Streaming round-up – Summer 2022

by IDOL
News
26.08.22
Every month, this section offers a summary of the latest news about the main streaming platforms, in particular the latest features offered by Spotify, Deezer, TikTok, YouTube...

Economy

Apple Music
In response to Spotify sessions, Apple Music offers live sessions in spatial audio. More info on The Verge. To defend the alternative scene, Apple Music launches Antidote editions. More info on Music Week.

Anghami
Anghami has acquired Spotlight Events, a MENA-based live music company. More info on Music Business Worldwide.

Beatport
Beatport has acquired LabelRadar, a service for artists and labels to submit demos. More info on Celebrity Access.

Deezer
To counterbalance its somewhat difficult IPO, Deezer invested in a major marketing campaign to attract Generation Z. More info on Music Business Worldwide. The French streaming platform signed a partnership with RTL to enter Germany. More info on Music Week.

Marine Snow
Marine Snow, a new music streaming platform, proposes to pay artists upfront for exclusive tracks. More info on DJ Mag.

Meta
It’s been a complicated summer for Meta. Last month, the company saw its turnover drop for the first time in its history. More info on Engadget. Then, Mark Zuckerberg’s company was sued by Epidemic Sound for copyright infringement. More info on Complete Music Update. And the finish touch: one of the world’s largest music publishers, Kobalt has removed its catalog – over 700,000 songs – from Facebook and Instagram. More info on Variety.

Soundcloud
SoundCloud and Warner Music Group struck a deal, the major’s artists will now be compensated by the platform according to the user-centric model. More info on Billboard. Read Pascal Bittard’s article, founder of IDOL, in favor of the user-centric system.

Shopify
Shopify has decided to invest in the music sales app, Single. More info on Music Business Worldwide. Shopify launched Collabs which allows creators to earn money on the platform. More info on TechCrunch.

Spotify
Last March, the world discovered Heardle, the game derived from the Wordle phenomenon. Spotify just acquired it. More info on CNBC. That same month, Spotify launched its Car Thing app but the platform just abandoned the project. More info on The Verge. The streaming platform is collaborating with EasyJet to suggest travel destinations. More info on The Drum.

Tidal
The streaming platform chooses to differentiate itself with an educational approach by launching Music School, a music “learning center”. More info on Music Ally.

TikTok
The Chinese platform has a patent for a music service – and is currently recruiting for “TikTok Music”. More info on Music Business Worldwide. Ticketmaster and TikTok are partnering on a feature to promote event discovery. More info on TechCrunch.

Triller
Triller’s CEO calls on all Americans to delete rival app TikTok. More info on Complete Music Update. The platform is going through a difficult period, as Triller just received a subpoena from Swizz Beatz and Timbaland for a $28 million payment default. More info on The Washington Post.

Twitter
After many twists and shifts, Elon Musk will not acquire Twitter. More info on Reuters. But the social network’s head of security has just revealed some information that turned out to be very useful to Elon Musk for the legal battle that is brewing. More info on The Guardian.

Utopia Music
The company has signed a deal with B2B company 7digital to use its music metadata database. More info on Music Ally. Utopia Music has entered into an exclusive partnership with Red Bee Media, which broadcasts on more than 9,000 TV and radio channels in the EMEA region. More info on Music Week.

Winamp
Winamp, the famous music player of the 2000s is back, with a new feature: tools to help musicians distribute and promote their music. More info on Engadget.

YouTube
YouTube has announced a partnership with e-commerce platform Shopify. More info on The Verge.

New features

Anghami
Anghami’s algorithm has been updated to favor back catalog and intensive listening. More info on Music Ally.

Audiomack
Audiomack adds a paid feature to allow fans to access music before the official release. More info on Music Ally.

Audius
Web3 streaming service Audius adds a tipping feature. More info on Music Ally.

Bandcamp
Bandcamp updates its “search” feature to promote music discoveries. More info on HypeBot.

Google
Google Meet’s new feature allows users to watch YouTube while listening to Spotify. More info on Tech Crunch.

Instagram
It’s been a tumultuous summer! Instagram allows users to purchase products via DMs. More info on Tech Crunch. While backtracking on some of the changes it made to its app after user feedback (More on The Guardian), the social network remains firm on the video axis to compete with TikTok. More info on Variety. Still on probation: Instagram is developing its own feature BeReal. More info on Thrillist. On the influencer front, Instagram is working on its “Creator Marketplace”. More info on Social Media Today. Video-wise, a new “Live Producer” tool is being tested to help creators shoot more professional IG Live. More info on Social Media Today.

Meta
Ten years after favoring Top stories in the feed, Facebook is going to bring back the chronological feed of friends’ posts. Plus d’infos dans The Guardian. Facebook proposes a new way for creators to make money: music revenue sharing. More info on Music Ally. The social network ends its Live Shopping project. More info on Social Media Today. Meta also develops the Reels feature: converting Stories into Reels is now possible. More info on Music Ally. And users can now schedule Reels via the Creator Studio. More info on Social Media Today.

Spotify
Spotify is getting into pre-sale tickets. More info on Music Ally. As well as merchandising sales. More info on Tech Crunch. Less popular, Spotify imagines a paid feature to benefit from separate “Play” and “Shuffle” buttons. More info on Tech Crunch. On the creative front, Spotify is developing AI tools to encourage users to write music. More info on Forbes. On the fun side, Spotify launches ‘Supergrouper’ – to create the perfect band from your favorite artists. More info on Loudwire.

Snapchat
The desktop version of Snapchat is no longer for Snapchat+ members only. More info on Social Media Today. The social network now counts over 1 million paying subscribers. More info on Variety.

Tencent
Tencent Music launches its version of Spotify for Artists. More info on Music Business Worldwide.

TikTok
A new TikTok feature allows creators to share their Stories on Facebook and Instagram. More info on TechCrunch. Less anecdotally, TikTok is launching an early version of its Sound On music distribution platform. More info on Music Week.

Twitch
Twitch now allows its partners to stream their programs on competing platforms like YouTube and Facebook. More info on Tech Crunch.

Twitter
Twitter launches a first test of collaborative tweets. More info on Social Media Today.

YouTube
YouTube helps users create Shorts from long-form content. More info on The Verge.

Socially responsible initiatives

Snapchat
Snapchat launches the Creator Fund for independent music creators. More info on Variety.

Twitch
Twitch and Merlin partner with MusiCares for the “Relay Raid” charity event. More info on Music Connection. Incidentally, Pascal Bittard, founder and president of IDOL, is a member of the Merlin board of directors.

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