Spotify
Secretive White Noise Spammers are Making a Killing on Spotify—Here’s How
Popular white noise “artists” on Spotify such as White Noise Baby Sleep and Smart Baby Lullaby have cracked the code on the elusive of concept of making money from streaming. And they’re hardly doing any work for it at all. White noise soundscapes are “truly brainless to produce,” said an anonymous former sound designer for UK-based company Ameritz in a statement to OneZero. The sound designer chose to remain anonymous to avoid potential repercussions of revealing this trick, but claimed he’d spent countless hours recording white noise such as computer and desk fans. Those recordings turn into the white noise tracks released on Spotify via a myriad of virtually anonymous sources, but many are tied to a shell “record label” ...
Metallica Tally More Than 1 Billion Spotify Streams in 2020
As they enter their 40th year of existence, Metallica remain a metal powerhouse: the band tallied more than 1 billion streams on Spotify in 2020 alone. Metallica shared a graphic on their Instagram feed, which lists their 2020 Spotify statistics as 1.1 billion streams, 99.3 million hours, 53.3 million unique listeners, and 92 different countries. ‘We thought last year’s numbers were insane,” wrote the band. “You guys have outdone yourselves! 99.3M hours?! That’s like if someone started listening on October 27, 9318 B.C. and never stopped. Can anyone guess what this year’s most-played song was, clocking in at 128.6M streams?? You remain the most dedicated fans in the world – thank you for spending so much of your year with us!” The two most-played songs were likely “Nothing Else Matter...
Remixers and Bootleggers are Using a Spotify Loophole to Upload Unofficial Works to the Platform
Underground artists and producers have found somewhat of a loophole that allows them to post their unofficial works to Spotify. Rather than following the normal uploading process—which has many measures in place to detect copyright infringement and derivative works—users are now taking their bootlegs to Spotify’s Podcasts feature. While YouTube and SoundCloud are rife with bootleg remixes and mashups by bedroom producers, Spotify has always been strict about uploading unofficial content to the platform. Unofficial mashups, remixes and bootlegs have now started to slide under the radar via Spotify’s Podcast feature. With the Podcasts loophole—and some clever keyword nomenclature for the unofficial works, such as “chopped and screwed” or “slowed and r...
Here is a Sassy AI Bot That Roasts Your Taste in Music
You may think you know the best new tracks and artists, but you don’t, according to a new artificial intelligence bot that roasts your taste in music. The program, developed by digital publication The Pudding, is essentially the de facto nemesis of Spotify’s “Wrapped” programming. Once you log in, the sassy AI bot crawls your Spotify listening habits and goes on to trash them in an absolutely hysterical manner. Apparently I listen to plenty of EDM—and Louis The Child—something that the bot found cringey. The bot then invited me to play a classic game of “fuck, marry, kill,” coaxing me into a siren song that eventually led to my picks being shredded. It eventually went in for the kill with this jab, which called my taste in music “nice-guys-fi...
Barack Obama Shares 2020 Playlist, Includes Lil Baby, J. Cole, Travis Scott & More
Source: MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images / Getty Another year is coming to a close, which means plenty of year-end playlists are already being shared. Some lists tend to carry more weight—like that of the United States’ last legitimate President, Barack Obama. Spotify gets the distinction of housing Obama’s curated playlist. President 44’s favorite cuts from 2020 include notable Hip-Hop hits like Megan Thee Stallion and Beyonce’s “Savage Remix” (which is first) and Lil Baby’s “The Bigger Picture.” Other rap joints that made the cut include Goodie’s Mob’s “4 My PPL,” Travis Scott’s “Franchise,” featuring Young Thug & M.I.A., Gunna’s “Sun Came Out,” and J. Cole’s “The Climb Back.” Not a single cut from Griselda, though? Clearly we gotta put Sasha Obama up on game. Prop...
Spotify “Spoken Words Analyzer” Patent Approved, Will Use AI to Analyze Song Lyrics
Spotify has successfully patented a “Spoken Word Analyzer” feature, which will allow the platform to make determinations about a song’s lyrical content through the power of AI. The streaming giant filed the patent, which was ultimately approved by the United States Patent and Trademark Office this week, in late August 2020. The patent describes a feature that would automatically assign a set of tags to songs based on their lyrics. The utility of such a feature will allow Spotify to categorize songs based on their explicitness, mood, and even qualities such as danceability and energy levels, among other criteria. Tracks have historically had their tags assigned based on user input, but the system Spotify proposes would seek to standardize and auto...
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Ink Exclusive Podcast Deal With Spotify
Source: Max Mumby/Indigo / Getty Fans of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will soon get to subscribe to their podcast series after the couple announced their surprising partnership with Spotify this Tuesday. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex inked an exclusive multimillion-dollar deal with the streaming service to produce and host podcasts shows through their production company Archewell Audio. The multi-year deal will allow them to produce original content debuting the first holiday special hosted by the royal couple at the end of this month. Via Yahoo: “What we love about podcasting is that it reminds all of us to take a moment and to really listen, to connect to one another without distraction,” The Duke and Duchess of Sussex said in a joint statement. “With the challenges of 2020, the...
Here’s How to Upload Custom Spotify Playlist Covers from Your Phone
Those who pride themselves on their playlist-making abilities now have one more tool in their arsenal. You can now accompany the hand-picked Spotify selections chosen by your masterful ear with a custom playlist cover to help tie the experience together. While this feature has been available on desktop for quite some time, it hadn’t been included in the mobile version of the app, for some head-scratching reason. Luckily, the process to upload a custom playlist cover from your mobile device is incredibly simple and as easy as changing the wallpaper on your phone. Kapwing Check out the step-by-step instructions below to add some visual flair to your playlists on Spotify. How to Upload Custom Spotify playlist covers on your phone Open the playlist you would like to add a custom cover to...
The Creative Class Honoree: Carl Chery
Source: iOne Digital / other Honoree: Carl Chery The Grind: Creative Director, Head of Urban Music Find Him: @carlchery Carl Cherry knows music. He knows who is talented, what a hit sounds like and who’s up next before most people even know an artist exists. It’s why Apple Music hired him as Head of Curation, and why Spotify snatched him up and hired him as Head of Urban. Carl’s ear for Hip Hop and R&B in particular, is enviable. At Spotify, part of his job is curating Rap Caviar, a highly coveted playlist for artists and music fans alike. Thanks to Chery, who has described the playlist as “aspirational”, RC isn’t just a party, it’s a career changer. While most people in the industry rely on titles and places of employment to get them ahead, Chery is different. If you take a look at hi...
Spotify’s Annual Wrapped Returns But With A New Stories-Like Twist & Other Features
Source: Spotify / Spotify Wrapped 2020 It’s that time again when Spotify users flood your timelines, letting you know what songs, artists, and podcasts they have been listening to religiously all year long thanks to its annual Wrapped installment, but this time it comes with some new twists. Following the reveal of the year’s top music and podcasts on the service, today Spotify announced a more personal experience for users around the globe. This year’s wrapped experience will deliver the insights on artists, songs, genres, and podcasts that you enjoyed throughout the year, but this time in a stories-like feature. The new Wrapped 2020 experience can be viewed via the Spotify app on iOS and Android devices. Per a press release, this is what Spotify users can look forward to from Wrapped 202...
Spotify Has Invented AI Technology for Songwriters to Detect Plagiarism
Spotify has filed a new European patent after inventing technology for songwriters to detect and combat plagiarism. According to a report published by Music Business Worldwide, the streaming giant recently filed a patent for a “Plagiarism Risk Detector And Interface” that is able to detect plagiarism in a musician’s lead sheets. For our non-musician readers, a lead sheet is a form of musical score that notates a song’s core elements, including its melody, lyrics, and harmony. With Spotify’s new tech, musicians are able to feed their lead sheets through a “plagiarism detector,” which would then cross-reference its components with the encoded lead sheets of Spotify’s vast library of songs. The platform will then spit out a s...
Everyone is Sharing Their Spotify 2020 “Wrapped” Roundup—Find Yours Here
Thanks to the impact of COVID-19, 2020 was a catastrophic tsunami of a year for the music industry. But we’re almost at the finish line. Before we come up for air, though, Spotify has begun the rollout of their “Wrapped” campaign, which lets listeners discover just how much time they spent streaming on the platform. “Wrapped” offers a personalized virtual storybook of listening habits to each of its users. You’re able to find out how many minutes of music you’ve listened to on Spotify, your top artists of the year, and even whether or not you were in the top percentage of those artists’ most frequent listeners. Beyond just seeing your listening stats, you can also access a curated playlist of your top 100 songs of the year, in case you ...
