Similar to YouTube, Spotify will give bronze, silver, and gold plaques to podcasters when they reach 100 million, 250 million, and 500 million streams, respectively.
Crime Junkie and The Joe Rogan Experience are the inaugural winners of Spotify’s gold Creator Milestone Award, followed by Dateline NBC and Stuff You Should Know with silver.
Starting today, Spotify is paying creators in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada based on how much engagement their videos receive from paid subscribers, similar to platforms like YouTube.
We don’t know how much video creators will earn, but there’s plenty of interest in the program — according to Spotify, almost 60 percent of eligible shows and networks have enrolled since it was announced last month.
The music streaming service responded to Drake’s accusations that it used bots and payola to “artificially inflate” Lamar’s streaming numbers, saying Spotify “invests heavily in automated and manual reviews to prevent, detect, and mitigate the impact of artificial streaming on our platform,” Billboard reports.
Have you ever wondered who makes the tunes for Spotify’s “ghost artists?” Real musicians, including a jazz artist interviewed by Liz Pelly, in an excerpt from her upcoming book, Mood Machine. I wonder how long that gig will last...
[Harper's Magazine]
This year, Spotify teamed up with Google to let you generate a podcast with two AI ‘hosts’ based on what you’ve listened to.
That’s growth of 12 percent year-over-year, according to the company’s third quarter earnings. Monthly active users are up, too, reaching 640 million.
Android Police writes that it took less than 24 hours for Google to fix the issue, partly thanks to a particularly concerted effort on the part of Google Home users. Also: today I learned there’s a dedicated Google smart home gadget feedback form.
A reader asked the Denver Post why it hadn’t covered a grisly and salacious 2014 murder in Littleton, CO. It hadn’t, because the crime never happened.
But there it is on YouTube and Spotify, accumulating millions of views with seemingly AI-generated voiceovers and faces. True crime fans say they reported the videos months ago after YouTube recommended them, but they aren’t being removed.
Monthly active users increased by 14 percent year-over-year to 626 million, but 5 million short of Spotify’s expectations for the quarter. Subscribers also increased by 12 percent to 246 million, with Spotify reporting a record-high operating income of €266 million (about $288.8 million).
The growth timeline “exceeded even our own expectations,” said CEO Daniel Ek. “This all bodes very well for the future.”
The streaming music service has launched a new Parental Guide detailing its tools for managing your kids’ listening habits as well as its efforts to keep the platform safe.
Spotify’s actual parental controls are limited to filtering out explicit content and controlling the playback of certain artists. For a fully curated experience, you’ll need to spring for Spotify Kids, which is part of the Premium Family package.
[www.spotify.com]
