Streaming round-up – September 2026

by IDOL
News
28.09.26
Stay up to date on the latest in streaming news with our monthly round-up. This month, SoundCloud is offering downloads, Apple Music is opening a concert venue, and the IFPI is launching a collective initiative to combat fraud.

Figure of the month: 40.7%. That is the share of global “superstar” artists originating from the United States and the United Kingdom, down from 55.7% in 2021, according to Chartmetric.
More info on Music Business Worldwide.

Economy

Apple Music
Apple Music Classical partners with learning platform Kahoot!. More info on Music Week. Apple Music unveiled new details about its plan to label tracks created with AI, scheduled to launch this year. More info on Digital Music News. Apple to open a 600-capacity live music venue in London, featuring two recording studios. More info on Music Tech.

Audiomack
Audiomack launches a night plan to allow African fans to download music when data is cheaper. More info on Hypebot.

Bandsintown
Bandsintown artists can now sync fan signups to Mailchimp, Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, and more. More info on Hypebot.

Chartmetric
Chartmetric launches its AI agent Flow starting at $60 per month. More info on Music Business Worldwide.

Dice
DICE owner Fever raises $250M at a $5.2B valuation. More info on Music Business Worldwide.

IFPI
Music companies unite on an IFPI-led streaming integrity initiative to tackle fraudulent content. More info on Music Week.

Meta
Ticketmaster named first music partner for Meta’s Muse AI. More info on Digital Music News. Judge throws out copyright claims in Wixen’s $102M lawsuit against Meta. More info on Music Business Worldwide. Meta agrees to major changes on Facebook and Instagram after settling a US teen addiction lawsuit. More info on The Guardian. Instagram’s growth continues to outpace Facebook in the EU. More info on Social Media Today.

Musixmatch
Musixmatch launches Pro for Labels to help record companies manage and distribute lyrics at scale. More info on Music Business Worldwide.

OCC
Official Charts Company spotlights UK albums with a new weekly countdown. More info on Music Week. Official Charts opens its data vault with a new PRO platform. More info on Hypebot.

Spotify
Spotify removes stream counts from its daily and weekly India charts. More info on Music Ally. Spotify launches the “Fresh Finds Forward” program to support emerging indie artists. More info on The Verge.

un:hurd
Un:hurd Music launches a rebranded platform including AI tools for artists. More info on Music Week.

Winamp
Winamp set to return in 2027 to take on streaming. More info on Engadget.

New features

Apple Music
After classical music, jazz gets its own app, Sessionography, reserved for Apple Music subscribers. More info on Music Ally. Apple integrates Shazam into its new “Audio Intelligence” feature on the Apple Watch. More info on Digital Music News.

Audiomack
Audiomack Pro offers artists monetization, broader promotional reach, and data showing how listeners interact with their music. More info on Hypebot.

Deezer
The Deezer Club membership experience expands to Brazil.More info on Music Week.

Google
Google rolls out new AI image and video tools. More info on Social Media Today.

Instagram
Instagram lets users add tagged posts to profile grids. More info on Social Media Today. Instagram launches drafts for Reels. More info on Social Media Today. Meta tests auto DM response for Instagram ad comments. More info on Social Media Today.

Linkedin
LinkedIn Launches a Proofreading Tool for Premium Subscribers. More info on Social Media Today.

Meta
Meta launches Muse personal AI. More info on Social Media Today.

MusixMatch
Musixmatch Pro launches new platform for record labels. More info on Music Week.

Qobuz
Qobuz rolls out tag to flag AI-generated music on its platform. More info on Forbes.

Snapchat
Snapchat adds new AI features, including ‘chat-to-song’. More info on Social Media Today.

Soundcloud
SoundCloud starts letting artists sell downloads directly and announces taking zero commission. xMore info on Music Ally.

Spotify
Spotify finally lets parents exclude kids’ music from Wrapped and recommendations. More info on TechCrunch. Spotify’s Running mode is now available on Android. More info on Engadget. Spotify’s Reserved concert ticketing feature now includes setlists. More info on Billboard. Spotify is revealing the inner workings of its recommendation algorithm with the U.S. launch of the Taste Profile feature. More info on TechCrunch.

TikTok
TikTok gets more interactive with voice comments and polls. More info on TechCrunch. TikTok launches a newsletter to share creator insights. More info on Social Media Today.

YouTube
YouTube expands its Stations feature to “select new artists”. More info on Music Ally. YouTube Music gets more conversational with new AI features. More info on TechCrunch.

Have I missed something? You can find all the previous episodes here.
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