Tag: Spotify

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Spotify testing new Car Mode in mobile app with focus on voice control

Some Spotify users received prompts to test the app’s completely overhauled ‘Car Mode’ with a focus on simplified controls and voice activation.

The new Car Mode comes after Spotify killed the old ‘Car View’ feature in its mobile app last year. At the time, the music streaming giant said it was exploring other in-car experiences, but it wasn’t clear when those would arrive or what they’d be like.

Now, thanks to screenshots shared by 9to5Google (check the gallery below), we have a pretty good idea. First, the new Car Mode is accessible through a floating action button (FAB) that appears when users connect to a car audio system via Bluetooth.

Alongside the FAB, Spotify surfaces a bubble with text asking users to “test drive” the new Car Mode. 9to5 indicates the test isn’t fully rolled out and that it’s not clear if Car Mode is only available for Android, or if the iOS app will also be included.

When users tap the FAB, Spotify switches to the Car Mode interface, which looks a lot like the normal Spotify interface but bigger, making it easier to quickly see what’s on the screen and interact with it while driving.

Car Mode keeps Spotify’s three-button navigation bar but replaces the ‘Search’ button with a microphone (the Home and Library buttons remain unchanged). Users can tap the microphone to summon a voice control system to search for artists, songs, or playlists using speech.

Additionally, Car Mode revamps the playing screen with simpler, larger controls with play, pause, next song, previous song, shuffle, like and microphone buttons. Again, the interface should be easier to use at a glance than before.

Ultimately, the new Car Mode seems like a vast improvement over Car View, although I’ll reserve final judgement for when I actually get to try it myself. Moreover, Car Mode appears to still be in testing, so it’s possible Spotify could continue to improve on the interface.

Screenshots credit: 9to5Google

Source: 9to5Google

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Mobile Syrup

Google kicks off ‘User Choice Billing’ pilot with Spotify partnership

Google announced plans to pilot ‘User Choice Billing’ in select countries with a “small number of participating developers,” chief among them being Spotify. The new billing option will let developers offer customers another way to pay alongside Google’s payment system, which takes a cut of developers’ revenue.

The search giant detailed the new User Choice Billing system in a blog post on the Android Developers Blog. Interestingly, Google notes that the announcement builds on its “recent launch” in South Korea, although as Android Police reports, the policy change stems directly from a South Korean law mandating app stores must accept third-party payments.

Plus, with other countries targeting Google over app store billing processes, it makes a lot of sense that Google would want to expand the system to garner some goodwill with regulators.

Google will still charge developers that use third-party billing

However, Google’s new User Choice Billing system doesn’t get rid of revenue share fees entirely. Through Google’s payment system, developers are on the hook to pay 10 to 30 percent of revenue to Google based on factors like business model and product sold. (the search giant stresses that 99 percent of developers qualify for a fee of 15 percent or less).

As for the new User Choice Billing system, Google explains that it will reduce whatever service fee a developer would have paid by four percent when customers choose to use an alternate billing system.

As per Google, “for example, for the vast majority of developers who pay 15% for transactions through Google Play’s billing system, their service fee for transactions through the alternate billing system would be 11%.”

It remains to be seen how this will impact developers that want to use alternate billing, but I suspect it may dissuade some. Developers who want to use their own billing system will want to make sure the cost of doing so isn’t greater than the four percent they’re saving by using it. At the same time, third-party billing services will need to charge fees of less than four percent to make it worthwhile for developers.

As a reminder, a 2021 report cited internal Google documents that said the company could break even with a roughly six percent fee on the Play Store. Google, however, continues to push the angle that the Play service fees fund managing the Play Store, security, developer tools, app distribution and more.

Spotify among the first to offer a choice of payments

Music streaming giant Spotify will be among the first to offer User Choice Billing. The streamer announced a multiyear partnership with Google that will allow users who downloaded Spotify from the Play Store to pick between Spotify’s payment system or Google’s.

Per Spotify:

“Over the coming months, Spotify will work with Google’s product and engineering teams to build this new experience, and we’ll roll out in countries around the world. Working together, the companies will test and learn, jointly exploring product innovations across the Android platform. We anticipate launching the first iteration of User Choice Billing later this year.”

It sounds like Spotify is on board with Google’s User Choice Billing system, despite that it continues to charge fees. Spotify has long advocated against Google (and Apple) charging app store fees, so this change is likely a win. Just, maybe not as big a win as some had hoped.

Regardless, I’m interested to see how User Choice Billing progresses.

Source: Google, (2), Spotify Via: Android Police

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Mobile Syrup

Spotify to integrate Greenroom’s live social audio into its main app

Spotify’s Clubhouse rival, Greenroom, could feature one significant upgrade over its competitors. According to Bloomberg, Spotify will integrate Greenroom into its base app and rename the service to be more accessible for users.

The live social audio app will be renamed Spotify Live and will be available on the main Spotify app. Content creators can still organize conversations, which subscribers will be able to listen in on.

While Bloomberg’s source is unnamed, evidence of the change was spotted in the code for the beta version of Spotify’s iPhone app.

Spotify’s Greenroom integration will reportedly take place in the second quarter of the year.

The Swedish audio and media company isn’t the only one to copy Clubhouse’s social audio functionality. Twitter launched Twitter Spaces, Meta has Live Audio Rooms via Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, and Discord also have a similar feature. Clubhouse reached more than 10 million users within a year of its launch.

However, the social audio buzz has seemed to die down and has caused platforms like Spotify’s Greenroom to struggle, according to Bloomberg.

Source: Bloomberg

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Mobile Syrup

First two episodes of Dolly Patron and James Patterson’s ‘Run, Rose, Run’ bookcast now available on Spotify

Spotify has released the first two episodes of what it’s calling a ‘bookcast,’ with Dolly Parton and James Patterson’s novel Run, Rose, Run at the center of it.

The concept combines storytelling from the novel the two co-wrote and infuses it with sound elements and original music from Parton to provide the listener with an immersive and unique audio experience.

The first two episodes of Run, Rose, Run Bookcast were released earlier today, Wednesday, February 23rd on Spotify, with the rest of the episodes following suit on March 7th, the day the novel comes out.

Image credit: Spotify

“We are honoured to partner with Dolly Parton and James Patterson on Run, Rose, Run, a trailblazing audio experience from two of the world’s most prolific creators that combines Spotify’s core elements — music and spoken audio,” said Dawn Ostroff, Spotify’s chief content and advertising business officer, in a recent statement. “This unique audio experience exemplifies the limitless potential of audio and Spotify’s commitment to partnering with exceptional creative talent on new innovative formats.”

The fictional novel follows the story of an aspiring female musician who moves to Nashville to pursue her dreams, but she carries a “brutal secret” that threatens the “future she’s trying to build.”

This comes soon after the Joe Rogan debacle that saw multiple artists, including Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, India Arie, Graham Nash, Nils Lofgren, requesting the removal of their music from Spotify, stating that the service doesn’t curb the COVID-19 misinformation originating from the UFC commentator’s podcast.

We’re not sure if that will, in turn, result in muted growth for the new ‘bookcast’ concept of infusing storytelling and music or not. Regardless, I think bringing the likes of Patterson and Parton to the platform with a new product is sure to bring back some lost listeners.

You can listen to the first two episodes of the Run, Rose, Run bookcast below or on Spotify.

Source: Spotify

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Mobile Syrup

Kanye West launching Donda 2 as Stem Player exclusive album

Kanye West, or Ye as he’s referred to now, has announced his plans to release Donda 2 as a Stem Player exclusive. For the uninitiated, Stem Player is Ye’s proprietary music player.

On Instagram, Ye revealed that Donda 2 will only be available to listen to via the Stem Player. Ye went on to explain the decision to not make the album available on Spotify, Apple Music, or even YouTube.

In the post, Ye writes: “Today artists get just 12% of the money the industry makes. It’s time to free music from this oppressive system.” The musician believes that moving the release of his album to the Stem Player will allow him to “take control”.

 

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A post shared by ye (@kanyewest)

The Stem Player launched last year and had the first Donda album pre-installed. The Stem Player also touts that it allows users to “customize any song” with controls for vocals, instruments, effects, etc. It’s currently available for $200 USD (roughly $252 CAD). It also features four touch-sensitive light sensors, a haptics engine, a 97DB built-in speaker, a 3.5mm audio jack, Bluetooth, and 8GB of storage.

Ye partnered with Kano Computing and claims that production is ramping up. The musician says 67,000 Stem Player units are available. 3,000 units are manufactured each day.

Donda 2 will February 22, 2022. However, given the tumultuous release of the first Donda album, we may see a delay or two from Ye.

Source: Instagram

Image Credit: Stem Player

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Mobile Syrup

Apple Music is already showing users their top music of 2022

Apple Music is already showing users their most listened-to tracks of 2022.

In an effort to capture some Spotify Wrapped’s magic, Apple launched an algorithmically generated top songs playlist called ‘Replay’ in 2019. Unlike Wrapped, the Replay playlist is available nearly all year long, and as long as you’ve used Apple Music during that year, you’ll have a corresponding playlist. For instance, my Replay playlists go back to 2015.

Like the other Apple Music Replay lists, the new version consists of your top 100 songs. You can find it at the bottom of the ‘Listen Now’ page on mobile and desktop versions of the app. If you want to get a more detailed breakdown that’s a little more in line with Spotify Wrapped, you can visit music.apple.com/ca/replay to see how many hours you’ve listened for and other stats.

Overall, though this isn’t the zeitgeist grabbing force that Spotify Wrapped is,  it’s… still something. That said, I expected a little more out of Apple. Apple Music’s Replay section only shows your top songs, top artists, amount of artists and total listening hours. By contrast, Spotify Wrapped makes an event out of its stats with fun little anecdotes, more stats (some meaningful, some not), and it’s all packaged in a cool-looking shareable interface.

The music streaming landscape has shifted significantly lately, with users shifting from Spotify to try out platforms like YouTube Music, Apple Music and more.

Via: 9to5Mac

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Canadians want streaming services to promote music made in Canada: study

Producer, Audio Engineer Uses Control Desk for Recording New Album Track in Music Record Studio, in the Soundproof Room Musician, Artist, Performer Sings a Song from New Album. Back View

A recent survey from rights management organization SOCAN shows Canadians want foreign social media companies to promote and invest in Canadian creations, including music, TV shows, and movies.

The advocate for musicians, artists, and publishers surveyed 1,510 Canadians 18 and older. While there was a strong consensus across Canada, a statement from the company shows residents of Quebec expressed the strongest sentiment.

While streaming services have been in Canada for the last decade, support has never been equitable.

For every dollar spent on music licenses from Canadian TV and radio broadcasters, 34 cents go towards Canadian songwriters and composers. In comparison, only 10 cents go towards artists for every dollar spent on licenses from online streaming services.

SOCAN says the situation worsens when looking at francophone musicians. They receive an average of seven percent royalties on traditional media but only 1.8 percent royalties on digital media.

“Canadian creators need support to continue to develop Canadian music in the world of streaming, and Canada must be a place for emerging music creators, where songwriters and composers can create, grow and thrive,” Jennifer Brown, SOCAN CEO, said in a statement.

The report also revealed younger Canadians showed the most support on the matter. While labelled as “surprising,” the report didn’t clarify what age groups were considered ‘younger.’

SOCAN says the recently introduced Online Streaming Act is a step in the right direction. Also known as Bill C-11, it looks to have streaming services follow similar rules to Canadian broadcasters.

The bill will “make it easier for Canadian audiences to find and engage with Canadian creators, giving our music a place in the world of streaming,” the organization said.

Image credit: ShutterStock

Source: SOCAN

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Spotify finally adds COVID-19 misinformation tags to podcasts — thanks, Joe Rogan

Last week, UFC commentator and former Fear Factor host Joe Rogan finally crossed the line with the spread of misinformation through his popular ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ podcast that Canadian artist Neil Young removed his music from Spotify in protest.

In an effort to smooth out the situation, the streaming service has implemented a new tag to help viewers understand that the information within some of the podcasts streamed through the platform may be untrue. Spotify also reworked its platform rules to make it easier to ban content that asserts that COVID, AIDS, or any other life-threatening illness are hoaxes.

Spotify’s response is crucial in this instance because the streaming music platform bought the exclusive rights to the Joe Rogan podcast in 2020 in a deal worth more than $100 million USD (roughly $127 million CAD). Since then, Rogan and Spotify have come under fire several times related to the spread of COVID-19-related misinformation on the show. Earlier this year, more than 270 doctors and other health care experts signed a joint letter condemning Spotify and Rogan for the COVID misinformation shared on the podcast.

For example, in 2021 Spotify reviewed an episode where Rogan stated that those under the age of 21 should not get the COVID-19 vaccine. The company deemed that episode fine at the time, but this latest bout of fake information has hit the streaming platform financially, resulting in a $2.1 billion USD (roughly $2.6 billion CAD) loss in its market cap over three days. 

Rogan himself has also come out and apologized to an extent, though his almost 10-minute Instagram video seems out of touch with the situation and seems to be shifting the blame off himself even though he orchestrated the situation.

 

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A post shared by Joe Rogan (@joerogan)

Rogan also mentions that his podcast episode with Dr. Robert Malone (MD) has been marked with the Spotify COVID-19 misinformation tagline at the start of the show. Rogan goes on to say that he promises to try and balance the opinions on his show more in the future.

A few other artists beyond Young have also pulled their music from Spotify, including Joni Mitchell.

Source: @joerogan Via: The Verge 

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Joni Mitchell joins Neil Young in pulling music from Spotify over vaccine misinformation

Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell joined Neil Young in removing her music from Spotify in response to vaccine misinformation shared on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.

“I’ve decided to remove all my music from Spotify. Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives. I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue,” Mitchell wrote on her website. She also linked to an open letter signed by a coalition of scientists, medical professionals and more calling on Spotify to address misinformation on its platform.

Young similarly criticized Spotify for its lack of misinformation policy, writing that the platform “can have Rogan or Young. Not Both.”

Spotify purchased the Joe Rogan Experience podcast for $100 million USD (about $127.5 million CAD) in 2020 as part of its push into podcasting. The show is one of the most popular podcasts globally, with an estimated audience of 11 million.

An essential part of the story that’s gone relatively unsaid so far is that both Young and Mitchell contracted polio as kids before the vaccine was developed in the 1950s. Some have attributed the musicians’ stand to their experience with polio, which has largely been eliminated thanks to the widespread adoption of the vaccine. According to the World Health Organization, wild poliovirus cases fell over 99 percent from an estimated 350,000 in 1988 to just 33 reported cases in 2018.

COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19. According to the government of Canada’s website, over 77 percent of the population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of January 22nd, 2022.

Following Young’s move away from Spotify, other streaming music platforms moved to capitalize, with Apple Music’s official Twitter account tweeting that it’s “the home of Neil Young” in an apparent dig at Spotify. It’ll be interesting to see if a similar push happens around Mitchell’s music.

For any music lovers out there thinking about following Young and Mitchell and leaving Spotify, check out MobileSyrup’s music streaming explainer to see which other platforms might work for you.

Source: Joni Mitchell

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Apple Music prominently features Neil Young’s music in apparent dig to Spotify

Apple Music is taking advantage of rockstar Neil Young’s rift with Spotify by promoting his songs on its app.

Spotify confirmed it was removing Young’s songs from the streaming service earlier this week after the rockstar shared an open letter stating he doesn’t want his music shared on the same platform as Joe Rogan’s podcast.

The Rogan Experience is the most popular podcast on the platform, but it also boasts misinformation on a number of important issues, including the COVID vaccine.

“Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, though the company presently has no misinformation policy,” Young wrote in his original letter.

In a recent tweet, Apple Music says it’s now the “home of Neil Young.”

On January 27th, just one day after Spotify pulled the songs, Apple Music highlighted the musician’s catalogue with the header “We Love Neil.” It was prominently placed under the apps “browse” section.

Apple isn’t the only one to take advantage.

On the same day Apple Music showed its love, SiriusXM Canada released a press release stating the return of Neil Young Radio. The channel featured the show on a limited basis back in December, focusing on Young’s music and stories. The now renewed show will feature rare insights from Young himself and every song from his latest album.

60 percent of Young’s music was listened to on Spotify and in his letter, he acknowledged the impact of his actions. But it seems like Spotify’s loss is to Young’s benefit as other platforms are more than willing to feature his work.