Tag: Spotify

Social Media

Spotify Investigates Massive Data Scrape Amid Claims of Audio and Metadata Leak

Tanisha Cardozo

Written by Tanisha Cardozo || Team Allycaral

Spotify has confirmed it is actively investigating an incident involving unauthorized scraping of its platform, after reports surfaced alleging access to hundreds of millions of rows of track metadata and millions of audio files. The streaming company said it has already identified and disabled nefarious user accounts linked to unlawful scraping and has implemented additional safeguards to prevent similar incidents in the future.

In a statement, a Spotify spokesperson said the company has stood with the artist community against piracy since its inception and continues to work closely with industry partners to protect creators and defend their rights. According to the report, the alleged scrape includes around 256 million rows of track metadata and 86 million audio files, with plans for distribution via peer-to-peer networks in bulk torrents totaling approximately 300 terabytes. As of December 21, however, the report indicates that only metadata, not music files, has been publicly released.

Spotify acknowledged that its investigation found a third party had scraped public metadata and used illicit tactics to circumvent digital rights management in order to access some audio files on the platform. The company emphasized that the investigation is ongoing and that it continues to actively monitor for suspicious behavior across its systems.

The report, first highlighted by Anna’s Archive, prompted strong reactions across the technology and music industries. Commentary circulating online, including a LinkedIn post by Yoav Zimmerman, CEO and co-founder of Third Chair, suggested that such a scrape could theoretically enable individuals to create personal, unauthorized versions of a music streaming service, with the main barriers being copyright law and enforcement.

Despite the claims, Spotify’s total catalog reportedly exceeds the number of audio files referenced in the report. Still, industry observers noted that even partial access could eclipse existing open music data repositories such as MusicBrainz, which contains around five million unique tracks.

Anna’s Archive, which typically focuses on books and academic papers, said the Spotify project aligns with its stated mission of preserving humanity’s knowledge and culture, describing the scrape as an attempt to build a music archive aimed primarily at preservation. The group acknowledged that Spotify does not contain all of the world’s music, but described it as a significant starting point.

As Spotify continues its investigation, the incident has reignited broader debates around digital piracy, data security, copyright enforcement and the challenges faced by streaming platforms in safeguarding content at scale.

Social Media

Spotify Wrapped 2025 Arrives with New Features, Clubs, and Interactive Listening Insights

Tanisha Cardozo

Written by Tanisha Cardozo || Team Allycaral

As the year winds down, music lovers have a new reason to celebrate — Spotify Wrapped 2025 is live, ready to reveal the soundtrack that shaped your year. After months of discovering new artists, rediscovering familiar favorites, and exploring playlists across genres, this year’s Wrapped offers a refreshed and more immersive look at each listener’s audio habits. First introduced in 2015, Spotify Wrapped has evolved into a global tradition, and the 2025 edition pushes the experience even further with new interactive features and deeper insights.

Covering listening activity from January through mid-November, Wrapped highlights each user’s top artists, songs, genres, and total minutes spent on the app. This year it also includes refined reports that analyze listening style, determine a “listening age,” and present a short quiz that challenges users to guess their top song of the year. Spotify’s updates also extend to podcasts and audiobooks, with personalized highlights such as top genres and even special messages from favorite authors or podcasters.

A standout addition this year is Wrapped Party, a new way to turn listening data into a friendly competition among friends. Up to ten people can join, and each participant receives awards based on their unique listening habits.

Depending on who’s in the group, users can see who logged the most minutes, who shares the most musical compatibility, or who is the most devoted fan of their top artist. Another major update, Wrapped Clubs, groups listeners into musical communities based on shared tastes. There are six clubs—Cloud State Society, Grit Collective, Serotonin, Full Charge Crew, Cosmic Stereo Club, and Soft Hearts Club—each representing a different listening personality. Within these clubs, users are assigned roles like archivist, curator, collector, specialist, and more, based on how their habits compare to others in the group.

Spotify Wrapped 2025 is available in nearly every region where Spotify operates, with a few participation requirements. Users must have listened to at least 30 tracks for more than 30 seconds each and streamed at least five different artists throughout the year. Wrapped can only be accessed through the mobile app on iOS or Android, where a dedicated Wrapped tab appears at the top of the screen. From there, listeners can explore their story and browse the top songs, artists, podcasts, and audiobooks in the U.S. and around the world.

This year’s Wrapped brings back the nostalgia and excitement fans look forward to while introducing fresh and engaging ways to understand how they spent the last year immersed in the world of audio.

Entertainment

MTV to Shut Down Iconic Music Channels in the UK and Europe by End of 2025

Tanisha Cardozo

Millennials will remember a time when MTV wasn’t just a TV channel — it was the cultural soundtrack to their afternoons and late nights. Whether it was coming home from school to watch the latest pop hits or tuning in for world premiere videos, MTV held a special place in the lives of millions. Now, that era is coming to a quiet close.

On October 12, 2025, Paramount Global announced that it would be shutting down several of MTV’s music-focused channels in the United Kingdom and Ireland by December 31, 2025. The affected channels include MTV 80s, MTV 90s, MTV Music, Club MTV, and MTV Live. These closures are part of a broader global shift, with similar shutdowns expected across Europe, including Poland, France, Hungary, Germany, and Austria — as well as countries like Brazil and Australia.

India, for now, remains unaffected by this change.

The brand, once synonymous with music video culture, is now pivoting almost entirely toward reality-based programming. MTV HD will continue to operate, but with a focus on reality shows — a trend that’s long been criticized by original fans but also happens to be a significant driver of revenue in recent years.

The decision comes as MTV grapples with changing consumer behavior. With platforms like TikTok, Spotify, and YouTube dominating the music landscape, traditional music television has lost its footing. Audiences no longer wait for a scheduled program to catch their favorite song; they stream it instantly. The MTV that revolutionized music video broadcasting now finds itself pivoting to stay relevant in the digital-first age.

This shift also comes in the wake of Paramount Global’s merger with Skydance Media, which triggered cost-cutting efforts of up to $500 million globally. The shutdown of the music channels isn’t just symbolic — it’s a significant operational change reflecting media consolidation and changing revenue models in a streaming-dominated world.

Social media, predictably, had a lot to say. X (formerly Twitter) was flooded with nostalgic tributes and memes mourning the end of the channel’s musical identity. One user wrote, “I remember when MTV actually played music and didn’t suck. 80s MTV was the best.” Others echoed similar sentiments, lamenting the corporate decisions that slowly drained MTV of its original spirit. “MTV was culturally and spiritually dead when it stopped airing music videos,” said another.

Despite the criticism, the writing has been on the wall for years. MTV has long shifted focus toward reality shows like Jersey Shore, The Hills, and Catfish, which continue to draw sizable audiences. While this transition makes business sense, it undeniably marks the end of a cultural era that defined youth and music discovery for generations.

As we step into 2026, it’s clear that the way we consume music will never return to the age of channel surfing and video countdowns. The music still plays — just not on MTV.

Social Media

Spotify Premium Rolls Out Lossless Audio: Here’s What You Need to Know

Tanisha Cardozo

Lossless audio has been one of the most requested features from Spotify users—and now, it’s officially here. Spotify has started rolling out lossless sound to Premium subscribers across more than 50 markets, with listeners in countries like the US, UK, Japan, Germany, Sweden, and Australia already seeing the feature appear.

Bringing high-resolution sound to the platform, Spotify Lossless allows Premium users to stream music in up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC quality. Whether you’re diving into a brand-new album or rediscovering old favorites, lossless audio promises a richer, deeper, and more detailed listening experience. The files are larger, the audio sharper, and the music comes through as the artist intended.

“The wait is finally over; we’re so excited lossless sound is rolling out to Premium subscribers,” said Gustav Gyllenhammar, Spotify’s VP of Subscriptions. “We’ve taken time to build this feature in a way that prioritizes quality, ease of use, and clarity at every step, so you always know what’s happening under the hood.”

Spotify has ensured maximum control and flexibility with this new feature. Users can customize music quality settings individually for Wi-Fi, cellular, and downloads—choosing between Low, Normal, High, Very High, and now, Lossless. The app even provides helpful data usage indicators to guide those choices. Once enabled, a Lossless indicator will appear in the Now Playing bar or Connect Picker to confirm the mode is active.

To turn on lossless audio, users can go to Settings & Privacy > Media Quality in the Spotify app, and manually toggle the Lossless setting for each connection type. Notably, this setting must be enabled on each device individually.

Lossless playback is available on mobile, desktop, and tablet, as well as a growing range of Spotify Connect-enabled devices from brands like Sony, Samsung, Bose, and Sennheiser. Support for Sonos and Amazon devices is expected to arrive next month.

Due to current limitations with Bluetooth bandwidth, Spotify recommends using wired headphones or non-Bluetooth speakers for the best lossless experience. Streaming via Wi-Fi is also ideal, as lossless files are larger and may require a few moments to buffer when first played.

With the addition of Lossless, Spotify Premium continues to evolve. This new feature joins recent innovations like DJ, Jam, AI Playlist, daylist, and personalized Mixes curated by global editors—all designed to elevate the way listeners discover and enjoy music.

For Premium subscribers, this marks a significant leap forward in audio quality, proving that Spotify is not only listening to user feedback but delivering a world-class product experience that keeps pushing boundaries.