Spotify grows its podcast ambitions with two new acquisitions

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Spotify is building its podcast business through two new acquisitions. The music streaming service acquired Gimlet Media and Anchor. The former is a startup podcast network, while the latter provides creators with tools to help them build, publish, and monetize podcasts. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek claims the company is now the second-biggest podcasting platform and that its podcast users “spend almost twice the time on the platform, and spend even more time listening to music.” And it wants to provide these users with more original programming as well as entice potential listeners to turn their platform into “the world’s number one audio platform.”

The company plans to invest more into podcasts this 2019 and said that it’s willing to spend around US$500 million to grow its podcast business. According to Recode, Spotify paid around US$230 million on Gimlet alone.

Soon you’ll be able to mute and block artists you don’t like on Spotify

Right now you can only tell Spotify you don't like an artist through personalized playlists like Release Radar

Spotify first tried introducing this feature back in 2017 but decided against it “after serious consideration.” But the company looks like it’s reversing its decision. The company is currently testing this “don’t play this artist” feature in its newest iOS app. It’ll let you block an entire artist from appearing in your library, playlist, chart list, or even radio stations on your Spotify account. So, if you’d rather not hear from an artist you don’t like or are protesting against. You’ll soon be able to block them out, hopefully on a lot of platforms Spotify is available on.

Source: The Verge  

Spotify rumoured to be releasing its in-car music player later this year

It’s not the first time we’ve heard that Spotify has plans to release its own hardware. But now the latest round of rumours claim the in-car music player will be coming later this year. The device will be priced around US$100.

The music streaming service hopes to deliver a more direct music experience to its customers—instead of having them rely on platforms like Apple’s CarPlay or Google’s Android Auto. Rumour has it the device will sync with car stereos via Bluetooth and have buttons that you can preset to correspond to your favourite playlists. It’ll also support voice commands similar to what the current Spotify mobile app offers.

What isn’t known is if it’ll allow you to store music on it or if there will be LTE connectivity. Spotify’s challenge here is to get people to buy the device. As The Verge says, it might be more appealing if the company bundles it with its premium service.

Spotify introduces simplified ‘Car view’ mode

Aside from integrating with apps like Google Maps, Waze, and Android Auto, Spotify is rolling out to Android users a new Car view mode. It automatically enables a more driver-friendly interface when your phone connects to your car’s Bluetooth connection. This mode simplifies your controls with bigger buttons for play/pause, skip, shuffle, and favorite. The song’s title and singer come out bigger and it does away with distracting album artwork. According to Android Authority, you might not be able to swipe to the next or previous song. In this mode, it seems like you’ll need to tap on the Previous and Next buttons (which we remind you not to do while driving).

If you’re not a fan of the interface, you can disable Car View for the current ride; or turn it off altogether in the Settings page of your app. While it’s being rolled out to Android users, there is no word yet when iPhone/iOS users are getting the update. Also, it seems to only work with Bluetooth, so if you connect your phone via AUX, this won’t pull up the interface.

Source: Engadget