The Essential Music Industry News You Probably Missed These Days - April 2021
The DSP war escalated to the next level, with Apple Music paying 1 penny per stream, while Spotify sealing a new strategic alliance with Facebook! Who will win this war? The artists, we hope :)
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Spotify vs Apple Music: Round #1209
Time for a new battle round between Spotify and Apple, this time on the monetization subject. Apple was first to announce that it will launch a subscription feature for the podcasts hosted on the platform. This means that, finally, podcasters will be able to set a subscription for specific (or all) podcast episodes. Why is this a news for the music industry? Well, it paves the way for artists to create premium content for their loyal fans.
Spotify’s reaction was quick: they also announced the same feature, although it requires users to make some additional steps for paying these subscriptions (like logging in to Anchor, Spotify’s platform for creating podcasts), to avoid Apple’s fees when using App Store for in-app purchases. The good thing about this competition is that Spotify promised to give the full subscriptions to the creators.
Facebook x Spotify = L.O.V.E.
As you’ve probably learned by now, the newest iOS update (the OS that powers all Apple mobile devices) brings new privacy rules (meaning that you can opt-out for apps like Facebook to track your activity for advertising purposes). And this means that Facebook will start losing ground in their advertising business, especially on targeted ads for iPhone users. So, facebook and Apple are kind of a foes right now 🤔
In a pretty smart move, Spotify took advantage of the situation and sealed a rather interesting partneship with social media behemoth: a deep integration of a mini audio player inside the Facebook app. This means that you can listen to Spotify while still scrolling in Facebook.
Bigger reach, more streams, more ways of efficiently sharing your music.
Are You Ready To Sell Your TikTok Duets & Comments?
TikTok is fun, especially when one of your songs becomes viral and your stream count explodes over night. But what if I tell you that you can actually capitalize the image you built on TikTok? Pearpop, a new platform that garnered interest for a lot of investors, is helping TikTokers sell their avatar for the highest bidder. One can set his own prices for duets, comments or sounds.
You’ll also be colleagues with Snoop Dog and you can actually propose him a duet if you have a spare 5,000 USD. Oh, and by the way: did you know that a TikTok user spends on average 89 minutes per day hooked on the app? 😳
Ready To Travel Through Space & Time To Norway?
As you’ve probably got used with it, the last topic on our Essential News compilation is about music. Get ready for a musical journey to Norway where disco has evolved in a super danceable hybrid containing vintage samples and modern electro grooves. Enjoy the essential playlist below!