This month has come to an Olympic finish as technology’s top power players like Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music and Snapchat went head-to-head to see which platform would lead the pack. While some technology giants rose up to the challenge, releasing new features that hit the mark and won them gold, others were sent packing to re-strategize for next month. From Spotify ‘Songwriter Credits’ to Snapchat analytics, here’s this month’s tech roundup to help you keep track of all of the action that unfolded over the past 4 weeks:
Spotify (Finally) Rolls Out Songwriter Credits Feature
Earlier this month, Spotify introduced ‘Songwriter Credits’, a brand new feature that readily displays songwriter and producer credits on its desktop platform. In order to access this tool, users must right-click on a specific track and then select ‘Show Credits’ from the drop-down menus. The new ‘Credits’ screen will display more detailed information about the track’s performer, songwriter, and producer as well as feature the source the information was pulled from. Initially, Spotify will pull the credit information from record-label provided metadata, however, the streaming platform is clear in noting that this is only the first iteration of the ‘Credits’ feature. In the future, Spotify will continue to evolve the product to be more efficient, functional, and incorporate even more information over time. Spotify’s push to provide more transparent and credited data stems from its new initiative to build better relationships with songwriters and the music industry in general. The streaming giant has had a muddled past with songwriters claiming they weren’t being properly licensed or paid out for their work. Spotify is hoping that the new ‘Credits’ feature will be the first steps in mending this relationship. In addition to ‘Credits’, Spotify also launched the Secret Genius program, which includes an ambassador program, global songwriting workshops, custom award program, podcasts and curated playlists solely for songwriters.
Pandora Premium Is Made Available For The Web
Almost a year after Pandora initially launched its premium subscription tier for solely for mobile use, the streaming platform is finally making its premium service available for desktop use. Now, any user that pays the $10 monthly subscription fee, will have web access to many of the features that were live on the mobile app. For example, web users will now have the ability to play music on-demand from search results that are personalized based off of listening history. The new web service will also feature an ‘My Music’ section, where users can organize their favorite songs, albums, stations, and playlists for easy access in the future. Similar to Spotify playlist functionality, Pandora Premium web app will also let users build playlists and will suggest new content based on what that was just added. While the launch of Pandora Premium on the web could give Pandora a boost to take on its audio streaming competitors like Apple Music and Spotify, the platform is really hoping this new web service will attract more advertisers to sell their video ads at a higher rate.
Original Content Potentially Pushes Apple Music Past Spotify
Move over Spotify, Apple Music is gaining traction and is on track to potentially take down the streaming giant sooner than expected. A report by the Wall Street Journal revealed that for the first time ever, Apple’s streaming platform is now adding new U.S. subscribers at a faster rate than its main competitor Spotify. When examining each platform over the past few months, Apple Music has been growing their US subscriber-base at a 5% growth rate, compared to Spotify’s 2% growth rate. If these current rates continue to hold, it is projected that Apple Music will surpass Spotify as the leading on-demand audio platform in the United States. It is still important to note that Apple Music still has quite a way to go before surpassing Spotify on a global scale (Spotify currently has over 70 million paying users compared to Apple’s 36 million). However, if Apple Music is able to top Spotify in the U.S., it would still be a significant victory that illustrates how far Apple Music has come from its rocky launch in 2015. While Apple has not indicated one specific factor that leads to the platform’s long-term success, the tech giant has noted that its investment in original content has been a key reason for its recent short-term success. For example, just last year, Apple launched its original series Planet of the Apps & Carpool Karaoke and saw a direct increase in subscribers after doing so.
Snapchat Analytics Step Up App Redesign
Snapchat is now offering its creators advanced audience Snapchat analytics to help them build their presence on the Snapchat Discover page. The new Snapchat analytics will only be available to creators who have large followings or make Official Stories that will show important metrics surrounding story views, engagement, and demographics. These new metrics will include:
- Total story views: which can be filtered by past week, month, or year to date.
- Time spent viewing stories: display in minutes and can also be filtered by past week, month, or year to date.
- Daily reach and engagement metrics: shows the number of unique story viewers, avg. time unique viewers spent watching the story and the story completion rates for each day of the week.
- Audience demographics: include gender and age breakdown
- Audience interests: based on interest across key lifestyle categories as well as the top geographic region the audiences are located.
Access to Snapchat analytics will allow creators to discover their key audiences and create content that targets them effectively. The new insights will also help creators show their total reach to secure sponsored content and product placement deals, refine their posts to match their audience and compare their following to that on other platforms. Additionally, Snapchat’s redesign with an entire ‘Discover’ section dedicated to publisher content, celebrity stories, etc will also –for the first time– promote social media stars you don’t already follow.
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