole company from Spotify's CEO, Daniel Ek, and another was sent from HR — an invite for a 15-minute individual meeting to discuss my role. Having been present for another round of layoffs earlier that year, I knew that I was about to be let go.
Every day at work had felt surreal and confirmed I was living out my aspirations. I loved the culture, people, and projects — the role excited me and built my passion further. I'd envisioned a long career at the company.
In the call, they told me my role was being made redundant, and they couldn't find me another position because of the scale of the reduction. I was given a three-month notice period but wasn't required to work from then on.
It wasn't just about the job loss but the upheaval of everything I'd planned for the coming years. The uncertainty was further amplified by my work visa situation, being in Sweden as a British citizen, forcing me to navigate emotional turmoil and the post-Brexit bureaucratic maze.
With a ticking clock and no clear path forward, I felt paralyzed. I quickly realized that the emotional aftermath of losing a job was more complex than I'd anticipated.
I had to give myself the space to experience the stages of grief, mourning the loss of my sense of identity and future certainty alongside the feelings of rejection that accompanied it. Over time, I began to appreciate the value of giving myself time to adjust rather than rushing to fill the void.
It's easy to feel as if you're falling behind when you have no clear direction or routine, but I soon realized that growth often arises in moments of uncertainty.
I decided to focus on what I could still control. I leaned into the skills I'd developed at Spotify, such as data analysis, storytelling, and working with different stakeholders, and explored new avenues for applying them.
I couldn't find part-time work in Sweden because my work visa was revoked, leaving me in a sticky situation. Over the past year, I've focused on networking, attending conferences, and expanding my skill set through courses.
I've also honed my background in music psychology, searching for opportunities to share that expertise through workshops, speaking engagements, my blog, and my podcast.
The pressure to progress quickly, build experience, and establish ourselves can feel overwhelming, especially in industries such as tech, where expertise is highly valued.
I've learned being junior doesn't mean being less capable — it's an opportunity to build a foundation of skills and knowledge that will support long-term growth. Young people bring fresh perspectives, adaptability, and a willingness to learn, and adaptability isn't just about adjusting to changes within your current role or industry — it's about being open to geographical and professional shifts that push you out of your comfort zone.
After my layoff, I could stay in Sweden for six months before ultimately having no choice but to leave Stockholm. I relocated to Dubai to be with my family.
The transition was difficult — I had to leave behind my partner, friends, and the life I had built. Adjusting to a long-distance relationship added another layer of complexity, but I learned that a new location doesn't have to limit opportunities.
I'm navigating life on the move and juggling pursuing my next job with quality time spent with family and friends, exploring new places, and focusing on personal and professional projects. My ultimate goal is to return to Sweden — or wherever the best opportunity takes me — so my partner and I can reunite and build the best life possible.
My goal for the year ahead is to find professional success. I'm open to similar roles and new directions if they align with my values. Whether it's in music psychology, UX research, or the broader tech industry, my focus is on meaningful and impactful work. As the world evolves, so will my career.
Do you want to share how your layoff affected you? Email Lauryn Haas at [email protected].
Amazon is the latest company to announce a price hike for its music streaming subscriptions. The company revealed this week that the price of an Amazon Music Unlimited Individual plan for Prime members is going from $9.99 per month to $10.99. As for subscribers without a Prime membership, the price of their subscription is going […]
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Spotify wants to see 1 billion people paying for streaming music, double the more than 500 million customers who currently subscribe to Spotify and its competitors. In Spotify’s view, artists are lucky to have streaming services, “each doing its part to normalize the behavior of paying for music.”
On Tuesday, the streaming giant announced that it paid out $10 billion to the music industry in 2024, with total contributions reaching almost $60 billion since its founding in 2006 — five years after Napster ceased operation. Spotify estimates that around 10,000 artists generated at least $10,000 per year on the platform in 2014. “Today, well over 10,000 artists generate over $100,000 per year from Spotify alone,” Spotify VP David Kaefer said in the blog post. “That’s a beautiful thing.”
In the blog, humbly titled “Getting the world to value music,” Kaefer describes the pre-streaming era of music as an exclusive club that made it difficult for new artists to enter the industry. “Now, you can record something today and have it on Spotify tomorrow,” said Kaefer. “Everyone’s invited.”
In November, Spotify reported it was on track to achieve its “first full year of profitability” and had €4 billion (about $4.1 billion) in total revenue for the preceding three months — a 19 percent increase from the same quarter a year earlier. Next week, it will report earnings for the entirety of 2024.
Spotify reportedly has lower per-stream artist payout rates than rival services like Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music, and the platform’s streaming royalties and recommendation algorithms have been widely criticized by artists and policymakers over the years. Many artists claim that payouts are too small and that the focus on promoting big artists makes it hard for new musicians to be discovered on the platform.
Chris Macowski, Spotify’s global head of music communications, attributes competitors’ higher per-stream rates to “low engagement” on services where subscribers “listen to less music.” Spotify optimizes for “higher overall payout,” he says.
Spotify has released industry payout figures frequently over the last few years to push back against these criticisms. In December, a parody “Spotify Unwrapped” website that compared Spotify subscription fees to artist payouts was taken down by Spotify’s legal team.
Update, January 28th: Added comment from Spotify on per-stream payout rates.
Audio streaming company Spotify said Tuesday that it paid $10 billion to the music industry last year. The company added that it has given nearly $60 billion in industry payouts since its inception. This is another effort from Spotify to dispel reports that the company doesn’t reward artists properly for their work. The key point […]
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