Spotify lost US$194 million last year

Streaming music service Spotify has lost US$194 million in 2015, which is considered the biggest loss for the company. But it’s not all bad news for them as that is just a bit over what they lost in 2015 and their overall revenue rose to US$2.18 billion. This means it has been able to slow its losses while boosting revenue, a development Spotify needs as players like Apple and Alphabet (Google’s parent company) entered the streaming service market.

It is looking good for them but there are still some areas for concern, according to Jan Dawson, chief analyst at Jackdaw Research. He emailed Mashable saying that content costs for Spotify are still quite high. They send about 80 percent of its revenue to the recording industry. And they are still incurring losses. “Their operating and net losses were both bigger in 2015 than 2015, and that’s a bad sign for future profitability,” Dawson said. And they are spending rather aggressively on things like staffing, public relations, and consultants.

Source: Mashable

Spotify to venture into videos

Not wanting Apple Music to creep up on them, Spotify announced they’ll be debuting original video series on its platform. There will be 12 new shows with actors like Tim Robbins and Def Jam Records co-founder Russell Simmons. These music-related series can range from a few minutes long to 15 minutes and won’t be kept behind a paywall, meaning free and paying users will have access to them. One of the new shows is called Landmark and will be focusing on a “significant moment in music history.” Spotify has already shot two episodes for this show, one focuses on the Beach Boys album Pet Sounds and the other is on Metallica.

While they are releasing music-related video content now, the streaming service plans a “phase two” where they’ll focus on comedy and animation series that will be geared towards the young audience of Spotify. According to Spotify’s Content Partnerships Head Tom Calderone, music will always be a priority for them but they know their users want more from them. “We have to figure out a second act, and I think it will come out of video,” Calderone said. “The idea is to make sure users know they can come here for something other than playlists.”

Source: 9to5Mac

Spotify to bring video and podcasts to you soon

Whether you’ve been looking for video content or podcasts on Spotify or not, the music-streaming service is bringing the feature to you soon. The new plans were announced back in May but we seem to be getting a more definite timeline now. Spotify will start rolling out to Android app users this week with iOS users getting the new features by the end of next week. The company is testing it out in four markets initially—the U.S., the U.K., Sweden, and Germany. They have partnered with the likes of ESPN, Comedy Central, the BBC, Vice Media, and Maker Studios to bring these new formats into the apps.

According to Shiva Rajaraman, vice president for product at Spotify, the content will consist a lot of short clips but with a mix of original, music-themed series like what Tastemade plans to do on the platform. They wanted to keep these short and compartmentalized so you can check the programs out at different intervals. Think thematic videos like “News of the Week” or “Laughs at Lunch.”

Source: Wall Street Journal

Find out what you listened to the most with Spotify’s ‘Year in Music’ recap

Did you have Taylor Swift’s music on repeat all year? Or was The Weeknd more your thing? Spotify’s “Year in Music” feature gives you a recap of the songs you listened to this year. It will even suggest new tunes you might want to check out in 2016 based on the songs you’ve listened to previously. The site will also show you what were the top songs you’ve listened to; who were the top artists you’ve listened to; and how long and how many tracks have you listened to on Spotify. And of course, you also get a new “Play It Forward” playlist based on your past year’s listening habits.

Source: TechCrunch