The biggest music industry news | March 2024
All of March’s top stories for you to get fully up to speed on what’s going on in the music industry at the moment.
New Spotify features
In March, Spotify unveiled and launched three brand new features. On select tracks, music videos are rolling out to Spotify Premium subscribers in 11 markets via a “Switch to Video” button. Partnering with several educational companies, Spotify tests video-based learning courses, available for purchase on the app in the UK. Pick between various topics and questions, and Spotify’s Song Psychic will curate a playlist to answer your questions.
New music streaming subscriptions and price changes
From cheaper music streaming subscriptions, to price hikes, to brand new tiers. After rolling out audiobook last year and including up to 15 hours of listening for Premium subscribers, Spotify has now launched a whole new Audiobooks Access tier for those not interested in the music bit of Spotify. Spotify has raised the price of Premium subscriptions in France in response to a new streaming tax. TIDAL are killing their $20 HiFi Plus subscription, bringing these features to the cheaper $10 HiFi plan, renamed simply “TIDAL”.
Updates to artist portals
Utilising artist portals like Spotify for Artists is essential to ensure you have a consistant brand image online and are making the most out of their various marketing tools. TIDAL Circles is a new discussion board available in their Artist Home for artists to hang out and support each other. Pandora has launched a number of updates, letting you further customize your artist profile, including cover photos, artist bios and a new Spotlight Picks section.
RouteNote partners with AllSaints
RouteNote launches a new store to bring your music to millions of new listeners across mobile devices, smart electric vehicles and smart TVs. AllSaints Music is used by more than 60 million people every day. Find your new audience with free music distribution from RouteNote.
Spotify update Loud & Clear
Spotify’s music streaming economics report Loud & Clear has just been updated with figures from 2023. Among the various increases in payments to the music industry highlighted, Spotify says that for the first time ever, about half of revenue generated in 2023 was from independent artists.
Deezer removes tens of millions of track
Since the launch of their artist-centric payment system with Universal Music Group just six months ago, French music streaming service Deezer has removed 26 million “useless” tracks. This includes noise, mono-track albums, fake artists and tracks that haven’t been listened to in the past year, to provide “professional artists” with a larger share of the royalty pool.
Apple vs Spotify
The beef between Spotify and Apple, over the Apple App Store rules, continues to heat up. While the conflict has been going on for years, in recent months, the European Commission decided that Apple was breaching EU competition law and charged them. Both Spotify and Apple made statements earlier this month on the decision.
Ableton Live 12 launches
Ableton just updated their DAW. Live 12 brings new tools, new workflows, and an emphasis on working with MIDI in a wholly new way! With the release, Ableton have launched a group of videos with creators to show you how to make use of some of their nifty new features in your own workflow. Dive into the new features below.
NMPA is leaving TikTok in April
Just a few months after Universal Music Group pulled their catalogue from the playlist, The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) has decided to not renew their license with TikTok, which expires on April 30th. Find out what this means for independent artists’ publishing royalties below.
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