Taylor Swift ranked first among the world’s musical artists on the annual Spotify Wrapped chart that ranks the year’s top songs, albums, podcasts and audiobooks. Her more than 26.6 billion global streams earned her the preeminent title of Spotify’s Global Top Artist for the second consecutive year. The Weeknd, Bad Bunny, Drake and Billie Eilish rounded out the top performers, at numbers 2 through 5, respectively. Women dominated the global Top 10 for albums, led by Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology” followed by Eilish’s “Hit Me Soft and Hard.” Swift claimed a total of three slots among the Most-Streamed Albums Globally. Continue reading Spotify Wrapped: Swift Leads a Banner Year for Female Artists

The overheated podcast sector has hit an iceberg, according to recent reports citing staff layoffs and the end of the big-money talent deals that until recently had become  commonplace. Spotify, Amazon, NPR and SiriusXM have been trimming budgets while allowing costly agreements to expire without renewals. The sector grew explosively in the past decade, with the number of U.S. listeners age 12 and over who have tried podcasting more than doubling to 62 percent, or 177 million users, according to Edison Research. But now that the euphoria has worn off, a mature market is learning sustainability. Continue reading Podcast Industry Reins in Costs After Years of Rapid Growth

Mark Zuckerberg has confirmed that Meta Platforms will in October debut the mixed reality headset the company has been developing under the codename Project Cambria. Appearing on Spotify’s “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast last week, Zuckerberg said the new headset will have outward facing cameras capable of porting the outside world into the VR experience. With improved facial tracking to transpose smiles and frowns and the ability to convey “actual eye contact” between avatars, Zuckerberg said the new device will enhance the experience of “social presence.” Continue reading Zuckerberg Says New Meta VR Headset Launching in October

Spotify is taking steps to clarify its position regarding COVID-19 misinformation and stabilize its fluctuating stock price after Neil Young and Joni Mitchell yanked their music from the streaming service over objections to vaccine remarks on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast. “These issues are incredibly complex,” Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said on Sunday, when the company published platform rules and announced the creation of a COVID-19 Hub to provide “easy access to data-driven facts” from “scientists, physicians, academics and public health authorities” from around the world. Spotify will not be removing the offending content, Ek said. Continue reading Spotify Acts on Boycott, Posts COVID Facts After Stock Falls

Swedish audio streaming service Spotify is now allowing all U.S.-based podcasters to use Anchor, its podcast creation and distribution platform, to sell subscriptions for exclusive episodes available via a private RSS feed and within the Spotify app. The company is increasing its pricing options and enabling podcasters to download email addresses of paying subscribers who opt in. Spotify will not take a revenue cut until 2023, when it will begin to take 5 percent. It still does not offer a “subscribe” button, meaning listeners have to go to an external website to sign up. Continue reading Spotify Opens Podcast Subscription Service to U.S. Creators

Spotify Technology SA posted unexpectedly strong subscription growth during Q4 2020, to 345 million monthly active users, up 27 percent from a year earlier. Paid subscriptions grew 24 percent above the same period last year to 155 million. But average revenue per subscriber fell 8 percent to €4.26 ($5.13) due to discounted plans and lower rates in India and Russia. The company’s 2021 outlook takes into account that such growth could diminish in 2021. Shares of the company fell 9 percent to $315. Continue reading Spotify Reports Q4 Subscriber Growth, Focuses on Podcasts