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Hear the latest from artists you love, those you might like with new Spotify feature

By Kris Wouk August 5, 2016

Release Radar

For true music lovers, the quest for new content to listen to is a never-ending one. Fortunately, Spotify is doing what it can to make that easier – first with its Discover Weekly playlists, and now with its newest feature.

Spotify announced its latest addition, dubbed Release Radar, in a blog post on Friday. As the name implies, the goal of this new weekly playlist is to help listeners keep track of new music from their favorite artists, but it can also help them keep their finger on the pulse of music with new releases from artists they may not have heard before.

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“With the huge amount of new music released every week, it can be difficult to keep up with the latest tracks,” says Matt Ogle, senior product owner at Spotify. “With Release Radar, we wanted to create the simplest way for you to find all the newly released music that matters the most to you, in one playlist.”

Release Radar updates every Friday, and offers a playlist of up to two hours in length full of music from artists whose music you’ve played before. Taking a hint from its Discover Weekly playlists, artists who you haven’t listened to but might want to give a shot are included as well. Like Discover Weekly, the more music you listen to, the better Release Radar will get at offering you music tailored to your tastes.

When we gave it a shot, Release Radar offered music released as recently as this week and as far back as early July. The list totaled 20 songs, and while a few familiar artists did indeed make an appearance, the bulk of music came from artists that we hadn’t listened to before, making the new playlist function as a welcome supplement to Discover Weekly.

Release Radar is live as of Friday and can be found in the Discover section of the Spotify app under New Music for You.

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YouTube Music’s Spotify-esque Discover Mix now widely available

youtube music spotify discover weekly news mix

In September, we discovered that YouTube Music was playing around with a not-so-subtle copy of Spotify's Discover Weekly playlist; called Discover Mix. Fast-forward to the present and it's now clear that what might have started as an experiment is here to stay: YouTube Music has officially launched Discover Mix to all of its subscribers, along with two other algorithmically chosen playlists: New Release Mix and Your Mix.

Clearly, Discover Mix is intended to compete with Spotify's popular Discover Weekly playlist, which uses algorithms to analyze listeners' favorite genres of music, artists, and listening habits, and then recommend a new playlist of tunes each week. Discover Mix works much in the same way, using your listening history to suggest new tunes you might enjoy. YouTube says the goal is to "keep you up to date on what’s just been released and introduce you to a wider range of artists and sounds based on your personal taste."

Audio / Video

Spotify Wrapped gives a personalized look at who you listened to most in 2019

spotify wrapped most streamed artists tracks albums 2019

Later this week, Spotify will be unveiling its personalized Wrapped stats. It's a chance for Premium users to look back at the year that was and see which artists, songs, albums, genres, and podcasts captured their attention in 2019. Spotify has offered both a public and a personalized set of Wrapped stats in the past, but this year the company is expanding its view of the music and spoken-word world to an entire decade.

The Wrapped toolset, which also reveals facts like how many minutes of music you heard and how many songs you liked, has traditionally only been accessible via a custom website, making it a bit awkward to use. Last year, it required a bit of a hunt to find it. This year, however, Spotify is unlocking Wrapped's potential as a social sharing opportunity: The Wrapped experience will also be available within the Spotify app itself, and share cards will be available for you to post on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat.

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One day you might get emergency alerts through Netflix and Spotify

Hawaii

A bipartisan bill was recently reintroduced in the Senate to require audio and video streaming services to display emergency alerts like those for hurricanes and tornadoes while you’re watching or listening to them.
The bill, which was introduced by U.S. senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and John Thune (R-S.D.), was originally introduced by the senators last year after a false missile alert text was inadvertently sent out in Hawaii.
Called the Reliable Emergency Alert Distribution Improvement (READI) Act, the legislation’s goal is to ensure that more people are able to receive emergency alerts.
“When a missile alert went out across Hawaii last year, some people never got the message on their phones, while others missed it on their TVs and radios. Even though it was a false alarm, the missile alert exposed real flaws in the way people receive emergency alerts,” Schatz, the lead Democrat on the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet, said in a prepared statement. “Our bill fixes a number of important problems with the system responsible for delivering emergency alerts. In a real emergency, these alerts can save lives so we have to do everything we can to get it right.”
According to a blog post on Schatz’s site, the READI Act would ultimately:
•Ensure more people receive emergency alerts by eliminating the option to opt-out of receiving certain federal alerts, including missile alerts, on mobile phones;
•Require active alerts issued by the President or FEMA to be repeated. Currently, alerts on TV or radio may only be played once;
•Explore establishing a system to offer emergency alerts to audio and video online streaming services, such as Netflix and Spotify;
•Encourage State Emergency Communications Committees to periodically review and update their State Emergency Alert System Plans, which are often out of date;
•Compel FEMA to create best practices for state, tribal, and local governments to use for issuing alerts, avoiding false alerts, and retracting false alerts if they occur, as well as for alert origination training and plans for officials to contact each other and federal officials during emergencies; and
•Establish a reporting system for false alerts so the FCC can track when they occur and examine their causes.
In addition to the Senate bill, companion legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives by U.S. Representatives Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.), Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawai‘i), Pete Olson (R-Texas), and Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.). The READI Act is supported by NCTA -- The Internet and Television Association, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), the Internet Association, CTIA -- The Wireless Association, and the Wireless Infrastructure Association.