Top News:
Anne Steele / Wall Street Journal:
Spotify plans to pay incentives to video creators who hit certain viewing thresholds and, in January 2025, to let Premium users view podcast videos without ads — Audio-streaming giant plans to pay hosts to make podcast videos and allow premium subscribers to watch them without ads
RELATED:
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Spotify projects its first full year of profitability ever in 2024; CEO Daniel Ek says profitability is the new normal for Spotify — - “We believe we are in a new reality where we are a profitable company. … - CFO Christian Luiga said, “We see positive cash flow going forward and growing.”
Discussion:
Digiday, The Hollywood Reporter, Investor's Business Daily, @sarafischer, CMU, Digital Music News, MEDIANAMA, Fortune and Music Ally
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
CEOs at Nexstar, Sinclair, and Tegna, plus some analysts, say they expect deregulation and consolidation in the broadcast TV industry under Trump's FCC — Flush with political ad dollars and anticipating a deal-friendly environment, moguls are eyeing big moves to roll up lucrative local broadcasters.
Discussion:
@mediaevan and @WarnerCrocker@mastodon.social
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Don Lemon, who sued Elon Musk and X after a deal fell apart, says he's leaving X on November 15, citing X's new ToS that moves legal disputes to Texas courts — Don Lemon, a one-time business partner of Elon Musk who's now suing the tech mogul, is done with X.
Murray Stassen / Music Business Worldwide:
German royalty licensing group GEMA sues OpenAI and subsidiary OpenAI Ireland in Munich Regional Court, claiming ChatGPT violates copyrights of lyrics — OpenAI, the $157 billion-valued US-based AI giant behind ChatGPT, has been sued by German collection society and licensing body GEMA.
Discussion:
gema.de, ai fray, Digital Music News, Jeff Rabhan on LinkedIn, The Decoder, CMU, @konkrit@mastodon.social, Billboard and Music Ally
Lillian Rizzo / CNBC:
Amazon Prime Video will offer Diamond Sports Group's 16 regional sports networks, newly branded as FanDuel Sports Network, as add-on subscriptions — Diamond Sports reached a deal with Amazon's Prime Video that will allow its 16 regional sports networks to be made available on the streaming platform.
Christianna Silva / Mashable:
The once-unified BookTok community has become a battleground over politics and how it intersects with writers, influencers, readers, and the books themselves — A divided BookTok community asks: Can we ever separate books from politics? — Like any good story, BookTok itself is reaching …
New York Times:
A look at “blind box livestreaming”, an e-commerce trend in China that has become an entertaining and, some users and experts said, addictive pastime — How many plastic trinkets would you end up with? The game keeps many addicted, buyers and spectators alike.
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
A look at a legal case by record labels Universal, Warner, and Sony against an ISP for piracy by the ISP's users, as the labels seek bigger payouts for damages — The big three record labels notched another court victory against a broadband provider last month, but the music publishing firms …
Alex Kantrowitz / Big Technology:
Q&A with Spotify Co-President and CTO Gustav Söderström on AI-generated music, NotebookLM podcasts, AI recommendations, improving discoverability, and more — Spotify's Gustav Söderström talks about AI music, Notebook LM podcasts, and the nuance of building better discovery using LLMs.
Dan Milmo / The Guardian:
The Guardian says it will no longer post on “any official Guardian editorial accounts” on “toxic media platform” X; reporters will still use X to gather news — Platform's coverage of US election crystallised longstanding concerns about its content, says Guardian
Discussion:
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Gene Maddaus / Variety:
The Louisiana House of Representatives voted to end the state's $150M film and TV production tax incentive; the bill still needs the Senate and governor's OK — The Louisiana House of Representatives voted Tuesday to eliminate the state's $150 million tax incentive for film and TV production …
Discussion:
Variety, @iwtv_updates, @realmaryagnes.bsky.social, IndieWire, The Wrap, Louisiana Illuminator, Associated Press and Deadline