The recently concluded holiday shopping season may not have been as auspicious for the global smartphone market as we’ve expected over the years, but for some reason, the music streaming industry doesn’t appear to be suffering any consequences of a tough economic climate around the world.
Tag: streaming
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Spotify has officially crossed 200 million premium subscribers
Not yet, at least, and not as far as said industry’s heavyweight champion is concerned, with some of Spotify’s key success indicators surging higher than initially anticipated during the final quarter of 2022 compared to the same period of 2021 and last year’s third calendar quarter.There are now 205 million people worldwide paying for Spotify’s “Premium” service tier, up no less than 10 million from Q3 2022 and a cool 25 million versus Q4 2021. How does the new milestone compare to the competition? Unfortunately, there’s no way to know… for sure.That’s because Apple effectively stopped making those kinds of figures public back in 2019, when around 60 million people were subscribed to the company’s paid Music platform. Of course, many unofficial guesses and estimates followed, with one from 2021 boosting that number to 78 million and one from last year circling 88 million.What’s crystal clear is that Apple Music still has a long way to go before hoping to catch up to Spotify’s usage digits, which also include 295 million ad-supported monthly active users (up from 273 million in Q3 2022) and a grand total of 489 (!!!) million Q4 2022 MAUs, representing a massive increase from 456 million the previous quarter and 406 million in Q4 2021.It’s equally true that Apple is very clearly prioritizing the profitability of its “Services” division as a whole over the subscriber growth of each individual platform, while Spotify continues to bleed money as it brings in more and more listeners.We’re talking a €231 million ($250 million) operating loss for the Sweden-based company behind the world’s most popular audio streaming product between October and December 2022 alone, and although things like “higher personnel costs” and “higher advertising costs” are blamed for this latest financial deficit, the truth is Spotify last posted a quarterly profit all the way back in 2019.Looking ahead to the near future, Spotify doesn’t expect its financials to bounce back all of a sudden despite predicting another boost to 207 million premium subscribers and, yes, half a billion total monthly active users. Now that’s a number for the ages! -

Apple Music Rewind 2023 is available for those subs who can’t help but track everything
Apple Rewind. Like Spotify Wrapped, right? No, not really. Spotify keeps things under wraps and surprises you with stats at the end of the year, while Apple Rewind is a feature that lets you check what you are listening to most at all times.
Redundant, since you’d be doing it in real time, but hey — remember that you can do it for the entire year! As in, if you feel like checking your playlist history from months ago, through this feature you can do that, so it’s not that surface level.
And if that got you interested in checking it out, you can do that right now. Apple Rewind for 2023 is live now, and it allows you to check what you expect: top songs, albums, artists and so forth. But it also starts automatically drafting you a playlist with your most played songs of the year, which is always neat.
If you want to check out your own playlist, you can open your Apple Music app under the Listen Now tab. At the very bottom, you should be able to see all of the yearly playlist that the service has drafted for you, ever since you were a subscriber and as far back as 2015, when Apple Music initially launched.At the end of the year, however, Apple will give you a quick hit of dopamine and release a more in-depth overview of your musical journey. If you’d like to follow how the entire process is going, you can check back with the website every Monday, as usually the data is refreshed every Sunday.
You’ve had to have reached a certain threshold of listening activity in order for the feature to kick in for your account. In other words: If you aren’t seeing anything by next Monday, you might want to add “Listen to more music” to your list of goals to achieve in 2023.
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YouTube Music partially down on the web and all mobile devices
YouTube Music is experiencing a partial outage affecting the home page and loading many listeners’ playlists and library. The issue was discovered around 1:50PM PST today and is happening across all devices, including the web.The official Team YouTube account tweeted the issue after reports of the outage started flooding in. When opening the app, the Library and Explore tabs appear empty, as if nothing was ever added to them.Additionally, artists pages and albums fail to load and cover art appears to be missing. The issue was also reported and is being documented via the YouTube Music Help page where Team YouTube has confirmed that the Music team is actively working to resolve the issue.One workaround that the team has offered is to access your playlists from youtube.com, which is working at the moment without issues. -

YouTube introduces a new feature to battle abusive comments
While browsing YouTube’s comment section, you might find some offensive comments. And to battle spammers and users using abusive language, the platform has improved its spam detection and bot detection in live chats and added a new feature
In a new blog post, YouTube announced that its new feature notifies users when the platform has detected and removed some of their comments for violating its Community Guidelines. Furthermore, if a user doesn’t stop their offensive behavior, they may receive a “timeout,” which makes them unable to post comments for up to 24 hours. YouTube shared that its tests have shown that these warnings and temporal restrictions reduce the possibility of users writing abusive comments again.
At the moment, the notification is only available for comments written in English, but YouTube hopes to expand it to more languages in the coming months. As the platform stated, its goal is to protect creators from users with ill intent and to offer more transparency to people whose comments have been removed for violating the platform’s Community Guidelines. Of course, since algorithms could also make a mistake, YouTube’s team encourages users who receive such warnings to give feedback. This will help it further improve its systems.
Meanwhile, it looks like YouTube is working on another new feature, but this time with the intent to make the watching experience more pleasant. The platform is currently testing an Add to queue function for its Android and iOS apps.
If you watch YouTube on your computer, you are probably familiar with the Add to queue option. This enables you to create a temporary playlist (known as a queue) that will play the added videos one after another. This is great if you are browsing YouTube and find something you want to watch after you finish the video you are watching right now.
On Android and iOS, we don’t have this option. We only have “Save to Watch Later” and “Save to Playlist.” Both create queues, yes, but save them as permanent playlists in our libraries.
When YouTube launches the Add to queue feature on Android and iOS, you will be able to add a video to your queue by just tapping the clip’s three-dot menu and selecting “Play last in queue.” After you choose the option, the app will create a watchlist at the bottom. In the newly created panel, you will be able to rearrange the viewing order by dragging the videos, and by swiping left, you will be able to remove them from the temporary playlist. You will also have the ability to repeat and shuffle playback.
We must note, however, that at the moment, only Premium users have access to the test of the Add to queue option. Furthermore, it appears that YouTube advertises this function as a “Premium feature,” implying that it will most likely be available only to Premium users once the platform launches it.
If you are a YouTube Premium subscriber and want to test the Add to queue option yourself, you can do that until January 28th. To sign up for the test, tap your profile button in the top-right corner, press Settings, and tap on Try new features. After that, you just need to wait for the app to load the new function.
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Spotify introduces new billing choice for Android users
Spotify and Google announced over the weekend they have partnered to offer customers using Android devices a new purchase experience. The new feature was unveiled in March but wasn’t released immediately. After months of working to build the so-called User Choice Billing (UCB), the feature is now rolling out to Android users.
With the new User Choice Billing feature, Spotify users will be able to subscribe and make purchases using the payment option they want. Starting this week, UCB is making its way to Spotify subscribers in select markets around the world. Although Spotify did not mention where exactly the feature should be available in the next few days, it did confirm that it will expand the test to more markets in the coming weeks.
Spotify is one of the first companies to implement UCB with Google. First tested with Google Play, the new feature is meant to provide users and developers more flexibility and choice when it comes to purchasing and selling products.
Google Play’s user choice billing was initially introduced in Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, and the European Economic Area, and later on expanded to the United States, Brazil, and South Africa. We can’t confirm if Spotify targets the same regions, but at least some of these countries should have the new user billing choice available.
Bumble and Spotify are the first companies to partner with Google to provide their customers with new user choice billing, but more names might pop up in the coming months if the new feature proves successful.
That said, if you’re living in one of the select markets where Spotify introduced the new feature, and you’re using an Android device, you should soon be able to choose how to pay for your Spotify subscription. If you’re using an iOS device, you’ll probably never benefit from this option, or at least not anytime soon.
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Netflix to charge extra fees for extra users in 2023
The latest development in Netflix’s plans to dissuade account sharing has surfaced via a quarterly earnings letter. It reveals extra charges for each separate user on the account of the owner, that isn’t from the same household, starting 2023.
While the final rates have not been officially announced, what we can infer from the document is that the charge will be up to a quarter of the initial basic rate. That would result in about a $3-4 charge per user outside of the household.
Netflix began its crackdown on unauthorized account sharing earlier this year. What started with tests of account verification in the style of 2FA (2-factor authentication) and device count limitations ended with the creative workarounds as provided by the Internet.
The tests had caught the attention of many users online, some of whom even shared their plans on how to circumvent the possible limitations via tricks as simple as “I’ll just text them the verification code”, while others provided their own take on solutions that Netflix should adopt.
We can’t say if the Internet’s reaction had an impact on the decision, it was clear that a change of plans was needed. After all, Netflix’s estimated loss from account sharing is around the $6 billion mark, as per Citi analyst Jason Bazinet. From Netflix’s point of view, that is a sum that should flow in naturally from actual user subscriptions.
While that does seem fair, let’s check in with Netflix’s competition:
- HBO Max doesn’t have any limitations
- Disney Plus limits the amount of devices connected to the account
- Amazon Prime Video requires users of shared accounts to be within the same country or region
How these will measure up against Netflix’s decision will become clear once we truly find out how the term “household” is defined and when the penalty is live.
Netflix is still the major player on the market with over 220 million active users. Now, imagine if account sharing would cease? Those numbers would jump significantly, with a doubtless positive business effect, given Netflix’s recent financial troubles.
It’s worth pointing out that the company is also making it easier to detach your profile from a shared account. Earlier this month, Netflix announced a profile migration tool, which allows users to keep their settings when creating their own subscription.
Also, set to release in November, is a cheaper, ad-supported plan for $6.99. All of these announcements point to Netflix trying to gently nudge users into creating separate accounts, instead of sharing.
Regardless of financial reports or planned actions, at the end of the day, Netflix are the trendmakers of the video streaming scene. Their actions are sure to stir up the market and it would be interesting to see how competitors react to Netflix’s decision.
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Mercedes Enables Apple Music Spatial Audio On Its Cars
Mercedes has always made a big deal about its Burmester Audio system on its luxury vehicles which promise 3D and 4D sound, but now it has upped the ante by collaborating with Apple. Apple’s music streaming service, Apple Music, launched spatial audio support last year and now it is deeply integrated into the latest Mercedes Benz EQE SUV which launched on Sunday.
Spatial audio will be enabled at the heart of the MBUX infotainment system which will first come to the Mercedes Maybach S-Class, S-Class, EQS, and EQS SUV via a software update and it will be launched as well on the EQE and the newly launched EQE SUV. This feature is available for cars that have the Bumester 3D or 4D sound system which costs an additional $4,550 to $6,730.
Mercedes and Apple believe that it will offer a more realistic audio experience and give the vibe of a concert hall.
“Sound quality is incredibly important to Apple Music which is why we are so excited to be working with Mercedes to make Spatial Audio on Apple Music available natively in the car for the first time. Spatial Audio is revolutionising the way artists create and fans listen to music and it’s an experience that is impossible to explain in words; you have to hear it for yourself to appreciate it. Together with Mercedes, we now have even more opportunities to bring wholly immersive music to our subscribers all over the world,“ said Apple’s VP for Apple Music and Beats Oliver Schusser.
While Apple has an arrangement with Audi and Porsche for the integration of Apple Music in their cars, this is the first time the Cupertino-based company has extended spatial audio capabilities beyond iPhone, iPad, Mac, AirPods and HomePods. Recently, Apple revealed that Apple Music had over 100 million songs and a substantial chunk of the portfolio includes songs tuned for spatial audio and lossless high-resolution audio formats.
Most premium car owners tend to iPhone users as it is the best-selling smartphone in the world and via its vertical integration Apple is now capturing a lot of customers that would’ve traditionally gravitated towards Spotify by virtue of deals like the one it has now cracked with Mercedes.
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Netflix partners with a TV ratings agency in preparation for its ad-supported tier
Netflix continues with its preparations to launch an ad-supported tier. The streaming giant has signed up with a TV rating agency, which will report Netflix’s viewing figures to the agency’s subscribers, including various advertisers.
If you are wondering who Netflix’s new lucky partner is, the answer is a British TV rating agency called BARB — which stands for Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board. It reports viewership statistics for mainstream services like the BBC and ITV and over 300 subscribing broadcast channels.
Starting November 2nd, BARB subscribers can see the ratings of Netflix’s shows and movies. Previously, the streaming giant only released snapshots of its viewing data to show off the success of its most popular shows. However, to find the most profitable slots to place their ads, advertisers need more than just snapshots, so it is no surprise that Netflix has decided to partner with a TV rating agency.
Unfortunately, there is still no exact date when we could expect Netflix to launch its ad-supported tier. As we reported in May, the streaming service hopes to launch its new subscription plan by the end of the year. As for the price tag of Netflix’s new tier, we expect it to be around $7-$9 a month.
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25% of Netflix subscribers in the U.S. plan to leave the service this year
Reviews.org surveyed 1,000 Americans to get a handle on their streaming plans for this year and 25% of Netflix subscribers responding said that they plan on dropping the service in 2022. This isn’t good news for Netflix which has been overtaken by Disney+; the latter now has 221.1 million global subscribers among its streaming units (Disney+ Hotstar, ESPN+, and Hulu) vs. 220.67 million for Netflix.During the first two quarters of this year, Netflix lost 1.2 million subscribers including a record 970,000 during the second quarter alone. So what is driving Netflix subscribers to quit the service? Two-thirds of the survey respondents who said they were planning on leaving the service blamed the rising subscription prices for their responses.
In January, for example, Netflix’s Basic one-screen plan went up by 11%, the first hike in three years. During the same time period, Standard and Premium plan pricing rose 20% and 25% respectively. This is not helping with Netflix’s attempts to stop password sharing. Of the eight most popular streaming services in the U.S., Netflix has the highest average plan cost. And that is leading 30% of users to share their Netflix passwords outside of the family.To stop the bleeding, Netflix is expected to launch a lower-priced ad-supported tier of service later this year. But the excitement seems to have moved to Disney+ thanks to the continued popularity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).Lack of content was cited by one in three survey respondents who said that Netflix no longer has the shows they want to watch. 30% of those answering the survey said that they use other streaming services more than Netflix.
Reviews.org says that the average American subscribes to four streaming services in 2022. Of the 1,000 survey respondents, 78% subscribe to Netflix, 46% subscribe to Disney+, 42% have signed up with HBO Max, 33% are subscribers to Peacock, with 26% subscribed to Hulu. 22% signed up for Apple TV+.Here is the interesting thing. Subscribing to a service and using it are two different things. Still, while 78% of the survey respondents subscribe to Netflix, a healthy 70% use the streamer. On the other hand, while Disney+ was in second place with 42% of survey respondents subscribed to it, only 6% actually watch it which is only good enough for third place. HBO Max is second at 10%.Will Netflix recover and take back its streaming subscription crown from Disney+? This battle might be more interesting than any of the programming that either service has to offer. -

Spotify debuts a three-month free trial period
Do you recall the days when you had to manually download each song / album you like before transferring it to a media player? Neither do we. Spotify has revolutionized the way we listen to music by making it more convenient (and much cheaper) than ever before.
It is easy to get hooked on Spotify and it seems the streaming giant knows this fact very well. This is why now the platform is extending its free trial period to 3 months. For reference, previously the free trial period was just 1 month long. Spotify shared this information in an official blog post.
So how exactly will this 3-month trial period work? Put simply, first-time users, after creating an account, will not be billed during the first three months of their new subscription. The first payment will take place at the end of the third month.
Additionally, if for whatever reason they are not thrilled with the streaming service within the trial period, users will be able to cancel their subscription without incurring any fees in the process. In essence, if a user opts out before the three-month mark has passed, the time spent streaming will be virtually free.
The longer trial period also extends (pun intended) to past users who no longer use Spotify. For a measly $9.99, ex-subscribers will be able to get three full months of streaming (i.e. less than $4 a month). There is one catch, however. This offer only applies to users who made the decision to cancel their subscription before July 15th 2022.
The new extended trial period will be available across 135 markets and the offer will come into effect after September 11th. If this does not convince you to give Spotify a chance, nothing will.
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With iPhone 14 coming soon, Apple changes the focus of its television advertising
Apple’s Services unit is the company’s second-largest business segment after iPhone. With nearly $20 billion in revenue during the fiscal third quarter, the unit is running at close to an $80 billion annual rate. One of the less-heralded but brilliant moves made during the Tim Cook era was to take advantage of the large number of active iPhones around the world and sell their users recurring monthly subscriptions that bring in revenue 12 times a year.Apple Services includes Apple Music, Apple News+, Apple TV+, Fitness+, iCloud, and Apple Arcade. Those services charge monthly subscription rates. Other Apple services that are part of the unit include the App Store, Apple Pay, Apple Care+, and more.With the unveiling of the new iPhone 14 line approximately four weeks away, Apple has apparently decided that now isn’t the time to advertise the iPhone 13 series with the world waiting for the 2022 handsets to be introduced. In other words, Apple wouldn’t be getting the same bang for the advertising buck with many potential buyers waiting for the new line to be announced.So today Apple released its latest television ad, a thirty-second spot for Apple One. In 2020, Apple created the Apple One bundle which has three separate tiers of service. These are the Individual Plan, the Family Plan, and the Premier Plan.Individual Plan-$14.95 per month (saves $6/month)- Apple Music
- Apple TV+
- Apple Arcade
- 50GB of iCloud storage
Family Plan-$19.95 per month (saves $8/month; can be shared with five other people)- Apple Music
- Apple TV+
- Apple Arcade
- 200GB of iCloud storage
Premier Plan-$29.95 per month (saves $25/month, can be shared with five other people)- Apple Music
- Apple TV+
- Apple Arcade
- 2TB of iCloud storage
- News+
- Fitness+
The new ad shows off the services inside the bundle. Apple Music is mentioned first and the music streamer includes surround sound. The 3D Spatial Audio feature allows you to hear music that sounds like it is coming from all around you. Next is Fitness+, which is only part of the most expensive Premier plan although it can be subscribed to a la carte ($7.99/month, $79.99/year). Fitness+ offers workout videos that cover 11 different styles. While you are working out, the screen will show your heart rate along with other metrics related to your workout.Like Apple Music, TV+ is available on all three tiers of Apple One. The new ad points out that with TV+ you can see the biggest stars just as the screen quickly shows Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon (The Morning Show) and Tom Hanks (various films). News+ is also found only on the highest-priced Premier tier of Apple One and includes the best publications on Earth, according to Apple.Apple Arcade is also available on all three tiers of the Apple One bundle and features over 200 ad-free games. Also on all three tiers is cloud storage service iCloud. Apple says that with iCloud, you can store everything that you love. Note, however, that the amount of available storage depends on the plan you purchase. The individual plan comes with 50GB of cloud storage, rising to 200GB with the Family Plan. And with Premier, you get a whopping 2TB of cloud storage.If you’re already subscribed to some of Apple’s recurring subscription services, you might be able to save some money by signing up for Apple One instead. With the Premier tier, you can save as much as $25 per month by going with the bundle. You can start with a one-month trial of Apple One. From your iPhone, tap on Settings and then your name. Go to subscriptions and tap on the Apple One box. That will take you to the sign-in page and at the bottom of the screen you will see a blue button that says “Start Free Trial.”
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Spotify launches new Home experience for Android users, iOS gets it too
Another week, another Spotify update. The music streaming giant has just announced plans to launch a brand-new Home experience for Android users. The new experience will feature feeds for both Music and Podcast & Shows, and will be coming to iOS at a later date.
The main hub for recommendations, Spotify’s Home is meant to help users easily scroll through the type of content they’re looking for. The updated version will make the experience more personalized while allowing Spotify users to dive even deeper into their recommendations.
Starting with the Music feed, Spotify listeners will be provided with quick access to suggestions, which will be based on their music taste. Additionally, album and playlist recommendations along with buttons to make it easy to share, like, and instantly play music will be available too.
On the other hand, in the Podcast & Shows feed, Spotify users will be able to quickly access new episodes of their favorite shows. Also, personalized podcast recommendations will be an important part of the new Home experience. Finally, the new hub will allow listeners to read episode descriptions, save to Your Episodes and start playing podcasts without leaving the page.
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HBO Max, Discovery+ to be merged into a single streaming platform
It looks like Warner Bros. Discovery is determined to put the nail in the coffin for HBO Max. The giant announced plans to merge both services in the summer of 2023, but that comes with some massive budget cuts and layoffs.
The recent news that Batgirl has been scrapped after the movie was (almost) finished, pretty much sums up the changes Warner Bros. Discovery has in store for HBO Max. As many of you probably know already, HBO Max is heavily focused on movies and TV series, while Discovery is now mostly known for its reality shows from HGTV, Food Network and Discovery Channel.
Earlier this week, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that HBO Max and Discovery+ will be launched in the United States as a single service next year. According to JB Perrette, CEO and president of global streaming and games for Warner Bros. Discovery, the new streaming platform will combine the best elements of both services.
According to the company’s Q2 2022 earnings report, Discovery+ will be the core of the new platform, while HBO Max’s portfolio will be limited to Originals. Although the current catalog will be carried over, no new movies or TV shows will be made outside of the Originals offering. HBO Max had major performance issues during big releases, which convinced Warner Bros. Discovery to cut deep into the streaming service’s budget.
Warner Bros. Discovery reported a huge $3.4 billion net loss in Q2 2022, so the company is now trying to push Discovery+, its more successful service, to more customers, while cutting back on HBO Max productions or distribution deals. The new HBO Max + Discovery Plus changes will only affect customers in the United States.
In related news, AT&T announced it has reached a new agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery for the distribution of HBO Max, after the carrier removed the offering from its wireless plans back in June. -

YouTube might soon let you zoom in on videos
A new useful feature might soon come to YouTube. Apparently, the video platform is working on a new option called “Pinch to zoom,” which will let you zoom in on the videos you watch by pinching the video player with two fingers.
At the moment, Pinch to zoom is only an experimental feature, but YouTube Premium subscribers can freely enroll in the testing through YouTube’s experimental features site and try it themselves. However, they can only do so until September 1st. After that, the Pinch to zoom test won’t be available.
Most likely, after September 1st, based on Premium subscribers’ feedback, YouTube will decide if it will officially release Pinch to zoom on its platform or just scrap the project entirely.
If you regularly watch YouTube videos, you know there could be many instances where you would like to zoom in on a portion of the video. For example, tutorial clips often arrange information in small tables, and a zoom-in option would really help you read the displayed data more easily. Or maybe there is a small detail in the latest video of your favorite YouTuber that you would like to zoom in on in order to pay more attention to. Whatever the reason, a zoom-in option on YouTube will most likely be a very useful feature. We really hope YouTube decides to release it to all its users after the testing is finished.
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Spotify launches individual buttons for Premium users
Not a week goes by without Spotify launching a new feature for its customers. The music streaming service announced gains in both paid and free customers back in April, so the new often-released new features are meant to keep subscribers loyal and turn free customers into paying ones.
The most recent new feature announced by Spotify is exclusively aimed at turning free users into subscribers. The music streaming service revealed plans to launch individual buttons for Shuffle and Play, which will only be available for Spotify Premium users.
Spotify has a single button for that merges these two important options – Play and Shuffle, but an upcoming update will separate the two for Spotify Premium users. It will make it clearer and easier to choose the mode that a user prefers at the top of playlists and albums.
According to Spotify, the new feature will be rolled out on iOS and Android mobile devices for Spotify Premium users worldwide over the coming weeks, so look for the two new buttons as soon as you see an update for your Spotify app. Don’t bother though if you’re using Spotify’s free tier.