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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Written By: Barbara Casassus Publication Date: Thu, 19/05/2011 - 09:58 Fewer French booksellers think publishers are "serious and reliable" than they did 10 years ago, a survey has revealed. Among 430 representative outlets surveyed in a poll taken for French trade weekly Livres Hebdo between... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Wed, 18/05/2011 - 14:47 Amazon.com has announced the launch of its second publishing imprint this month, with Thomas & Mercer to focus on mysteries and thrillers. The imprint is named after the streets that flank Amazon's Seattle headquarters and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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For the second year, Yale University will offer a publishing course aimed at long-time magazine industry professionals, slated to begin on with a keynote address from Richard Stolley, senior editorial adviser at Time Inc., on Sunday, July 10. The course will run through Friday, July 15. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple's attempts at limiting publisher requests for consumer data and the conversion of first-time downloads into regular users have been two of the larger stumbling blocks for magazine publishers building a business around apps. A new report from digital publishing vendor Yudu Media suggests... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 17/05/2011 - 08:15 Corvus has acquired seven books from self-published author Nick Alexander, whose title The Missing Boyfriend was in the top 10 in the Kindle paid-for charts for six weeks. Senior editor Laura Palmer bought world English... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Mon, 16/05/2011 - 15:26 Random House has soft launched a libraries "buddying" scheme and is in talks with The Reading Agency and others to roll it out for further publishers, the Book Industry Conference heard this morning (16th May). read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 16/05/2011 - 09:06 The Bodley Head has acquired a title looking at the operation that searched for, and finally killed, Osama bin Laden, by al-Qaeda expert Peter Bergen. Publishing director Will Sulkin acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 17/05/2011 - 09:00 Quercus has been crowned 2011's best publisher at The Bookseller Industry Awards, as Sainsbury's scooped the Bookseller of the Year award. Quercus was presented with the Bonnier Publisher of the Year Award at the black-tie... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 13/05/2011 - 08:38 Literary agents Curtis Brown and Blake Friedman have said they are planning to follow Ed Victor's move into publishing, after he announced an ebook and print-on-demand venture earlier this week. Curtis Brown m.d. Jonathan... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 13/05/2011 - 08:30 The Who guitarist Pete Townshend and "Little Britain" star David Walliams are the latest figures to have memoirs put in front of publishers, as the trade shows no sign of losing its appetite for celebrity autobiographies. Ed... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Thu, 12/05/2011 - 15:36 Publishers need to diversify and compete head-on with other media in order to deflect the 'one-screen' effect of tablet devices, a panel discussion at the World e-Reading Congress declared. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Thu, 12/05/2011 - 09:31 Publishers should not overspend in the fight against piracy, and should use their authors to present a "human face" in the battle for hearts and minds, a panel discussion at the World e-Reading Congress declared. The industry... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 12/05/2011 - 15:34 Random House UK's switch to the agency model this week could lead other publishers to follow suit, despite the Office of Fair Trading investigating ebook pricing. The publisher's switch on Tuesday meant it has around... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Wed, 11/05/2011 - 10:46 Publishers selling direct to readers, printers folding and more agents becoming publishers are some of the implications of digital, claims former Borders chairman Luke Johnson. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Barbara Casassus Publication Date: Wed, 11/05/2011 - 08:11 French publishers Albin Michel, Flammarion and Gallimard are suing Google for having scanned 9,797 books without prior permission for its Google Book Search programme, a publishing source told The Bookseller. Lawyers for... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Tue, 10/05/2011 - 16:07 Publishers should avoid locking themselves into any long term strategy, technology or partnerships in their digital publishing because they cannot accurately predict the next two years' developments, today's World eReading... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 10/05/2011 - 12:22 The Ed Victor Literary Agency, one of the most powerful agencies in London, has launched its own ebook and print on demand venture, focusing initially on putting back into circulation out of print books or those on which... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Magazine giant Conde Nast has reached an agreement with Apple, Inc. on digital subscriptions of The New Yorker and seven other titles that will debut in the next few weeks. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple is winning over the big publishers. Last week, Hearst Corp. said it planned to start selling its magazines using Apple's new iTunes subscription service. Now rival Conde Nast is actually doing it, via the publisher's New Yorker title. Continue reading at AllThingsD
[ AllThingsD | 2011-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The New Yorker is expected to be the first in-app publication to be offered as more than a single issue sale. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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