The Summer season is right around the corner and while the temperature may be rising, the competition between technology’s top players is at an all-time high. From YouTube Music looking to dethrone Spotify as the leading streaming service to Vevo’s platform overhaul, our tech roundup has you covered with this month’s top stories:
Vevo Removes Major Features To Focus On Deal With YouTube
After nine years, Vevo announced last week that it will be gradually phasing out its Android, iOS and Windows Mobile apps as well as its consumer-facing website. Going forward Vevo’s premium music video content will now solely be hosted on YouTube. In order to help its users’ content safe, Vevo will be providing artists a playlist tool to migrate their Vevo playlists to YouTube. This major overhaul is not really that much of a surprise. In the past, Vevo had always attempted to move away from its dependence on YouTube by releasing its own independent suite of applications, however, these efforts haven’t been met with much success. Earlier this year, YouTube removed Vevo’s branding off of its music videos. More recently, the two streaming giants struck a new licensing deal that lets YouTube sell Vevo’s valuable inventory directly to advertisers as part of its “Google Preferred” tier. Amidst all of these changes, Vevo will continue to invest in original content, including its dscvr and LIFT programs which highlight emerging artists, like Vydia’s own Ella Vos.
YouTube Music Attempts To Take Down Spotify
Say goodbye to YouTube Red because, after weeks of teasing, Google is finally launching its brand new music streaming service. Google’s new service will be broken into two new offerings: YouTube Music and YouTube Premium. YouTube Music is Google’s most direct competitor to Spotify yet. The new music streaming service rolls out with a reimagined mobile app and brand new desktop player that are both “designed for music.” The app itself will place heavy emphasis on music discovery. It’s home screen dynamically recommends new listening based on your history, location, and activity. YouTube Music will also leverage Google’s AI mastery and will actually recommend entire playlists based off of song lyrics or a general description (like “that hipster song with the whistling”). According to Google, however, the real “YouTube advantage” is the fact that the streaming service will combine all of the official versions of songs in addition to access to “thousands” of related playlists, remixes, covers, live versions, and of course, music videos. The new YouTube Music comes with two different subscriptions: a free tier with ads and an ad-free paid membership for $9.99.
For users interested in YouTube’s video content, Google has also released YouTube Premium, which gives users access to YouTube Music as well as YouTube’s original video content. This premium tier currently costs $11.99 per month. With the rollout of both YouTube Music and YouTube Premium, YouTube will also be expanding its streaming services to following new countries will be added: Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Want to gain access to this new service? Click here to learn more.
Instagram Adds Spotify and GoPro Integrations To Spice Up Stories
For the first time ever, Instagram is letting third-party apps post content directly into Instagram Stories. Its initial partners include Spotify and GoPro. From Spotify, users can directly share a sticker of the specific song, playlist, or album they are currently listening to on their Instagram Story. Similarly, users can share recent action shots from their GoPro camera app. In order to post into Instagram Stories from any third party apps, users must tap the ‘share’ button within the corresponding app and the content will be pulled directly into the Instagram camera, no additional connection required. From there, users can edit and add to their Stories or send it to a friend via direct messaging. The social media giant also unveiled that it will be letting third parties create augmented-reality camera effects for their followers. Some of the initial partners to test this feature include major brands like the NBA, Vogue, and Buzzfeed in addition to major social influencers like Kylie Jenner, Ariana Grande, and Jiffpom. Instagram has also hinted at testing a group video chat feature where users will have the option to chat one-on-one or with small private groups. Users will also have the ability to minimize the video to continue the chat while looking at other content on Instagram. The release date of this final feature is still up in the air, so keep an eye out for it in the next few months.
Spotify Educates with ‘The Game Plan’
In an effort to encourage more artists to participate in the “Spotify for Artists” program, the streaming giant has officially launched an educational video series. The series, called ‘The Game Plan’ will feature a 10-part program that will cover a variety of topics ranging from how to get started on “Spotify for Artists” to how to make music available for streaming. ‘The Game Plan’ will also feature interviews from music experts including Spotify staff, industry veterans, and artists themselves like Rick Ross, Little Dragon, and Mike Posner. The new video series is a part of Spotify’s larger educational push to give its artists the knowledge they need to help build their careers. ‘The Game Plan’ is also being released at an optimal time. As other streaming services like YouTube Music and Apple Music step up their services, Spotify hopes that these educationals tools will continue to give it an edge over its competitors.
Don’t forget to check back next month for technology top headlines!