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SoundCloud takes on Spotify's Discover Weekly feature with new 'Buzzing Playlists' | TechCrunch

May 2, 2024 7:29 PM0


SoundCloud has launched a new set of playlists under the “Buzzing Playlists” moniker to highlight up-and-coming tracks from artists.

There are playlists for Pop, Hip Hop, R&B, and Electronic music, and they feature tracks from artists who are part of SoundCloud’s Next Pro paid subscription program. SoundCloud said it looks at signals like repeat plays, playlist adds, likes, comments, and reposts to add tracks to Buzzing Playlists, which are updated every week.

Last year, the company launched a First Fans program that suggests new tracks to people in autoplay mode to help artists reach their first 100 listeners with a new release. The company said it used machine learning to match people’s music tastes to a song’s profile, and the top tracks from this experiment are suggested to 1,000 users.

The company said it has analyzed over 3.5 million tracks since it released First Fans in June 2023. It noted that Next Pro artists have seen a 400% rise in the number of listeners due to this feature.

The company noted that tracks featured in Buzzing Playlist have a chance of being highlighted further in SoundCloud charts or editorial playlists based on their performance.

Buzzing Playlists feels like SoundCloud’s take on Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlists, though the latter suggests music that you may not have heard before based on your listening history.


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Spotify's getting serious about its enterprise and dev tools business play | TechCrunch

April 30, 2024 7:45 PM0


You know that mildly jarring experience whenever that well-known celebrity shows up in an entirely different context — e.g. a musician making a horror flick cameo; an NFL player rearing their head in a comedy series; or a Hollywood movie icon selling mobile phone plans on TV? Well, it’s starting to feel like that with Spotify’s foray into the enterprise and developer tooling space — nothing wrong with it per se, but it makes you flinch just a little due to its divergence from the norm.

What we’re talking about is Backstage, a platform and framework Spotify introduced internally in 2016 to bring order to its developer infrastructure. Backstage powers customizable “developer portals” that combine tooling, apps, data, services, APIs and documents in a single interface. Want to monitor Kubernetes, check your CI/CD status, or track security incidents? Backstage to the rescue.

Lots of companies construct their own internal systems to help developers work more efficiently. And lots of companies release such systems to the public via an open source license to spur wider adoption, as Spotify did with Backstage in 2020. But it’s highly unusual for a consumer technology company to actively monetize this side of its business, which Spotify has been doing since 2022.

Now, Spotify is leaning even further into this play with the launch of a new suite of products and services designed to make Backstage the de facto developer portal platform for the software development industry.

Spotify’s grand plan to monetize developers via its open source Backstage project

Modular

Backstage is built on a modular, plug-in based architecture that allows engineers to layer-up their developer portal to meet their own needs. There is already a thriving marketplace for Backstage plugins, some developed by Spotify itself and some by the wider community including developers from Red Hat and Amazon Web Services (AWS) — AWS, for example, has developed a plugin to make data from Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS) available in Backstage.

Since late 2022, Spotify has been selling a handful for premium plugins as a subscription, such as Backstage Insights which serves up data related to Backstage usage across an organization, including which plugins they’re engaging with most.

Backstage Insights plugin Image Credits: Spotify

The open source Backstage project has been adopted internally by some of the world’s most well-known companies, including LinkedIn, Twilio, American Airlines, Unity, Splunk, Ikea, HP, and more than 3,000 organizations. But as with just about any open source project, the main issue with Backstage is the complexity involved in getting set up — lots of integrations, configurations, and figuring out how it all glues together.

Thus, Spotify is now introducing an out-the-box version of the open source project called Spotify Portal, available in beta from today, which is pitched as a “full-featured, low-/no-code internal developer portal (IDP)” built atop Backstage.

Spotify Portal Image Credits: Spotify

Spotify Portal ships with quickstart tools for connecting all their internal services and libraries, replete with setup wizard for installing Portal and connecting it with a company’s GitHub and cloud provider.

“When you set up your IDP, typically you need to ingest a lot of software into that, because the point of the IDP is to capture your full software catalogue and map that to the user base, and there’s potentially a lot of integrations involved in,” Tyson Singer, Spotify’s head of technology and platforms, explained to TechCrunch. “And so with Spotify Portal for Backstage, we’ve basically given folks a no-code way to do that.”

Spotify Portal: Ingesting software catalog Image Credits: Spotify

Getting SaaS-y?

On the surface, this seems like some sort of SaaS-play, similar to how a commercial company might offer a fully-managed, hosted version of a popular open source product. But that isn’t quite what’s happening here — there is no hosted element to this, though that might change in the future. It’s what Singer calls “Backstage in a box,” one which is deployed within the customer’s own ecosystem either on-premises, or in their own cloud.

“It’s the customer who manages it,” Singer said. “What’s important from our perspective is that we’ve really focused on both reducing the startup time and the maintenance time. So that means not only is the setup and the onboarding ‘no-code,’ it’s also the maintenance where we’re reducing code. That really makes it quite easy to manage in your own particular context.”

However, in a follow-up question, a Spotify spokesperson clarified that Spotify Portal for Backstage is its “first step towards a managed product,” which means that it more than likely will be offered more like a SaaS service in the future. “We’ve seen a growing appetite for a more managed product that would allow us to share our expertise more directly with companies, and we want to be able to offer more in support of that need,” the spokesperson said. “Portal is our first step on that journey, but in the future, we’re going to expand our offerings as managed.”

In addition, Spotify is adding various enterprise support and services to the mix, which it says it has already been providing since last summer but hasn’t disclosed this until now. This includes one-on-one tech support from dedicated Backstage personnel at Spotify, and includes service-level agreements (SLAs), security reviews, and incident notifications. And for those wanting to get up-and-running with Backstage in the first instance, Spotify is also offering consulting services.

Spooling up

In essence, Spotify is now catering to three broad category of users: the core open source project for those with the resources and technical nous to self-deploy everything; the “hybrid adopters,” which is what Spotify calls those that have some of the necessary skills but need some support along the way; and then there are the businesses that need something a bit more oven-baked — which is where Spotify Portal enters the fray.

Similar to the pricing structure for its existing plugin subscriptions, which are charged based on “individual customer parameters” such as usage and capacity, the new Portal and enterprise services don’t come with up-front costs. It

“For pricing, we are referring customers back to our sales organisation,” Singer said. “It’s custom pricing.”

Given this transition to an enterprise-focused developer tools company, Spotify is also having to staff-up accordingly, though Singer wouldn’t share how many people it would be hiring or allocating to these new support roles.

“We are changing how we go forward with both our sales organisation and support,” Singer said. “So we’re shifting more focus towards how can we support customers in their initial journey and then also, once they’ve got it set up, their ongoing journey because we do want to be able to support them to get to value as quickly as possible.”

All this, it seems, is just the tip of the iceberg as far as Spotify’s developer tooling shift is concerned. The company is adding new features to some of its existing premium plugins, and it’s adding more plugins to the mix too. One of these is the “data experience” plugin, which makes it easier to add individual data entities to a software catalog — this includes built-in “ingestors” to scoop metadata from external data platforms, and make this available across Backstage.

Last year, Spotify also teased a totally separate product for software development teams called Confidence, which is like an A/B experimentation platform based on one of its own internal tools. For now, that remains a beta product, but Singer says that it’s “all systems go” as it readies things for prime-time in the future.

“We are super happy with the feedback that we’ve been getting from our [Confidence] beta customers so far,” Singer said. “We built out an experimentation platform that is broad and deep, covering a tremendous amount of use cases covering everything from your typical A/B testing on a user surface, to being able to do that across all of our ML [machine learning] use cases. And I think that really sets it aside, as more and more companies are using ML in the same sorts of ways that we are to optimise things.“


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Amazon Music follows Spotify with an AI playlist generator of its own, Maestro | TechCrunch

April 25, 2024 1:21 AM0


Spotify isn’t the only company to dabble with using AI to generate playlists — on Tuesday, Amazon said it would do the same. Amazon Music is now testing Maestro, an AI playlist generator, allowing U.S. customers on both iOS and Android to create playlists using spoken or written prompts — which can even contain emojis.

Amazon suggests that in addition to emojis, users can write prompts that include activities, sounds or emotions. They can also choose from prompt suggestions at the bottom of the screen if they don’t know what to write. Seconds later, an AI-generated playlist will appear with songs that will — in theory — match your input.

The product is launching in beta, so Amazon warns that the technology behind Maestro “won’t always get it right the first time.” Like Spotify, Amazon has also added some guardrails to the experience to proactively block offensive language and other inappropriate prompts, it says. (We’re guessing people will try to break through those barriers in time!)

Image Credits: Amazon

Maestro is not yet widely available. While Spotify’s AI generator is starting its tests in the U.K. and Australia, Amazon’s product is launching to a “subset” of free Amazon Music users, as well as Prime customers and Unlimited Amazon Music subscribers, on iOS and Android in the U.S. for the time being.

Subscribers will gain access to more functionality, however. For instance, they’ll be able to listen to playlists instantly and save them for later, but Prime members and ad-supported users will only be able to listen to 30-second previews of the songs before saving them. This could potentially push more users to upgrade to the paid subscription if they like the AI functionality. The move also follows the general trend of making premium AI experiences a paid offering.

Image Credits: Amazon

To access Maestro, users will need the latest version of the Amazon Music mobile app. They will have to tap on the option for Maestro on their home screen. They may also see the option to use Maestro when they tap on the plus sign to create a new playlist. From there, users can either talk or write out their playlist prompt idea, then tap “Let’s go!” to start streaming it. The playlist can also be saved and shared with friends.

Amazon suggests prompts like “😭 and eating 🍝”; “Make my 👶 a genius”; “Myspace era hip-hop”; “🏜️🌵🤠;” “Music my grandparents made out to”; “🎤🚿🧼”; and “I tracked my friends and they’re all hanging out without me” to give you an idea of how silly the prompts can be for this new experience.

The company didn’t say when the beta would roll out more broadly, only that it would expand to more customers over time.

Spotify launches personalized AI playlists that you can build using prompts

Spotify confirms test of prompt-based AI playlists feature


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Substack now allows podcasters to sync and distribute their episodes to Spotify | TechCrunch

April 21, 2024 12:01 AM0


Substack announced on Thursday it’s introducing a few new features for podcasters on its platform. Most notably, the company is rolling out a Spotify integration that will allow podcasters on Substack to sync and distribute all of their free and paid episodes to Spotify’s streaming service. In addition, Substack is introducing new custom audio transcripts and captions, along with improvements to clip sharing and mobile video.

The launch of the new features comes as Substack has announced that podcasters on Substack are collectively earning more than $100 million in annual revenue and that this number has more than doubled in the past year. The number of active podcasters on the platform has also more than doubled in the same period.

The new integration with Spotify will make Substack podcasts discoverable via the streaming service, making it easier for podcasters to reach more listeners. Plus, the integration will allow Substack podcasters’ existing subscribers to listen to paid episodes on Spotify. Substack says the integration with Spotify has the potential to help podcasters earn more, as free listeners will be nudged to upgrade to a subscription.

Podcasters on Substack can set up a Spotify integration by going into their podcast settings, opening the Spotify dropdown and clicking the “Sync to Spotify” option to create a new feed with all current and future episodes. Paid episodes are labeled with a padlock, and listeners need to link their Substack account to Spotify to listen to paid episodes directly on the streaming service.

Image Credits: Substack

Creators can go to their Spotify for Podcasters account to see data about streams, unique listeners, playtime, demographics and more. Substack plans to make this data accessible via a creator’s Substack podcast stats page in the future.

As for the new custom audio transcripts and captions, podcasters can now upload their own transcript instead of using Substack’s automatically generated one, if they choose. Video podcasters can also opt to upload a separate audio track and free preview to distribute to podcast RSS feeds instead of using the default one extracted from the uploaded video.

Plus, podcasters and their listeners can now share a link to a podcast video at a specific timestamp or download a clip to post on social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok and X.

Substack says it’s making it easier to watch video podcasts on mobile, as video posts on iOS and Android now feature an inline player. This new capability lets users read and watch at the same time, while also keeping their place in a video they watched partway to revisit it at a later time.

The new features are available to all users starting today.

Substack now lets writers curate a ‘network’ of recommended publications for their subscribers


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Watch: Spotify rolls out an AI-powered playlist feature

April 18, 2024 12:37 AM0


Spotify is building on its AI DJ feature, adding a new AI-powered playlist feature. No, this is not merely asking Spotify to spit out, say, metalcore classics from the 2010s, but instead something more of a “my dog is sad and I love the color purple please make me a list of songs“ sort of thing. You can prompt it, and Spotify will come up with a list of tunes for you. How far you can push it remains to be seen, but I do intend to test its guardrails when I get the chance.

Spotify’s AI work nests into its other efforts to differentiate its service from rivals like Apple Music and offerings from Amazon. The European tech giant has also pushed into audiobooks, podcasting and even edtech in recent years.

Starting in just a few countries, the new AI playlist feature will roll out to more markets over time. How long it will take to reach your hands is not clear, if you, like myself, are not located in the feature’s launch countries. Some Spotify users have complained that the rollout of new products can take longer than they want to reach their home market, it’s worth noting.

Spotify tests video courses to teach everything from music production to Excel

The AI wave crashing into the world of music has yet to make artistry obsolete, but it does appear to be working toward finding a place in how we discover and consume art itself. Perhaps that’s a good working compromise.

By now you may be a little tired of hearing about AI all day, every day. Not that there’s anything wrong with AI news per se; lots of tech companies are working hard to infuse new AI tech into their products and services. It’s a big business story at a minimum. Then there’s the consumer angle, where AI comes closer to our daily lives. But for those of us who aren’t mega-ChatGPT users, AI can seem ever so slightly remote from our regular existence. Tools like Spotify’s latest can bring AI more into how we do our regular, mundane tasks like queueing up new tunes. Or not-so-new tunes, at least according to some users who view Spotify’s playlist work as part of a recurring effort to promote the same songs time and again.

Hit play, let’s have some fun!


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Spotify launches personalized AI playlists that you can build using prompts | TechCrunch

April 16, 2024 7:12 PM0


Spotify already found success with its popular AI DJ feature, and now the streaming music service is bringing AI to playlist creation. The company on Monday introduced into beta a new option called AI playlists, which allows users to generate a playlist based on written prompts.

The feature will initially become available on Android and iOS devices in the U.K. and Australia and will evolve over time.

In addition to more standard playlist creation requests, like those based on genre or time frame, Spotify’s use of AI means people could ask for a wider variety of custom playlists, like “songs to serenade my cat” or “beats to battle a zombie apocalypse,” Spotify suggests. Prompts can reference all sorts of things, like places, animals, activities, movie characters, colors or emojis. The company notes that the best playlists are generated using prompts that contain a combination of genres, moods, artists and decades, however.

Spotify also leverages its understanding of users’ tastes to customize the playlists it makes with the feature.

After the playlist is generated, users can then use the AI to revise and refine the end result by issuing commands like “less upbeat” or “more pop,” for example. Users can also swipe left on any songs to remove them from the playlist.

In terms of the technology, Spotify says it’s using large language models (LLMs) to understand the user’s intent. Then, Spotify uses its personalization technology — the information it has about the listener’s history and preferences — to fulfill the prompt and create a personalized AI-generated playlist for the user.

The company uses a range of third-party tools for its AI and machine learning experiences.

TechCrunch first reported in October 2023 that Spotify was developing AI playlists, when reverse engineers Chris Messina and Alessandro Paluzzi shared screenshots of code from Spotify’s app that referred to AI playlists that were “based on your prompts.”

Spotify at the time declined to comment on the finding, saying it would not offer a statement on possible new features. However, in December 2023, the company confirmed that it was testing AI-driven playlist creation after a TikTok video of the feature surfaced showing what the Spotify user described as “Spotify’s ChatGPT.”

Image Credits: Spotify

The feature is found in the “Your Library” tab in Spotify’s app by tapping on the plus button (+) at the top right of the screen. A pop-up menu appears showing the AI Playlist as a new option alongside the existing “Playlist” and “Blend” options.

If a listener can’t think of any prompts to try, Spotify offers prompt suggestions to help people get started, like “get focused at work with instrumental electronica,” “fill in the silence with background café music,” “get pumped up with fun, upbeat, and positive songs” or “explore a niche genre like Witch House” and many others.

To save an AI playlist, tap the “Create” button to add it to the library.

The company notes the AI has guardrails around it so it will not respond to offensive prompts or those focused on current events or specific brands.

Spotify has been investing in AI technology to improve its streaming service for many months. With the launch of AI DJ, which expanded globally last year, the company used a combination of Sonantic and OpenAI technology to create an artificial version of the voice of Spotify’s head of cultural partnerships, Xavier “X” Jernigan, who introduces personalized song selections to the user. Last year, Spotify said it was investing in in-house research to better understand the latest in AI and large language models.

CEO Daniel Ek has also teased to investors other ways Spotify could leverage AI, including by summarizing podcasts, creating AI-generated audio ads and more. The company has also looked into using AI tech that would clone a podcast host’s voice for host-read ads.

Ahead of AI playlists, Spotify launched a similar feature, Niche Mixes, that allowed users to create personalized playlists using prompts, but the product did not leverage AI technology and was more limited in terms of its language understanding.

Spotify spotted developing AI-generated playlists created with prompts


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Spotify reuses its live audio tech through Listening Party feature | TechCrunch

April 15, 2024 11:48 PM0


Spotify’s live audio app is no longer active, but the company has been using the tech to connect fans and artists better with the “Listening Party” feature. The feature lets high-engaging fans join events like releasing of an album by an artist with opportunities to ask them questions.

The company confirmed to TechCrunch that it has been testing this feature in the U.S. and Indonesia since December 2023 with plans to expand to more markets.

“It’s still in its early stages but we’ve had a few artists test over the last few months, including Zara Larsson and Bleachers,” a Spotify spokesperson said.

Image Credits: Threads/Chris

A Listening Party is listed under the events section of an artist’s profile. Spotify said that while typically top fans of a band receive a specific invitation, any Spotify Premium user can join the Listening Party through the listing. The company didn’t specify what kind of user counts as a top fan besides folks who have “demonstrated an affinity for the artist over time.”

Since Spotify is using real-time audio tech, fans can request to go “onstage” during a session to interact with the artist. Plus, each listening party has a live chat room during the event.

The company said the feature allows fans to shop the latest merch from artists while streaming music alongside other fans. Last year, the company launched an in-app Merch Hub, to give fans personalized recommendations to buy stuff from different artists.

Notably, Spotify has had a Group Session feature to listen to songs with your friends. Now it is trying to bring parts of group listening and live audio interactions together with the Listening Party feature.

Over the last few years, the company has also tried to grow direct engagement between fans and artists through merchandise sales, events, and ticketing.


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Spotify brings its audiobooks perk for Premium users to Canada, Ireland and New Zealand | TechCrunch

April 13, 2024 5:31 AM0


Spotify announced on Tuesday that it’s bringing its free audiobooks perk to Canada, Ireland and New Zealand. Users in these markets will be able to access 15 hours of free monthly audiobook listening time. Spotify also announced that it’s expanding its audiobooks catalog from 200,000 to 250,000 titles. The perk is already available in the U.S., U.K. and Australia.

The expansion comes two months after Spotify said its audiobooks service is the second-largest audiobook provider behind Amazon-owned Audible. Spotify says users have listened to more than 150,000 titles since the free service’s launch last November.

Audiobooks can be found in the Home feed of the Spotify app or via the search tab. Any audiobook marked as “Included in Premium” can be listened to with a Spotify Premium subscription. You can track your listening hours in the settings of your Spotify app. If you run out of listening hours, you can purchase additional 10-hour allocations for CAD $14.99, IRE €12.99 and NZD $19.99.

Spotify recently launched a $9.99 per month plan that allows its free users to access its audiobooks collection in the U.S. The plan, which includes 15 hours of listening, gives Spotify a way to compete with Audible by targeting users who aren’t as interested in its music service. While Audible’s $14.95 per month subscription gives users one credit to buy a title, Spotify’s $9.99 plan allows users to listen to 15 hours across its catalog, which is often enough time to listen to more than one audiobook.

Spotify’s Audiobooks will get their own ‘Countdown Pages’ to tease upcoming new releases


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Spotify is developing tools that would let users remix songs, screenshots show | TechCrunch

April 13, 2024 1:48 AM0


Spotify is working on mixing tools that would allow users to remix songs on the streaming service, according to screenshots captured by tech veteran and app researcher Chris Messina. While music aficionados use software like Adobe Audition or Ableton Live to create mixes of their favorite songs, the new capabilities would allow people to do so directly in Spotify. The screenshots indicate that the mixing tools would be available under a new “Music Pro” premium subscription tier. The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, whose sources say discussions about the tools are early and that licensing agreements have not been worked out yet.

A Spotify spokesperson told TechCrunch that the company constantly explores ideas to improve its product offerings and offer value to its users, but that it won’t comment on speculation around new features.

In the screenshots shared with TechCrunch, the app’s code references different mixing tools that would enable users to “flex their DJ skills with different transition styles to create the ultimate mix.”

The tools would also let users “set the tempo range for your mix and “set the vibe for your mix” by filtering by “genres, moods, activities, and more.” The code suggests that users would be able to create remixes of songs to fit a certain scenario. In theory, you could create an upbeat, sped-up version of a slower song to create a remix to listen to while working out.

Image Credits: Chris Messina

Image Credits: Chris Messina

The code suggests users could leverage a mixing tool that “quickly blends in the next track to keep the energy going.” Another tool “maximizes overlap for layered and immersive blend of tracks,” while a different one “instantly switches from one track to another for high impact.”

In addition, users could “insert” and “edit” transitions between tracks.” Users could also decrease or increase BMP (beats per minute) and “danceability.”

Image Credits: Chris Messina

It appears that the mixing tools wouldn’t just be targeted toward users who already have experience mixing songs. The code references a tool that “automatically reorders your mix by sequencing tracks with a similar key, tempo, and style together,” while another lets users “choose how to order your mix, or select auto order to have Spotify sequence it for you.” These lines of code suggest Spotify would help users create their perfect mix, even if it’s their first time doing so, with the help of automated tools.

Image Credits: Chris Messina

Image Credits: Chris Messina

While traditional user-created remixes that are uploaded to streaming platforms or social media don’t generate revenue for artists, Spotify’s mixing capabilities would likely allow musicians to earn money from remixes that are tied to their original tracks. Since fanmade remixes are often altered to the point that they aren’t flagged for copyright violations, Spotify is filled with unofficial remixes with millions of streams. While Spotify’s mixing tools can’t get rid of this issue altogether, they could help remedy it to a certain extent.

It’s not surprising that Spotify is developing mixing tools, especially as sped-up songs and mashups are having a moment thanks to TikTok. According to TikTok’s 2023 year-end report, the most popular songs on the app were sped-up remixes of songs.

The trend of sped-up songs has become so popular that artists are seeking to cash in on it. For instance, after a fan-made sped-up remix of SZA’s song “Kill Bill” was being used across TikTok, she released an official sped-up version of the song. Other artists like Lana Del Ray and The Cab have also released official sped-up versions of their songs in order to get people to listen to their official tracks, instead of fanmade versions. 

As with any other feature in development, it’s unknown if or when Spotify plans to launch the mixing tools.




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After spat with TikTok, UMG expands Spotify partnership to include music videos and more | TechCrunch

April 12, 2024 2:56 PM0


In the wake of Universal Music Group’s (UMG) public spat with TikTok, which saw the label pulling its full catalog from the video app earlier this year, the company is doubling down on its deal with Spotify. On Thursday, UMG announced an expansion of its strategic relationship with the streaming music service that will focus on “music discovery and social interaction” as well as enhanced fan experiences. The addition of music videos is included among these new features in the U.S.

Spotify recently announced its plans to support music videos, saying in March it would test the option in beta in 11 select markets — which, at the time, didn’t include the U.S. Instead, the feature was to be supported in Brazil, Colombia, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, the Netherlands, Poland, the Philippines, Sweden and the U.K., the company said.

With the UMG deal, U.S. users will also have the option of watching music videos instead of just streaming audio. The companies didn’t state what portion of UMG’s catalog would be offered as videos, nor did it name specific high-profile artists whose videos would be included.

Universal Music Publishing Group, however, includes a number of popular artists like Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, Bad Bunny, The Weeknd, SZA, Drake, Harry Styles, Kendrick Lamar, Adele and others. That catalog of 4 million songs was also pulled from TikTok after UMG failed to renew its agreement with the video app.

To watch videos, Spotify users can access a new “Switch to Video” option from the app’s Now Playing Screen. Plus, if you rotate your phone to landscape mode, you can watch the video full-screen.

As a part of the new agreement, Spotify will introduce new promotional and social features to help artists generate excitement around their new releases. For instance, UMG artists will be able to share teasers of upcoming songs and users will be able to pre-save music before a new release.

The companies will explore other collaborations on features over time, with further details still to come, UMG said in an announcement.

“UMG has consistently been a progressive partner on behalf of their artists and songwriters, contributing to our product development efforts of experimental tools and adopting them early to help artists stand out,” said Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek, in a statement. “The forthcoming features will put more power in the hands of artists and their teams to help them authentically express themselves, efficiently promote their work, and better monetize their art,” he added.

The timing of the deal, of course, is notable given the drama around TikTok. In addition to facing a possible U.S. ban, the short-form video app and UMG were unable to come to an agreement over TikTok’s use of UMG’s music. As a result, TikTok had to remove some 3 million songs owned or distributed by UMG by January 31, 2024. Later, it also had to remove more songs that contained compositions controlled by UMG — that is, songs written or co-written by a songwriter signed to Universal Music Publishing Group.

By partnering with Spotify, UMG still has a way to promote its music to fans, even if its artists lose the ability to market themselves on TikTok. In previous years, the loss of UMG’s music would have been a larger blow to TikTok, but given the app’s move away from lip-syncing and dancing videos to more vlogs and long-form content, not to mention its controversial e-commerce push, the impact may not be as profound.


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