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92-545: As of August 2015, the TEDx Music Project SoundCloud catalog contained over 600 tracks. New songs are released each Tuesday. Talks and music performances at TEDx events are licensed creative commons. The TEDx Music Project consists of a SoundCloud library of music curated locally from hundreds of cities. The entire catalog is available to download for free. In 2015, the TEDx Music Project announced

184-492: A blockchain startup that had been developing a decentralized database system for managing attribution, and other metadata for media. This was followed in May 2017 with the acquisition of artificial intelligence startup Niland, which uses technology to improve personalisation and recommendation features for users. In November 2017, Spotify acquired Soundtrap , an online music studio startup. On 12 April 2018, Spotify acquired

276-630: A works council was established in 2023. Swedish trade unions have unsuccessfully attempted to bargain collectively with Spotify since 2023. Spotify GmbH employees in Berlin established an electoral board in February 2023, which prepared the election for the works council in April. Spotify AB does not recognize any trade unions or have any collective agreements in Sweden. Spotify ended joint-negotiations with

368-456: A SoundCloud Go subscription will be more valuable to an artist, supposedly benefiting smaller independent artists with fans who listen to their music frequently. Little is known about how beneficial fan-powered royalties have been for artists, beyond SoundCloud's claims, over the traditional pooled royalties model, which most competing services such as Spotify continue to use. In December 2021, SoundCloud Chief Financial Officer, Drew Wilson, said

460-433: A SoundCloud artist, explained in a Rolling Stone article how the first songs he created and put on the platform were not recorded using a real microphone. The DIY nature of SoundCloud made it so millions of artists were able to put out their work without any studio equipment usually needed to make music. The freedom to upload on the platform allows for many SoundCloud rappers to post tracks impulsively or post many tracks at

552-595: A Spotify engineer in Malmö , set up the channel #kollektivavtal in the internal company Slack , which means " collective agreement " in Swedish. The channel grew to 2,000 participants. 700 employees have since joined Unionen, with another 100 each joining Engineers of Sweden and Akavia. Catalini Smith no longer works at Spotify. Writers Guild of America, East represents two union affiliates at Spotify Studios and The Ringer . The United Musicians and Allied Workers campaigns for

644-500: A competitor". Furthermore, he stated that "There is nothing in Apple's conduct that 'amounts to a violation of applicable antitrust laws.' Far from it. ... I would be happy to facilitate an expeditious review and approval of your app as soon as you provide us with something that is compliant with the App Store's rules". In the following months, Spotify joined several other companies in filing

736-457: A data science consulting firm and analytics company. In a comment to TechCrunch , Spotify said that Seed Scientific's team would lead an advanced analytics unit within the company, focused on developing data services. In January 2016, they acquired social and messaging startups Cord Project and Soundwave, followed in April 2016 by CrowdAlbum, a "startup that collects photos and videos of performances shared on social networks," and would "enhance

828-612: A data visualization effort that creates an interactive map of the entire catalog. It was created using music attributes such as "energy" and "danceability" queried from Spotify 's Echonest API. Metadata was then ported into Mappr to create the visualization. The TEDx Music Project was founded by Amy L Robinson in 2012. SoundCloud SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG . The service enables its users to upload , promote , and share audio . Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud

920-540: A deal with Chernin Entertainment to produce movies and TV shows. In 2020 and 2021, Spotify and DC , a brand at the time under Warner Bros. Entertainment signed deals to create audio shows on the platform around characters such as Catwoman, Wonder Woman, the Riddler, Batgirl, Superman and Lois Lane, among others. In 2022, Spotify became the official streaming partner of FC Barcelona . In May 2022, Spotify announced

1012-753: A fairer redistribution and compensation system for musicians. The United Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW) was established in 2020 during the onset of the Corona pandemic . One year later in 31 cities worldwide, 27,500 musicians joined UMAW's campaign #JusticeAtSpotify to demand a compensation of one cent per audio stream . Moreover, they are asking for a fairer redistribution system, as smaller artists are disproportionately disadvantaged on Spotify. 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 . In August, The Ringer ' s editorial staff voted to unionize with

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1104-475: A higher degree of diversity in its content. The Verge found that, excluding existing content uploaded by users, the service's initial library of songs is smaller than those of its closest competitors. The service was initially priced at US$ 10 per month. On 28 February 2017, SoundCloud renamed its main Go plan SoundCloud Go+ , adding a secondary tier titled SoundCloud Go at a US$ 5 price point, which does not include

1196-559: A letter with the European Union 's antitrust body indirectly accusing Apple and Google of "abusing their 'privileged position' at the top of the market", by referring to "some" companies as having "transformed into 'gatekeepers' rather than 'gateways'". The complaint led to the European Union announcing that it would prepare an initiative by the end of 2017 for a possible law addressing unfair competition practices. Spotify released

1288-414: A minor stake in the company, and its publishing division to collect royalties for songs they have chosen to monetize on the site; meanwhile, the other labels remained skeptical of the company's business model. By December 2014, SoundCloud had shared ad revenue with about 60 other Premier Partners. Concerns over the amount of revenue from the program led Sony Music Entertainment to pull its content from

1380-525: A music production marketplace for people in the music industry to collaborate on projects, and distribute music tracks for licensing. On 19 November 2019, Spotify announced the acquisition of the exclusive rights to The Last Podcast on the Left . On 5 February 2020, Spotify announced its intent to acquire Bill Simmons ' sports and pop culture blog and podcast network The Ringer for an undisclosed amount. On 19 May 2020, Spotify acquired exclusive rights to stream

1472-559: A new partnership. In December, Spotify and Tencent 's music arm, Tencent Music Entertainment (TME), agreed to swap stakes and make an investment in each other's music businesses. As a result of this transaction, Spotify gained a 9% stake in TME with TME gaining a 7.5% stake in Spotify. In February 2018, Spotify integrated with the gaming-oriented voice chat service Discord on desktop clients, allowing users to display their currently playing song as

1564-424: A new pay model for artists, entitled "fan-powered royalties", which went into effect on 1 April 2021. Under this new model, royalties come directly from the subscription and advertising revenue that listeners earn for SoundCloud, instead of allotting a certain portion of the total "pool" of revenue earned by SoundCloud to each artist based on streams. This means that a fan who listens to more advertisements or pays for

1656-473: A new program known as "On SoundCloud", which would allow "Premier" partners to monetize their content through pre-roll audio ads, channel sponsorships, mobile display ads, and native content. The company announced deals with a number of content partners (including Comedy Central and Funny or Die ), independent labels, and YouTube multi-channel networks , and that it was in "active and ongoing, advanced discussions" with major record labels. In December 2014, it

1748-473: A partnership venture with the company prior to the rebranding. As SoundCloud evolved and expanded beyond its initial user base, consisting primarily of grassroots musicians, many users complained that it had sacrificed its usefulness to independent artists in an attempt to appeal to the masses, perhaps in preparation for public sale. Such criticism particularly followed the launching of a revamped website in 2013 which, according to former CEO Alexander Ljung,

1840-639: A partnership with the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference for 2017, presenting specific content in special playlists through an SXSW hub in Spotify's apps. The integration also enabled Spotify within the SXSW GO app to help users discover and explore artists performing at the conference. Two more partnerships were announced in March; one with WNYC Studios , and one with Waze . The WNYC Studios partnership brought various podcasts from WNYC to Spotify, including Note to Self , On

1932-695: A partnership with the online game platform and game creation system the Roblox Corporation , the partnership saw Spotify as the first streaming brand to have a presence within the game with the launch of "Spotify Island". In March 2023, Spotify announced a partnership with Patreon , which Spotify claimed would "enable creators to expand their creative business through direct payments from fans, and allow fans to listen to their Patreon content on Spotify". In July 2015, Spotify launched an email campaign to urge its App Store subscribers to cancel their subscriptions and start new ones through its website, bypassing

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2024-408: A publishing tool for music distribution. According to Wired magazine, soon after its inception, SoundCloud began to challenge the dominance of Myspace as a platform for musicians to distribute their music. In April 2009, SoundCloud received €2.5 million Series A funding from Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures . In May 2010, SoundCloud announced it had one million users. In January 2011, it

2116-457: A rebranding move and to organize its tools for creating, managing, growing, and monetizing their content in one place. In January 2015, Sony announced PlayStation Music, a new music service with Spotify as its exclusive partner. PlayStation Music incorporates the Spotify service into Sony's PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 gaming consoles, and Sony Xperia mobile devices. The service launched on 30 March 2015. In March 2017, Spotify announced

2208-500: A reduction in royalty fees to do so. Select albums would be available only on the Premium tier for a period of time, before general release. The deal "may be months away from being finalized, but Spotify is said to have cleared this particular clause with major record labels". New reports in April confirmed that Spotify and Universal Music Group had reached an agreement to allow artists part of Universal to limit their new album releases to

2300-492: A rich presence on their profile, and invite other users with Spotify Premium to group "listening parties". In April, Spotify announced a discounted entertainment bundle with video-on-demand provider Hulu , which included discounted rates for university students. In May 2020, Spotify teamed up with ESPN and Netflix to curate podcasts around their Michael Jordan documentary The Last Dance , and in September, Spotify signed

2392-798: A time. For example, Lil Uzi Vert was known to upload songs to SoundCloud impulsively, usually without telling anyone except their security and close friends. The imperfect sound created by these SoundCloud rappers has contributed to their growing popularity and the creation of a rap sub-genre. The government of Turkey blocked access to the SoundCloud website in January 2014. In October 2022, Russia's Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media blocked access to SoundCloud due to its refusal to remove anti-war podcasts. Spotify Spotify ( / ˈ s p ɒ t ɪ f aɪ / ; Swedish: [ˈspɔ̂tːɪfaj] )

2484-437: A troubling pattern of behavior by Apple to exclude and diminish the competitiveness of Spotify on iOS and as a rival to Apple Music , particularly when seen against the backdrop of Apple's previous anticompetitive conduct aimed at Spotify ... we cannot stand by as Apple uses the App Store approval process as a weapon to harm competitors." Sewell responded to the letter: "We find it troubling that you are asking for exemptions to

2576-468: Is a Swedish audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon . As of September 2024 , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services , with over 640 million monthly active users comprising 252 million paying subscribers. Spotify is listed (through a Luxembourg City -domiciled holding company , Spotify Technology S.A. ) on

2668-428: Is available for US$ 99 per year, and is available globally. In October 2022, SoundCloud announced a new program known as "SoundCloud For Artists", which is a rebranding/merger of Jeff Ponchick's Repost Network which was acquired by SoundCloud in 2019. The company formerly had two divisions of Repost By SoundCloud, Repost and Repost Select. Repost was a paid distribution platform available to the public while Repost Select

2760-605: Is available in most of Europe, as well as Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania, with a total availability in 184 markets. Its users and subscribers are based largely in the US and Europe, jointly accounting for around 53% of users and 67% of revenue. It has no presence in mainland China where the market is dominated by QQ Music . The service is available on most devices, including Windows , macOS , and Linux computers, iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, smart home devices such as

2852-458: Is one of the largest music streaming services in the world and is available in 190 countries and territories. The service has more than 76 million active monthly users and over 200 million audio tracks as of November 2021. SoundCloud offers both free and paid memberships on the platform, available for mobile , desktop and Xbox devices. SoundCloud has evolved from a traditional online streaming platform to an entertainment company. SoundCloud

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2944-457: Is played. Spotify was founded in 2006 in Stockholm , Sweden, by Daniel Ek , former CTO of Stardoll , and Martin Lorentzon, co-founder of Tradedoubler . According to Ek, the company's title was initially misheard from a name shouted by Lorentzon. Later they conceived a portmanteau of "spot" and "identify". In February 2009, Spotify opened public registration for the free service tier in

3036-465: Is the company's slated advisor on the matter. After making its debut on the New York Stock Exchange on 3 April 2018, CNBC reported that Spotify opened at $ 165.90, more than 25% above its reference price of $ 132. On 3 July 2020, cybersecurity firm VPNMentor discovered a database containing 380 million individual records, including the logins and passwords of Spotify users. The database

3128-583: The Call Her Daddy podcast. In November 2021, Spotify acquired audiobook company Findaway, including its publishing imprint OrangeSky Audio. In December 2021, Spotify acquired Whooshkaa, a podcast tech company that develops specialized technology that allows radio broadcasters to easily turn their existing audio content into on-demand podcast programming. In February 2022, Spotify acquired Chartable and Podsights. Both are podcast advertising companies. In 2022, Spotify Greenroom rebranded as Spotify Live, which

3220-540: The Amazon Echo and Google Nest lines of products, and digital media players like Roku . As of December 2023, Spotify was the 47th most-visited website in the world with 24.78% of its traffic coming from the United States followed by Brazil with 6.51% according to data provided by Semrush . Unlike physical or download sales, which pay artists a fixed price per song or album sold, Spotify pays royalties based on

3312-700: The COVID-19 pandemic , Spotify registered a fall in users in late February, but it has seen a recovery. In March 2022, Spotify had 182 million premium subscribers. At the end of Q2 2022, Spotify reported 188 million paying subscribers and 433 million total users. At the end of Q3 2024, Spotify reported 252 million subscribers and 640 million monthly active users. 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

3404-793: The New York Stock Exchange in the form of American depositary receipts . Spotify offers digital copyright restricted recorded audio content, including more than 100 million songs and 6 million podcast titles, from record labels and media companies. Operating as a freemium service, the basic features are free with advertisements and limited control, while additional features, such as offline listening and commercial-free listening, are offered via paid subscriptions . Users can search for music based on artist, album, or genre , and can create, edit, and share playlists . It offers some social media features, following friends and creating listening parties called "Jams". As of December 2022, Spotify

3496-586: The Weeknd 's 36.068 million. Later that same month, Drake's song " One Dance " became the first song to hit one billion streams on Spotify. Upon its release in August 2017, the single " Look What You Made Me Do " by Taylor Swift earned over eight million streams within 24 hours, breaking the record for the most single-day streams for a track. On 19 June 2018, XXXTentacion 's hit single " Sad! " broke Swift's single-day streaming record, amassing 10.4 million streams

3588-558: The Writers Guild of America, East (before it was owned by Spotify). The union was voluntarily recognized by Ringer management four days later. In February 2020, Spotify announced it was acquiring The Ringer, and inheriting the previously established union. A year later, in April 2021, writers and producers ratified their first collective agreement with Gimlet Media and Ringer. It would last 3 years, with minimum base salary of $ 57,000 for Ringer staff and $ 73,000 for Gimlet producers. There

3680-401: The 30% transaction fee for in-app purchases required for iOS applications by technology company Apple Inc. A later update to the Spotify app on iOS was rejected by Apple, prompting Spotify's general counsel Horacio Gutierrez to write a letter to Apple's then-general counsel Bruce Sewell, stating: "This latest episode raises serious concerns under both U.S. and EU competition law. It continues

3772-721: The Apple App Store platform. Additionally, Apple stated that they have attempted to work with Spotify to integrate the service better with Apple's products, such as Siri and Apple Watch. In 2019, under iOS 13 , it became possible to play Spotify music using Siri commands. Spotify was one of the first companies to support Epic Games in their lawsuit against Apple , which was filed after Epic also tried to bypass Apple's 30% fee for microtransactions in Fortnite . In September 2020, Spotify, Epic, and other companies founded The Coalition for App Fairness , which aims for better conditions for

TEDx Music Project - Misplaced Pages Continue

3864-685: The Media and Here's the Thing . 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 Waze partnership allows Waze app users to view directions to destinations within the Spotify app and access their Spotify playlists through the Waze app. In October 2017, Microsoft announced that it would be ending its Groove Music streaming service by December, with all music from users transferring to Spotify as part of

3956-424: The Premium service tier for a maximum of two weeks. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek commented that "We know that not every album by every artist should be released the same way, and we've worked hard with UMG to develop a new, flexible release policy. Starting today, Universal artists can choose to release new albums on premium only for two weeks, offering subscribers an earlier chance to explore the complete creative work, while

4048-551: The Rapper is an example of a SoundCloud artist who broke the mould of the industry; he released his debut mixtape, 10 Day , on SoundCloud. In a Vanity Fair interview Chance explained how he decided against signing to a major label and felt it was better for him to give his music "without any limit on it". Through SoundCloud, a sub-genre of rap was created. Artists such as Lil Pump , XXXTentacion , Juice Wrld , Nav , Lil Uzi Vert , Playboi Carti , Trippie Redd , 6ix9ine , Ski Mask

4140-618: The Slump God , Suicideboys and Lil Peep originated from SoundCloud and have since risen to the Billboard top charts. The sound created was different from the mainstream, with a grittier and darker sound that results from a lack of production. SoundCloud rap is a lo-fi, melody driven, distorted sound with lyrics that usually focus on repetition and less on content. The SoundCloud artists themselves are known to have exaggerated appearances that include bright colored hair and face tattoos. Smokepurpp ,

4232-556: The United Kingdom. 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. Spotify launched in the United States in July 2011, and offered a six-month, ad-supported trial period, during which new users could listen to an unlimited amount of music for free. In January 2012,

4324-665: The United States, in December 2012. By March 2013, the service had 24 million active users, six million being paying subscribers, which grew to 40 million users (including ten million paying) in May 2014, 60 million users (including 15 million paying) in December 2014, 75 million users (20 million paying) in June 2015, 30 million paying subscribers in March 2016, 40 million paying subscribers in September 2016, and 100 million total users in June 2016. In April 2020, Spotify reached 133 million premium users. In countries affected by

4416-651: The Wombats . The testing was very limited in nature and was only available on Spotify's Android app in the US. In May 2023, Spotify removed tens of thousands of songs, roughly 7% of the tracks uploaded by the Boomy, due to suspected "artificial streaming", the practice of using online bots to inflate the listening statistics. The key trends for Spotify Technology are (as of the financial year ending 31 December): Spotify recognizes trade unions at its US podcasting subsidiaries The Ringer and Spotify Studios since 2019. In Germany,

4508-572: The company had acquired the Singapore based music AI company Musiio, with the aims of increasing features on the site such as discovery features. A new APN was released in December 2012 which improved mobile device support and added features such as concurrent listening, site navigation, and the ability to create personal collections. At this time, SoundCloud was reported to be "reaching 180 million people per month", with 10 hours of content being uploaded per minute. SoundCloud offers two mobile apps ;

4600-425: The company have claimed this to be "bogus," arguing that the right to manage and delete accounts should be reserved to SoundCloud itself, not to an outside company. SoundCloud first entered the music streaming industry as a new way for artists to share and promote their music. As an online platform, artists can release music without a record label or distributor. SoundCloud users are both listeners and artists, using

4692-466: The company is "at the doorsteps of break-even" and said the company expects to generate a net profit by 2023. The rise in popularity of SoundCloud Rap (a.k.a. "mumble rap") and ability for new artists to gain popularity helped SoundCloud gain enough users to continue business. Compared to other streaming services, SoundCloud is an interactive platform, which contributes to the artist being able to gain popularity. In August 2014, SoundCloud announced

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4784-414: The company's ability to recruit top talent as Spotify grew, including access to flexible housing, better education in the programming and development fields, and stock options. Ek and Lorentzon wrote that to continue competing in a global economy, politicians needed to respond with new policies, or thousands of Spotify jobs would be moved from Sweden to the United States. In February 2017, Spotify announced

4876-434: The company's personalized playlists, better match songs with compositions, and improve the company's publishing data system. Later that month, Spotify also acquired MightyTV, an app connected to television streaming services, including Netflix and HBO Go , that recommends content to users. Spotify intended to use MightyTV to improve its advertising efforts on the free tier of service. In April 2017, they acquired Mediachain,

4968-537: The day after he was fatally shot in Florida. In March 2011, Spotify announced a customer base of 1 million paying subscribers across Europe, and by September 2011, the number of paying subscribers had doubled to two million. In August 2012, Time reported 15 million active users, four million being paying Spotify subscribers. User growth continued, reaching 20 million total active users, including five million paying customers globally and one million paying customers in

5060-420: The deal would give the company an option to require certain content to be restricted to paid subscribers, a statement suggesting that SoundCloud was preparing to launch its own subscription streaming service. In February 2017, SoundCloud launched a mid-range subscription tier named SoundCloud Go, that allows users to remove ads and listen offline for $ US5 per month through the site. The original version, which

5152-468: The development of products that help artists understand, activate, and monetize their audiences". In November 2016, Spotify acquired Preact, a "cloud-based platform and service developed for companies that operate on subscription models which helps reduce churn and build up their subscriber numbers". In March 2017, Spotify acquired Sonalytic, an audio detection startup, for an undisclosed amount of money. Spotify stated that Sonalytic would be used to improve

5244-631: The expansion of its United States operations in Lower Manhattan , New York City, at 4 World Trade Center , adding approximately 1,000 new jobs and retaining 832 existing positions. The company's US headquarters are in New York City's Flatiron District . On 14 November 2018, the company announced 13 new markets in the MENA region, including the creation of a new Arabic hub and several playlists. In October 2015, " Thinking Out Loud " by Ed Sheeran became

5336-586: The first song to pass 500 million streams. 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. In April 2016, Rihanna overtook Justin Bieber to become the biggest artist on Spotify, with 31.3 million monthly active listeners. In May 2016, Rihanna was overtaken by Drake with 31.85 million monthly listeners. In December 2016, Drake's just-under 36 million monthly listeners were overtaken by

5428-521: The first version of its Apple Watch app in November 2018, allowing playback control of the iPhone via the watch. Users can also choose which devices to play music on via Bluetooth. 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. Two days later, Apple responded, stating that the claim

5520-547: The free trial periods began to expire, limiting users to ten hours of streaming each month and five plays per song. Using PC streaming, a similar structure to the one used today allowed the listener to play songs freely, but with ads every 4–7 songs depending on listening duration. Later that same year, in March, Spotify removed all limits on the free service tier indefinitely, including mobile devices. In April 2016, Ek and Lorentzon wrote an open letter to Swedish politicians, demanding action in three areas that they claimed hindered

5612-426: The globe. In November 2021, Spotify hid the "shuffle" button for albums following a request by singer Adele , arguing that tracks in albums are supposed to be played back in the order specified by the artist to "tell a story". In May 2022, Spotify began testing a feature that would allow select artists to promote their NFTs via their profiles. Some artists included in this initial test phase were Steve Aoki and

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5704-414: The inclusion of apps in app stores . On 1 March 2021, Spotify confirmed that its platform would no longer have access to music from artists represented by Kakao Entertainment . However, after talking it out and renewing the contracts between the two, Spotify later announced that they had reached an agreement with Kakao Entertainment, allowing their content to be available once again on the platform across

5796-411: The investment, veteran digital media operators Kerry Trainor and Michael Weissman joined the SoundCloud team respectively as chief executive officer and Chief Operating Officer. Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss remained with the company—Ljung as chairman of the board, and Wahlforss as Chief Product Officer until 2019, when Wahlforss transitioned into an advisory role. In May 2022, SoundCloud announced

5888-514: The licensed music library but still offers ad-free and offline playback. SoundCloud Go+ offers mix tracks for certain DJ apps, has a complete catalogue, and has 256 kbit/s streaming. SoundCloud offers premium services for musicians with their Next Pro service. With Next Pro, subscribers can upload unlimited audio files, access enhanced analytics, distribute their music to other streaming platforms, and access tools to reach larger audiences. This service

5980-525: The main SoundCloud app is oriented towards streaming, with music discovery, playlist, and sharing features. In November 2015, its separate app known as SoundCloud Pulse was released for Android and iOS; it is primarily oriented towards content creators, allowing users to upload and manage their uploads, reply to comments, and view statistics. By the end of 2016, SoundCloud Pulse had over 100 million downloads. In July 2020, SoundCloud introduced Insights into its mobile app, discontinuing SoundCloud Pulse. Through

6072-451: The matter of unauthorized, copyrighted material regularly appearing on the platform. The announcement followed a round of funding in which US$ 60 million was raised, resulting in a $ 700 million valuation. According to media sources, the negotiations were initiated in an attempt to avoid similar problems faced by Google , which had been forced to handle a large number of take down notices on its YouTube video-sharing platform. In May 2015, it

6164-486: The music licensing platform Loudr. In August 2018, Spotify bought the exclusive rights to The Joe Budden Podcast and expanded the show to a twice-weekly schedule. On 6 February 2019, Spotify acquired the podcast networks Gimlet Media and Anchor FM Inc., with the goal of establishing themselves as a leading figure in podcasting. On 26 March 2019, Spotify announced they would acquire another podcast network, Parcast . On 12 September 2019, Spotify acquired SoundBetter,

6256-404: The new Insights portal all users can see their top listener, top city, top country and top 50 tracks, while Pro Unlimited subscribers have access to their top 50 everything (listeners, cities, countries, and tracks). In April 2017, Chromecast support was added to the main SoundCloud iOS app. On 29 March 2016, SoundCloud unveiled SoundCloud Go, a subscription-based music streaming service ;

6348-449: The number of artist streams as a proportion of total songs streamed. It distributes approximately 70% of its total revenue to rights holders (often record labels), who then pay artists based on individual agreements. While certain musicians have voiced objections to Spotify's royalty structure and its effect on record sales, others laud the service for offering a lawful option to combat piracy and for remunerating artists each time their music

6440-586: The platform and facilitate either takedowns or ads being run against it. In July 2016, SoundCloud notified registered users via email that it would be "phasing out" groups because they "were not a strong driver to help users share their new tracks to the most users effectively". This announcement was met with alarm and concerned responses from numerous artists, who deemed the change unacceptable because it would eliminate their only effective means of sharing music on SoundCloud. SoundCloud has also been criticized for changes in service. The anti-piracy algorithm — which

6532-450: The platform together, creating a community focused space. Features that enable users to comment, like, and share songs allows the platform to operate as a social media site rather than a streaming service. In 2018, the Grammys began to recognize artists and their music on SoundCloud. The shift from The Recording Academy was thanks to the popularity of the platform and their artists. Chance

6624-492: The platform. The initial evaluation of SoundCloud at $ 700 million did not hold as strong to investors after their financial shortages. In July 2017, SoundCloud announced layoffs and the closure of two of its five offices in San Francisco and London in an effort to manage costs. In August 2017, SoundCloud announced it reached an agreement on a $ 169.5 million investment from The Raine Group and Temasek . In connection with

6716-403: 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. Locker Room was rebranded in June 2021 as Spotify Greenroom , and turned into a Clubhouse competitor. The same month, Spotify acquired Podz, a podcast discovery startup. Also the same month, Spotify bought the exclusive rights to

6808-470: The popular podcast The Joe Rogan Experience beginning in September of that year, under an agreement valued at around US$ 100 million (equivalent to $ 116,000,000 in 2023). In November 2020, Spotify announced plans to acquire Megaphone from The Slate Group for US$ 235 million . In March 2021, Spotify acquired app developer Betty Labs and their live social audio app, Locker Room, On 12 May 2021. Armchair Expert announced on Instagram that

6900-463: The rules we apply to all developers and are publicly resorting to rumors and half-truths about our service." He also elaborated that "Our guidelines apply equally to all app developers, whether they are game developers, e-book sellers, video-streaming services or digital music distributors; and regardless of whether they compete against Apple. We did not alter our behavior or our rules when we introduced our own music streaming service or when Spotify became

6992-524: The service entirely in May 2015. In June 2015, SoundCloud announced that it had reached a deal with the Merlin Network , a group representing 20,000 independent record labels, to monetize their content through the Premier partner program. In January and March 2016, SoundCloud reached respective deals with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment. A UMG spokesperson told The New York Times that

7084-421: The service provides an ad-free experience, offline playback, and integrates licensed music from major labels into the existing, user-uploaded content of the service. Co-founder Eric Wahlforss stated that this aspect would help to differentiate SoundCloud Go from other music streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music , as it technically provides a larger total library of songs than competing services, with

7176-460: The singles are available across Spotify for all our listeners to enjoy". It was announced later in April that this type of agreement would be extended to indie artists signed to the Merlin Network agency. Spotify went public on the stock market in April 2018 using a direct public offering rather than an initial public offering . This approach is not intended to raise fresh capital, but to let investors get their returns. Morgan Stanley

7268-399: The three trade unions Unionen and Engineers of Sweden (affiliate of SACO ) in August 2023. The three unions petitioned Spotify to negotiate back in May. 90% of Swedish workers are covered by collective agreements . In tech companies bargaining coverage is less common. Swedish labor disputes are also happening at Tesla and Klarna as of 2024 . In November 2022, Henry Catalini Smith,

7360-435: Was considering to buy SoundCloud. On 8 December 2016, Spotify was reported to have abandoned its acquisition plans. In February 2019, SoundCloud reported having surpassed 200 million sound tracks, four times as many as Myspace had. In May 2019, SoundCloud bought artist distribution platform Repost Network. In January 2020, a US$ 75 million investment by Sirius XM was announced. On 2 March 2021, SoundCloud announced

7452-464: Was established in Berlin on August 27, 2007, by Swedish sound designer Alexander Ljung and Swedish electronic musician Eric Wahlforss, and the website was launched on October 17, 2008. Later that year, Rapper Kid Cudi posted the video for his track " Soundtrack 2 My Life ", then got replaced to YouTube in 2012. It was originally intended to allow musicians to collaborate by facilitating the sharing and discussion of recordings, but later transformed into

7544-431: Was implemented for the purpose of increasing SoundCloud usage. On 3 July 2014, TorrentFreak reported that SoundCloud offered unlimited removal powers to certain copyright holders, allowing those copyright holders to unilaterally remove paid subscribers' content without recourse. In April 2015, SoundCloud announced a new partnership with Zefr, a content tracking company that works with YouTube to help identify songs on

7636-557: Was increasing by 1.5 million users per month. In March 2014, Twitter announced it would partner with SoundCloud in developing its first integrated music app. However, the project never moved forward because SoundCloud was unable to accommodate licensed music due to a lack of necessary arrangements with music labels. In July 2013, SoundCloud had 40 million registered users and new users were joining at 20 million per month. SoundCloud announced in January 2014 that it had commenced licensing negotiations with major music companies to address

7728-532: Was misleading rhetoric and that Spotify wanted benefits of a free app without being a free app. Spotify responded with a statement calling Apple a monopolist and stated that they had only filed the complaint as Apple's actions hurt competition and consumers and clearly violated the law. It also said that Apple believed Spotify users on the app store were Apple's customers and not Spotify's. Apple responded to Spotify's claims by counter-claiming that Spotify's market reach and user base would not have been possible without

7820-466: Was put into place to combat the number of illegal music downloads — has often been criticized for taking down music that was not illegally submitted or downloaded. Also, Universal Music Group has the right to take down any files on SoundCloud. Uploads can be taken down directly by Universal Music Group outside of SoundCloud's anti-piracy policy. Other than uploads, Universal Music Group has the ability to take down accounts, both premium and free. Customers of

7912-422: Was renamed to SoundCloud Go+, allows access to (at the time) over 150 million songs, offline playback, no ads, no previews, and premium music tracks for $ US10 per month through the site. Both subscriptions were categorized for listeners, with separate subscription services provided specifically for creators. In Spring 2017, SoundCloud initially faced being sold after not raising the $ 100 million needed to support

8004-442: Was reported that SoundCloud could potentially raise approximately US$ 150 million in new financing, resulting in a valuation surpassing one billion dollars. The major label issue became prominent again when the new financing information was released, as the lack of monetization was presented as an issue—SoundCloud signed an agreement with Warner Music Group as part of the new Premier program that allows both Warner Music, which also has

8096-410: Was reported that SoundCloud had raised US$ 10 million Series B funding from Union Square Ventures and Index Ventures . On 15 June 2011, SoundCloud reported five million registered users and investments from Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary 's A-Grade Fund, and on 23 January 2012, it reported 10 million registered users. In May 2012, it was announced that SoundCloud had 15 million users, and site usage

8188-500: Was reported that Twitter was considering the acquisition of SoundCloud for approximately US$ 2 billion. However, the prospect of acquisition was discounted by the media, with one report stating that "the numbers didn't add up", and Bobby Owsinski hypothesizing on the Forbes website in July that SoundCloud's ongoing inability to secure deals with the major music labels was the foremost culprit. On 28 September 2016, Spotify announced that it

8280-492: Was subsequently planned to be shut down in April 2023. In June 2022, Spotify acquired Sonantic, a synthetic voice and video developer. In July 2022, Spotify acquired Heardle , a Wordle -inspired music trivia game, for an undisclosed amount; Heardle was shut down in May 2023. In October 2022, Spotify acquired the Dublin -based content moderation startup, Kinzen. In 2023, Spotify merged Anchor into their Spotify for Podcasters tool,

8372-413: Was the dedicated label services department that provided label services such as marketing, funding and music distribution for artists that signed with SoundCloud directly/independent labels that have partnerships with SoundCloud. In July 2022 SoundCloud A&R Cameron Cox carried out a distribution deal with Sohaib Ali and Alontae Lloyd's BlondeWorld Label which is the first independent label to enter into

8464-492: Was thought to be evidence of an impending credential stuffing cyberattack targeting Spotify as it contained the credentials of up to 350,000 compromised user accounts. In response to the attack, Spotify issued a rolling reset of passwords for affected accounts in November 2020. In May 2013, Spotify acquired music discovery app Tunigo. In March 2014, they acquired The Echo Nest , a music intelligence company. In June 2015, Spotify announced they had acquired Seed Scientific,

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