Music Piracy Is Back, Baby

“You wouldn’t steal a car. You wouldn’t steal a handbag,” said that infamous 2000s anti-piracy commercial from the Motion Picture Association. “Piracy is stealing.” Do Not Steal Our Robot Dog! But would you pirate a song? Last year, over 17 billion visits were made to music piracy websites around the world, first reported by Wired. … Read more

Amazon Will Inject Ads Into Prime Video Starting Jan. 29th

The last major ad-free streaming service is going away. Starting Jan. 29th, Amazon users will start seeing advertisements appear on movies and TV shows for Prime Video, according to an email sent to subscribers on Tuesday. To keep Prime Video ad-free, you’ll need to pay an additional $3 a month, on top of the $139 … Read more

Spotify Overhauls How It Pays Artists

This week, Spotify shared an update on its policies, aiming to “better support those most dependent on streaming revenues as part of their livelihood,” according to a company post. The updates address “artificial streaming,” the number of plays required to monetize tracks, and new minimums for the length of noise recordings. Johnny Knoxville Loved Collectibles … Read more

Apple Music’s Voice Plan Removal Is a case of ‘Streamflation’

Image: nikkimeel (Shutterstock) Apple Music subscribers can no longer sign up for the Voice Plan and existing subscribers’ auto-renew will turn off at the end of the billing period, Apple said in a blog post on Wednesday. Subscribers paid just $4.99 for Apple Music’s Voice Plan which launched in 2021 and allowed users to access … Read more