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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
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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:
The Hollywood Reporter, Digiday, Investor's Business Daily, @sarafischer, CMU, Digital Music News, MEDIANAMA, Fortune and Music Ally


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


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.


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


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.


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 …


Guido Fawkes owner Paul Staines plans to step down as editor of the UK political news blog after 20 years; the blog has crowdfunded £92K+ to fight a libel claim — Lord Ross Kempsell is taking up the day-to-day running of the site as publisher. — Guido Fawkes owner Paul Staines …


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.


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 …


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.


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
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