Streaming round-up – April 2025

by IDOL
News
25.04.25
Stay up to date on the latest in streaming news with our monthly round-up. This month, TikTok reaches out to artists, YouTube revamps its Shorts, and Instagram boosts its Reels.

The figure of the month: 20,000. Deezer has revealed that around 18% of the tracks uploaded to its platform are entirely generated by artificial intelligence – that’s 20,000 tracks a day. More info on Business Worldwide.

Economy

Audius
The streaming platform Audius launches an agency to connect musicians and developers. More info on Music Ally.

Coda Music
Merlin partners with Coda Music, a new platform that aims to redefine the way fans discover music and connect with artists. More info on Music Week.

Patreon
The subscription platform for creators has signed podcasting partnerships with Sony Music Entertainment and Amazon’s Wondery. More info on TechCrunch.

Soundcloud
SoundCloud launches the first “Music Intelligence Report” to highlight emerging listening trends. More info on Music Week.

Spotify
According to a new survey, 45% of Spotify subscribers are interested in a higher level of service, compared to 39% at the end of last year. More info on Digital Music News.

Triller
Merlin sues TikTok rival Triller for breach of contract over allegedly unpaid music licensing fees. More info on Music Business Worldwide.

TikTok
US President Donald Trump has granted TikTok a second 75-day extension. More info on BBC.com. LBids are piling up as the deadline approaches, with Amazon and the founder of OnlyFans in the balance. More info on Reuters.

New Features

Apple Music
Apple is adding lossless audio to its AirPods Max headphones in a free update. More info on Music Tech. Apple Music also now offers Dolby Atmos support for Windows. More info on Digital Music News.

Audioshake
AudioShake unveils a tool that uses AI to isolate individual voices in a complex audio environment. More info on Radio World.

Beatport
Beatport, the platform dedicated to electronic music, has added the Ambient/Experimental genre and has reclassified Downtempo as its own category. More info on DJ Life Mag.

Berriz
Berriz is a brand new app for superfans. Launched by Kakao Entertainment, it is in direct competition with the Weverse app. More info on Music Business Worldwide.

Deezer
The streaming platform is rolling out new features, including greater control for users over the algorithm. More info on Music Week.

Google
Google’s enterprise cloud gets an AI model that generates music. Lyria is presented as an alternative to royalty-free music libraries. More info on TechCrunch.

Instagram
Instagram has added a lot of features recently, including the fast forward feature to Reels. More info on Kill The DJ. And the repost feature to amplify content. More info on Social Media Today. Instagram also announces it’s looking to improve the app’s search functionality. More info on TechCrunch. And testing lockable posts to improve engagement. More info on Social Media Today. After testing and refining the feature for over a year, Instagram has officially launched Blend, a dedicated Reels sharing option. More info on Social Media Today.

Meta
After several announcements, Meta has launched Edits, a video creation app to compete with CapCut, with plans for expanded music options, including “royalty-free”. More info on Music Business Worldwide. Affirming the parent company’s desire to abandon third-party fact-checking, community notes are beginning to appear in Meta apps. More info on Social Media Today.

Qobuz
Qobuz’s latest update lets you search by record label and awards. More info on MSN.

Soundcloud
SoundCloud launches subscription plans in Mexico for the first time. More info on Music Ally.

Spotify
Spotify unveils new advertising tools, including allowing advertisers to use generative AI to create scripts and voiceovers. More info on Hollywood Reporter. Weverse and Spotify are partnering for an in-app streaming feature ‘Listening Party’. More info on Billboard Philippines. In a move towards live music, Spotify is partnering with ticketing platform Skiddle to connect listeners with live events. More info on Music Business Worldwide. And to the Dutch event management platform Stager, allowing venues and festivals to display their events directly on artist pages. More info on Music Business Worldwide.

TikTok
TikTok launches the “TikTok for Artists” platform. More info on Music Business Worldwide. TikTok challenges Google Maps with a new review feature for location-tagged publications. More info on Social Media Today. TikTok starts testing Footnotes, a new feature similar to Community Notes. More info on TechCrunch.

Vevo
Music video network Vevo launches Evolve, a new line of advertising products. More info on Ad Week.

WhatsApp
WhatsApp adds new options for businesses to send promotional DMs. More info on Social Media Today.

X/Twitter
X is looking to extend the reach of its Grok chatbot by partnering with the messaging app Telegram. More info on Social Media Today.

YouTube
YouTube Music now lets you adjust “Ask Music” stations to better match your interests. More info on Digital Trends. YouTube changes how YouTube Shorts views are counted. More info on TechCrunch. YouTube makes it easy to repost TikToks in Shorts. More info on Social Media Today. YouTube’s new AI tool generates free background music for videos. More info on The Verge. YouTube Music is testing a new lyrics sharing feature similar to Spotify. More info on MSN.

Going further
Read more articles
See all