Spotify Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

forthcoming podcast with Lemonada Media was reportedly pushed back to next year. According to In Touch, honchos at the company put the project on pause for fear that the upcoming launch of her lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, would take attention away from her audio endeavors. “Meghan gets greedy,” an inside source told the publication.

Spotify has announced record profits of over €1billion (£860m), following staff being laid off, subscription prices rising and costs being cut across the board.The growth of the company comes as streaming continues to dominate the music industry, and the platform has gone on to offer its subscribers access to podcasts and audiobooks too.Currently, the Swedish company has around 615million users across the globe, and has invested a huge amount of money in growing the brand since its initial launch back in 2006. However, reports of the profit come following a year of the brand cutting costs and laying off staff.Late last year, Spotify announced that it was cutting down 17 per cent of its workforce in order to save costs.

inked a deal with Lemonada Media to launch a new podcast series after Spotify decided not to renew the steep $20 million deal for a second season of “Archetypes.”Lemonada will now distribute her previous Spotify podcast series to all platforms.“The relaunch of Meghan’s Archetypes podcast got pushed back to 2025,” a source told the Daily Mail.The “smaller podcast company is struggling to get off the starting blocks,” the insider shared, adding that the company does not want the podcast’s launch to be overshadowed by the “Suits” alum’s new Netflix series.The Post has reached out to Lemonada Media and reps for the Sussexes for comment.The Sussexes inked a lucrative $100 million deal with Netflix back in 2020.

Amazon Prime Video’s Fallout have seen their streaming numbers increase dramatically.Fallout launched on the steamer earlier this month and The MusicEXP newsletter has been tracking the impact the success of the show has had on the artists who make up the soundtrack.Using Chartmetric and Spotify, it has been reported that Sheldon Allman’s monthly listeners increased from 88,881 to 184,767 in the week following the launch of Fallout, with the show using his ‘Crawl Out Through The Fallout’ in the first episode.Jack Shaindlin and Connie Conway also saw an 80 per cent increase in monthly listeners. Shaindlin’s ‘I’m Tickled Pink’ closes out episode six while his ‘Let’s Go Sunnin’’ features in episode four, and Conway has two tracks in Fallout’s season premiere – ‘Who Do You Suppose’ and ‘Brighter Side’.Legendary artists like Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby and Johnny Cash have also seen an uptick in Spotify monthly listeners following their inclusion on the Fallout soundtrack.

Amazon Prime Video’s Fallout have seen their streaming numbers increase dramatically.Fallout launched on the steamer earlier this month and The MusicEXP newsletter has been tracking the impact the success of the show has had on the artists who make up the soundtrack.Using Chartmetric and Spotify, it has been reported that Sheldon Allman’s monthly listeners increased from 88,881 to 184,767 in the week following the launch of Fallout, with the show using his ‘Crawl Out Through The Fallout’ in the first episode.Jack Shaindlin and Connie Conway also saw an 80 per cent increase in monthly listeners. Shaindlin’s ‘I’m Tickled Pink’ closes out episode six while his ‘Let’s Go Sunnin’’ features in episode four, and Conway has two tracks in Fallout’s season premiere – ‘Who Do You Suppose’ and ‘Brighter Side’.Legendary artists like Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby and Johnny Cash have also seen an uptick in Spotify monthly listeners following their inclusion on the Fallout soundtrack.

Spotify is reportedly planning on introducing a feature to allow users to slow down, speed up and remix songs on the platform.The developments have been detailed in a new report by the Wall Street Journal, who say that the streaming service is looking to experiment with tools that will allow users to manipulate existing songs on the platform.The report suggests that users will be able to edit and mash together tracks to create modified versions of songs that can them be added to “virtual collections” on Spotify, but which will then not be available to share on external platforms.The Wall Street Journal suggests that “discussions about the tools are early and licensing agreements have yet to be worked out,” but that they hope the additions will “appeal to young users, while generating new revenue for artists.”At the start of this month, the streaming platform officially demonetised all songs with less than 1000 streams, having first announced the policy last year in the ‘Modernising Our Royalty System’ report.According to Spotify data, there are around 100 million songs on the service, yet only around 37.5 million meet the new requirements to generate revenue.Spotify said that 99.5 per cent of all streams on the platform “are of tracks that have above 1,000 streams.” They went on to claim that demonetising the tracks won’t result in a “change to the size of the music royalty pool being paid out to rights holders”.It argued that instead it will “use the tens of millions of dollars annually to increase the payments to all eligible tracks, rather than spreading it out into $0.03 payments.”Spotify also went on to say it requires a minimum number of unique listeners now if royalties are to apply – a measure brought in to

report on creator renumeration that directly addressed streaming. The inquiry into the economics of streaming has heard evidence from industry professionals over the last six months, including Hipgnosis’ Merck Mercuriadis, MPA CEO Paul Clements and VV Brown and others.The new report stated: “As new means of consuming creative content have become the norm, creators across the sector have experienced persistent declines in their royalties and residuals.“Royalties can provide income smoothing, financial certainty, greater career flexibility and support during retirement for those who receive them.

Spotify has announced that it will be raising the price of its monthly premium membership by more than nine per cent.Last summer, the streaming platform hiked its subscription prices for the first time ever in the 10 years since the streaming service launched. At the time, the premium plan went up to £10.99 per month, up from the previous price of £9.99 monthly in the UK.

Nine Inch Nails‘ Trent Reznor has hit out against streaming, saying it has “mortally wounded” many artists.The musician made the comments in a recent GQ interview, where he took aim at companies such as Spotify and Apple Music for their payment terms.“I think the terrible payout of streaming services has mortally wounded a whole tier of artists that make being an artist unsustainable,” he said.“And it’s great if you’re Drake, and it’s not great if you’re Grizzly Bear. And the reality is: Take a look around. We’ve had enough time for the whole ‘All the boats rise’ argument to see they don’t all rise.

Spotify have now officially demonetised all songs on the platform with less than 1000 streams.The policy was launched on April 1 and came after the streaming giant released a report last year, Modernising our royalty system, in which news of the decision first appeared. The move has been planned by the platform for some time.The new regulations come following months of speculation about new policies the streaming service would be introducing, including rumours that the company would be making it harder for artists to generate royalties from their music.According to Spotify data, there are around 100million songs on the service, yet only around 37.5million meet the new requirements to generate revenue.This means that around 60 per cent of tracks will not qualify for the new threshold, although Spotify did recall that these songs make up less than one per cent of the total number of streams on the service.Spotify said that 99.5 per cent of all streams on the platform “are of tracks that have above 1,000 streams.” They went on to claim that demonetising the tracks won’t result in a “change to the size of the music royalty pool being paid out to rights holders”.It argued that instead it will “use the tens of millions of dollars annually to increase the payments to all eligible tracks, rather than spreading it out into $0.03 payments.”Spotify also went on to say it requires a minimum number of unique listeners now if royalties are to apply – a measure brought in to attempt to stop the rise in fake streams after a rise in fraudulent activity was detected.Late last year, Spotify announced that it was cutting down 17 per cent of its workforce in order to save costs.

Joni Mitchell‘s music has finally been made available on Spotify once again.Two years ago, Mitchell announced that she would be removing her entire catalog from streaming giant Spotify in solidarity with Neil Young after he withdrew his music from the platform in protest of the service platforming misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine.As of today (March 22), Mitchell’s music has been reinstated, less than two weeks after Young announced his return to the platform. Mitchell has yet to publicly comment on her return to the platform.In January 2022, Young announced his withdrawal from Spotify over concerns that the streaming giant was giving “irresponsible” podcasts such as The Joe Rogan Experience spreading misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines.

James Blake has reportedly found a “solution” to streaming, and has dropped previously unheard tracks on a new platform called Vault.The announcement from the musician comes after he went viral recently for a series of posts, criticising the lack of royalties artists can make by streaming their music or sharing it on TikTok. Following the posts online, Blake began teasing that he had found a “solution” to the issue.Now, he has revealed that this is through a newly launched platform called Vault, which allows fans to pay a monthly fee to receive unreleased music from an artist.

Neil Young has announced his return to Spotify for the first time since 2022, though he doesn’t seem to happy with the decision – see what he had to say below.In January 2022, Neil Young announced that he would be removing his music from Spotify after episodes of Joe Rogan’s controversial podcast spread misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines. At the time, Joe Rogan’s podcast was signed exclusively to Spotify.In November 2022, Young doubled down on removing his music from Spotify, explaining that the streamer was putting out low-resolution versions of his music: “Why would I keep it on there when it sounds like a pixelated movie?”The Joe Rogan Experience‘s exclusivity to Spotify has since ended, and has been picked up by Apple and Amazon, prompting Young’s return to Spotify.

James Blake has spoken out about the challenges that musicians face in getting paid fairly for their work in the TikTok age. The electronic musician posted a string of comments on his X/Twitter account on Sunday morning (March 3), taking the time to express his thoughts on the current financial state of the music industry, and what he perceives as the unreasonable obstacles facing musicians. Blake first responded to a post quoting him speaking about not making “a cent” on a recent viral TikTok hit.

Spotify, Apple Music and YouSee Musik.As per The Guardian, prosecutors claim the huge numbers of streams required to generate this much revenue from streaming couldn’t have been achieved by genuine users. They allege that unauthorised techniques were likely to have been used instead to generate the streaming figures between 2013 and 2019.The man has subsequently been charged with data fraud as well as breaching copyright law by taking work from other artists, changing the length and speed of the songs and publishing them under his own name.The man has pleaded not guilty and the defendant’s lawyer, Henrik Garlik, told Danish broadcaster DR: “I don’t think that such a case – regarding matters which the prosecution believes to be data fraud in connection with playbacks of musical works via various tendering services – has ever been tried in court.“Somewhat dependent on the result, there is a possibility that both my client and the prosecution will appeal the verdict to the high court.

Spotify has announced that it has entered into a partnership with the live events platform Bandsintown.Founded in 2007, Bandsintown is a website and app that allows users to find information about tours and concerts that are in their area, with artists having the ability to control their own listings.Now, Spotify has confirmed that Bandsintown listings will be directly integrated onto their platform. “Bandsintown is on a mission to help artists get discovered and sell out shows,” said Fabrice Sergent, co-founder of Bandsintown.

according to an exclusive report in Deadline. Details of the new series have yet to be made available, but it is known that Markle will host the show, according to the report.

Spotify have hit out at Apple‘s new plan for higher transaction fees, calling them “outrageous”.Under the new plans, Apple will charge up to 27 per cent commission on app developers selling products away from the Apple Store.In response, Spotify have accused the company of “stopping at nothing” to protect profits, and urged the UK government to prevent a similar situation in the UK.The fees were introduced after a legal battle with Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite. It allows people to subscribe to services while bypassing Apple’s system, but charges them up to a 27 per cent commission.

2023 Luminate year-end report – a company with over a 30-year history of measuring music consumption – only 10 songs from 2023 had over a billion streams globally to date.Helena Kosinski, Luminate’s VP Head of Global, shared a visual year-end report which broke down key figures and trends of the past year. This included a look at the overall availability of “ISRCs” (which stands for International Standard Recording Codes) and how many of them are consumed.Created in the form of a pyramid, at the top peak were the 10 tracks from 2023 that were streamed over a billion times globally to date.

The Weeknd‘s massive hit single ‘Blinding Lights’ has become the first song in history to reach four billion streams on Spotify.Spotify’s most-streamed song of all time, as revealed in early 2023, appeared on Abel Tesfaye’s ‘After Hours’ album. It was released at the end of 2019, and has spent over 100 weeks in the charts.In that time, it set a new record for most weeks in the Top Five of the chart (43), Top 10 (57 weeks) and Top 40 (86 weeks), and replaced Chubby Checker’s 1960 hit ‘The Twist’ as the biggest US Billboard Hot 100 single of all time.In a statement about crossing the four billion mark, The Weeknd said: “I’ll never stop being humbled by anything I create making its way to millions of people let alone billions!“I’m so thankful this song makes people feel a way that they keep going back to listen.”Last year, The Weeknd reacted to the news that Taylor Swift is now the only other music artist with 100million Spotify listeners.Swift, who became the first female artist to reach the milestone, still currently sits behind The Weeknd, who has the most monthly listeners on the streaming service with more than 110million.Last summer, The Weeknd broke another record for highest attendance at Wembley Stadium.

ERA, the digital entertainment and retail association, the value of UK music rose seven per cent to an all-time new record of £11.9billion.The ERA say the “main driver of growth” in 2023 came via streaming and digital services, which increased their revenue by more than £800million in one year. Streaming now accounts for 91.7 per cent of the total revenue for UK music nationally.As well as streaming, sales of vinyl increased by 18 per cent, and CD sales also saw a two per cent increase in sales – the first value increase in the medium in almost twenty years.It means music revenues were at their highest since 2002 and are now just 0.8 per cent below the music industry’s greatest revenue year of 2001.ERA Chairman Ben Drury said of the statistics: “The entertainment business is defying gravity, delivering eleven straight years of growth regardless of wider economic conditions.“Due credit should go to the amazing creative talent behind the movies, music and games we all love, but we should also recognise the huge contribution of the digital services and retailers who have reinvented the entertainment experience for consumers over the past 15 years,” he continued.“The overwhelming majority of the money raised by digital services and retailers goes direct to the content owners, and their success is directly benefitting creators.”ERA CEO Kim Bayley added: “With revenues just a fraction away from music’s all-time-high, this is a red letter day for the music industry and is a testament not just to the creativity of artists, but to the entrepreneurial drive of digital services and retailers.“A world without streaming now seems unthinkable.

“Murder on the Dancefloor” — a disco delight by British singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor — was released in 2001, it became a bit hit in the UK. But the track from her debut album, “Read My Lips,” failed to slay the States.Twenty-three years and one full-frontal nude dancing scene later, all that has changed because of “Saltburn.”The euphoric victory boogie by Barry Keoghan’s coked-up character Oliver at the end of the buzzy black comedy psychological thriller is set to the bass-bumping groove of “Murder on the Dancefloor.”And after “Saltburn” went from its limited theatrical release in November to its streaming debut on Amazon Prime Video on Dec.

NME recently supported the Featured Artist Coalition’s 2023 End of Year Party and AGM at Walthamstow’s Signature Brew in London. Following on from 2021 and 2022, NME returned to support the event as well as chairing an artist-led ‘Year in Music’ panel discussion featuring Murray Matravers of the band formerly known as Easy Life, Sam Duckworth of Get Cape.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor has hailed the resurgence of her hit ‘Murder On The Dancefloor’ after it featured in Saltburn.In the movie, actor Barry Keoghan is seen dancing in the nude to her 2001 single in a memorable final scene.As a result, the track has now enjoyed a resurgence and entered Spotify‘s global chart for the first time after it clocked up over 1.43million streams.Reacting to the news, Ellis-Bextor wrote on X: “Wow.. thank you for all the Murder love. Happy new year! Xx.”Wow..

Spotify has pulled out of two music festivals in France after the country changed its tax laws in relation to streaming services.The company confirmed that it was withdrawing its support from Francofolies de La Rochelle and Printemps de Bourges as of next year.Earlier this month (via EuroNews), French President Emmanuel Macron announced that the country was introducing a new tax measure on music streaming services that would be “based on a very low rate of levy on the turnover” of the services.The country’s Ministry of Culture confirmed the details on December 13, saying that the tax contribution would be “at a rate of 1.2 per cent of [streaming services’] turnover in France”, although platforms with turnover of less than €20 million would be exempt.In response, Spotify have argued for a voluntary contribution instead of the tax. “This is a real blow to innovation, and to the growth prospects of recorded music in France,” said a representative of the company.

Life is extremely good nowadays if you’re a long-beloved, accordion-playing, specialized song parody artist. Weird Al Yankovic has seen a bit of a resurgence in recent years with number-one albums, Emmy nominations, Grammy awards, and, finally, a not-so-true biopic release last year to critic and audience acclaim, “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” (read our review).  READ MORE: The 21 Best Films Of 2023 By all accounts, the film was a great success, and Weird Al’s career is somehow hotter than ever.

GTA 6 trailer was released earlier this week and featured Tom Petty’s ‘Love Is A Long Road’ which has now received a massive spike in listeners on Spotify.In data provided by Spotify, it has been revealed that the song has seen a “huge streaming increase of 36,979 per cent” since last week before the trailer was released.This isn’t the first time gaming has brought new popularity to older songs. Earlier in the year, HBO‘s adaptation of The Last Of Us caused a 4,900 per cent increase in streams for Linda Rondstadt’s ‘Long Long Time’.Spotify has also created a Grand Theft Auto playlist in collaboration with developer Rockstar Games, featuring songs such as ‘Fortunate Son’, ‘Danger Zone’, ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’, and ‘Mississippi Queen’, all of which have featured in previous Grand Theft Auto titles.The trailer for GTA 6 was released a day before when it was intended to drop due to a leak on social media.

Spotify has announced it is cutting 17% of its staff, with around 1800 jobs expected to be lost in the process. Chief executive Daniel Ek broke the news on Monday, saying in a public memo that the "difficult" decision was made in reponse to economic growth slowing "dramatically." Ek said "substantial action to rightsize our costs" was required in order for the company to reach its financial targets.

Spotify has announced it will cut down 17 per cent of its workforce in order to save costs.The streaming platform previously laid off 6 per cent of its staff earlier this year in January, saying at the time it was doing so to promote “speed”.This time, chief executive Daniel Ek has said he made the “difficult” decision as economic growth has “slowed dramatically”. Spotify employs around 9,000 people, meaning 1,500 jobs will be lost in the current round of layoffs.“I recognise this will impact a number of individuals who have made valuable contributions,” Ek wrote.

Taylor Swift will reportedly earn over $100million (£78million) from Spotify streams alone in 2023.The popstar was recently crowned Spotify’s Top Global Artist of 2023, with Swift racking up over 26 billion streams on the platform.Now, Billboard has estimated that Swift will bring home $100million from Spotify alone. According to their royalty calculator, the 26 billion streams Swift has accumulated will have earned her $101million in royalties by the end of December 2023.