Does Spotify want to be the next YouTube?

That might be a tall order for the music streaming service, but there’s little doubt the Sweden-headquartered company wants video to be a larger part of its platform, and so far, its efforts have been proving successful.

As of last count, more than 170 million users have streamed a video on Spotify, up from 10 million in 2019, and the number of monthly active users who engage with video podcasts has jumped 60% year on year.

Supply is growing along with demand. The number of video creators on the platform has jumped 50% in the past year, and there are now more than 300,000 video podcast shows on Spotify.

That’s all translating into greater engagement on the platform. The average time spent by users on Spotify has grown from around 30 hours per month in 2020 to nearly 40 hours today.

Now, Spotify has unveiled a series of new features to increase engagement with video, and entice video creators to its platform.

At its Now Playing event in Los Angeles on Wednesday (November 13), the company unveiled its new Spotify Partner Program that offers video and audio creators multiple revenue streams to monetize their content.

TikTok has struck a new long-term partnership with International Copyright Enterprise (ICE) to continue providing support for songwriters and music creators globally.

The deal, announced Monday (November 18) will provide TikTok with continued access to ICE’s vast catalog of more than 54 million musical works from over 330,000 rightsholders.

ICE will continue to facilitate royalty payments for songwriters whose works are used on the platform.

“Partnering with TikTok is an exciting opportunity to support songwriters on a global scale, combining creativity and technology to ensure their work is recognized and rewarded,” said Jon Hall, Head of Licensing at ICE.

Taylor Lindsey has been promoted to Chairman and CEO at Sony Music Nashville, effective January 2025.

Lindsey succeeds Randy Goodman, who, as announced in September, will retire at the end of 2024 after more than 35 years in the music industry.

Lindsey will oversee Sony Music Nashville and Christian music company Provident Entertainment. The executive will be based in Nashville and report to Rob Stringer, Chairman of Sony Music Group.

Ken Robold has also been named President and Chief Operating Officer of Sony Music Nashville, reporting to Lindsey with oversight of the company’s operations including Provident Entertainment.

Universal Music Group‘s Republic has appointed industry veteran Kevin Lipson as its first-ever Chief Revenue Officer, Republic President and Chief Operating Officer Jim Roppo announced Monday (November 18).

In his expanded role, Lipson will oversee revenue strategies across Republic Corps Collective, UMG’s East Coast-based group of labels that includes Republic Records, Mercury Records, Def Jam Recordings, and Island Records.

Lipson’s responsibilities encompass managing a team that handles streaming, e-commerce, data analytics, retail partnerships, gaming initiatives, sports marketing, media planning, and catalog management.

At the beginning of March, Spotify reclassified its Premium Individual, Duo, and Family subscription streaming plans as bundles because those plans now offer access to audiobooks.

The move controversially resulted in Spotify paying a lower mechanical royalty rate to publishers and songwriters in the United States, drawing the ire of the US-based National Music Publishers Association and The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC).

The latter org sued Spotify in the US in May for allegedly underpaying royalties to songwriters and publishers as a result of its Premium ‘bundling’ move.

Today (November 19), we learn that Spotify’s rival, Amazon Music, has become the latest music streaming service to bundle audiobooks with its Premium subscription. 

In a challenge to Spotify’s audiobook service, Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers in the US, UK, and Canada can now listen to one audiobook a month from Amazon-owned audiobook service Audible. The retail and tech giant acquired Audible for $300 millionin 2008.

The NMPA has already responded to the news, and the contrast between the organization’s reaction to Amazon Music’s move and its response to Spotify’s move earlier this year is striking.

Downtown-owned B2B distributor FUGA has entered into a new partnership with Australia-born UNIFIED Music Group, which operates across Melbourne, Sydney, Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, and Toronto.

FUGA said on Thursday (October 10) that the deal will see it provide strategic marketing support, access to its global technology platform, physical distribution, and neighboring rights services to UNIFIED Music Group-owned labels.

The deal includes UNIFIED Recorded Music labels UNFD (Silverstein, Thornhill & ERRA) and Domestic La La (Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers, Dear Seattle, Teenage Joans), alongside future releases on Community Music (Ocean Alley, Sarah Saint James, ISHAN).

UNIFIED is already an existing client of Downtown-owned royalty accounting platform Curve, via a partnership that started in January 2022.

Downtown added that the partnership would see UNIFIED gain wider access to its global ecosystem through additional services, including sync and licensing solutions via Downtown Music Publishing and neighboring rights collection through Downtown Neighbouring Rights.