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If a song is „loved”, a custom radio channel will be created based on it, and when there are at least 15 of these songs, a „My Favourites” channel is unlocked. At launch, the skipping feature was not featured to „reinforce the feel of radio”, but it was quietly added later and with no limits. In October 2017, Spotify launched „Rise”, a program aimed at promoting emerging artists.
Fake artists
In November 2023, Spotify announced a new royalty model taking effect in 2024, aiming to reduce the amount of „fraudulent” royalties collected from „functional” non-music tracks with short lengths (such as environmental sounds and white noise). Spotify generates revenue by selling premium streaming subscriptions to users and advertising placements to third parties. In February 2018, Spotify frostybet casino integrated with the gaming-oriented voice chat service Discord on desktop clients, allowing users to display their currently playing song as a rich presence on their profile, and invite other users with Spotify Premium to group „listening parties”.
In July 2025, a leak containing the listening data of several politicians, journalists, and businesspeople, titled the Panama Playlists, was released online. According to journalist and author Liz Pelly, Spotify, „under the guise of AI-powered recommendations has developed a surveillance apparatus driven by emotion profiling and pseudoscience.” Spotify does not sell user data but did begin selling broader trend data, often coined „streaming intelligence” to marketing firms in 2016, allowing for the data to be available directly to clients. Helsing is an AI defense software company that also engages in military strike drone manufacturing. Spotify promised to add content advisories for anything containing discussions related to COVID-19 and posted additional rules.
The feature is powered by lyrics providers Musixmatch and PetitLyrics ja (only in Japan). The following November, the company began rolling out a web player, with a similar design to its computer programs, but without the requirement of any installation. In June 2012, Soundrop became the first Spotify app to attract major funding, receiving $3 million (equivalent to $4,039,000 in 2024) from Spotify investor Northzone.
App Functionality
Of that amount, about 58.5% of its total revenue goes to the owners of sound recording copyrights, and the other 12% goes to the owners of musical compositions. In December 2013, the company launched a new website, „Spotify for Artists”, explaining its business model and revenue data. There was no provision regarding worker ownership of content created, one of the initial demands. In February 2020, Spotify announced it was acquiring The Ringer, and inheriting the previously established union. One month after Spotify acquired Gimlet Media in February 2019, 75% of staff at Gimlet Media went public, signing union cards and seeking voluntary recognition. Moreover, they are asking for a fairer redistribution system, as smaller artists are disproportionately disadvantaged on Spotify.
The Waze partnership allows Waze app users to view directions to destinations within the Spotify app and access their Spotify playlists through the Waze app. Spotify also announced that the third season of WNYC Studios’ 2 Dope Queens podcast would premiere with a two-week exclusivity period on the service on 21 March 2017. The integration also enabled Spotify within the SXSW GO app to help users discover and explore artists performing at the conference. In January 2015, Sony announced PlayStation Music, a new music service with Spotify as its exclusive partner. In November 2021, Spotify acquired audiobook company Findaway, including its publishing imprint OrangeSky Audio.
This approach is not intended to raise fresh capital, but to let investors get their returns. The Financial Times reported in March 2017 that, as part of its efforts to renegotiate new licensing deals with music labels, Spotify and major record labels had agreed that Spotify would restrict some newly released albums to its Premium tier, with Spotify receiving a reduction in royalty fees to do so. In countries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Spotify registered a fall in users in late February, but it has seen a recovery. On 19 June 2018, XXXTentacion’s hit single „Sad!” broke Swift’s single-day streaming record, amassing 10.4 million streams the day after he was fatally shot in Florida. A month later, Spotify announced that „Lean On” by Major Lazer and DJ Snake featuring MØ was its most-streamed song of all time with over 525 million streams worldwide. Registrations surged following the release of the mobile service, leading Spotify to halt registration for the free service in September, returning the UK to an invitation-only policy.
- In January 2014, Spotify removed all time limits for Free users on all platforms, including on computers, which previously had a 10-hour monthly listening limit after a 6-month grace period.
- Curate the best playlists and stream millions of free songs, albums and original podcasts on your mobile or tablet.
- In a further escalation of the dispute with Apple, on 13 March 2019, Spotify filed an antitrust complaint with the European Commission over unfair app store practices.
- In October 2017, Spotify launched „Rise”, a program aimed at promoting emerging artists.
- It was announced later in April that this type of agreement would be extended to indie artists signed to the Merlin Network agency.
- In June 2015, Spotify announced they had acquired Seed Scientific, a data science consulting firm and analytics company.
SoundCloud: The Songs You Love
In February 2021, Spotify announced their plans to introduce a HiFi subscription, to offer listening in high fidelity, lossless sound quality. This eligibility rule only applies to royalties for sound recordings, not musical compositions. Some of the premium options users may choose from include individual, duo, family, and student.
In 2023, Spotify launched additional features to help independent artists distributing their music on the platform reach a wider array of potential fans. This feature allows two or more Premium users in the same location to share control over the music that is being played. In 2016, Spotify introduced its Daily Mix feature, which creates playlists of music that a user has previously listened to on the platform.In 2017, Spotify introduced RapCaviar, a hip-hop playlist. In August 2016, Spotify launched Release Radar, a personalized playlist that allows users to stay up-to-date on new music released by the artists they listen to the most.
Dispute with Apple
On 19 November 2019, Spotify announced the acquisition of the exclusive rights to The Last Podcast on the Left. Spotify intended to use MightyTV to improve its advertising efforts on the free tier of service. In March 2017, Spotify acquired Sonalytic, an audio detection startup, for an undisclosed amount of money.
Users can add tracks to a „Collection” section of the app, rather than adding them to a specific playlist. In April 2012, Spotify introduced a „Spotify Play Button”, an embeddable music player that can be added to blogs, websites, or social media profiles, that lets visitors listen to a specific song, playlist, or album without leaving the page. In November 2011, Spotify introduced a Spotify Apps service that made it possible for third-party developers to design applications that could be hosted within the Spotify computer software. In Spotify’s apps, music can be browsed or searched for via various parameters, such as artist, album, genre, playlist, or record label. Offline Music listening is possible on watchOS and more recently added to Google’s WearOS for those with premium subscriptions.
- The functionality is limited to selected playlists and was only available on Spotify’s iOS app at launch, being expanded to the Android app in April 2017.
- The WNYC Studios partnership brought various podcasts from WNYC to Spotify, including Note to Self, On the Media and Here’s the Thing.
- The integration also enabled Spotify within the SXSW GO app to help users discover and explore artists performing at the conference.
- Spotify recognizes trade unions at its US podcasting subsidiaries The Ringer and Spotify Studios since 2019.
- In November 2018, Spotify announced it was opening up Spotify Connect to all of the users using its Free service, however, these changes still required products supporting Spotify Connect to support the latest software development kit.
Playlists and discovery
Spotify helps place songs campaigned through Discovery Mode on listeners’ personal algorithmic playlists. The feature is represented by a bell icon on the app’s main page and is available on iOS and Android. In July 2021, Spotify launched the „What’s New” feed, a section that collects all new releases and episodes from artists and podcasts that the user follows. In December 2015, Quartz reported that songs in Discover Weekly playlists had been streamed 1.7 billion times. The functionality is limited to selected playlists and was only available on Spotify’s iOS app at launch, being expanded to the Android app in April 2017. In May 2015, Spotify announced a new „Home” start-page that could recommend music.
The WNYC Studios partnership brought various podcasts from WNYC to Spotify, including Note to Self, On the Media and Here’s the Thing. In October 2022, Spotify acquired the Dublin-based content moderation startup, Kinzen. In July 2022, Spotify acquired Heardle, a Wordle-inspired music trivia game, for an undisclosed amount; Heardle was shut down in May 2023. Armchair Expert announced on Instagram that the podcast would be available exclusively on Spotify beginning 1 July, saying they would continue to maintain the same creative control over the show after the move. In March 2021, Spotify acquired app developer Betty Labs and their live social audio app, Locker Room, On 12 May 2021. On 19 May 2020, Spotify acquired exclusive rights to stream the popular podcast The Joe Rogan Experience beginning in September of that year, under an agreement valued at around US$100 million (equivalent to $119,100,000 in 2024).
Stations by Spotify
In December 2013, CEO Daniel Ek announced that Android and iOS smartphone users with the free service tier could listen to music in Shuffle mode, a feature in which users can stream music by specific artists and playlists without being able to pick which songs to hear. Later that month, Spotify also acquired MightyTV, an app connected to television streaming services, including Netflix and HBO Go, that recommends content to users. The company also introduced „Spotify Running”, a feature aimed at improving music while running with music matched to running tempo, and announced that podcasts and videos („entertainment, news and clips”) would be coming to Spotify, along with „Spotify Originals” content.
