Spotify Hits 300M Premium Subs; Apple Music Classical Celebrates Wagner’s 'The Ring'; SoundCloud Adds New Weekly Playlist
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Spotify Notches 300 Million Premium Subscribers
Spotify gained 7 million paying subscribers in Q2 2026, over its previous guidance and pushing the base of Premium customers to 300 million.
Apple Music Classical Celebrates 150 Years of Wagner’s “The Ring”
To mark the anniversary, Apple Music has launched a unique time-synchronized in-app Listening Guide to the complete Ring cycle
AI Music’s Napster Moment: Why It Could Be Bigger
AI isn’t merely changing how music is distributed. It’s changing how music is conceived, produced, customized, licensed, protected, monetized, and delivered across the entertainment ecosystem. This transformation is arriving as entertainment companies face relentless demand for more content in more formats
Clique Apps enters the superfan market with standalone apps built for individual artists
Unlike Patreon or FanFix profiles, each Clique app lives independently under the creator’s name in the App Store.
IFPI Tightens Chart Rules as AI Music Floods Streaming Platforms
The global recording industry trade body’s push reflects growing industry concerns that unlicensed AI models are insidiously undermining the value of human-made recordings.
Spotify’s fan-made covers and remix tool now includes Merlin’s independent label members
The licensing deal for Spotify’s upcoming fan-made covers and remixing tool will give listeners a new way to engage with music from participating artists and songwriters. The agreement enables artists on labels under Merlin’s Spotify agreement the option to participate.
Has the Modern Streaming Algorithm Killed the Long-Form DJ Set?
Streaming metrics and rapid DJ transitions have squeezed the life out of dance tracks. Is the patient, hypnotic rhythm of classic house ever coming back?
Superfan platform Sesh acquired by free music app TREBEL to build out artist services across the Americas
Sesh’s technology, TREBEL said, “turns a listener into an identified fan in under a minute.”
SoundCloud Adds The Upload to ‘Combat Algorithmic Fatigue’
SoundCloud launches The Upload, a weekly music discovery playlist curated by its editorial team complete with background stories and commentary.
Spotify Is Gaining Ground on Melon in South Korea, Data Shows
Has Spotify topped Melon in South Korea’s ultra-competitive streaming arena? Yes, per one market research firm – and not quite, according to another, with both nevertheless pointing to strong gains for global DSPs.
Gigi Masin on Movement, the age of sampling, and thinking analog
Forty years on from Wind, the Venetian ambient original makes his Sacred Bones debut with the surprisingly rhythmic Movement. In a written exchange, Masin talked about keeping ambient music from staring at itself in the mirror, being heavily sampled, the reel-to-reel he calls an old brother, and why human thought is analog.
TikTok rolls out Dreamina Seedance 2.5
The newest artificial intelligence video generation model is designed to allow for advanced storytelling and longer clips.
Sega is celebrating its music catalogue with almost six hours of game music on streaming services
100 songs performed primarily by composer and musician Jun Senoue have now been added to both Spotify and Apple Music.
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