Spotify Expands Messages Music Sharing; MTV Rewind Features Thousands of Classic Music Videos
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Spotify expands its in-app Messages music sharing experience
Spotify’s new Messages features include Listening Activity and Request To Jam. Listening activity gives users a real-time look at what music their friends and family are listening to, while Request To Jam makes it possible to quickly turn those moments into shared listening sessions.
MTV Rewind is a developer’s tribute to 24/7 music video channels
The web app has an MTV Unplugged stream, a channel of videos from MTV’s first day and era-appropriate ads.
Apple Music integrates with professional DJ multi-player from AlphaTheta
With this update, the CDJ-3000X and its new StreamingDirectPlay feature gives Apple Music subscribers access to over 100 million songs on Apple Music and the latest playlists on the platform.
FiiO’s Snowsky Disc is a no-nonsense retro touch-screen music player
Capturing the spirit of Apple’s iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle, the Snowsky Disc is set to drop this month.
Luminate: ‘The Weeknd’s catalog is a safe billion-dollar bet’
The Weekend signed a rumoured-$1bn deal with investment firm Lyric Capital late last year backed by his publishing and recording rights.
Insights on 2025 and Looking Ahead to 2026
With 2025 wrapped up, the music industry enters 2026 in a more mature and measured phase. Growth has not disappeared, but it has slowed and become more uneven. The past year made one thing clear: momentum still exists, but it is increasingly concentrated, and structural limits are starting to show.
Spotify Unveils Podcast Space Sycamore Studios in West Hollywood
Spotify Sycamore Studios will be home to Ringer podcasts like ‘The Rewatchables,’ ‘RingerVerse’ and ‘The Hottest Take,’ among others. Access is invite-only to video creators in the Spotify Partner Program.
Vintage King now lets audio professionals try out pro gear in their personal studios before buying
“Customers want to hear equipment in their room, with their workflow, on their schedule,” the retailer says of its new Try Before You Buy program.
ERA: UK music streaming subscription income tops £2 billion in 2025 as vinyl sales surge by 18%
Sales of streaming subscriptions and music product reached a new all-time-high of £2.453 billion in 2025, an increase of 4.2% year-on-year. Over the past decade, music income has increased by more than 120%.
David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ sees huge streaming surge after ‘Stranger Things’ finale
The classic song soundtracked the closing moments of the show.
New Ways to discover Music online
Whether you’re a record label executive, a music publisher, or a media professional, understanding how to optimize music discovery online is crucial for growing your catalog’s reach.
Meta is rolling out Conversation Focus and AI-powered Spotify features to its smart glasses
The updates will be available first to those enrolled in the company’s early access program.
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