Music streaming service SoundCloud has added a digital merch outpost, the SoundCloud Store, where select artists who have signed up for the paid Next Pro tier can design exclusive merchandise for their fans — “with minimal effort — letting them focus on their craft while driving meaningful revenue beyond streaming.” The items will be manufactured by SoundCloud, which is launching what it calls “the first edition” of the SoundCloud Store in the U.S., Canada and European Union. Only artists that own 100 percent of their merchandise rights are invited to apply to participate. Continue reading SoundCloud Helping Artists to Design for New Merch Stores

Popular video platform Max and food delivery service DoorDash are the latest promotional pairing as streamers vie for new subscribers in an increasingly crowded field. Warner Bros. Discovery has teamed with DoorDash to offer DashPass Annual Plan customers a Max with Ads subscription at no additional cost. It is DoorDash’s first available DashPass member benefit that extends beyond the DoorDash platform. The DashPass Annual Plan membership costs $96 per year, while the Max with Ads tier runs $9.99 per month or $99.99 annually. The new promotion starts this week. Continue reading DoorDash Teams with WBD for a DashPass and Max Bundle

Zoom is starting to launch its AI-powered tools first announced in October. Available to Zoom Workplace subscribers, the new Zoom Docs has been engineered from the ground up for AI optimization, leveraging Zoom’s AI Companion for what the company says will result in increased productivity and collaboration. Zoom Docs users will be able to open documents from within the videoconferencing app and can use generative AI to help write and edit them. The results will be easily shareable, Zoom says of its bid to compete with biggies like Google and Microsoft in the business productivity space. Continue reading Zoom Introduces AI-Powered Productivity Tools for Workplace

SiriusXM is launching a standalone podcast service called SiriusXM Podcasts+ available through Apple Podcasts. Beginning this month, the new ad-free service, described as a “premium listening experience for some of the biggest shows on the SiriusXM Podcast Network” will stream to more than 50 countries, including the U.S. and Canada with exclusive bonus content and early access to new episodes. Participating shows at launch include “SmartLess” and “Literally! with Rob Lowe,” as well as select programs from the Freakonomics Radio Network. SiriusXM Podcasts+ is priced at $5.99 per month or $44.99 annually, directly through Apple Podcasts. Continue reading SiriusXM Debuts Subscription Podcast Service Through Apple

OpenAI has released its new Advanced Voice Mode in a limited alpha rollout for select ChatGPT Plus users. The feature, which is being implemented for the ChatGPT mobile app on Android and iOS, aims for more natural dialogue with the AI chatbot. Powered by GPT-4o, which is multimodal, Advanced Voice Mode is said to be able to sense emotional inflections, including excitement, sadness or singing. According to an OpenAI post on X, the company plans to “continue to add more people on a rolling basis” so that everyone using ChatGPT Plus will have access to the new feature in the fall. Continue reading OpenAI Brings Advanced Voice Mode Feature to ChatGPT Plus

Adobe is bringing more Firefly AI features to its popular Photoshop and Illustrator design platforms. The upgrade is a significant step forward for Adobe since the 2023 debut of Firefly, and sees Photoshop finally getting in-app ability to generate AI images, and also a new Generative Shape Fill that is still in beta, allowing designers to quickly add detailed vectors to shapes by entering text prompts directly in the Contextual Taskbar. Improvements to Illustrator include the Dimension Tool, Retype, Style Reference, its own Contextual Taskbar, Retype and two new beta tools, Text to Pattern and Mockup. Continue reading Adobe Adds New Firefly AI Features to Illustrator, Photoshop

Major League Baseball has rolled out a standalone streaming option of MLB Network for $5.99 per month without requiring a pay-TV subscription. The direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service is currently available to baseball fans in the U.S. without the need for cable, satellite or Internet TV. For die-hard fans, the MLB Network + At Bat bundle — available for $6.99 per month — also includes live game audio for all MLB teams through MLB At Bat, live Minor League Baseball games, and access to highlights and live look-ins via MLB Big Inning. Current MLB.TV subscribers can stream MLB Network for the rest of this season at no additional cost. Continue reading MLB Network Launches $5.99 Standalone Streaming Service

Amazon Prime Video is releasing a newly redesigned app that promises to bring “clarity and simplicity back to streaming” with AI-powered improvements to navigation, personalization, purchases and recommendations. Among other upgrades, the app makes it easier to quickly identify movies and series that are available to Prime members at no additional cost. Prime members had been lobbying for a brighter line between what is included with a subscription and what comes with an additional cost. A global rollout began this week, and eventually the app will be available to all Prime Video customers. Continue reading Responding to Members, Prime Video Updates User Interface

Netflix reported that its popular streaming service has added 8.05 million subscribers during Q2, a healthy gain from 5.89 million newcomers during the same period a year earlier. The streamer’s total of more than 277 million worldwide customers makes it by far the largest subscription service of its kind. Revenue climbed to $9.56 billion, a nearly 17 percent second quarter gain that outperformed its own projections. Subscriptions on the ad-supported tier grew 34 percent compared to Q1. Amidst upheaval in more traditional media environs, Netflix seems to be gliding along, closing Thursday with a market valuation of $277 billion. Continue reading Netflix Reports Q2 Subscriber Growth as Revenue Tops $9.5B

Verizon is offering a year of Netflix Premium at no charge to Verizon Mobile and Home Internet customers who buy an annual subscription to Peacock Premium through its content subscription hub +play. That’s a $275 value (at $22.95 per month) in exchange for a $79.95 Peacock plan, according to the telecom company, which rebranded last month, launching a host of promotional plans in the lead-up to its 2025 silver jubilee. The offer, which started last week, ends August 31. The Peacock push dovetails with parent company NBCUniversal’s presentation of the 2024 Paris Olympics. NBC Sports coverage of the Olympics will include streaming on Peacock. Continue reading Verizon Offering Free Netflix Premium with Peacock Purchase

Paris-based global streaming platform Deezer is fielding an AI playlist generator in an international beta launch. The move makes the indie-centric service more competitive with Spotify and Amazon Music, which have already been testing the feature. YouTube is reportedly also experimenting with AI-powered personalized radio. As of now, 5 percent of Deezer’s paid subscribers have been selected at random to try Playlist with AI, which creates playlists from text prompts that invoke moods, genres, decades, activities or “anything else that comes to mind,” according to Deezer. Continue reading Deezer Adds AI Playlists to Compete with Spotify and Amazon

DreamFlare has emerged from stealth to launch what is being billed as the first streaming platform for GenAI video. In addition to the consumer-facing subscription platform, the business model includes a sort of AI studio where creators can tap the expertise of professional storytellers to produce AI video using third-party tools like Runway, Sora and Midjourney. The company will feature two types of content: Flips, which are animated narratives with audio that viewers can also examine frame-by-frame, as with comic books, and Spins, described as “short movies” featuring branched narratives that provide interactive plot choices. Continue reading DreamFlare Launches AI Video Studio and Streaming Service

Spotify recently introduced a new $10.99 per month Basic streaming plan in the U.S., which includes “the music streaming benefits of your Premium plan without the monthly audiobook listening time.” As part of its move to provide “more choice for U.S. subscribers,” Spotify now offers subscriptions including an $11.99 per month Premium Individual plan, $16.99 Premium Duo option, $19.99 Premium Family (for up to 6 members of one household), and Audiobooks Access for $9.99 per month. Additionally, in an effort to boost video content the company is allowing podcasters, even those not officially hosted by Spotify, to upload video podcasts. Continue reading Spotify Offers Basic Streaming Plan, New Podcaster Feature

YouTube is rewarding paid subscribers with early access to test features. Available now to those on the Premium tier are smart downloads and picture-in-picture for YouTube Shorts. Smart downloads populate automatically for convenient offline viewing, while PiP is touted as a convenience for multitaskers. The platform is also rolling out its “Jump Ahead” navigational feature to all Premium subs, starting with Android and coming to iOS “in the next few weeks,” the streamer explains. Powered by “a combination of AI and viewership data,” Jump Ahead lets users double-tap to skip ahead through a video. Continue reading YouTube Premium Offering Smart Downloads, PiP for Shorts

Figma is rolling out its third redesigned user interface, UI3, aimed at making the company even more competitive with Adobe. New are native AI features that accelerate workflows, letting teams build high-quality software. Available in limited beta, Figma AI adds the ability to generate design drafts with a single prompt, enabling rapid experimentation and prototyping. The move advances Figma’s goal of moving beyond design tool to a full-blown product development platform, while making the service intuitive and friendly enough for novices while maintaining the full features demanded by Sigma’s professional users. Continue reading Figma Redesigns Its User Interface and Adds New AI Features