Music Biz Monday // 8.19

Every Monday, we’re sharing the latest news and information for the music industry and technology worldwide.

Get your learn on and stay in the know with Symphonic’s Music Biz Monday!

Spotify Upgrades Family Plan. Are Higher Prices Next?

Spotify has launched an upgraded Spotify Premium Family at the same $14.99 price. The upgrade comes alongside a reported Spotify Family price increase test in Scandanavia and pressure from rightsholders to reverse a continuing slide in per listener revenue.

Since launching in 2014, Spotify Premium Family has grown to millions of subscribers in more than 60 countries. The new plan gives family members living under one roof more choices to customize music streaming and podcasts.

\\ Read more on Hypebot  //

You Can Now Create Your Own AR Effects on Instagram Stories

Big news: you can now create and publish your own AR filters for Instagram Stories using Spark AR Studio!

Plus, Instagram is also introducing a new Effects Gallery to make it easier to discover unique Instagram Stories filters from the creator community!

This is *huge* news for brands and regular users alike.

Until now, Spark AR Studio (the software used to create AR filters on Instagram) was in closed beta, meaning that if you wanted to publish your own custom AR effects on Instagram, you had to be accepted into the program. But now that Spark AR Studio is open to everyone, we expect to see tons of brands and businesses getting creative with their own custom AR filters!

Here’s everything you need to know about Spark AR Studio’s open beta and the new Effects Gallery on Instagram.

\\ Read more on Later //

APPLE IN TALKS WITH SPOTIFY TO ENABLE MUSIC PLAYBACK CONTROL VIA SIRI – REPORT

Apple is in discussions with Spotify to let the latter company’s iPhone users play their music using voice controls via Siri.

That’s according to a report published by The Information yesterday (August 13), citing “three people familiar with the discussions”.

\\ Read more on Music Business Worldwide //

SOUNDCLOUD EXPANDS CREATOR EDUCATION PROGRAM WITH LAUNCH OF SC101 TUTORIAL SERIES

SoundCloud is expanding its Creator Education Program with the launch of SC101 – a new video and live event series.

Presented by SoundCloud employees, SC101 rolls out with a nine part, two-minute video series which is available now on SoundCloud.

\\ Read more on Music Business Worldwide //

SPOTIFY FOR PODCASTERS COMES OUT OF BETA

The Spotify for Podcasters platform has come out of beta, according to a blog post published by Spotify yesterday (August 13).

The platform is a discovery and analytics dashboard where podcasters can submit a show and access engagement and demographic data about their podcasts.

Accessible data includes things like average listening times, episode streams, and total listeners.

\\ Read more on Music Business Worldwide //