Spotify states this is to combat artificial streaming, but this can also hurt smaller artists who are still coming up.

Jacob Kastrenakes is The Verge’s executive editor. He has covered tech, policy, and online creators for over a decade. This is Hot Pod, The Verge’s newsletter about podcasting and the audio ...

"Everything's looking much better now," Spotify Status, an account that provides updates about the platform's status, said in a tweet. Sign up here. In the second such outage within two weeks ...

Spotify’s official Twitter/X account has not yet commented on the matter, and no statement has been issued, but that could be a good sign ... before they are back up and running, depending ...

Spotify subscriptions will be going up by €1 per month (about £1) across Europe this summer. Major streamers are also preparing to launch more expensive "super-premium" tiers. Spotify is set ...