Twitter adding TikTok-like video player
Twitter's new "immersive" full-screen video player will offer users a more TikTok-like experience. The company is also adopting a "swipe up" gesture similar to the short-form video app.
The microblogging platform announced the change on Thursday, 29...
Spotify upgrades free trial
The world's biggest music streaming service, Spotify, has extended the free trial for its Premium service by two months.
The company previously offered the same promotion twice in 2021.
Spotify testing direct ticket sales
Spotify is trialling a new website aimed at selling concert tickets directly to fans instead of linking them to external ticketing platforms, according to a Music Ally report.
The new website — Spotify Tickets — currently features a small number of events...
These banks charge extra fees for rand payments to Netflix, Spotify and other online services
Most South African banks don't charge additional transaction fees for rand-based payments to international merchants, despite charges levied by payment provider schemes like Visa and Mastercard.
FNB...
Why FNB charges an extra fee for Netflix, Spotify, and Google subscriptions
FNB has started charging an "international payment fee" for using one of its cards to pay for popular online services like Netflix, Spotify, Steam, and YouTube Premium.
Several FNB customers have complained about the...
Spotify buys Noot vir Noot-like music trivia game Heardle
Spotify has announced its acquisition of the music trivia game Heardle, which the music streaming service said it sees as a "tool for musical discovery".
The game works similarly to Wordle — a word guessing game owned by the New York...
Spotify bug prevents app from loading on Android
Spotify has confirmed a glitch that prevents its Android app from loading and getting stuck on the loading screen, Phone World reported.
In a community thread, the music streaming company asked users experiencing the issue to provide further...
Spotify taking on Amazon with audiobook push
The world's biggest music streaming service — Spotify — has plans to take on Amazon's dominance in audiobooks.
Spotify bought audiobook distribution company Findaway for an undisclosed amount in November 2021.
Spotify suffered an hours-long podcast outage
Spotify suffered a significant outage on its service that meant its subscribers could not access their favourite podcasts for over eight hours — all because it failed to renew an SSL certificate, The Verge reported.
The outage started on the night...
Live audio coming to Spotify
Spotify Technology SA is renaming its live conversation product and integrating the content into its main streaming app to make the service more accessible for users, according to people familiar with the company’s plans.
The company will rebrand its live social...
SABC's Netflix competitor in testing
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) began testing its digital streaming platform on Tuesday, 1 March 2022, and it is expected to go live in the third quarter of the current financial year.
This is according to SABC COO Ian Plaatjes, who...
Big tech upgrades at the SABC — including a Netflix competitor
The South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) technological renewal project is making considerable progress, according to the public broadcaster’s responses to parliamentary questions.
The SABC said that it had issued a...
Spotify and Amazon considering Audioboom purchase
Amazon.com Inc. and Spotify Technology SA are exploring bids for Audioboom Group Plc and may decide on formal offers for the podcasting group as soon as this month, Sky News said.
The two digital giants have been exploring rival bids in recent...
Spotify CEO apologises for Joe Rogan controversy
Spotify Technology SA’s Chief Executive Officer Daniel Ek apologised to staff for the impact the controversy over Joe Rogan’s podcast has had on them, but said he didn’t agree with calls to drop the broadcaster from the service.
“There are no...
The most-streamed songs of 2021 — Apple Music and Spotify
Olivia Rodrigo’s song, Drivers Licence, took the top spot for the most-streamed track in 2021 on Spotify, while BTS’s Dynamite was the most popular on Apple Music.
Spotify testing video feed similar to TikTok
Spotify is testing a new video feed in its beta version for iOS that displays fullscreen video while playing tracks.
Spotify Premium price plan for students launches in South Africa
Spotify has launched its Spotify Premium for Students in South Africa and 19 other countries today, offering students all features included in its Premium plan for R29.99 per month.
YouTube hunting for podcast executive
YouTube is looking to hire an executive to oversee its podcasting business, a new position for the video giant and a sign that its parent, Alphabet Inc.’s Google, is starting to take the category seriously.
YouTube is already one of the top destinations...