Facebook, Instagram, Snap, YouTube, and other social networking companies offer programs to connect creators with brands, and now Spotify is doing the same.
The company announced the launch of AUX, its new in-house “music advisory agency” for brands.
While not necessarily a creator marketplace, the program has a similar aim — it will facilitate connections between brands and emerging artists for various campaigns benefitting both parties.
For Spotify, AUX represents another source of income, as well, as the company says brands can pay Spotify to leverage the new service.
“Spotify is always looking for ways to leverage our music ecosystem to deepen the connections between artists, brands, and fans,” said Jeremy Erlich, VP, Head of Music Content at Spotify, in a statement.
TikTok launches its ‘Add to Music app’ feature available in over 160 countriesTikTok announced today that it is launching its “Add to Music app” feature, which lets users add a song playing on a clip to services like Apple Music and Spotify, in 163 new countries.
The function lets users add the song to Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Spotify depending on the availability in the region.
They can tap on the button and select the music service of their choice the first time.
Last year, ByteDance launched its music service TikTok Music in Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Singapore, and Indonesia.
The company added it is is working on making the Add to Music App feature available to TikTok Music users soon.
TikTok’s latest viral superstar is Reesa Teesa, a Georgia woman who posted 50 videos — just under 10 minutes long apiece — chronicling her tumultuous relationship with her ex-husband.
But Reesa’s videos marked the first time that I went for a walk while listening to TikToks, my phone tucked away in my pocket.
“The series, ‘who the f— did I marry,’ is not something that you have to sit down and hold your phone and watch,” Reesa said in a TikTok on Wednesday.
But Reesa is taking advantage of TikTok’s playlist feature, which transitions from one video to the next in order.
When we watch Reesa do mundane things in her TikTok “audiobook,” she subtly signals to us that no matter how bad things got with her ex-husband, she’s still standing.
Apple today is continuing its investment in sports and subscriptions business with the launch of a new app for iPhone users, Apple Sports.
While the app itself is free to use, it can help Apple direct customers to its other subscription offerings in live sports, via its Apple TV app where users can watch live games from Apple and their other apps.
Last year it also began offering the MLS Season Pass through the Apple TV app, for $14.99 per month or $99 per season.
Sports can help Apple to grow its services revenue, which hit a record of $22.3 billion in the fourth quarter, encompassing areas of Apple’s business including Apple TV+, Apple Music, iCloud, the App Store, advertising and more.
Apple TV+ subscribers can add MLS Season Pass at a discounted rate of $12.99 per month or $79 per season.
YouTube is changing the design for creators’ channels on the big screen, the comapny announced today.
The update is rolling out to all creators today, but may take a few weeks to appear to all viewers, the comapny told TechCrunch.
The changes impact the channel pages on TV only, it noted.
Creators will likely respond positively to changes that help boost their subscriber numbers and better showcase their content on the big screen.
The company is in competition with traditional TV and streamers like Netflix on TVs, but also with newcomers like TikTok, which launched its own TV app in late 2021.
Nielsen today released its January report on viewing usage across linear TV and streaming, which revealed that YouTube is once again the overall top streaming service in the U.S., with 8.6% of viewing on television screens.
The new data points to YouTube’s dominance in the TV streaming arena and marks 12 consecutive months of the platform being in the top spot.
HopeScope, a creator who reviews viral products, notably saw a 172% jump in TV watch time in 2023.
YouTube has reached a few other milestones in recent months, including the 100 million users who pay for YouTube Music and YouTube Premium.
Additionally, YouTube TV now has more than 8 million subscribers and YouTube Shorts recently achieved over 70 billion daily views.
Apple Music just debuted a monthly version of its Replay experience, Apple’s yearly recap that shows users their top songs, artists, albums and more.
Starting today, users can now see their monthly music habits, giving them additional access to their listening insights.
In addition to top tracks, subscribers can see their monthly listening time and Apple Music will even tell them when they reached a certain milestone, like the total minutes played.
There’s also an option to share Replay insights with family and friends, as well as revisit monthly and yearly stats in Apple Music’s archive.
Additionally, Apple’s Replay Mix playlist for 2024 is available today in the Apple Music app.
Tinder is expanding its identify verification program to users in the U.S., U.K., Brazil and Mexico, the company announced on Tuesday.
The company found that users who completed the ID Verification option saw a 67% increase in matches than those not verified.
Tinder now says that users who only complete the app’s Photo Verification will now receive a blue camera icon badge, while users who only complete the ID Verification will receive a blue ID icon badge.
Users who complete both the ID Verification and Photo Verification will receive a blue checkmark.
It makes sense for Tinder to expand ID verification to more countries, especially as AI scams and romance scams are on the rise.
The 3,000 and growing music curators on Groover set their own price, and each transaction gets split with half of the money going to the curator and half to Groover.
While I like the concept of artists getting to have these more direct relationships with these different curators, it bums me out that pay-to-play has become the best option for these independent artists.
I also get that music journalism is shrinking as the number of independent musicians continues to rapidly scale.
Palmieri added that the majority of independent artists just do not have better or more cost-effective options.
Both of these startups help the artists but they also help the folks in the industry needed to get those artists off the ground.
Masterclass rival Studio launched today its first AI-powered online school for musicians, songwriters and producers to learn from top artists in the industry, create new songs, get feedback from like-minded peers and access Studio’s AI coach that keeps them on track with personalized schedules and deadlines.
Studio’s Music School provides thousands of exclusive lessons taught by over 110 popular artists and instructors, including Charlie Puth, Kygo, H.E.R., Idina Menzel, Pentatonix, Ryan Tedder (frontman for OneRepublic), Alexander 23, Tainy, Chelsea Cutler, Jonas Blue, Shane McAnally and Louis Bell, among others.
There are over 100 topics to choose from, such as vocal production, songwriting, music business, sound design, music theory, cover songs, and musical theater, as well as genres like alternative, classical, country, EDM, folk, hip-hop, indie pop, lo-fi, metal, R&B and more.
The online accelerator features an AI-powered coach that leverages OpenAI’s GPT-4 to deliver personalized curriculums every month based on someone’s interests, specific goals, learning style and level of experience.
It should be noted that Studio’s Music School isn’t designed for beginners looking to start a career in the music industry but for creatives who already know the basics and want to enhance their skills.
