Spotify

The yearly roundup you have (probably) been waiting for is here. Spotify Wrapped 2025 has landed, and this time around it is different to previous years.

This year Spotify has chosen to deliver more than just raw stats – although there are definitely still here.  In addition to learning which artist you’ve listened to the most, and how long you have spent listening to music throughout the year, you can also learn your “listening age” and compete in fan leaderboard. But there is more.

In the age of digital subscriptions in which we find ourselves, price increases have become par for the course. Spotify is no different to other companies in this regard, and the arrival of a new year seems to be as good a reason as any to hoik up monthly fees.

At the moment there is no official word from Spotify itself, but a price increase is certainly due, and a report by the Financial Times suggests that it is just around the corner.

Spotify has announced that it has acquired WhoSampled, a service which reveals information about the origins of musical components.

The company will use data from the WhoSampled community to power a new SongDNA feature. Available to paying subscribers, the feature provides a wealth of information about tracks including the source of samples used within songs.

Opera has added a new way for users to enjoy music inside its desktop browser, introducing a theme that reacts to whatever's playing through the built in Music Player. The feature was made in conjunction with Spotify and turns the browser’s Start page into an animated display that moves in sync with streaming audio.

The Sonic Theme is available in Opera One and uses shader based effects to create a pattern that moves with the playing track. The theme is intended to resemble sound waves passing through a thin layer of sand. When music starts, the animation breaks into small particles that move across the screen in real time.

While it would be an exaggeration to say that Spotify Wrapped is the highlight of the year, the annual look back at what you’ve listened to over the past year is an interesting bit of fun. Sadly, the wait between one Wrapped and the next is incredibly long, but this is changing.

Spotify has announced the introduction of new listening stats which will be updated on a weekly basis. While not, strictly speaking, a weekly version of Spotify Wrapped, it is pretty close.

Thanks to what will seem like a somewhat unlikely pairing to many, it is now possible to access Spotify in ChatGPT. With the two services having partnered, you can now use tracks and podcasts to achieve things with the AI chat bot.

There are various possibilities here – from asking ChatGPT to create new playlists based on the tracks you like to receive recommendations about podcasts you may enjoy. While the ability to use Spotify in conjunction with ChatGPT is free, there are more options available to Spotify Premium subscribers.

The Spotify recommendation algorithm is problematic, and easily sent askew by random tracks you listen to. The company has just announced that it is rolling out the option for users around the world to exclude individual tracks

This may sound like something we’ve heard before, but previous exclusion options have related to playlists. Now you can stop that one song your kid keeps listening to from causing your recommendations to be in a similar vein.

Spotify has removed more than 75 million spam tracks in the last year, a move it says is part of its response to the rapid growth of generative AI in music.

The audio streaming giant announced the figure alongside new policies to curb spam uploads, protect artists from impersonation, and give listeners clearer information about when AI tools are involved in a track’s creation.

It is not very often that companies give users more for free, but this is exactly what Spotify is doing. Having just recently announced that Premium subscribers are gaining access to lossless audio, Spotify is giving users on its free tier something extra as well.

As part of a major change to its treatment of users who do not pay for a subscription, Spotify now lets free users search for and play any song they want. There is no longer a need to wait for an album or playlist to reach the song you want, or use those valuable skips. Here is what you need to know.

There are many reasons to love Spotify, and just as many to dislike it. One of its many failings has been the fact that audio quality has been – to be diplomatic – less than perfect.

Now, thanks to the long-awaited arrival of lossless audio, this is finally changing. The ability to hear tracks at the best possible quality is something that will be celebrated by Spotify users... but not everyone.

Spotify, which three weeks ago announced plans to raise its prices again, has launched an in-app feature called Messages that gives users a new way to share music, podcasts, and audiobooks directly with friends and family. The rollout starts this week for Free and Premium users, with the company describing it as a more personal way to recommend content.

Millions of users already share tracks, shows, and audiobooks on Spotify across social media and messaging platforms. Messages will provide a central space for that sharing inside the app, while keeping external sharing options such as Instagram, WhatsApp, and TikTok intact.

Microsoft has been slowly showing more and more love towards Android and its interoperability with Windows 11. This is something that is abundantly clear in the latest builds of Windows 11 released to Insiders on the Dev and Beta channels.

The latest feature to start rolling out is the ability to seamlessly resume apps from Android phones on PC. This is not something that works with all apps – indeed, it is not something you would want or need to work with all apps – but it is an interesting feature which has a lot of potential. For now, however, it is starting small.

Spotify has announced an increase in subscription prices for users around the world. For now, the US does not get a mention, but with fees being raised in pretty much every region, it is hard to imagine that the same will not happen stateside as well.

The new pricing is due to kick in for existing subscribers in September, but sooner for new subscribers.

Spotify and Android Auto is a perfect pairing, and with the latest update to the app things just got even better. There is something of a UX-enhancing face-lift to the app, but the update also sees the arrival of new collaborative playlist options.

Jams are not usually a good thing on car journeys, but in the case of Spotify Jam it’s a little different. The feature lets everyone in the vehicle add their own music to a queue and create a playlist that will include something for everyone’s taste.

Spotify remains one of the most popular music streaming services currently available, but popularity does not mean perfection. There are many things that Spotify users complain about, such as the oddities of the discovery algorithms. The company is getting better at listening to feedback and is taking steps to improve things.

Spotify has just announced new tools and controls to help with music discovery, playlist curation and recommendations. There’s something for everyone to benefit from, so let’s take a look at what’s new.