Spotify Passes 40 Million Subscribers

Peter Kafka, writing for Recode, on Spotify passing 40 million subscribers:

Spotify, which is heading toward an IPO, has 40 million paid subscribers, the company announced today. But Spotify’s chief revenue officer, Jeff Levick, is leaving the company, sources confirmed.

Levick joined Spotify five years ago, when the company was just starting to build out an advertising business; he had previously been at AOL and Google.

iOS 10 Message Apps and Sticker Packs Roundup

iPhone

One of the best features of iOS 10 is the new iMessage app. MacStories has a really good round up of some of the best apps and sticker packs that have been released:

Over recent weeks, Federico and I have tested dozens of iMessage apps and sticker packs, exchanged hundreds of stickers, made interactive to-do lists, played games, edited photos, and much, much more. Some of the things we’ve tried are highlighted in Federico’s iOS 10 review to illustrate particular aspects of the Messages app, but we’ve seen so many interesting apps and stickers, we wanted to share them with readers in one place.

I’m all about that Mario pack.

Tidal Posts Huge Loss in 2015

The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal:

In the year rap mogul Jay Z took control of Tidal, the music-streaming service more than doubled its losses, burning cash at a rapid rate and testing the depth of its owner’s pockets.

Aspiro AB, the Swedish holding company that Jay Z and a group of other musicians bought in early 2015, recorded a net loss of 239 million Swedish kronor ($28 million) last year, according to a legal filing. That compared with a net loss of 88.9 million Swedish kronor in 2014.

I don’t think that’s good.

American Football Discuss Their New Album

American Football

Drowned in Sound sat down to talk with American Football about their new album:

We knew it wouldn’t define us; it’s not a crazy flash-in-the-pan thing. We knew it would only be worth it if we were all excited about writing new material, and as Mike mentioned, it was more fun than anything, so it was exciting to start writing new music tonight and put more thought into recording properly this time. The first album we just practiced and practiced until we had perfected a sound and then hit record. After one headline show in a basement, we were done with it, as we all moved away from college.