Media & Entertainment
Media & Entertainment tech news covers everything from Big Tech to streaming services to mobile apps. We dissect startups entering App Stores, social media, the creator economy and more.
Reddit is taking a stand against AI companies — or at least asking them to pay up. Earlier this week, Reddit announced that it’s changing…
Reliance Jio and Airtel, the two largest telecom operators in India, have initiated what analysts expect to be an industrywide increase in tariffs in the world’s second largest wireless market,…
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Welcome to the fediverse: Your guide to Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky and more
The fediverse isn’t just another social media platform; it’s a rallying cry and a manifesto of sorts.
Unfortunately for Udio and Suno, the RIAA has a few thousand smoking guns in the lawsuit: songs it owns that are clearly being regurgitated by the music models.
It’s unclear where Stability goes from here.
Streaming execs think TV’s future looks a lot like its past
We’re at a transitional moment in streaming — user growth is slowing and major players are looking to consolidate, but the long-promised dream of profitability finally seems within reach (especially…
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‘What’s in it for us?’ journalists ask as publications sign content deals with AI firms
Journalists understand the basic structure of the deals, but they still have questions.
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This is your brain on Pink Floyd
The human brain has long been a subject of fascination for art and science, which are now both mixed into “Brainstorms: A Great Gig in the Sky,” a new live interactive experience to the tune of Pink Floyd. Interactivity is optional, but memorable. Exhibition visitors can opt in (and pay…
Spotify is introducing a new “Basic” streaming plan in the United States, the company announced on Friday. The new plan costs $10.99 per month and includes all of the benefits…
YouTube confirms crackdown on VPN users accessing cheaper Premium plans
YouTube appears to be taking a firm stance against Premium subscribers who attempt to use a VPN (virtual private network) to access cheaper subscription prices in other countries. This week,…
DeepMind says that it sees the tech, V2A (short for “video-to-audio”), as an essential piece of the AI-generated media puzzle.
The race to high-quality, AI-generated videos is heating up. On Monday, Runway, a company building generative AI tools geared toward film and image content creators, unveiled Gen-3 Alpha. The company’s latest…
YouTube is testing another way to combat ad blockers
YouTube continues its efforts to circumvent ad blockers. Earlier this week, ad blocker SponsorBlock posted that the Google-owned video service is testing out server-side ad injection with a limited number…
YouTube creators can now test multiple video thumbnails
YouTube announced this week the rollout of “Thumbnail Test & Compare,” a new tool for creators to see which thumbnail performs the best. The feature first launched to select creators…
AI news reader Particle adds publishing partners and $10.9M in new funding
Particle announced it has partnered with news organization Reuters to collaborate on new business models and experiments in monetization.
Apple TV+ introduces InSight, a new feature similar to Amazon’s X-Ray, at WWDC 2024
To use InSight, Apple TV+ subscribers can swipe down on their remote to bring up a display with actor names and character information in real time.
Twitch DJs will now have to pay music labels to play songs in livestreams
Twitch has come up with a solution for the ongoing copyright issues that DJs encounter on the platform. The company announced Thursday a new program that enables DJs to stream…
Punk singer Shira Yevin pushes for fair pay with InPink, a women-focused job marketplace
It’s been 20 years since Shira Yevin, the lead singer of punk band Shiragirl drove a pink RV into the Vans Warped Tour grounds, the now-defunct punk rock festival notorious…
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Amazon buys Indian video streaming service MX Player
Amazon has agreed to acquire key assets of Indian video streaming service MX Player from the local media powerhouse Times Internet, the latest step by the e-commerce giant to make its services and brand popular in smaller cities and towns in the key overseas market. The two firms reached a…
Cartwheel helps animators go from zero to basic movement, so creating a scene or character with elementary motions like taking a step, swatting a fly or sitting down is easier.
Discord and TuneIn partner to bring live radio to the social platform
Audio streaming service TuneIn is teaming up with Discord to bring free live radio to the platform. This is TuneIn’s first collaboration with a social platform and one that is…
Storyblok raises $80M to add more AI to its ‘headless’ CMS aimed at non-technical people
The startup targets the middle ground between platforms that offer rigid templates, and those that facilitate a full-control approach.
Malicious actors are abusing generative AI music tools to create homophobic, racist, and propagandistic songs — and publishing guides instructing others how to do so as well. According to ActiveFence,…
TechCrunch Minute: Spotify kills the Car Thing, leading customers to demand refunds
Back in 2022, Spotify announced an in-car streaming gadget that was actually called the Car Thing — and then it discontinued the Car Thing just…
Spotify to increase premium pricing in the US to $11.99 per month
Spotify has announced it’s hiking subscriptions for customers in the U.S., the second such price increase in the space of a year. The music-streaming giant reports that premium pricing will…
TechCrunch Minute: Is meme tech the next big startup category?
Meme Depot, which launched earlier this week, is a startup aiming to create a new category called “meme tech.” More specifically, founder Alex Taub said…
Spotify offers Car Thing refunds as it faces lawsuit over bricking the streaming device
Though Spotify never shared official numbers, it’s likely that Car Thing underperformed or was just not worth continued investment in today’s tighter economic market.
Amazon is rolling out AI voice search to Fire TV devices
Amazon is rolling out its AI voice search feature to Alexa, which lets it answer open-ended questions about content.
Alex Taub, a longtime founder with multiple exits under his belt, believes it’s time to disrupt the meme industry. “I have this big thesis that meme tech is going to…
MoviePass co-founders speak their truth in HBO’s new documentary
HBO’s new documentary, “MoviePass, MovieCrash,” tells a story that many of us know about: how MoviePass, the subscription-based movie ticketing startup, was a catastrophic failure. After a series of mishaps…
