Streaming Archives

Google Play Music starts phased shutdown

04/08/2020

Google Play Music starts phased shutdown with YouTube Music replacing Google Play Music by the end of 2020. Google Play Music users have been able to transfer their music libraries, personal taste preferences and playlists to YouTube Music since the beginning of the year. The shutdown of Google Play Music will happen by December 2020 and users of the service will have transfer their music libraries by that time. In the coming months, Google Play […]

Spotify subscribers hit 138 million in Q2 2020

03/08/2020

Spotify subscribers hit 138 million, a 27% increase year on year, according to its recently released Q2 2020 financial results. Monthly Active Users (MAU) increased 29% to 299 million. Revenue of €1,889 million was up 13% year on year in the quarter despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the quarter, Spotify increased its operations to 92 countries including Russia and 12 additional European countries. Latin America and Rest of World continue to see […]

Groups can stream simultaneously using Spotify’s Group Session

28/07/2020

Groups can stream simultaneously using Spotify’s Group Session beta release which enables groups of 2-5 users to share music and podcasts in real time. The first first beta version of Group Session back in May allowed groups of Spotify Premium users to share control of their listening sessions with others in real time. It even offered shared opportunities for collaboration among all the listeners. In this release Spotify Premium users around the world can tune […]

Deezer creates ‘Black Culture’ channel

28/07/2020

Deezer creates ‘Black Culture’ channel reinforcing the streamer’s commitment to Black artists and podcasters. The streamer is taking action to support black artists and creators and in June this year Deezer removed the term ‘Urban’ explaining that it’s an outdated word and is something they have banned internally and stopped using externally. With its new ‘Black Culture’ channel, Deezer has committed to promoting audio content from the most talented black creators around the world. Its […]

Higher Learning - one of the first Spotify video podcasts

Spotify launches video podcasts

21/07/2020

Spotify launches video podcasts which are available for Free and Premium subscriptions everywhere podcasts are available. The streamer has unveiled the first version of its new video podcast feature with select podcasts. Listeners can tune into podcasts like Book of Basketball 2.0, Fantasy Footballers, The Misfits Podcast, H3 Podcast, The Morning Toast, Higher Learning with Van Lathan & Rachel Lindsay, and The Rooster Teeth Podcast for a visual and audio feast. To start watching, just press play on your desktop or mobile app. The […]

Spotify launches in Russia

19/07/2020

Spotify launches in Russia together with 12 other European countries bringing the total number countries the streamer is in to 92. Listeners in Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, and Ukraine can receive Spotify’s full experience of 50 million tracks, 4 billion playlists, and localised music personalization features. Expansion in Europe comes as consumers in the region embrace streaming. Russia in particular is one of the […]

US music streaming up 16.2% in the first six months of 2020

18/07/2020

US music streaming up 16.2% in first six months of 2020 with 419.8 Bn streams so far this year according to a report from Nielsen Music/MRC Data. At the beginning of the year audio streaming was growing through early March, up 20.4% over the same period in 2019. Total music consumption was up 14.6% in the first 10 weeks of the year. As working from home became a reality for many due to COVID-19, some […]