Streaming round-up – May 2023

by IDOL
News
26.05.23
Every month, this section offers a summary of the latest news about the main streaming platforms, in particular the latest features offered by Soundcloud, Spotify, Meta, TikTok…

Economy

Amazon Music
Linkfire inks a multi-year partnership with Amazon Music. More info on Bloomberg.

Apple Music
Pepsi and Apple are teaming up this summer to deliver free music streaming. More info on Fast Company.

Audius
Streaming service Audius has added a feature that allows artists to download tracks that have been AI-generated from their music. More info on Music Ally.

ByteDance
ByteDance is closing the free tiers of its music streaming service Resso and switching to subscription-only. More info on Music Ally.

Luminate
Luminate, the company that feeds the Billboard charts with data, is launching a new platform. More info on Variety.

Meta
Meta has been fined $1.3 billion for transferring data from Facebook to the US. More info on The Verge. Meta has also been forced to sell Giphy with an 87% loss in Shutterstock deal. More info on The Register. WhatsApp could be withdrawn from the UK over privacy concerns, reports The Guardian. Meanwhile, Meta’s alternative to Twitter, Barcelona, is taking shape. More info on Social Media Today.

Soundcloud
SoundCloud, in search of profitability, cuts a further 8% of its workforce. More info on Music Business Worldwide. SoundCloud and Merlin sign a global agreement to offer fan-powered royalties to independent labels. More info on Music Business Worldwide. Incidentally, Pascal Bittard, founder and president of IDOL, is a member of Merlin’s board of directors.

Spotify
Spotify is planning a price increase, without disclosing any date. More info on Complete Music Update. Spotify confirms it is working with labels to counter the threat to copyright AI represents. More info on Music Business Worldwide.
Spotify has removed a large number of tracks after detecting “stream manipulation”. More info on Music Business Worldwide. But less than a week later, Boomy’s AI-generated tracks are back on Spotify. More info on Music Business Worldwide. A new streaming study focuses on Swedish artists’ revenues on Spotify. More info on Music Ally.

TenCent
HYBE signs a distribution agreement with Tencent Music Entertainment. More info on Music Business Worldwide.

TikTok
The Governor of Montana signs a ban on TikTok. More info on TechCrunch. TikTok creators filed a lawsuit against this ban. More info on The Guardian. And the app itself is suing Montana over the ruling. More info on Complete Music Update. Meanwhile, TikTok is quietly stepping up its distribution agreements with SoundOn. More info on Music Ally.

Triller
Triller has to pay Sony Music $4.5 million over a US music rights case. More info on Reuters.

Twitter
Six months after buying Twitter, Elon Musk has appointed Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of the social network. More info on BBC News.

New Features

Apple Music
Apple is adding concert discovery features to its Music and Maps applications. More info on Complete Music Update.

Google
Google has unveiled MusicLM, its new experimental AI tool capable of turning text descriptions into music. More info on TechCrunch.

Instagram
Two new music features are coming to Instagram, according to ZDNET. Instagram is also launching the long-awaited GIFs option in comments, as well as an extended collaboration option for broadcasters. More info on TechCrunch.

Meta
Meta has announced an AI-based Sandbox to help advertisers create alternative ads. More info on TechCrunch.

NetEase
NetEase Cloud Music has officially announced Dolby Atmos support. More info on Digital Music News.

Snapchat
Snapchat has rolled out its GPT-powered chatbot “My AI” to all users, a move that has not been well received by users. More info on Social Media Today. At the same time, Snapchat is launching an augmented reality technology with ‘AR Mirrors’. More info on TechCrunch.

Soundcloud
SoundCloud unveils a new tool for direct messaging between fans and artists. More info on Complete Music Update.

Spotify
Spotify is rolling out its AI DJ functionality in the UK and Ireland. More info on Music Week. Bumble users can now share their favorite artists with a new Spotify feature. More info on TechCrunch. Spotify adds 11 new languages to its mobile app. Plus d’info sur Radio Ink.

TikTok
TikTok is launching the Artist Impact Program to bring artists and brands together. More info on Music Business Worldwide. And also the “TikTok World Hub” for marketers to exchange best practice. More info on Social Media Today. And changes to the conditions of the Creativity Programme: now, 10,000 followers and longer videos are required. More info on The Verge.
On the music front, TikTok is launching a #NewMusic hub focusing on new releases. Plus d’info sur Music Ally. The app is testing a new feature to connect TikTokers with artists. More info on Music Ally. TikTok is also testing direct streaming links with Apple Music. More info on Music Ally.

Twitter
Twitter is bringing back the free blue badges for accounts with over a million followers. More info on Social Media Today. Elon Musk announces that Twitter is purging inactive accounts to free up Handles. More info on TechCrunch.

Winamp
Winamp launches Fanzone, a new service for artists to aggregate “any audio service”. More info on Music Ally.

YouTube
YouTube is offering advertisers new placement options on YouTube Shorts. More info on Social Media Today.

Socially responsible initiatives

Amazon Music and the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) are renewing their partnership around the Step Up Fund for developing artists. More info on Music Week.

Tidal unveils the first artists to benefit from Tidal Rising. More info on Music Ally.

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