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 ]
Facebook is giving publishers new tools to attract digital subscribers as the social-media giant tries to ease concerns that its growing power threatens the media industry.In recent months, Facebook has tested "call-to-action" features with select media outlets participating in its Instant... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2017-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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To get you ready for the weekend, we've rounded up some of our best stories this week: Twitter is falling out of favor with publishers as a reliable driver of traffic. It doesn’t have the audience scale, visual storytelling tools and ad products that Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook do. On... Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2016-12-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sharing on Facebook makes users 81 times more likely to turn into paying customers, the Futurebook Conference has heard. In a panel entitled What Does the Future Publisher Look Like? Andrew Savikas, c.e.o of Safari Books Online, said: "If you give people the opportunity to share, that makes... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Glam Media, a lifestyle and fashion blog network, has acquired Ning, a platform for building social media communities. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but reports are putting the price in the $150 million to $200 million range and mostly in stock. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-09-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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