Music-making AI software has advanced so far in the past few years that it’s no longer a frightening novelty; it’s a viable tool.
Source: How AI-generated music is changing the way hits are made – The Verge
States are ready to join the fight for the internet — if the courts let them
Source: California is leading the state-by-state fight for net neutrality – The Verge
Earlier this year, Amazon rolled out a new feature that allowed Alexa device owners to create their own custom skills using preconfigured templates. Today, Amazon is expanding Alexa Blueprints, as the service is called, to include a handful of new templates designed for families and roommates. Thes…
Spotify today is announcing a new way for students to access its Premium service, along with Hulu and Showtime, for a discounted price of $4.99 per month for all three. The new deal is an expansion of the existing Hulu and Spotify bundle for students, which launched around a year ago at the same price.
Source: Spotify expands its $4.99 per month student bundle with Hulu to include Showtime | TechCrunch
Fresh research has revealed that Google has pulled ahead of Amazon in the smart speaker department, the latest move by the tech giant in its quest to be the best in the biz at tracking users and building speech recognition tools.
When Spotify detects ad blockers, it warns the free user at least once before suspending them. But the streamer is also building new ways to detect and block the ad blockers.
Source: Spotify, Other Streamers Losing Revenue To Ad-Blockers – hypebot
Amazon’s Twitch is cheating music creators and rights’ owners out of their just due. Using music without permission or payment deprives creators and performers, and impacts everyone that works for them and with them.
Apple CEO Tim Cook recently sat down to discuss Apple Music and its place in the burgeoning music streaming world, once again touting the service’s human content curation as a key benefit over competitors like Spotify.
Source: Cook says Apple not in music streaming for the money, touts human content curation
How CEO Daniel Ek plans to beat Apple, Amazon, and Google at the music game.
Source: Spotify’s $30 billion playlist for global domination
With everyone from Amazon to will.i.am trying to get us to talk to their speakers, should listeners be excited, or worried?
Source: How Smart Speakers Are Changing the Way We Listen to Music | Pitchfork
Spotify missed big on its bottom line. Investors sold the stock on the news. In recent after-hours trading, shares in the streaming music company were down $14.30 a share, or 8.41%, to $155.70
The streaming music company’s number of paying subscribers grew to 75 million during the first three months of the year, in line with expectations and maintaining Spotify’s lead in a heated battle with Apple Music, which has 40 million paying subscribers. But diminishing revenue-per-user, as Spotify races to boost its membership through discounted family and student plans, took a toll.
A 21-month study finds that as users are fed more ads, they listen less; some subscribe, but not enough to compensate for lost ad revenue.
Source: Pandora Learns the Cost of Ads, and of Subscriptions | WIRED
Processors with artificial intelligence will spread from today’s top-end phones to cars, PCs, security cameras, smart speakers and mainstream phones.
Source: AI chips soon will power PCs, cars, security cameras and smart speakers – CNET
The streaming company proved it could get the Napster generation to pay for music. But will Spotify’s paywall make it profitable?
Source: Spotify Subscriptions Helped The Streaming Company Win Listeners | WIRED
Podcasting continues to evolve as it engages and entertains growing audiences. And avid podcast fans can play a crucial role for marketers and advertisers looking to identify what’s next for this burgeoning medium.
Source: Connecting Advertising: How Avid Podcasters Influence Purchasing Patterns
As Spotify prepares to float itself on the stock market with a valuation of between $6-$20 billion, who will be receiving a slice of the cash?
Source: What Streaming Music Services Pay — Information is Beautiful
How much do streaming apps like Spotify, Apple, Tidal and Pandora pay the music industry? How likely is it that a musician can earn minimum wage from streaming?
Source: What Streaming Music Services Pay — Information is Beautiful
A diagram included with an Amazon patent application showed how a phone call between friends could be used to identify their interests. Credit United States Patent and Trademark
Amazon and Google have filed patent applications, many still under consideration, that outline how digital assistants can monitor more of what users say and do.
Source: Hey, Alexa, What Can You Hear? And What Will You Do With It? – The New York Times
This chart shows how important streaming has become for the music industry.
Source: • Chart: Music Streaming Accounts for 65% of U.S. Music Revenues | Statista
Spotify thinks it is going to do very well this year, by generating a big increase in revenue and paid subscribers, while improving its margins. And it thinks its losses will shrink. It would be surprising if Spotify didn’t have a good story to tell at this point. Its shares will start trading — via a “direct listing” instead of a traditional IPO, next Tuesday, April 3.
Source: Spotify told Wall Street it is going to have a very good year in 2018 – Recode
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