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Spotify Miniplayer Brings Audio Discovery to Facebook together with Price Hikes

April 27, 2021 Nur Jeevan Leave a comment

Looks like Spotify and Facebook are playing extra nice with the launch of a new feature which brings even more integration of the music platform to the Facebook app. Come across a song that’s caught your ear on Facebook? The new miniplayer feature will allow you to simply press play to get the beat going as you continue to browse your timeline. The new miniplayer feature will allow you to play music from videos with licensed music as well as other content on your Newsfeed.

The new Spotify feature on Facebook will require users to connect the apps. Upon connecting the apps, users will be able to play songs they come across on their Facebook Newsfeed as they browse. As always, the feature will be available to Spotify Premium users with full access in the miniplayer. Free users, however, will be able to access the feature with shuffle mode and ads from Spotify.

The new feature is available in select countries including Malaysia, Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, South Africa, Thailand, Uruguay, and the U.S. The feature will continue to make its way to other markets soon.

New Features, Higher Prices

In addition to the new feature, it seems like Spotify is also revising its pricing. The music streaming platform seems to be rolling out pricing changes to a number of regions including the U.K. and Europe which have seen the price revisions officially announced through email notifications. The revised prices go into effect starting April 30, 2021. Existing users will have a month’s grace period to decide whether they will be continuing with the service.

Spotify users in Europe will be paying €5.99 (MYR29.62) for the student plan and €12.99 (MYR64.23) for the Duo plan; a €1 (MYR4.94) increase from the initial price. The family plan sees a €3 (MYR14.83) increase to €17.99 (MYR88.95). In the U.K., the price revisions are £5.99 (MYR34.07) for Student, £13.99 (MYR79.56) for Duo and £16.99 (MYR96.63) for family – an increase of £1 (MYR5.69) for the student and duo plans and a £2 (MYR11.38) increase for the family plan.

The price increase is expected to affect countries in Asia and South America as well. No indication of when though.

News

Netflix Clamping Down on Account Sharing

March 12, 2021 Nur Jeevan Leave a comment

A lot of us share accounts when it comes to streaming services. Sometimes it’s with close friends, other times its with family. However, it seems like Netflix isn’t very fond of sharing even though their platform allows up to five profiles in a single user. The company has long been trying to limit account sharing as more and more people seem to be doing it.

In its latest efforts, Netflix seems to be testing out a feature that may make sharing an account more of a hassle. Users who have been sharing accounts are reporting that they are seeing prompts for them to verify the account or sign up for a new account.

https://twitter.com/DOP3Sweet/status/1369395237253222414

In their new effort, it seems like Netflix is trying hard to weed out sharing. In fact, while the practice isn’t illegal, it technically goes against their terms of service – if you don’t reside in the same household. However, the company has acknowledged that the practice is inevitable and a valuable marketing channel. That said, a spokesperson has come on the record to clarify stating, “This test is designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorized to do so,”.

It comes as no surprise that Netflix is testing ways to make life a little bit harder for people who are sharing accounts as account piracy has also become increasingly common among Netflix users. If you’ve had your Netflix account compromise, you will be painfully aware that aside from sharing, incidences, where accounts are being accessed by total strangers, are not unheard of.

While it seems like the company is clamping down on “unauthorised” access, the move comes at an interesting time. Disney+ recently reported that their subscriber numbers have surpassed their initial expectations. The new streaming service reported that they are well over 100 million subscribers – something Netflix co-CEO, Reed Hastings, claimed to be impossible in an interview with CNBC.

Lifestyle, News

HiFi, Clips & Better Podcast Discovery Coming to Spotify

February 23, 2021 Nur Jeevan Leave a comment

Spotify took center stage at their StreamOn event and, Boy!… did they have a lot to announce.

The streaming service is gaining even more momentum internationally with a rollout to an additional 80 countries. This comes on the tail of their recent launch in South Korea. The countries joining the Spotify fold include a large number of those in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America including countries such as Bangladesh, Cameroon, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mongolia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka; reaching over a billion potential users. With the new additions, Spotify is now available in over 170 countries putting it on par with competitors like Apple Music and YouTube Premium.

Spotify HiFi: CD Quality, Lossless Streaming

https://youtu.be/W07MvWbuWkI

In addition to this, Spotify also announced “Spotify HiFi”. The new HiFi offering brings CD quality, lossless audio to the music streaming platform. This will make Spotify more appealing to the audiophiles out there as they will be able to get better, more detailed sound via the app. The new service ups the bit rate available on Spotify from the current 320kbps to about 1,400kbps. This means that the more nuanced attributes of songs are able to better come through when streamed. The company did trial the service in the U.S. back in 2017 for a USD$7.50 (MYR30.32) premium on top of its subscription. However, aside from noting that the new Spotify HiFi will be coming to select markets, they have not revealed much.

Artist-Audience Interaction with Spotify Clips

If HiFi streaming wasn’t enough, Spotify also officially announced its Clips feature. The new feature functions in a similar fashion to Instagram Stories or Snaps on Snapchat. They allow artists to interact directly with their audience on Spotify by sharing clips akin to their social media. If this sounds familiar, it’s cause the company was testing the feature out over the past Christmas holidays in the U.S. However, with this announcement, the feature will see a more widespread release. Clips will appear on playlists to allow users to get a glimpse into personal moments from the artists.

Podcasts: Better Discovery, New Experiences

Spotify didn’t leave any stone unturned during its StreamOn event. The app has become one of the largest Podcast distribution platforms since it introduced the feature. Keeping that in mind, the company is looking at making Podcast discoverability easier for creators. In a nutshell, the company is looking to serve podcast episodes to listeners based on their preferences. It will also employ A.I. and machine learning to help users search for podcasts better.

In addition, the company is also working on creating new experiences when it comes to podcasts. Spotify is working with WordPress to create podcasts from written content. Creators will also be able to engage with audiences more directly with interactive Q&As, polls, and even video. The company is also making its Ad Studio available for podcast creators to help monetize their podcasts better.

techENT