SPOTIFY: Normalization vs dynamic range compression

Have you ever wondered what the ‘Set the same volume level for all tracks’ option in Spotify is really doing?  No probably not, but I have. Googling didn’t help to find an answer to this question because some people say that it works by normalization and others say that it works by reducing the dynamic […]

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SPOTIFY: Pros and cons

If there’s one constant in the vast, ongoing, streaming music war, it’s this fact: Spotify is the big dog. Despite competition from the feature-rich Apple Music and the audiophile-friendly Tidal, Spotify remains the king of the hill due to its large catalog, collaborative playlists, podcasts, and numerous other attractive features. For these reasons and more, […]

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SPOTIFY: News 01

Spotify’s Equalizer Sessions in Germany Help Women Build Lasting Connections What do you get when you bring an impressive collection of women artists, podcasters, and influencers together for dinner? Magic—and an environment that inspires meaningful connections.  Spotify has hosted Equalizer events in Europe to combat gender inequality in music for some time. The latest event, […]

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SPOTIFY: News 02

THE GUARDIAN: Sped-up versions of existing songs are becoming more popular than the original versions. But who’s behind the trend? I’m listening to the accelerated, chipmunk voice of the British singer Raye on Escapism, a rebound-sex anthem that’s currently climbing UK pop charts. Raye actually has a low, brassy singing voice, but I’m not listening […]

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Q&A

Q&A: Can you hear a difference in quality between Spotify’s 320 kbps stream and TIDAL’s HiFi lossless audio stream?

DANIEL FALLMAN: Yes, absolutely. If you can’t hear the difference between say Spotify and Tidal’s FLAC streaming you might have either or all of these three problems — all of which have to do with the dynamics of the music: 1. Your equipment isn’t good enough. If you’re listening to your music through your iphone […]

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SPOTIFY: Revenue and usage statistics

Spotify is the world’s biggest music streaming platform by number of subscribers. Users of the service simply need to register to have access to one of the largest collections of music in history, plus podcasts and other audio content. It operates on a freemium model. Free Spotify access comes with lower sound quality, advertisements and […]

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SPOTIFY: News 03

There’s a Key Difference Between Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music There are now several music streaming services to choose between, and at first glance they can all seem pretty similar—tens of millions of tracks to stream, mobile and desktop apps, offline caching options, and all the rest. It’s not always clear where the differences […]

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SPOTIFY: Acquisitions

In May 2013, Spotify acquired music discovery app Tunigo.[58] In March 2014, they acquired The Echo Nest, a music intelligence company.[59][60] In June 2015, Spotify announced they had acquired Seed Scientific, a data science consulting firm and analytics company. In a comment to TechCrunch, Spotify said that Seed Scientific’s team would lead an Advanced Analytics […]

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SPOTIFY: A bit of background

Spotify (/ˈspɒtɪfaɪ/; Swedish: [ˈspɔ̂tːɪfaj]) is a Swedish audio streaming and media services provider, launched in October 2008. The platform is owned by Spotify AB, a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange since 2018 through its holding company Spotify Technology S.A. based in Luxembourg. Spotify’s global headquarters are in Stockholm, Sweden and corporate Headquarters […]

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SPOTIFY: What is ‘Loudness Normalisation’ and how and why is it used?

Audio files are delivered to Spotify from distributors all over the world and are often mixed/mastered at different volume levels. We want to ensure the best listening experience for users, so we apply Loudness Normalization to create a balance. It also levels the playing field between soft and loud masters. Louder tracks have often been […]

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SPOTIFY: News – The music streaming giant is the latest tech company to sort to staff lay-offs

The reports this morning were correct: Spotify has announced a round of layoffs as part of what CEO Daniel Ek called an effort “to bring our costs more in line”. In an email sent to staff and subsequently published on Spotify’s ‘For The Record’ site, Ek also announced a reorganisation within Spotify’s senior management. Chief […]

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SPOTIFY: The 101 strangest records there. Per Henderak Haetta – Pieras Mikkal

An extraordinary recording of nomadic herders, which uses just a single voice and drum to redefine our concept of melody. Taken from Folkways’ proudly chart-shunning Lappish Joik Songs from northern Norway, Pieras Mikkal is an extraordinary recording made by the folksong collector (and now professor emeritus of ethnomusicology at Columbia University) Dieter Christensen in the […]

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SPOTIFY: Former streaming service subscribers on why they have ditched mod cons for MP3s, CDs and other DIY music formats

Meg Lethem was working at her bakery job one morning in Boston when she had an epiphany. Tasked with choosing the day’s soundtrack, she opened Spotify, then flicked and flicked, endlessly searching for something to play. Nothing was perfect for the moment. She looked some more, through playlist after playlist. An uncomfortably familiar loop, it […]

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SPOTIFY: How does it calculate loudness?

” We currently use ReplayGain, which was the most recognized standard for calculating loudness when Spotify first started. In the future, we plan to use a new standard for calculating loudness, called ITU 1770 (from the International Telecommunication Union). This defines the integrated LUFS (Loudness Units Full Scale) measure, and it’s what we recommend you […]

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