Spotify has once again drawn the ire of the music industry. The National Music Publishers' Association has called on the Federal Trade Commission to examine the streaming service's addition of audiobook content into all of its paid subscription plans. According to the group's FTC complaint, Spotify's recent actions are part of "a scheme to increase profits by deceiving consumers and cheating the music royalty system." This requires some backstory. In November 2023, Spotify announced that it would include 15 hours of audiobook content as part of all its Premium subscription plans. A few months later, the company unveiled a new audiobook-only subscription, offering the same number of listening hours for $10 a month. The publishers' organization claims that Spotify's recent price increases are based on offering that extra audiobook content, and that paying customers are automatically being charged for a service they didn't choose and can't opt out of without switching to the free, ad-supported listening experience. And the additional revenue from the higher Premium subscription costs may not go to the music composers. According to the FTC complaint, Spotify will pay about $150 million less in music royalties over the first year of these new bundled Premium plans. The NMPA letter goes so far as to call the new audiobook-only plan "a sham" that "exists solely to allow Spotify to claim that audiobook content is a significantly and independently valuable aspect of its 'bundled'... Continue reading at 'Engadget'
[ Engadget | 2024-06-12 23:52:55 UTC ]
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Class action lawsuit filed in US claims the houses have colluded with the online giant to keep prices artificially highAmazon.com and the “Big Five” publishers – Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan and Simon & Schuster – have been accused of colluding to fix ebook... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-01-15 13:04:33 UTC ]
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Deal covers 600 songs including Blowin’ in the Wind and Knockin’ on Heaven’s DoorUniversal Music has struck a deal to buy the rights to Bob Dylan’s entire catalogue of 600 songs, from Blowin’ in the Wind to Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, in the biggest music publishing deal in decades.Dylan, whose... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-12-07 12:40:36 UTC ]
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Bonnier Books UK is launching a new music publishing list, with Pete Selby joining as publishing director. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-03 13:16:22 UTC ]
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The Society of Young Publishers London branch is reopening its mentorship scheme for 2020, with a host of professionals from across the trade ready to share their knowledge. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-05-25 20:51:29 UTC ]
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Hurst Publishers has launched a subscription service so that readers can support the company through the coronavirus pandemic. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-28 02:12:52 UTC ]
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At the recent Digital Media India conference, Rohan Tiwary of Google Asia Pacific, offered updates on some of the company’s ongoing Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2020-03-17 17:30:42 UTC ]
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Bluemoose Books is launching a subscription model for the first time, to accompany its year of only publishing female writers over 45 in 2020. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-18 08:25:36 UTC ]
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Ben Lindsay’s We Need To Talk About Race has similar cover and title to prizewinning book by Reni Eddo-LodgeThe publisher of a new book about racism in the UK has been accused of “ripping off” Reni Eddo-Lodge’s best-selling polemic Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, after... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-07-18 17:51:47 UTC ]
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A newly formed electronic music book publisher, Velocity Press, has launched with a book promising to be “a radical reworking of British dance music’s origin story”. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-20 07:05:53 UTC ]
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ByteDance is looking to target territories where traditionally paid streaming music services haven’t caught on. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, or don’t have or know a teenager, you’re probably aware that the hottest social media app on the planet right now is TikTok. Well, now the app’s... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2019-05-21 06:07:11 UTC ]
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One month after a group of music publishers sued it for copyright infringement, Peloton is firing back with a countersuit claiming anticompetitive conduct. On Tuesday, the New York-based fitness startup filed an answer to a complaint by members of the National Music Publishers’ Association and... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2019-05-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The 200-year-old German-language publisher has 21 email newsletters, around half of which weekly and half daily. The post How Swiss news publisher NZZ uses newsletters to increase paid subscriptions appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2019-04-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The six-month program, featuring eight North American news publishers, is designed to unearth insights that can be shared across the news ecosystem. The post Google starts ‘subscriptions lab’ for local publishers to develop paid content appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2019-03-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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At the Digiday's Publishing Summit Europe, publishers discussed growing reader revenue strategies and the changing programmatic landscape. The post ‘We’ve made a huge mistake’: European publishers sound off on subscriptions and tech talent shortages appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2019-03-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PRH division Puffin Books will next year publish a ‘musical’ edition of Tom Fletcher’s The Creakers with a CD and prompts telling readers when to listen to the songs. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-11-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The subscription lift has been modest, and the tools can be cumbersome to implement, limiting their impact, publishers say. The post Facebook’s and Google’s subscription tools offer publishers modest improvements appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2018-10-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Welcome! It’s sunny here in El Segundo. I’m Carolyn Kellogg with not one but two essays from Critics at Large this week, because it has been a big week for cultural questions in the world of books. Let’s get started. THE FIRST BIG ESSAY Critic at Large Laila Lalami looks at two big recent essays... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-09-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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“You can’t be a publisher and not be thinking about platforms, not marry with them. Facebook needs to be a marketing tentacle.” The post ‘The duopoly are middlemen’: How publishers are building sustainable subscription models appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2018-08-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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At least two Christian publishing houses are halting the publication of books by Bill Hybels, the former pastor of a megachurch outside of Chicago, amid allegations against him of sexual misconduct. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-04-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Actor’s barrister says Bauer had a campaign to ‘take down’ Wilson and attempted to ‘neutralise’ her responses Rebel Wilson deserved the right to reply before a magazine publisher accused her of being a serial liar – and an apology afterwards – a Melbourne court has been told.The Australian actor... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-04-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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