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The countdown begins for audiobooks on Spotify

Cover image for The countdown begins for audiobooks on Spotify
Rutger Rosenborg
Spotify
Audiobooks
Music publishing
As Spotify rolls out music-like features for audiobooks, the company still finds itself at odds with the music business, courting one publishing industry while ruffling the feathers of another. So far, Spotify’s publisher dilemma is only intensifying, making it all the more interesting that the company is introducing audiobook countdown pages — effectively album pre-saves but for audiobooks — in the midst of it all.
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Chasing the zeitgeist: why speed trumps creativity in social video marketing

Cover image for Chasing the zeitgeist: why speed trumps creativity in social video marketing
Ben Woods
Video creators
creator tools
TikTok
TikTok has redefined what it means to be part of a cultural moment. In the past, engaging with trends meant being a consumer of content that captured the spirit of the time. For video, this was largely expressed through watercooler moments, where discussing the most popular TV shows and movies with friends, family, and colleagues was a symbol of one’s cultural capital.
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Audience agency and the value of social media: the rise of the “digitine”

Cover image for Audience agency and the value of social media: the rise of the “digitine”
Hanna Kahlert
digitine
TikTok
influencer
“Let them eat cake,” declared model and influencer Haley Kalil , dressed for the $75,000-per-ticket Met Gala in an unironically Marie Antoinette-style dress, in a viral TikTok video last weekend. Somehow, this did not go down very well among audiences on social media, tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of whom are currently struggling to remain encamped in University campuses or taking to the streets in protest worldwide.
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Kendrick vs. Drake is a rare ‘mainstream’ moment — and streaming is on the sidelines

Cover image for Kendrick vs. Drake is a rare ‘mainstream’ moment — and streaming is on the sidelines
Tatiana Cirisano
Social media
Bifurcation theory
music industry
Over the last week, it has been hard to go anywhere, or speak to anyone, without some mention of the epic diss track battle between Drake and Kendrick Lamar. When is the last time we could say that about a pop culture moment? The domination of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is arguably the only bit of music news in the last year that managed to cut across every niche and break into “mainstream” conversation.
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Cutting through the clutter: why an analogue revival is inevitable

Cover image for Cutting through the clutter: why an analogue revival is inevitable
Hanna Kahlert
AI
Digital
analogue
The jury is very much still out on generative AI and its copyright obligations. Yet the Pandora’s box of AI-generated content has already been opened, and there is no going back. For a world which has become almost entirely reliant on digital content– be it song mp3s or job applications – the implications are widespread and the challenge is simply one of volume.
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