Spotify said Wednesday it would roll out new features like Smart Shuffle and previews of podcasts and music playlists on its audio streaming platform as it surpasses 500 million monthly active listeners.
The Swedish company, which has invested heavily in building its podcast and audiobook business in recent years to attract users and advertisers, announced the “new, redesigned user interface”. stream on Case.
Spotify also shared an update of its annual royalty report, noting that the number of artists earning over US$1 million (approximately Rs 8 billion) and those earning over US$10,000 (approximately Rs 818,500) has increased , had more than doubled in the last five years .
Earlier this year, Spotify said it would rein in spending and work to become more efficient given the difficult macro backdrop, and forecast listeners would hit 500 million in the current quarter.
Features like Autoplay for podcasts, personalized visual and audio previews of podcast episodes and audiobooks or music playlists, and new Discover feeds will be rolling out in waves starting Wednesday, Spotify said.
Already in January, Spotify called it would cut 6 per cent of its workforce and face associated costs of up to nearly US$50 million (around Rs. 408 billion), adding to the massive layoffs in the tech sector in preparation for a possible recession.
The tech industry is facing a drop in demand after two years of aggressive hiring due to the pandemic. That has prompted companies from Meta to Microsoft to shed thousands of jobs.
“We’ve made significant efforts to contain costs in recent months, but it just hasn’t been enough,” CEO Daniel Elk said in a blog post announcing about 600 job cuts.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
