Hello and happy Friday. It’s a new issue of the greatest Spotify newsletter.

Snoop Dogg hit a billion streams on Spotify. Then he received a check for $45k.

He’s not pleased with the amount.

For a normal person I imagine getting a check for $45k because people click on your songs a bunch of times is not a bad deal. Of course there’s the effort to create the song, but the end result is your music is eventually out there on a streaming platform for people to consume. Sometimes you get a few hundred streams, sometimes you get a billion.

I have no idea what a fair amount is for a billion streams. What if he had been sent a check for $300k. Is that enough? Snoop Dogg doesn’t exactly need the money, and I’m not discounting his annoyance with streaming payouts, but what is a good number for a billion streams?

I have to think the labels are involved in this financial equation, which Mr. Dogg did not mention.

No doubt the anti-Spotify brigade could inform me as to why Dogg is getting ripped off and why music streaming should be banned and launched into space — but I honestly don’t know how the whole financial system between artist + streams + labels is all tied together.

I really should brush up over the holidays…. Have a great weekend!!!

★ SPOTlight★

⭐️ Spotify Partners With WBD on Podcast Distribution, Monetization Deal

The deal will see Spotify’s enterprise podcast platform, Megaphone, host and distribute select podcasts from Warner Bros. Discovery, including CNN’s All There Is with Anderson Cooper, The Assignment with Audie Cornish and HBO’s The Official Game of Thrones Podcast: House of the Dragon.

⭐️ Spotify confirms test of prompt-based AI playlists feature

Though the company isn’t yet ready to commit to the launch of AI playlists, the streamer has been heaving investing in AI across its app, including with the launch of an AI DJ at the beginning of the year, which offers personalized playlists and commentary in an AI voice that’s based on Spotify’s head of cultural partnerships Xavier ‘X’ Jernigan. That feature became globally available in August.

⭐️ Spotify could soon let you turn off personalized recommendations

It seems as though a tweak is on the way in terms of how recommendations are served up: Spotify would appear to be testing the option to turn off personalized recommendations. This comes from code spotted in a beta version of one of Spotify's apps, by a MacRumors source. At the moment though, we don't know much else about this potential new feature or how it might work if it rolls out to users.

⭐️ Spotify won’t be pulling its service from Uruguay after all

The Uruguayan government has confirmed that rightsholders, rather than streaming platforms like Spotify, will be responsible for ensuring fair compensation to artists.

🗣 Podcasts 🗣

• Joe Rogan Again Had Spotify’s No. 1 Podcast in 2023. Will He Reach a New Deal With the Streamer?

▶️ Playlists ▶️

• How to Pitch Playlist Spotify: Mastering the Art with Viberate

🎧 Streams 🎧

• Tracknack: How a New Spotify Add-On Offers a Data-Driven Music Discovery Solution

• How Spotify Defines Music Genres & Makes Them Up

🎼 Spotify 4 Artists 🎼

• New Promo Cards for artists just dropped on Spotify

• Spotify’s Royalty Model Tries To Keep Up With The Rapid Rise Of New Music

💡 Tips & Tricks 💡

• How to Make Spotify Your Default Music Player on iPhone

🤖 Spot(ai)fy 🤖

• Spotify’s podcast and audiobook discovery will be powered by Google Cloud’s AI

• Spotify confirms test of prompt-based AI playlists feature

🖌 Design 🖌

• Exploiting Sequential Music Preferences via Optimisation-Based Sequencing

💰 Stock 💰

• Spotify slashes staff to move faster into AI – and Wall Street loves it

🔥 News 🔥

• What Spotify needs is a new pandemic

• How Universal Music Group Is Leveraging Data And Analytics To Serve Its Artists And Audience

• Snoop Dogg Claims He Received A Payout Of Less Than $45,000 After Earning 1 Billion Streams On Spotify

• Why every app is doing a "Spotify Wrapped" knockoff

🎵 New Adventures 🎵

Belong R.E.M.

The Elevator UB40

Tell Me The Bangles

Open the Door Otis Redding

Recovering The Satellites Counting Crows

Squeeze Box The Who

📧 Get in touch 📧

If you have a question, idea, request, or simply a desire to chat about Spotify, please email me at jeff.spotifynewsletter@gmail.com.

😀 Have a Nice Weekend! 😀