Spotify | The Verge

Spotify just won $322 million from music pirates it can’t find

2026-04-16T07:45:19-04:00

Spotify and the three major labels have won a $322 million default judgement against Anna's Archive, the open-source library and pirate activist group that planned to publicly release millions of music files scraped from Spotify's platform.

The judgment comes after the unknown operator of Anna's Archive failed to respond to a lawsuit filed by Spotify, Universal Music Group (UMG), Warner Music Group (WMG) and Sony Music, which was made publicly available in January. The lawsuit was launched in response to Anna's Archive announcing in December that it had ripped 86 million songs from Spotify and intended to create a "preservation archive" fo …

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Spotify now sells printed books

2026-04-15T07:30:25-04:00

The Bookshop.org integration is now available for Spotify users on Android, with iOS support expected next week. | Image: Spotify

Spotify is rolling out some new updates for book lovers, expanding audiobook listening features and allowing users to buy physical publications through the platform. Readers in the US and UK can now purchase printed books via a new integration with Bookshop.org on the Android Spotify app, with support for iOS users expected to arrive next week.

The partnership was announced in February, with Bookshop.org founder and CEO Andy Hunter saying at the time that "Spotify is bringing in more readers, and I'm all for anything that grows the size of the pie." This, alongside other updates announced today, aim to make it easier to jump into your next …

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Spotify now lets you turn off all its videos

2026-04-09T06:33:09-04:00

The new controls apply to both individual and family accounts. | Image: Spotify

Spotify is adding new toggles to stop any and all video from playing inside the app, for both music and podcasts. The controls are rolling out worldwide, work across all platforms and devices, and can be used by managers of Family Plans to limit video content for every member on the subscription.

The new controls haven't arrived on my UK account or devices yet, but will appear under the "Content and display" settings on a phone, or the "Display" section on desktop. The existing toggle to disable Canvas clips - the short, looping, autoplay videos that Spotify added to the app in 2019 - is joined by a new toggle that disables access to music …

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Spotify’s Prompted Playlists can help you find new podcasts to listen to

2026-04-07T16:13:23-04:00

On Tuesday, Spotify expanded its Prompted Playlists feature to include podcasts, an update that could make it easier for Premium users to find new shows to listen to. Prompted Playlists were originally launched as a beta feature in December, but previously only worked for music. You can use the feature to effectively generate customized Discover Weekly playlists using text prompts to "steer the algorithm" toward specific genres or themes.

Tuesday's update allows you to do the same thing with playlists of podcast episodes. The feature is still in beta, though, and is currently only available in English for Premium users in the U.S., Canada …

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Spotify is letting artists manually approve releases to combat AI fakes

2026-03-26T06:03:49-04:00

Spotify is beta-testing a new feature called Artist Profile Protection that lets artists review releases before they go live. Sometimes songs end up on the wrong artist pages because of metadata mixups or shared names. But increasingly, artists have been targeted by impostors and AI-generated fakes. Profile Protection offers a buffer against bad actors.

Everyone from Drake and Beyoncé, to experimental composers like William Basinski, and indie rock acts like King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, have had fake tracks appear under their names on streaming platforms, with some that were likely AI-generated. It's an issue that has stoked a lot of …

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Spotify adds ‘Exclusive Mode’ audiophile feature for Windows PCs

2026-03-25T16:58:35-04:00

Starting Tuesday, Spotify users will have access to "Exclusive Mode," a new feature in the streaming service's Windows app that can help maximize audio quality by giving the Spotify app full control over your device's audio processing. According to Spotify, "your computer may alter audio before it reaches your DAC by resampling it, mixing other system sounds in, and changing the volume." Turning on Exclusive Mode prevents this and disables audio from other apps, which Spotify says allows for "Bit Perfect playback."

Exclusive Mode is currently only available to Spotify Premium users on Windows, but Spotify says it will also be coming to the …

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Spotify tests letting users directly customize their Taste Profile

2026-03-13T17:44:23-04:00

Less slop please. | Image: Spotify

Spotify Premium users in New Zealand will be the first to experience the service's latest personalization feature. The company is letting users view and make changes to their Taste Profile directly. If your algorithm is serving up too much Bieber, you can politely tell the algorithm to ease up. Beta testers will be able to access the feature by tapping on their profile icon and then selecting Taste Profile from the sidebar menu.

The Taste Profile tells you not only what artists you frequently listen to, but also identifies trends in your listening habits. In a little demo clip, Spotify shows an example Taste Profile that includes the line, …

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Spotify’s Smart Reorder treats your playlists like a DJ set

2026-02-25T11:16:11-05:00

Spotify's "Mix" feature now has an option called "Smart Reorder" that can automatically sort users' playlists based on beats per minute (BPM) and key, organizing songs for the best flow from one track to the next. It builds on the existing Mix feature in Spotify and, along with transitions between songs, which were introduced in August, users can now effectively have an automated DJ mix their Spotify playlists for them.

The "Smart Reorder" option, announced on Wednesday, is available now in the Spotify app for Premium subscribers. To try it out, open a playlist and tap the "Mix" button then "Edit." The "Smart Reorder" button should be at t …

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The next iTunes may be vibe-coded

2026-02-19T08:22:41-05:00

This is Lowpass by Janko Roettgers, a newsletter on the ever-evolving intersection of tech and entertainment, syndicated just for The Verge subscribers once a week.

Wouldn't it be great if you could exchange music recommendations with your friends, no matter whether they use Spotify, Apple Music, or Bandcamp? What if you could follow DJs and other tastemakers online and automatically turn their social media feeds into playlists? Or what if you could fine-tune your music recommendations with AI to only get recommendations for songs you've never played before?

Those are a few of the tasks the new music app Parachord is trying to take on by f …

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Spotify’s About the Song offers context and trivia about your favorite tracks

2026-02-06T12:53:03-05:00

Teddy Swims hopes this song ‘resonates’ with listeners? You don’t say.

Spotify is launching About the Song in beta today, which offers context and facts about the song you're listening to. Premium users can scroll down to the new About the Song section for information while in the Now Playing view. At launch, it's only available for a limited number of tracks, but there are plans to expand it.

Bits of trivia and background about songs are presented as short, swipeable cards with information harvested from "third-party sources." The text is generated using machine learning, but Spotify at least cites its sources on the About the Song cards. The company declined to say whether the feature would eventually be ava …

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