Spotify Won’t Let Users Block Harassers

Davey Alba, writing at BuzzFeed:

Since at least 2012, Spotify users like Meghan have been asking the music streaming giant for a block feature for a simple reason: Over the years, harassers and abusers have used the service to stalk and intimidate victims. […] A company representative told BuzzFeed News that Spotify “does not have any timeline on plans for a block feature.”

Spotify Offers Managers, Artists Advances to License Music Directly

Hannah Karp, writing for Billboard:

Under the terms of some of the deals, management firms can receive several hundred thousand dollars as an advance fee for agreeing to license a certain number of tracks by their independent acts directly to Spotify. Then, in at least some cases, the managers and acts stand to earn 50 percent of the revenue per stream on those songs on Spotify. That’s slightly less than the 54 percent of revenue the major record labels in the U.S. get per stream, on average, according to Billboard’s calculations, but major-label artists and their managers typically receive only 20 percent to 50 percent of the label’s share, depending on an act’s individual royalty rates, and don’t usually get to own their master recordings.

Spotify Removes ‘Hate Conduct’ Provision From New Content Policy

Dan Rys, writing at Billboard:

Three weeks after Spotify announced a new policy regarding hate content and hateful conduct on its service, the company is walking back one of its most controversial provisions. In a blog post published today (June 1), the company said it was moving away from its “hateful conduct” provision, which had led to the service removing the music of R. Kelly, XXXTentacion and Tay-K from its editorial and algorithmic owned and operated playlists.

Cowards.

“We created concern that an allegation might affect artists’ chances of landing on a Spotify playlist and negatively impact their future,” the post reads. “Some artists even worried that mistakes made in their youth would be used against them. That’s not what Spotify is about.”

Not what Spotify is about? Hm, well, maybe it should be.

Spotify Plans to Change Content Policy, Again

Lucas Shaw, writing at Bloomberg:

Facing a rebellion among artists and even some of its own employees, Spotify Technology SA will partially walk back a move to punish musicians for their personal misconduct.

The music-streaming giant has told artists, managers and record-label executives that it will eventually restore songs by XXXTentacion to playlists, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The company’s top executives are talking to the music industry and civil-rights activists about how and when to adjust its rules in a manner suitable to both sides.

I stopped being surprised when companies show their spineless side a long time ago, but this is some eye-rolling bullshit right here. You can choose what kind of platform you want to be and when you are the size of Spotify you can choose how you want to wield your editorial-power.

Spotify Removes R. Kelly From Playlists

Spotify has a “Hate Content & Hateful Conduct Policy” that states:

We don’t censor content because of an artist’s or creator’s behavior, but we want our editorial decisions – what we choose to program – to reflect our values. When an artist or creator does something that is especially harmful or hateful (for example, violence against children and sexual violence), it may affect the ways we work with or support that artist or creator.

As of today they’ve used this policy to remove R. Kelly and XXXTentacion from their playlists. A Spotify spokesperson told Billboard:

We are removing R. Kelly’s music from all Spotify owned and operated playlists and algorithmic recommendations such as Discover Weekly. His music will still be available on the service, but Spotify will not actively promote it.

Good.

Spotify and Hulu Team Up for Joint $12.99 Plan

Janko Roettgers, writing for Variety:

Hulu and Spotify unveiled a new subscription bundle for avid streaming fans Wednesday: The plan, “Spotify Premium, now with Hulu,” combines a full Spotify a la carte subscription with Hulu’s entry-level on-demand service for $12.99 per month.

Bought individually, both plans would have a combined price tag of close to $18. The new bundle is initially available only to existing Spotify Premium subscribers in the U.S., who also get a chance to try out Hulu for three months for just 99 cents.

You can sign up here.

Spotify Goes Public

Spotify went public today. Market Watch has some of the numbers:

The stock’s first trade was at $165.90 at 12:43 p.m. ET for 5.7 million shares, according to FactSet, or 27% above the reference price of $132. The stock then rose to an intraday high of $169, before falling to a low of $148.48. The stock was recently 9.8% below its opening price in afternoon trade.

Spotify Is Killing Song Titles

Michael Tauberg, writing on Medium:

With the death of record stores, radio, and to a lesser extent, iTunes, the unit of music delivered to customers has shrunk. From the album, to the song, to now, the stream, music has been disentangled from it’s larger context. As such, we would expect that the names of albums and songs are uncorrelated to their musical success. One way to measure this is the number of unique words in a song title. Although there does appear to be an art to naming a hit song (or say book), the longer tail of music means more random song titles chosen by artists instead of record executives.

An interesting dive into music data.

Spotify Testing Voice Control of App

Spotify is testing voice control of their iOS app. Casey Newton of The Verge got a chance to try it out:

Tap it and you’ll get a brief walkthrough of the search feature, which is currently available only in English. After giving Spotify access to your phone’s microphone, you can tap the mic icon and speak your command. If Spotify understands you, it will begin playing the song, artist, album, or playlist you want.

Apple Music on Track to Overtake Spotify in U.S. Subscribers

The Wall Street Journal:

Apple Inc.’s streaming-music service, introduced in June 2015, has been adding subscribers in the U.S. more rapidly than its older Swedish rival—a monthly growth rate of 5% versus 2%—according to people in the music business familiar with figures reported by the two services. Assuming that pace continues, Apple will overtake Spotify in the world’s biggest music market this summer.

Interesting.

Spotify Launches Spotlight, a Multimedia Take on Podcasts

Megan Farokhmanesh, writing for The Verge:

Spotify announced today that it’s expanding its audio slate to include “visual podcasts” about news, politics, and entertainment. These shows, available in playlist form, will feature a multimedia component that includes text, video, and photos as part of a new format that Spotify is calling “Spotlight.”

Meh, I listen to podcasts while doing other things and have my phone in my pocket, not sure I need “multimedia content” with my podcasts. Spotify should instead open up their directory of podcasts to everyone. The beauty of podcasting is that virtually anyone can do it and share it with the world through an RSS feed. Spotify’s podcast section shuts out thousands of independent publishers.

Spotify Preparing for IPO

Reports are that Spotify has confidentially filed for an IPO:

Both Silicon Valley and Wall Street are paying close attention to this one, given that Spotify is pursuing a direct listing instead of a traditional float. That means no road show or other typical IPO accoutrements (including some of the Wall Street fees, although several investments banks are involved). The quiet period does seem intact, however, as a Spotify spox declined comment.

Spotify Hit With $1.6 Billion Copyright Lawsuit

Eriq Gardner, writing for The Hollywood Reporter:

As the new year begins, the music industry could be set for an epochal moment. Hopes are running high for the first significant reform of music licensing rules in decades. The coming year may also see Spotify go public. But before any of this happens, the Stockholm, Sweden-based streaming giant must now contend with a massive new copyright lawsuit from Wixen Music Publishing, which administers the song compositions by Tom Petty, Zach De La Rocha and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen, Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo, David Cassidy, Neil Young, Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, Stevie Nicks, and many others.