March 2023

Over one-third of all Spaniards stream music

15/03/2023

Over one-third of all Spaniards stream music with 5.2 million doing so through a premium subscription in 2022 – an increase of 18% over 2021 according to Promusicae, the Spanish recorded music industry association. 17 million Spaniards used audio streaming services during 2022 representing 36% of the population. Revenue grew by 12.43% in the year amounting to €462 million of which €402 million were music sales which is 9% up on the past year. The digital market […]

Spotify updates its mobile app

14/03/2023

Spotify updates its mobile app with previews of music, podcasts and audiobooks on its Home page together with search tools to aid discovery. Announced at this year’s Stream On event the updated interface takes its cues from Tik-Tok and Instagram and has received a mixed reaction from industry pundits. New feature updates include: Music, Podcasts & Shows, and Audiobook previews on Home – Simply tap into the Music, Podcasts & Shows, or Audiobooks feed to explore […]

Apple Music Classical to launch 28th March

12/03/2023

Apple Music Classical is to launch on 28th March 2023 as a separate app which can be pre-ordered from the Apple app store here. Apple bought classical music streamer Primephonic in Autumn 2021 promising that it would launch a revamped service in 2022. The new service will be a free addition to any paid subscription (Individual, Student, Family, or Apple One) but will not be included in the Apple Music Voice Plan. On launch it […]

Sonos expands voice control to 27 more countries

11/03/2023

Sonos expands voice control to 27 more countries with a rollout scheduled for Spring 2023. Last year, Sonos introduced Sonos Voice Control, as a new fast and private way to control music on Sonos speakers, in the US and France. In collaboration with Amazon to further voice interoperability, Sonos Voice Control is able to work concurrently alongside Alexa providing listeners an easy way to play music, set timers and alarms, check the weather, control compatible smart […]

BBC Radio to stop Shoutcast streaming

11/03/2023

BBC Radio to stop Shoutcast streaming from mid-2023 and will focus on HLS and DASH as its preferred audio streaming technologies. According to the broadcaster ‘This will allow us to understand more about how and where our content is consumed and will help us improve the services we offer to our listeners.’ It continues ‘Shoutcast is an older streaming technology and many connected radio devices in the UK no longer use it for BBC streams. […]

Only 23% of Deezer’s Top 100 artists are women

11/03/2023

Only 23% of Deezer’s Top 100 artists are women which is a decrease of 1% compared to 2020 according to a recent blog post by the streamer. As part of International Women’s Month, Deezer has launched a dedicated channel – Women’s impact channel – containing a 100% Women’s version of Flow and new music quizzes. Deezer points out that there is an abundance of women artists who become role models for girls (and boys) of […]

Sonos to support Apple Music spatial audio

10/03/2023

Sonos is to support Apple Music spatial audio starting from the 28th March 2023 representing a significant expansion of its next-gen sound experience offerings. Spatial audio delivers a multi-dimensional immersive sound experience that is fast becoming a primary recording format among leading artists, producers and engineers. Available on Sonos Era 300 (pictured above), Arc, and Beam (Gen 2), Apple Music with spatial audio will place listeners at the centre of their music with an ever-growing […]