All articles tagged with #premium subscribers
Spotify has finally launched lossless audio for its Premium subscribers after over four years of anticipation, offering an improved listening experience without additional cost, initially rolling out to select countries and planning a global expansion.
Spotify has launched HD lossless audio for Premium subscribers in over 50 markets, offering higher quality sound using FLAC encoding, but only for paid users and not available on the free tier. The feature provides near-universal access to high-quality tracks, with support across various devices and options for offline listening, marking a significant upgrade in Spotify's audio quality since delays since 2022.
YouTube Music is rolling out a new "sound search" feature that allows users to search its catalog of over 100 million songs by singing, humming, or playing a tune. Additionally, YouTube Music is testing an "AI-generated conversational radio" for US Premium subscribers, enabling them to create custom radio stations by describing what they want to hear. Both features are expected to expand to more users in the future.
Spotify introduces a new AI Playlist tool for premium subscribers in Australia and the U.K., allowing users to input prompts referencing various themes and receive a custom playlist generated by AI. The tool, currently in beta, enables users to modify the playlists and experiment with different styles and tempos, offering endless possibilities for music curation.
Spotify has finally introduced a Miniplayer feature for its desktop app, allowing Premium subscribers to access quick playback controls in a resizable floating window. This long-requested feature enables users to change tracks, select playlists, and adjust volume while using other applications. The Miniplayer, available by clicking a square icon in the lower right corner of the app, offers a square aspect ratio for videos and a minimal bar for less intrusive control. This addition potentially eliminates the need for third-party apps and may eventually extend to free plan users.
Spotify has introduced a new miniplayer for its desktop app, allowing Premium subscribers to switch between video and audio-only formats and resize the player to better fit their desktop layout.
YouTube has surpassed 100 million global paid subscribers for its Premium and Music tiers, contributing to Google's $15 billion in subscription service revenue. The Premium tier, priced at $13.99 per month, includes ad-free streaming, higher-quality content, and background play. Despite being behind Netflix and Spotify, YouTube's growth signifies its importance in the company's future, although its primary revenue source remains advertising.
YouTube has made its "enhanced bitrate" 1080p option available to all Premium subscribers on desktop globally. The feature, which provides higher-quality video playback, was initially launched on iOS in April. Non-Premium subscribers can still access the regular 1080p option. The enhanced 1080p is also rolling out on living room devices like Chromecasts and video game consoles, but it is not yet available on Android.
Telegram has launched its new Stories feature, allowing paid Premium subscribers to share time-limited videos and photos. The launch follows similar features introduced by rival messaging apps WhatsApp and Signal. Telegram is offering granular controls over the expiration of Stories, with options ranging from 6 to 48 hours or permanent pinning. Each story can also have individual privacy settings for desired contacts.
Spotify reports strong Q1 2023 financial performance with 22% YoY growth in Monthly Active Users to 515 million, 15% YoY growth in Premium Subscribers to 210 million, and 14% YoY growth in Total Revenue to €3.0 billion. Gross Margin improved to 25.2% and Operating (Loss)/Income finished at €(156) million aided by lower marketing spend.