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: Philip Jones Publication Date: Wed, 23/02/2011 - 09:35 Print on demand, digital and self-publishing are continuing to push up the number of books published in the UK and overseas, according to new output data issued by Nielsen Book. The statistics also reveal that the number of new... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 22/02/2011 - 09:08 The International Publishers Association is urgently trying to locate an Iranian publisher on women's issues after she was named in an alleged blacklist of Iranian publishers. The blacklist, reportedly circulated by a chapter... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 21/02/2011 - 08:47 Michael O'Mara has acquired an anthology about the writers of "Hancock's Half Hour" and "Steptoe and Son", dubbed "the fathers of the British sitcom". Commissioning editor Kate Moore bought world rights with Elly James of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Analysis: The 30 percent cut on digital content sold through iTunes is freaking out some publishers and media developers, but it may ultimately be a healthy move. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-02-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 18/02/2011 - 08:18 Virago is publishing a new collection of 13 early short stories by Daphne du Maurier, including five discovered by a Cornish bookseller and du Maurier enthusiast. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 18/02/2011 - 08:15 Publishing staff at Cambridge University Press (CUP) have voted to reject a pay increase of 2%. The proposed pay increase, which CUP has described as reasonable and in line with other pay settlements, has led the Unite union to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google announced today the creation of a service, Google One Pass, which will allow publishers to set their own prices and terms for the sale of digital content. Eric Schmidt introduced this new service at Humboldt University in Berlin. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By Joe Wilcox, Betanews Well, that didn't take long. One day after Apple dropped its subscription plan bomb on suspicious publishers, Google officially countered with One Pass. Google strips out the onerous restrictions Apple imposes. It's a brilliant marketing response, and aptly timed with new... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2011-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Wed, 16/02/2011 - 07:06 Author Margaret Atwood used her Tools of Change keynote speech to warn the industry not to eliminate authors, and make sure they are paid enough to "pay for the cheese sandwiches". read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple's move may force digital publishers and content providers such as Netflix, Amazon and Hulu to think long and hard about continuing to offer apps for iOS devices. Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-02-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Tue, 15/02/2011 - 08:53 Publishers' demands for control of pricing in Borders' closing sales are delaying its impending bankruptcy ruling. Reuters reports the retailer is in discussions with liquidators over a plan to close around 20 of its 650... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple has officially rolled out its long awaited subscription-model for content publishers in the App Store. Under the plan, if subscribers come to a publisher's app organically through the App store, Apple gets a 30 percent share. If the publisher brings a new or existing subscriber to the App,... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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At a press conference this morning, Time Inc. announced it is launching an "all access" digital subscription plan in an effort to offer their brands to readers on any platform. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-02-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 10/02/2011 - 16:00 The National Maritime Museum is looking to publish its "unrivalled" archive of images. The London-based museum has appointed the Creative Rights Agency to pursue publishing opportunities and also seek product licensees for the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams and Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 04/02/2011 - 12:19 The transition to the agency model could be halted as publishers outside of the new terms could wait as much as a year for an Office of Fair Trading investigation into ebook pricing to be completed. The... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Fri, 04/02/2011 - 09:01 Publishers are being warned to check their Google Books data online as thousands of titles have been mistakenly attributed to publisher BPR. Independent UK publisher Childrens Story Publishers spotted the mistake after its... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By Joe Wilcox, Betanews Apple's approach to magazine and newspaper subscriptions and third-party ebook sales stink of the kind of practices that got Microsoft into trouble with trustbusters on two continents during the late 1990s and early 2000s. A year ago, publishers embraced iPad as the... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2011-02-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Bloomsbury is to publish the memoir of Mohamed ElBaradei, the leading opponent to Egypt's President Mubarak, two months early as clashes continue between the president's supporters and those demanding regime change in Cairo. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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On February 15, Open Road Integrated Media will publish the first childrens titles in its author branded program: seven ebooks by Newbery Medal and National Book Award winner Virginia Hamilton, who died in 2002. Among the ebooks on the list are Newbery and NBA winner M.C. Higgins, the Great. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-02-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Picador senior editor Sam Humphreys is to join Profile as publisher for imprint Serpent's Tail, leaving Pan Macmillan after nine years. Former publisher Pete Ayrton now takes the role of editor-at-large. Humphreys, the editor who acquired Emma Donoghue's hit novel... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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