Spotify
Here’s What Streaming Services Are Doing for Black Out Tuesday and Beyond
Spotify, Bandcamp, SiriusXM and more are meeting the moment with a range of initiatives. As protests sparked by the death of 46-year-old Minneapolis resident George Floyd heated up this weekend, music companies began making statements in support of the movement to end police brutality against black Americans. On Friday, a number of companies and artists began sharing a statement posted under the hashtag #TheShowMustBePaused, which calls for “a day to disconnect from work and reconnect with our community” and “an urgent step of action to provoke accountability and change.” Started by Atlantic Records marketing executives Brianna Agyemang and Jamila Thomas, who are both black, the call for a day of action — which is now being called “Black Out Tuesday” — sparked other compa...
The Raconteurs Announce New Documentary and Live EP, Both Due Out Friday
Lockdown just got a bit easier thanks to The Raconteurs, who have announced the imminent release of a new documentary film and live EP. Both are titled Live at Electric Lady and due out this Friday, May 29th. The two projects capture The Raconteurs’ intimate concert event at Electric Lady studios, the legendary New York space where frontman Jack White and The White Stripes have previously recorded. Judging by the trailer seen below, the 60-minute doc and Spotify-exclusive live EP will feature favorites from across Raconteurs’ catalog, including some off last year’s Help Us Stranger album. The garage rockers also churn out a cover of Richard Hell and the Voidoids’ 1977 punk classic “Blank Generation” (Hell contributed to the first release from White’s Third Man Books). “Everyone who is a mu...
Spotify Removes its 10,000-Song Library Limit
Sourced from Forbes. Spotify has finally removed its 10,000-song cap on library sizes, now allowing users to add as much music as they’d like to their personal libraries. Fixing an issue that has irritated music-lovers on the service for years. With more than 50-million songs available to customers to stream at any time, until today, there was a hard limit of 10,000 songs that users could save to their own “Your Music” collections on Spotify for easy access. This is no more. After today, you can add as many songs as you like to your Liked Songs on @Spotify I’ve been working with a small team on the refactoring necessary to pull this off for a while now. Very happy to see this finally out. https://t.co/1nSExF5o3V — Felipe O. Carvalho (@_Felipe) May 26, 2020 Users have been requesting ...
Spotify Lifts 10,000-Song Cap on Libraries
In a new Community blog post, Spotify announced that it was lifting the 10,000 item cap on users’ online libraries. The policy change will roll out over the coming days. This has been one of the platform’s most popular requests since at least 2014, proving that when the community demands the same thing for six years running, Spotify partially listens. That’s “partially”, because these unlimited saves come with a few caveats. To start, it only applies to the online library; users are still restricted to 10,000 offline downloads. Furthermore, playlists remain capped at 10,000 songs, so the super-user dream of putting an entire library into a single massive playlist remains just that — a dream. Still, for most Spotify obsessives, this will be a relief. Now digital users can enjoy accumulating...
Spotify Extends Work From Home Arrangement Through End of 2020 For All Employees
Spotify is extending their remote work from home arrangement for all global employees through the end of the 2020 calendar year. The company operates over 50 offices and employs over 5,000 full time workers globally. The move to extend remote work until at least 2021 will allow the company to dictate phasing in their global office and reopen at their own pace. In a statement to Variety, a Spotify spokesperson commented, “We will continue to track local government guidelines city-by-city and take a phased approach of opening our offices when we deem it safe to do so.” The COVID-19 pandemic continues to rapidly reshape the work environment, accelerating a trend towards remote work from home arrangements. Tech companies have been leading the trend. Most notably, Jack Dor...
What Place Will Virtual Tipping Have in the Post-Pandemic Music Industry?
In China, virtual tipping provides a widespread, legitimate revenue stream for artists. Some think the pandemic will help (finally) normalize the practice Stateside. Andy Bothwell, a Brooklyn-based artist who performs under the moniker Astronautalis, has an online hub that lists links to his music, social media accounts and merch site. But after the coronavirus pandemic cut off the touring income he relies on to pay his bills, he added two new links to the top of the list: His Cash App and Venmo accounts, allowing fans to send him money directly. “I’m curious to see if I keep it there,” he says. His decision is more than a curiosity. As the pandemic has shut down economies across the globe, many artists are asking fans directly for cash — and music companies like SoundCloud and Spoti...
This New Single from Mindchatter, Rising Star on ZHU’s Label, Is Worth Your Time
Mindchatter is one of the most promising young electronic acts you’ve never heard of. Today’s release of his new single, “Language,” is your chance to hop on the bandwagon. Featuring the New York City-based artist’s own vocals over an upbeat instrumental, “Language” is the second single off his forthcoming album, which is currently untitled and has no definitive release date. It shows a sophisticated artistic direction for Mindchatter, with wonderfully dense synths, understated piano chords and arpeggios, and vocals that could induce ASMR. It’s creative like Medasin and groovy like Darius, but with an updated, youthful energy. After his initial 2019 releases received critical acclaim and top playlist spots, Mindchatter wa...
Ever Wonder Why Your Spotify Music Sounds Like It’s Always at Low Volume? This Is Why
Do you ever find yourself subconsciously toggling between volume levels on Spotify because the music just isn’t loud enough? Paranoia be damned, contrary to what you might think, you do not have inner ear issues and you’re not losing your hearing. Thanks to Beat Spot, an educational platform dedicated to demystifying music production, mixing, and engineering, we now have a more firm grasp on how Spotify manages loudness within its preeminent streaming application. In a recent Instagram post, Beat Spot shrewdly explained that since Spotify is the world’s most popular music streaming platform, it has implemented core functionality specifically designed to retain users while cultivating a safe listening environment. When distribution services like Stem, AWAL, and TuneCo...
Spotify Launches “Group Session” Feature for Premium
After a prolonged developmental period, Spotify‘s shared listening feature “Group Session” has launched into the beta testing phase. Arriving in the era of social distancing, the new feature is the latest offering to hit the platform specifically for premium subscribers. With Group Session, those in close proximity can collectively control the music that plays. The shared queue allows participants to collaboratively develop a playlist as well as play, pause, and skip music in real time. It’s this real time sharing component that makes Group Session an upgrade from existing shared features on Spotify such as collaborative playlists. Group Session is a feature that has been in development since at least May of 2019, when the original code was discover...
Spotify’s RapCavair Playlist Turns 5, Cardi B & Drake Listed As Most Streamed
Source: RapCaviar / Spotify Spotify has become the top-ranked music streaming service on the back of its expertly crafted playlists and exclusive programming. RapCaviar, which has become one of the most influential playlists for Hip-Hop acts, turns five years old today and the streamer also shares some data highlights as well. RapCaviar got its start under the guidance of Tuma Basa who has since left the company, but the playlist remains a vital cog in the high-stakes world of Hip-Hop listenership. Placement on the playlist has become a notable achievement of young and seasoned acts alike and the innovative hub also splices in videos, interviews, and featurettes in the midst of the mix. “We are so proud to celebrate five incredible years of RapCaviar,” Carl Chery, Spotify’s Creative Direct...
MusiCares’ COVID-19 Relief Fund Now Depleted of Financial Resources
The charitable foundation MusiCares, an organization dedicated towards supporting music industry professionals in need of financial assistance, has run out of monetary resources. Amid the ongoing pandemic, MusiCares launched their COVID-19 Relief Fund last month, which has drawn an unprecedented influx of applications. The depletion of funds has now caused the organization to halt new applications for the time being. The fund, which was started with two $1 million donations from the organization itself as well as its affiliate, The Recording Academy, went on to raise $14 million in total. The resources were raised from individuals as well as charitable corporate partners including SiriusXM, Spotify, and Pandora. However, as the pandemic has persisted, the orga...
