• Sennheiser unveils Accentum Clip earbuds
• They're the first 'proper' open earbuds from the brand
• Strong focus on audio quality… which rivals have delivered

Everyone — and I mean everyone — and their mothers seems to have their sights set on our best open earbuds list these days. And now (not before time), audio heavyweight Sennheiser has joined the cuff-style craze.

The product is the new Sennheiser Accentum Clip, released as part of the brand's more affordable Accentum line. Believe it or not, these are the brand's first true open earbuds, not counting the Accentum Open which were AirPods-alike wireless earbuds sans tips, (so an 'open fit' option, rather than truly open in design).

Clip-style earbuds are designed hang around the lower part of your ear — yes, like an ear cuff — keeping the driver near your ear canal but not entering it and thus blocking out some background sounds. They're great for cycling on busy roads or running in populated areas, while staying aware of your surroundings. The first big iteration of the form factor? The splendid Bose Ultra Open Earbuds, launched in February 2024.

Naturally, if you can hear traffic and crowds, audio quality often takes a hit. Added to this the lack of seal betwixt ear canal and driver and historically, people like me have knocked the bass clarity and impact that such a design is able to deliver. But times have changed, tech has improved, and you can trust the company behind the HDB 630 to address this. In its announcement of the Clip, the brand says it's addressing the "sonic compromises" of the open form factor.

That's definitely an issue I've faced historically with sports hook-style open earbuds and bone conduction options, but I've found the clip model reliably delivers solid sound, thanks to the drivers being much closer to your ear canals. The likes of the Shokz OpenDots One and Soundpeats Clip1 impressed me in the past, so I can't help but feel that Sennheiser is addressing a problem which was fixed a relatively long time ago.

Accentum-uate the positives

Sennheiser has kitted the Accentum Clip out with 12mm drivers, which is on the large side for this style of kit. That's paired with its own audio tuning and Dynamic EQ, which it says adapts your equalization based on the volume, to ensure a natural sound and avoid distortion no matter how loud you're listening.

Thanks to Bluetooth 6.0 compatibility, the buds can support LDAC as well as AAC and SBC, and the brand's app offers a 5-band equalizer as well as presets.

Looking at the practicals, the buds weigh 6.8g and last for 9 hours of playback on a single charge. The small carry case boosts that to 36 hours.

Bad news for some prospective buyers: the Accentum Clip aren't set to sell in the US, at least when they first go on sale on July 23. You can buy them elsewhere for £149 / AU$289 (about $120), but it's unclear at the time of writing whether they'll ever sell in the States or not.

• Spotify is rolling out its Reserved concert priority scheme in the US
• ROLE MODEL is the first partner artist, with more to follow
• 'Top fans' are determined based on overall engagement in Spotify, which poses questions about who the true fans really are

A few weeks ago Spotify unveiled Reserved, its new priority scheme that gives top fans first pick of tickets to see their favorite touring artists — and it’s finally going live in the US today (June 18).

Premium subscribers over the age of 18 will be eligible for Reserved access, which has come out of Spotify’s partnership with Live Nation, powered by Ticketmaster. To kick off the new scheme, singer ROLE MODEL will be the first official artist partner, who just announced his US tour.

Starting today, listeners will receive notifications informing them if they meet Spotify’s criteria and qualify as a ‘top fan’ of ROLE MODEL. From there, Spotify will reserve two tour tickets for eligible fans, which they can purchase within a 24-hour window before tickets go on sale to the general public.

In addition to push notifications, Spotify says it will notify you if you’re a top fan via email and pop-ups in the ‘Your Updates’ section of the Spotify app. The platform recommends having your notifications for live events turned on, and ensuring your app is updated.

If you wish to claim your Reserved tickets, tap the ‘Buy now’ button when your purchase window opens. Once you’ve selected your tickets, you’ll be taken to Ticketmaster where you can complete your purchase.

As per Spotify’s announcement the platform says that, if prompted, you’ll have to connect your Spotify account to your Ticketmaster account in order to verify your Reserved access. As far as availability goes, Spotify notes that “Reserved allocations include a range of seating and prices, and specific availability varies by show,” adding the following:

“For some high-demand shows, you may enter a queue before reaching the ticket selection page. No matter what, two tickets on the tour will be held for you throughout your entire on-sale window. Each show has its own availability, so if you reach the end of a queue and your preferred seats are sold out, you'll still have the opportunity to purchase other tickets”.

Once the purchase window closes, unclaimed Reserved tickets will be released to the next most dedicated fans, and Spotify will notify them in the same way.

How do I know if I’m on the list?

This is the burning question we all want the answer to, and in short, there’s no way of knowing if you’ve met Spotify’s criteria prior to receiving a Reserved notification.

In deciding who qualifies as a ‘top fan’, Spotify doesn’t just take the number of times someone has streamed an artist into account. For the platform, it’s all based on engagement, meaning it considers shares, saves, and your overall streaming history with the artist. “There’s nothing random about who gets chosen!” Spotify claims, but the company is holding its cards very close to its chest.

While the company says it uses the above to measure engagement, it’s refraining from revealing every detail regarding how it decides who the top fans are. This is because Spotify wants to avoid strategic engagement, and prioritize authentic fandom (it also clarifies that relying on background listening to bump up streams won’t get you on the list).

Though you can purchase tickets to any date on an artist’s tour regardless of where you’re located, Spotify does take your location into consideration when it’s deciding who top fans are — which is a huge pain point. So, if an artist is touring a city that isn’t far from you, you’ll be more likely to receive a Reserved notification, which is a punch to the gut for mega fans who live in the sticks. Then there’s the case of fandom itself.

While I do think Reserved could be a good preventative measure for stopping ticket scalpers, there’s always the chance it could make fan culture even more of a battlefield for people to prove themselves as 'genuine' fans and gain bragging rights, when fandom has always been a place of community and not competition.

Does this mean that those who stream an artist to the ends of the earth are ‘bigger fans’ than those who engage in other means outside of Spotify, for example by investing in physical music which goes directly into the artist’s pocket? Will Reserved solve a legitimate issue that’s plaguing fans, or is it simply a badge of honor?

• Spotify is rolling out Track Reactions for Collaborative Playlists
• This lets you react to songs added by other members from a choice of six emojis
• It's rolling out in select markets now, but Spotify hasn't said which ones

One of Spotify’s most handy tools are Collaborative Playlists, which allow you and your friends to work together to pool songs into one monster playlist — now they’re getting a new upgrade that makes them even more interactive.

The best music streaming service shared on a community page that it’s in the process of rolling out Track Reactions, which is essentially a feature that lets you use emojis to react to songs added to your Collaborative Playlists.

Spotify says the tool is rolling out over the coming weeks in select markets to Free and Premium users aged 16 and older, though we don’t know which markets will be first.

Just like emoji reactions on platforms like Facebook Messenger, it works similarly, giving you a choice of six; a standard red heart, a laughing face, a thumbs-up, headphones, fire, and an emotional face. When you send a reaction, it appears next to the track name, and you can view the reactions added by other collaborators in the playlist.

The addition of Track Reactions means that Collaborative Playlists will now look slightly different than before. The profile image of playlist collaborators now appears on the song thumbnail indicating which member added which song, and now the Track Reaction icon has taken the spot to the right of a song title next to the three-dot button.

Track Reactions are automatically enabled in Collaborative Playlists that have 10 or less members, and only the people within the playlist can view them, meaning outside viewers won’t be able to see which songs have which reactions. You also don’t have to stick with them if you don’t want to — the playlist creator can disable Track Reactions in the playlist’s Name and Details settings.

We’re going through a time where most of Spotify’s new tools are reliant on the powers of AI, most recently its two new AI features for podcasts, so Track Reactions feels like a reminder that Spotify does have human elements to its user experience.

When it comes to Collaborative Playlists, I use them mainly for creating playlists with friends for gatherings and other social events (we have an annual summer meet-up, so the tool really comes in handy there). Now that Spotify has thrown Track Reactions into the mix, I can’t see it being used for anything other than judging each other’s song choices — and I’m actually okay with that.

Emoji reactions are a commonly-used feature among my friends across our slew of group chats, whether that’s for reacting to silly texts on Facebook Messenger or responding to unhinged videos we send to each other on TikTok. It won’t be any different in the case of Spotify, and hopefully it will encourage more conversations about the music we’re currently listening to.

For now, the emoji options are very limited and don’t quite represent a wide scope of emotions — they all seem to be pretty positive-leaning, with the exception of the emotional face emoji, which is often used to represent sadness or that feeling of ‘smiling through the pain’. To really take it to the next level, the choice to use custom emojis would open the floodgates for users to be even more expressive, or in my case, severely more judgemental.

Track Reactions are locked into the Collaborative Playlist experience for the time being, and Spotify hasn’t announced any plans to expand it to other playlist-making tools yet. We’ve contacted Spotify for more details about this, as well as which markets will have access first, so we’ll update this story when we know more.

• Focal launches Diva Alta Utopia wireless floorstanding speakers
• The powerful speakers look like Daleks and boast Naim amplification
• Cost $200,000 or equivalent… and probably worth every penny

Do you hear the faint "Ex-ter-min-ate!" war cry on the horizon? Well, that's not from these; Focal's new Diva Alta Utopia speakers are not, in fact, classic Doctor Who-era Daleks, but they don't look dissimilar. (It's the felt that gives them away.)

Following on from the company's outstanding five-star Focal Diva Utopia floorstanding speakers, released in 2024, the brand has re-teamed up with sister brand Naim to offer a bigger and more expensive model: the Diva Alta Utopia.

These are monoliths which come in felt or gloss, and offer the very best the brands have to offer: various W cones, a hunched build to balance the dome pressures, dampened driver suspension, and many other things which make little sense to the average music lover but, doubtless, are genius examples of audio engineering.

Before you add these to your Prime Day wishlist, just be warned that the price is not for the faint of heart. Costing $199,999 / £165,000 (about AU$330,000), these things cost roughly the same as the new Porsche 911 GT3.

That's five times the price of the non-Alta model. And that's for the felt finish; the glossy model costs even more, at $210,000 / £175,000 (about AU$350,000).

Audio quality? It's a focal point

Specs-wise, the Diva Alta Utopia have four drivers per tower: an 8-inch bass, 6.5-inch mid-range bass, 5 1/8-inch midrange, and a prism 1 1/6-inch tweeter, all driven by Naim-designed power, ranging from 90W and 280W.

They seem to be primarily wireless speakers; they can connect via UWB for 192kHz/24-bit playback, or 284kHz/32-bit if you use the Naim Pulse streaming platform. They also work with Spotify Connect, Qobuz Connect, AirPlay 2, Google Cast, you name it. So, a solution meaning you won't need separate amps cluttering up your home? Lovely.

That said, if you want wires there's capacity for that too, with Focal mentioning an HDMI eARC connector as well as optical, RCA, USB-A and ethernet ports.

As you can tell by the design language (and the price), Focal isn't messing around. Are these speaker ready to exterminate any wireless towers of power that stand in their way (provided there are no flights of stairs to manage)? You bet they are.

If you had problems with DoorDash or Spotify today, you weren't alone — both apps experienced major issues that were later confirmed and resolved.

The problems on both apps appeared to start at around the same time, 9.30am ET / 2.30pm BST. However, there was no confirmed related issue between the two, despite small simultaneous reports of issues on AWS and Cloudflare.

At the peak of the problems, there was a massive 35,000 reports for DoorDash on Downdetector, with users reporting that they were locked out from the app and from making orders. Spotify's issues were slightly more minor, with a peak of 4,800 reports in the US.

You can follow what happened during both outages in this live report...

A huge spike for both

Welcome to this liveblog for the issues thousands are experiencing right now on both Doordash and Spotify.

Right now, it isn't clear what the connection (if any) there is between the two, but we'll be getting to the bottom of it in this liveblog, and bringing you all of the latest official information.

As you can see, the spikes on both Doordash and Spotify on Downdetector are considerable. Let's hope they're both short-lived, unlike the Google Gemini outage we saw last week...

A widespread outage for DoorDash

DoorDash down? Or am I the only one? from r/doordash

This Reddit thread shows that the DoorDash issues are pretty widespread across the US right now, with reports from Tampa to Michigan, and also in Australia too.

It appears to be down for both users and drivers, which is causing widespread worry for those who need their hit of energy drinks and snacks. Most are seeing an error message like "the data couldn't be read because it's missing", and logging out seemingly isn't helping.

Spotify joins the outage party

Today's Spotify issues don't seem to be as widespread as those on DoorDash — the app is working fine for me and many here at TechRadar, but there are thousands of reports on Downdetector and social media platforms like X.

Many are experiencing the classic "something went wrong" message when trying to play tracks that haven't been saved for offline listening, while others are seeing "Spotify can't play this right now" or "That didn't work right" messages.

It's definitely intriguing that both the Spotify and DoorDash issues seemingly started simultaneously, but so far there's been no confirmed cloud connection between the two.

DoorDash confirms a problem

Well, that's a slight relief at least — DoorDash has just officially confirmed that it's experiencing issues, which explains the thousands of reports we're seeing across the US and Australia.

There's no real explanation in the post on X (above) about what's causing the outage, but DoorDash promises it's "working urgently to resolve it".

Lots of questions for DoorDash

This is the problem facing most DoorDash users and drivers right now — they can't log into their accounts, which is leaving many stranded mid-order.

As many have asked in response to the DoorDash post on X, this raises many questions — most urgently, what happens to orders that are already en route? This necessarily a major problem if the Dasher driver already has the address, but that's not the case for everyone.

Unfortunately, you won't be able to cancel the order or request a refund while the app's down, but drivers can call this number for assistance: ​​855-431-0459.

Spotify is "aware of the situation"

Unlike DoorDash, there's been no confirmation of a Spotify outage on X via the SpotifyStatus account on X, although this thread has started on the Spotify forums.

On there, an official moderator says "we're receiving reports where the app is showing different errors (103, something went wrong) mostly on the desktop but other clients seem to be affected as well".

It adds that "the relevant teams are aware of this situation and working on a fix", so that's promising news — and the reports appear to be dropping slightly on Downdetector (above).

Could AWS or Cloudflare be the problem?

There are no official AWS (Amazon Web Services) issues reported today on Amazon's dashboard, so that seemingly isn't the cause of today's problems on both DoorDash and Spotify. Similarly, Cloudflare only has a reported issue with its Workers AI platform.

However, DoorDash and Spotify are known to use AWS for some of their cloud infrastructure — and both AWS and Cloudflare have experienced small spikes on Downdetector today. Still, those may simply be the knock-on effect of today's other outages, so there's still no single official cause for the DoorDash and Spotify problems (or a connection between the two).

Spotify is "all clear now"

Is Spotify fixed? It's looking that way, according to Downdetector — the reports of issues have fallen as quickly as they started just under two hours ago.

And now Spotify has confirmed on X that it should be "all clear now". If you have any more issues, you can check out the Community thread — but according to a few users on there, the problems now seem to be resolved. Phew.

Things are also now looking up for DoorDash too...

No official DoorDash fix — but it's back for many

DoorDash hasn't yet given us an update since its last post on X, where it confirmed an "issue affecting our platform", but Downdetector suggests it's well on the way to being fixed.

The reports have plummeted to just over 4,000, down from their peak of just over 35,000, and many on social media are expressing their relief that the app is working for them again. Let's hope that continues...

DoorDash is officially fixed

Good news for both DoorDash fans and DoorDasher drivers — the app is now officially fixed, according to the company.

DoorDash has added that it's still "working hard to correct any impacted Dashers and orders ASAP". So if you were hit today, stay patient and your frustrations should soon be ironed out.

• Major changes to navigation and volume control
• Available in a new beta this week
• Opt-in rather than enabled by default

Sonos has announced a suite of new changes to the Sonos app, and you'll be able to try the new version this week as a beta — if you want to.

Posting on Reddit, Sonos CEO Tom Conrad says that after "hundreds of hours watching real customers use the Sonos app" his team has identified lots of irritants and sticking points. "We've learned a lot about what hangs people up, what's confusing when you're new to the system, and what slows you down when you're just trying to change the darn volume."

In response, Sonos is making lots of changes to the app, including how you turn the volume up and down.

The post has so far generated a lot of positive responses, including the current top comment by Daveintausend: "Never thought I'd say this but I'm hyped for a better volume control."

What changes are coming to the Sonos app?

A new beta will be released this week, with significant changes to the interface. As Conrad put it: "What kept showing up was this: a lot of friction came from proprietary patterns we built that made the app harder to learn and use than it needed to be. Stacks on stacks on stacks of content cards. Swipe-up gestures to switch speaker orientation. Close boxes where any other app on your phone would have a back button. Custom interface elements that never quite felt like part of iOS or Android."

The plan is to change all of that, and Conrad has highlighted three key areas: better tabbed navigation, a "totally new" volume interface, and more control over how your players are listed and displayed.

He also promises "dozens of smaller quality-of-life fixes everywhere" including swipe to delete in playlists, new views on iPad, and a refresh to the Now Playing screen.

The main interface will be divided into three tabs: Home, System and Search, which will be styled in a way that's native to your phone's operating system, and that replace "the hidden gestures and content cards".

And the volume control will have "a core mechanism that is easier to grab and fine tune, buttons to tap up and down if that’s your thing and a new way to synchronize a across group of rooms."

The changes aren't rolling out to the main app just yet, and they're actually not even mandatory in this week's beta either — but if you install the new beta you'll be able to see the changes by enabling "Enable Improved Navigation" in Settings. It will remain an opt-in toggle post-beta, with Sonos soliciting feedback "until it's fully polished up."

The beta program is here, if you want sign up and try the changes out, but bear in mind that using beta software always comes with the risk of bugs or other problems.

I think it's fair to say that Sonos is doing things very differently since Tom Conrad took the helm in early 2025, and he was up-front about the app debacle when my colleague Matt Bolton interviewed him earlier this year.

In that conversation he told us that "In the aftermath of [the problems], you just have to show up in people's life with some humility and do the hard work of earning their trust back through great execution, great product, great software, great experiences, and never forget what you put people through". It's great to see him delivering on that promise.

• Teenage Engineering unveils APC-2
• It's a big, very heavy record cutter
• Unlike the brand's previous effort, it's definitely not designed for teenagers

If you like listening to records, you'll have bumped up against how inconvenient buying them is. Either you're paying an eye-watering sum for the latest releases, or you're scavenging in thrift stores for tracks so unfashionable, even your grandmother doesn't want them (she's the one that threw them out, after all).

Not if you listen to Teenage Engineering, though (not to be confused with Teenage Kicks, because The Undertones' self-titled album costs upwards of $100 for a first pressing). The Swedish brand has unveiled the APC-2, which is a record cutter that allows you to 'burn' music from the digital into the physical realm, to listen with using the best turntables.

Before we get started: this is not a device for your average consumer — unlike the cute toy-like cutter it unveiled back in 2022. The brand makes it clear it's a "professional" record cutter; no prices is listed, and only a "limited set" of them have been built so far. You can't just buy this to dump in your garage and cut a record now and then... unless your garage (and budget) is a lot bigger than mine.

It weighs 140g, so it's over twice the weight of an average human being (which is apparently 62kg, way lower than I thought...) so good luck getting it up stairs single-handed. What I'm. saying is, it is a workshop device.

Record maker

So, what is the Teenage Engineering APC-2? Well, it's a giant old machine that cuts a slab of vinyl into shape by scratching the grooves that the music comes from. Simple.

Well, over-simple. The device has vacuum, heating, cutting and motor tools to ensure the cut is done accurately and effectively, as this sounds like a complex task.

The APC-2's listing doesn't say how you'd actually transfer music to the device; perhaps you need to 'burn' lossless files from USB storage, or using the same internet connection that lets you remote control the device, or in another way completely.

Again, Teenage Engineering is no stranger to record-making devices; in 2022 we covered its Record Factory device (which really does look like a kids' toy). That only let you record four-minute singles in mono, though, so this seems like a step beyond in many, many ways.

Actually, the brand's not a stranger to... anything, given how it also makes windows PC cases and portable synthesizers, all things real teenagers likely haven't heard of…

• Upcoming Beats headphones show up, again
• They have appeared around neck of World Cup player, again
• Fans are trying to come to terms with that color

When currently-unannounced Beats headphones were spotted in social media posts from Spain player Lamine Yamal ahead of the 2026 World Cup, I said "there's a good chance we'll see more of them". Well, I called it, because it happened again.

A series of Instagram posts from South Korea midfielder Lee Kang-in, posted to celebrate the team's 2-1 victory over Czechia in its first match of the tournament, gives pride of place to the same Beats headphones as we saw before.

This time though, instead of a rose hue, they come in white and... a neon yellow I'll politely not refer to as 'Sourz vomit', although it looks like the result of one too many alcopops. How to describe it other than 'slime' or 'puke' though?

I know what you're thinking: maybe they gave it to Lee to match his team's colors? Nope, South Korea plays in red and black, with an occasional violet-slash-lavender away kit for the 2026 World Cup.

Some commentators are using this peculiar color combination as evidence that the cans will have replaceable cups, clearly hoping that Beats will let them ditch the pads for something else, but that feels like grasping at straws.

There's no actual evidence of this, and the faint hint of a yellow headband behind Lee's neck suggests that these are just two-tone cans, instead of it being a choice on his part.

The vantage gives us a better look at the rounded build of these new cans, which swaps out the noughties-chic of Beats' previous cans with a CMF Headphone-looking tiered build. Beyond the choice color options, they actually look pretty suave.

The most appealing part of the redesign to me is the band, which looks much thinner than before, and circular, so it'll potentially be much more comfortable to wear. We'll have to see, but a launch will likely come hot on the heels of this World Cup catwalk.

Has anyone outside of a World Cup squad used them yet?

Just like when we saw them alongside Lamine Yamal, Lee Kang-in doesn't get snapped actually using the new Beats headphones, although he does keep them closer to his person.

While Yamal kept them at arms' length, hooking them to his bag and only being photographed with them around his neck once, Lee has them around his neck several times.

Neither of these soccer players has been seen actually using the new Beats headphones. Maybe owning, but not actually using, headphones is the fashionable thing to do. Or maybe they saw our critical Beats Solo 4 review and want to keep the new pair at arms' length.

It's unlikely that Apple has chosen two specific players out of hundreds to give its headphones to, so as the group stages of the World Cup progress, we'll probably see more sightings of the Beats.

We've glimpsed pink, and white-yellow, and hopefully we'll see a few more color options show up.

Spotify is one of the best music streaming services when it comes to discovering new music, and while I think Daylist is one of the most underrated features for finding your next music obsession, Spotify’s flagship New Music Friday playlists are just as reliable. Now, it’s getting a visual upgrade.

The music streaming giant announced today (June 12) that its New Music Friday playlist will now feature short-form videos from its editorial team, who will share their thoughts on the biggest new releases.

Rolling out to Free and Premium users in the US first, you can find editor videos as you scroll through Spotify’s New Music Friday playlist of the latest releases. We’ve contacted Spotify to ask if and when these videos will roll out to other regions, and a spokesperson got back to us with the following:

“At this time, we’re focused on establishing and nailing the editor-led videos in the U.S. We’ll share any updates on expansion plans if and when they become available”.

In addition to sharing their perspectives, Spotify’s team will also spotlight rising artists and dive into the stories behind new songs and albums. It builds on Spotify’s in-app experience, The Drop Weekly, where editors break down new releases and discuss cultural moments. This experience rolled out in the US in September 2025, but hasn’t rolled out globally yet.

Not only does this give Spotify playlist curators the opportunity to share their recommendations front and center, but it also opens the doors for music fans to form connections with and understand the minds that work hard to pull Spotify’s playlists together.

Head of North America Editorial at Spotify, John Stein, details this in the company’s announcement:

“New Music Friday has always been about helping fans discover the best new music each week. By bringing our editors directly into the experience, we’re giving listeners a closer connection to the people behind the playlist and more context around the artists and songs shaping culture right now”.

I bet that most of you rolled your eyes when you read ‘short-form video’ and thought, ‘Really, Spotify?’ If it makes you feel any better, so did I. I can’t think of the last time I used Spotify’s video tools to find new music, but I feel there could be something different with its New Music Friday upgrade.

There’s one thing missing from music platforms, and that’s journalistic perspectives on music. Though Spotify’s About the Song function is handy for reading flash summaries of a track’s background, this information is gathered from third-party sites and compressed into something you can read in a few seconds.

With these editors' videos, it could introduce a lot of value to one of Spotify’s most-visited editorial playlists. It not only opens a door for you to learn more about the stories, but it also puts faces to the brains of the music connoisseurs who put the playlist together and how they think about which music to recommend.

I spend quite a bit of my time scrolling through Wikipedia pages, online magazines, and even Genius lyrics to get a kick out of my music trivia, and though Spotify’s New Music Friday videos aren’t going to replace these practices any time soon, I’m sure they’ll be a welcome addition to my music research regimen.

• Justin Bieber has shown off new audio products, under his SKYLRK brand
• There's no pricing or specs yet — we're at the Instagram teasing phase
• The range shows two Bluetooth speakers and set of over-ear headphones

He may get his peaches out in Georgia, but Justin Bieber gets his Bluetooth speakers from his own SKYLRK brand — aka light right from the source (yeah).

The Biebs actually put his name on a bit of audio kit over a decade ago (a pair of purple Beats by Dre JustBeats, as it happens), but this is the fist time the pop star has added any audio separates to his very own SKYLRK lifestyle brand, more regularly home to Bieber-approved apparel and sneakers.

I'm going to be honest: the headphones look a little run-of-the-mill: there are large over-ear cups and a headband, seen on the singer himself in the millennial pink color fans of SKYLRK will be used to (and more colorways are promised). They look a little bit like the Sonos Ace…

But the speakers? These I can get behind.

STAY — and take a look at these cool new Bieber Bluetooth speakers

If I were being mean, I might liken these Bluetooth speakers to medicine balls. But that's probably because I'm currently recovering from shoulder surgery and practically every novel tech prototype or wireless audio separate I see looks like a physiotherapist's torture device to me.

With my positive spectacles on, these speakers look mighty promising. That huge, cushion-like circular design is going to harbor some fairly sizeable drivers — and possibly even a stereo arrangement in the bigger unit, no? They look like the portable speakers I wish B&O would release: something bigger than the excellent five-star Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 3rd Gen.

My only gripe with that speaker was its palm-friendly size: I wanted a bigger option. And if Justin Bieber's Intentions are to bring that to the party, as seems to be the case from the main image, I'm Confident he'll be in great Company in the audio space.

I particularly like the larger of the two speakers, which can be seen below in an orange finish very similar to the new AirPods Max 2 hue. I can't help thinking they'd look very good together on a lazy Sunday at the beach.

Again, I wish I had further specs and pricing to share, but these types of social media drip-feed reveals just don't work like that. For now, we wait (hopefully not for 10,000 Hours, but you know, patience is a virtue).

• EQ controls are coming to AirPods...
• Available right now for those on iOS 27 developer beta...
• ...which may be worth avoiding, for now

One of the biggest pieces of news to come out of Apple's annual WWDC 2026 event, is that AirPods are getting a custom EQ mode with iOS 27. Better late than never, eh Apple?

The general release of iOS 27 is expected to fall in September some time, around the release of the iPhone 18, and before that we'll likely see a public beta in July.

However, the Apple Developer Beta for iOS 27 is already out, letting early adopters test out the EQ tools on any of the best AirPods they choose to use.

We'll run you through how to enable this below, but you're probably curious about why you're not already seeing copious Reddit threads about the tool. People largely haven't begun using it yet — except for one user called NexxFlight. They posted a video with system audio capture of what the AirPods’ EQ can do with the bass turned all the way up, using #thatPOWER by will.i.am featuring Justin Bieber to illustrate the point. Interesting…

Crazy! from r/airpods

The feature is only available now via the Developer Beta, a very early version of Apple's new software, created for app designers so they can get hand-on with how it'll look and work. This lets them make sure their apps are ready for updates as soon as iOS 27 comes out, but it's generally not recommended for general users.

Developer betas can be buggy, and sometimes not secure: developers will generally download it on work phones, not their main driver, and if you download it, you run the risk of making your phone pretty hard to use. A Reddit comment I read about the developer beta put it bluntly: "it's not for the faint of heart".

I'd recommend you just wait until the public beta comes out before you test out the equalizer — or, if you can manage, just twiddle your thumbs until the full release in September, so you know you're getting a relatively bug-free experience.

More power than we should be allowed? How to get that EQ — but be careful

OK sure, you want to test out the EQ that badly? Well, thankfully we've already written a guide on how to download the iOS 27 developer beta, which lays it out in nice and easy language.

This, however, isn't enough. Your AirPods will also need to receive the developer beta, and at the time of writing, it's only available for the AirPods Pro 2 and Pro 3, as well as the AirPods 4. Sorry, AirPods Max 2 early adopters: you're out.

You can do so by heading to the AirPods settings in your iPhone settings app, and using the beta update menu there to opt into this tester program too. Again, I can't help thinking it's more power than we should be allowed though, right now.

As well as introducing custom EQ, the developer beta also reshuffles the AirPods setting menu, which some testers are saying streamlines things. Having seen Apple's idea of 'streamlining' things though, don't get your hopes up (yep, the millionth Liquid Glass dig, do I win a prize?).

The EQ-starved AirPods masses are avidly awaiting the update (and it has come not before time) but again, there are a lot of hoops to jump through right now. That said, if you're a true bass-head, it is possible to crank your AirPods all the way up to the max now. I'm not sure I would (does anyone hike the bass all that way up and expect something other than a bloated performance?) but there we are.

• Deezer launches AI music detector
• Scans your playlists to see how much of your music is AI slop
• It's free and works on any streamer, not just Deezer

The annual Spotify Unwrapped has proven itself a masterclass in free marketing, with music lovers across the world posting across social media about, well, how much they use Spotify.

Now, in an iconic "hold my beer" move, Deezer has just launched something to give you a stat you'll really want to brag about.

The streaming service has unveiled an online music detector, which it calls... the AI music detector (no zingy names here). It's an online site that can link up to your streaming service of choice to quickly scan all of your playlists and tell you how much of your tracks are AI-generated. It takes literally a minute or so to do — although in TechRadar's tests, Apple Music libraries took the longest.

Naturally, the goal is to either prove that you listen to no AI slop, or, if you receive a shock diagnosis, work out where these 'songs' are so you can treat the offensive condition. Deezer makes no secret that it'd be chuffed if you'd transfer all those playlists after the scan and thus sign up for its service yourself — and AI avoiders might find that ideal, since Deezer tags AI music (so you'd know what that offending 1% was, say).

To work out if this AI music detector is any good, and hopefully boast about my clean AI-free record, I booted up the tool and linked it to my Spotify account.

Livin' On A PrAIyer

I was already pretty confident that I don't listen to any AI music — it'd be pretty hard to when 90% of your music taste is from the noughties — but as an outspoken anti-AI-er, it bears checking.

It was really quick to pair the Free AI music checker by Deezer to my Spotify account, and it took less than a minute to comb through my libraries. Colleagues who've checked via other streaming services, particularly Apple Music, report longer wait times (and even one crash before it worked), but for Spotify and Tidal it was simple.

The Deezer tool quickly returned the score I was expecting: 0% AI. Nice. It even let me save a little badge to post on socials.

Some people on TR's team received a 1% AI score, much to their chagrin, and it did raise some questions. Firstly: which song? They weren't told, and so weeding out that errant strand of slop was way harder than it might be, if it were simply disclosed. Perhaps the only way to find out is to transfer your playlist over to Deezer, which the tool is very keen to help you with…

Secondly, where was this AI track found? It's not 100% clear, but the Deezer tool most likely checks your custom-made 'static' playlists only, rather than algorithmically-generated ones which you have no control over (or even other people's which you've saved).

Even though it'll still leave some users with as many questions as answers (is that 1% lurking somewhere in your hyperpop playlist?) it's great to see Deezer forging ahead in its war on AI-generated music.

The Spotify AI slop debacle has dragged on for longer than it should have, and despite the company rolling out measures to counter the spread of AI-generated music, some users are still wielding their pitchforks and torches over the controversy.

I came across a recent Reddit post in the r/truespotify forum that brought attention to the artist page of Selah Stone — an obviously AI-generated artist. But it wasn’t the artist the poster had an issue with; instead they decided to shade Spotify, claiming that the platform has been “creating fake bios and pictures to hide AI artists and further confuse users”.

Now, I’m all for pressuring the best music streaming services to tighten their AI-detection measures, but what the user addressed is completely out of Spotify’s hands, and I’m not the only one who thinks these conspiracy theories are becoming exhausting.

Though AI slop is becoming more apparent to some users (I haven’t run into it myself), Spotify is not the one uploading AI-generated music, nor is it creating the artist profiles that come with it. Every song and album uploaded to Spotify is an action taken by the artist and their team, or in the case of an AI artist, the person who sits behind that façade.

Comment from r/truespotify

The thing to remember is that Spotify doesn’t take direct music uploads. When a (human) artist shares music to Spotify (or any music streaming platform for that matter), it’s all processed through their label or distributor. Additionally, since Spotify rolled out its new ‘Verified by Spotify’ labels for artist profiles, another layer of reassurance that the artist you’re listening to is not AI has been added.

The same applies to AI artists, and even the music they generate can’t go through Spotify directly. Similarly, they’ll also need to use a distributor, with some common ones including DistroKid and Ditto Music — but the blame doesn’t end there.

Another AI conspiracy doing the rounds is that Spotify is making more profit by allowing users to rack up stream numbers of AI-generated music. This isn’t the case, because of how Spotify’s royalty and pay-out system works.

All subscriber fees are put into a pool, and from there the artists with the highest streaming numbers receive a larger portion of those pay-outs. While it’s not the fairest way of paying artists (even if you don’t stream Taylor Swift, your money is going to her and not necessarily the artists you actually listen to), and it puts indie artists at a disadvantage, AI-generated artists are not making heaps of money, although they do take up spots where human artists should be, something which I agree needs fixing.

In addition, Spotify paid out 70% of its annual revenue in 2025 to artists and rights-holders, so the majority of the money it makes from subscriptions is going right back into the industry, with what’s left over being invested back into the company.

Comment from r/truespotify

I don’t think such complaints are the real reasons why users are bothered. Instead, I believe it’s Spotify’s transparency issues that are the cause a lot of users' frustration. But because the platform hasn’t been the most transparent regarding AI music, the annoyance among users has reached boiling point, leading them to come up with ridiculous conspiracies — and now they’ll point the finger anywhere to find new reasons to blame Spotify for the increasing presence of AI slop.

Like many users in the Reddit replies, I also agree that Spotify needs to do a lot more to flag AI-generated music. I think that while the platform has tried to do some good with its online reporting resources, and new Verified by Spotify badges for artists, other services got there first.

However, the finger-pointing has to stop at some point — and those pushing conspiracy theories either need to provide clear evidence to support their claims, or shut up.

• Multiple Sony devices will lose access to streaming services and Google Cast
• AV receivers, Blu-ray players, soundbars, wireless speakers and more
• Effective November 17, 2026

Something we've learnt the hard way over the years is that pretty much any product with an online component will lose it eventually. Server shutdowns have affected everything from multiplayer games to the ill-fated PlaysForSure music platform, and now it's coming to Sony products.

Like Bose earlier this year, Sony is shutting down servers for some of its audiovisual products. But unlike Bose, which went to great pains to enable people to maintain as much functionality as possible, Sony's devices will lose many core features as a result.

The changes aren't immediate — they won't come into place until November 7th, 2026 — but they apply to a lot of models including AV receivers, Blu-ray disc players, speakers and soundbars. The full list of affected devices is available on Sony's website, but we've included it at the end of this article too.

What Bose did, and what Sony isn't doing

Earlier this year Bose discontinued online support for its SoundTouch speakers first introduced in 2013. However, the speakers themselves remained fully functional and while Bose's own SoundTouch streaming was switched off, AirPlay and Spotify Connect would continue to work.

Sony's changes are more severe. From November, the following services will be unavailable on affected devices:

• Amazon Prime Video
• Google Cast
• Netflix
• Pandora
• Slacker Radio
• Spotify
• Vudu

As Sony explains, from November "access to supported network services will no longer be available on affected models [and] any downloaded network services may no longer be accessible on affected models… we apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding."

While most of the affected models are elderly, there's a lot of them: nine soundbars, 16 AVRs, 17 Blu-Ray players, multiple Blu-Ray home theater systems and five sets of wireless speakers. That means the service shutdown is likely to affect quite a lot of people.

Which Sony products are affected by the 2026 shutdown?

Audio and Micro Component Systems

• CMT-MX700NI
• HAP-S1
• HAP-Z1ES
• MAP-S1
• NAC-SV10

AV Receivers

• STR-DA1800
• STR-DA2800ES
• STR-DA3700ES
• STR-DA5700ES
• STR-DA5800ES
• STR-DN1020
• STR-DN1030
• STR-DN1040
• STR-DN1050
• STR-DN1060
• STR-DN1070
• STR-DN1080
• STR-DN840
• STR-DN850
• STR-DN860
• STR-ZA810ES

Blu-ray Disc Players

• BDP-BX18
• BDP-BX37
• BDP-BX38
• BDP-BX57
• BDP-N460
• BDP-S185
• BDP-S270
• BDP-S280
• BDP-S370
• BDP-S380
• BDP-S390
• BDP-S470
• BDP-S480
• BDP-S570
• BDP-S580
• BDP-S770
• BDP-S780

Blu-ray Disc Home Theater Systems

• BDV-E280
• BDV-E370
• BDV-E470
• BDV-E570
• BDV-E580
• BDV-E770W
• BDV-E780W
• BDV-E870
• BDV-E880
• BDV-F7
• BDV-HZ970
• BDV-IZ1000W
• BDV-L600
• BDV-T28
• BDV-T57
• BDV-T58

Media Players

• FMP-X10
• SMP-N100
• SMP-N200

Soundbars

• HT-CT790
• HT-CT800
• HT-NT3
• HT-NT5
• HT-RT5
• HT-ST5000
• HT-ST9
• HT-XT2
• HT-XT3

Wireless speakers

• SA-NS310
• SA-NS410
• SA-NS500
• SA-NS510
• SRS-X7

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• Technics x Fritz Hansen: every content creator's dream collab
• From Technics: its premium-class SL-40CBT turntable in oxblood red
• From Fritz Hansen: its iconic Kaizer idell 6631-T lamp, also in oxblood red

Fritz Hansen, the Danish furniture company, and Technics, the Japanese audio specialist, have teamed up to unveil a brand new... nothing, strictly speaking (and when we get down to brass tacks).

And yet the new partnership is every content creator's dream, because it has seen them both re-release old products, but in a juicy oxblood red. It's perfect for the influencer staple 'I just bought a 60ft Parisian apartment with no plan; now what?!' series. Arrange next to a well-thumbed hardback book with macrame bookmark, a French press with ceramic blue-glaze espresso cup and an old armchair bought on a lazy Sunday at the Marche aux Puces — you're away.

Anyway. Since we're a tech site, let's start with the audio option. The Technics SL-40CBT direct-drive turntable was released towards the end of 2025 and we noted its refreshingly different 'terracotta' color option as one of the biggest highlights of the deck.

Well, that's terra-gotta go, because Technics' new model is a burgundy or oxblood red version — a colorway that's definitely having a moment — of that same turntable. It offers the same specs as the original build (no word on pricing just yet), but in the new hue and with Fritz Hansen branding on the felt mat. Oh, and it's limited edition! Only 300 models are going on sale.

Coming from Fritz Hansen is, you guessed it, another older device recolored to oxblood-slash-burgundy. It's the Kaiser idell lamp which is, I'm told, an iconic 1930s table lamp. I'm no lamp journalist, but Fritz Hansen's lights straddle the $1,000 price point, so I don't doubt its credentials.

Only 200 of these red lights are going on sale (well spotted, the lamp is even more limited edition than the deck), and only in Europe or Asia — unlike the turntable, which will be on sale in the US. Both products will see the light of day in October, with pricing yet to be announced — but I imagine they won't be affordable to the majority of flea market shoppers, Parisian or otherwise…

But... why?

Companies re-releasing older successful models in new colors is nothing new. What's confounding to me about Technics and Fritz Harmon's collaboration is just how much spin has been invested, to make these devices sound truly exciting.

"Music is an art of time. Time flows without form, quietly imprinting itself on our emotions through sound" says a noted representative of Technics. "Sound and light both change how a space feels without touching its structure" reads another quote.

If you've been re-reading those press release quotes to try and understand what they mean (and wondering whether I've introduced a typo to ruin their meaning), you're not alone. But I've carefully re-read it several times and consulted with experts (other people on TechRadar's team) and we've come to the conclusion that at least we know it wasn't written by AI.

"Two objects with distinct origins that, together, form a setting that is considered and deeply human" puts me in mind of The Bard's "Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene". But I think really, it's two companies with very good legacy products, tying themselves in knots, trying to wax lyrical on the interplay of light and sound (because they are light and sound companies).

Or maybe there's a lot more going on, and I'm just too confused (or dim) to understand what they're trying to say. Look, the burgundy turntable actually looks really nice. Yes, I wish I could enjoy it without requiring a PhD in philosophy to understand the announcement, but in the end, it would look great in my listening room…

• Apple Music's iOS 27 upgrades include new artist pages and performance upgrades
• The platform has yet to roll out highly-requested functions such as continuity tools and social features
• The longer Apple Music goes without them, the better chance Spotify has at snatching its users

Tim Cook took what may be his final bow as Apple CEO at the company’s WWDC 2026 event, and there’s lots for iPhone users to look forward to with iOS 27, including upgrades to Apple Music.

In addition to the announcement of Apple’s next-gen Siri upgrade, Siri AI, the company is rolling out a handful of upgrades to its music streaming platform. It hasn’t been long since Apple last updated the Apple Music UI, but its Liquid Glass look divided subscribers.

One of the most notable new changes to the UI is a new look for artist pages, which now places the ‘Play’ and information buttons in the center of the page under new name displays. The ‘Essentials’ carousel, which spotlights an artist’s popular albums, has also been changed and is now in a list form that doesn’t look as punchy, which is a bit of a design downgrade if you ask me.

Apple Music redesigned artist pages from r/AppleMusic

It’s not just Apple Music’s UI that’s had a bit of a nip and tuck; the platform is also getting some performance enhancements in iOS 27, starting with the Automix tool, which uses AI to beat-match songs and create seamless DJ-like transitions.

According to Apple, the company has improved its algorithms to make room for better transitions. That's quite a vague way to put it, but I assume this means it will perform more efficiently when creating transitions between songs of different genres — a pain point I experienced during my time testing it out. Additionally, Apple says it has upgraded start times for quicker playback, and the 'Now Playing' page will now load much faster.

Apple Music is allergic to continuity tools and social features

I’ll always welcome new design approaches and performance upgrades — I’ve been running into delayed playback times far too often recently. But once again, Apple has chosen to overlook the meaningful features users actually want.

Many Apple Music subscribers like to criticize rival platforms such as Spotify, but if they can agree on one thing, it’s that Spotify Connect destroys Apple Music on the continuity front. To this day, Apple Music users are still waiting for a similar feature, and it’s one of the tools, if not the tool, that will really bring Apple Music into line with its competitors. The fact that Apple has never even discussed such a feature only adds to the frustration.

The platform also faces scrutiny for the inconsistency of its features across devices, creating a far-from-seamless user experience. For example, Apple Music’s new live concert information and playlists and albums tabs are still missing from the Mac version.

Something I was patiently waiting for during WWDC was Apple’s official announcement of Playlist Playground, an AI-integrated playlist-making tool similar to Spotify’s Prompted Playlists. To my dismay, though, nothing was mentioned, even though we were expecting a wider roll out to be confirmed after Playlist Playground came arrived in beta in February.

Just like continuity tools, this feature would give Apple the perfect opportunity to not only match a popular Spotify feature, but give its users another reason to stick around. Apple Music has already won on the audio streaming quality and editorial fronts, but Apple now it needs to start paying close attention to how it can build social features that complement its ecosystem.

It’s been four months since Playlist Playground first appeared, but there’s still been no word from Apple on when it will finally open its doors to the public. We might see a reveal at Apple's iPhone launch event, which will likely be in September, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

• Apple's WWDC on June 8 contained several big announcements
• …including CarPlay updates for video streaming while the car is 'parked'
• You can now browse favorite videos from iPhone, on your CarPlay display
• It raises concerns, when a key reason for collision is failure to look properly (at the road around you)

Apple's just wrapped a busy WWDC event. At the conference on June 8, the Cupertino giant announced an AI-overhauled Siri, a long-awaited AirPods equalizer, AI-powered Apple Photos editing, and more — see our roundup of 17 things we learned at WWDC '26 for more.

But another piece of news was delivered to developers, so it kind of went under the radar. Apple has announced an update to CarPlay coming with iOS 27, which will likely be coming to iPhone users from September (though you can download the developer beta now). As well as upgrades to navigation and "voice-based conversation apps", the update will introduce video apps.

That's right: soon, you'll theoretically be able to watch Netflix TV shows on supported car screens (which is, of course, how the creators intended you to see them), or swipe through YouTube (or even TikTok) while you're waiting at the airport — or potentially even at a traffic light. What a joy. What a world we live in.

In an Apple Developer video explaining the changes, the brand's Car Experience Engineer, Chris Whitney, stated that people will only be able to use the feature "when they aren't driving" but later gave use cases wherein a vehicle could potentially be idling, rather than parked.

We've reached out to Apple for clarity on this, but the ability to beam videos to your car's display when your vehicle is turned on (albeit in park and unable to roll, for instance), makes me very cautious. Consider that "ineffective observation" of the roads around us while driving is regularly listed by solicitors as one of the top reasons for road collision incidents in the UK, where I reside, and I hope you can see my concern.

Roads could get more dangerous

Apple forbidding the playing of videos when a vehicle is actually moving is obviously intended to stop people focusing on the big game while they're barreling down a highway. But it's not enough.

As far as I can tell initially, there'd be nothing to stop you popping on some YouTube Shorts while you're waiting for the lights to turn red (other than the fact that few people watch YouTube Shorts) or queuing at a drive-thru. What I'm saying is, it may still be easy to watch videos with CarPlay when you, as a driver, are a threat to other people.

Distracted driving is a massive threat to road users; according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2024, over 3,200 people were killed and 315,000 injured from distracted driving. The agency repeatedly cites mobile phone use as major source of said distractions. I accept that tapping on your CarPlay screen is a step up from fiddling with your phone, but it's not a big step up — not in terms of how safely you're driving.

Crucially, road danger exists whether or not you're in motion on said road. Anyone who's had a professional driving lesson knows that you're taught to be aware of your surroundings when you're behind the wheel. I remember being drilled on all the angles to check before pulling out onto the road; you need to give it time and attention. And you need to keep both hands on the wheel.

In conclusion, you need to give the road your time and attention, not the screen in your car. You may be obsessed with the documentary about a Lego shop stealing $200,000 in Star Wars sets, but if you're streaming it in your vehicle when you should be watching the road, you're a risk.

And, if Apple does let you stream videos when you're on the road (waiting in traffic, idling at the airport, etc), you could miss an important change in light or situation, become flustered, and then be a huge risk to others as you rush to get going without checking your mirrors for bikes.

As you can tell from those stats I cited earlier, distracted driving isn't new, and I'm not claiming that Apple has introduced it. But it is encouraging it, with features like CarPlay video playback, which feels irresponsible. CarPlay should reduce distractions and safety concerns, not introduce them.

So, as someone who's frequently on, or near, the concrete, please don't use it! Roads are dangerous enough as it is, and if people are streaming videos in their car display instead of checking their angles, it'll only get worse.

• AirPods are getting a universal custom EQ at last
• You'll be able to see the results live as a song plays
• It's set to come in iOS 27, as part of the AirPods' Settings screen

Apple just announced that one of the longest-requested features from AirPods users is finally coming as part of iOS 27: a custom EQ. Announced during the WWDC 2026 keynote, Apple hasn't revealed full details of the feature, but we did get a first glimpse.

There will be a screen that looks like the image at the top of this page, and if you tap 'Custom' then a blue line is overlaid on the frequency graph. You appear to be able to move the blue line to increase or decrease the frequency bands.

There's a live waveform that plays, so it appears that you'll be able to see the result on the sound signature live, as well as hearing it, obviously.

In the past, it's been possible to make some changes to AirPods' sound using accessibility tools, but this really isn't designed for making subtle changes to your music profile, it's designed for the hard of hearing to boost frequencies they struggle with.

There's also been an EQ in Apple Music, but that doesn't help if you use another app for music, and doesn't preserve the EQ when you switch devices or other apps in general.

There are interesting differences in the sound of different AirPods models. The original AirPods Max are much more neutral than the AirPods Pro 3, for example, and I can easily see that some people might choose to give the over-ears a little extra poppy punch at times — or might want to just take a slight edge off the earbuds.

However! The obvious thing that's missing in the images we've seen so far is a clear option to save presets, so the scenario I've described above might not be that easy. This might be in the final version, of course, or there might be a way to create this using Shortcuts.

However, I wouldn't be surprised if Apple keeps this pretty basic. The screen doesn't really encourage you to make changes: the description in the setting says, "AirPods are designed and engineered by Apple to faithfully represent music, TV shows and movies, and calls. If you prefer a different sound profile, you can customize how AirPods represent any audio played."

Still, given that the original AirPods model launched in December 2016, I'm just glad we're getting finally getting it as an option at all.

• Spotify is eyeing up live concert streaming
• It's part of the company's strategy to shift more into video content
• YouTube is still leading on the livestream front, and I think it'll be tough competition

Spotify is doing all it can to move beyond being just an audio platform — now it wants to offer live concert videos for subscribers, and I’m not sure how to feel about it.

According to Bloomberg , the audio streaming giant has plans in the works to become “a hub for live music”, and has reached out to concert promoters to secure licensing rights to broadcast live videos of music festivals right from the Spotify app.

Spotify has recently been experimenting with concert videos, adding a slew of pre-recorded music videos from Dua Lipa’s show in Mexico City, accompanying a live album released by the artist. Additionally, Primavera Sound festival took place in Barcelona over the weekend, which has gained substantial popularity and following online over the recent years — so it makes sense as to why Spotify would want to capitalize on this.

The move into live concert broadcasting reflects Spotify’s evolving plans to become a pipeline between artists and their most dedicated fans. A few weeks ago Spotify unveiled its new in-app tool Reserved, a concert ticket-reserving tool that aims to give legitimate fans top priority for securing tickets to their favorite musician’s live shows. On the other hand, the move into live concert streaming plays into Spotify’s wider video monetization strategy.

Spotify first started out as an audio-only service, but over its 20-year lifespan it’s rolled out many visual components from short-form content feeds to music videos, and even video podcasts. Not only have these helped increase subscriber engagement levels, it’s also established a more profitable means of ad revenue that Spotify doesn’t quite get through its audio content and this is reflected in the company’s recent quarterly earnings, as Bloomberg highlights.

In the first quarter of the year Spotify’s total advertising revenue saw a drop — The Next Web reports that it fell 5% year on year to €385 million (roughly $443 million) — therefore adding more video content means higher advertising rates and a better chance at boosting this profit.

That said, some see Spotify’s venture into live concert broadcasting as just another means of reducing artist’s streaming revenue — but that’s not the first concern that crossed my mind.

YouTube, always and forever

Spotify’s video offerings aren’t my favorite ways to engage with music. Compared to Apple Music, I find Spotify’s music videos interface to be unorganized and almost forced upon you while listening to audio (I never use the ‘Switch to video’ button).

I’ve said it before and I shall say it again, YouTube is still the holy grail of visual music content, even if Spotify is still doing all it can to compete. You have to give it to Spotify though, it’s drive is undeniably admirable, but competing with YouTube is like attempting to shade the sun.

In addition to its slew of pre-recorded live music channels (I watch a lot of NPR Tiny Desk Concerts as well as artist music videos) YouTube plays a huge part in bringing fans closer to the biggest music events across the world. This is most notably the case for the Coachella music festival in California, which I’ve been streaming via YouTube since I was 17.

Spotify has a lot to think about, and for its live concert broadcasts to stand out it needs to match, or totally defy what YouTube has. As well as this, there’s also the question regarding where in the app these broadcasts will be situated — the app is already bulky as it is, so an entirely new live stream interface would be a bit of a squeeze.

With that being said, I can see the minor user benefits. Depending on which artists sign on to this agreement, it could give music fans a higher quality, more robust way of consuming live concert content as opposed to relying on watching videos posted to TikTok or Instagram reels.

Right now, my feed is inundated with content from Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine tour which kicked off over the weekend, and it’s making me regret not going for tickets. I have no issues with watching clipped videos on social media, but thinking about it now, having an accessible live stream of the show from start to finish would make good background viewing/ listening. But let’s be real, Netflix works an awful lot faster to sign deals with artists for live concert movies, and that’s essentially the same thing.

• Redditor creates own smart home controller, tied into Sonos systems
• Cost just $20 / £16 (or around AU$30), for a small display
• It's like the Sonos Controller, but in 2026

Back in Ye Olden Days (the noughties), Sonos used to sell dedicated music controllers and they look wonderfully retro now. These fell by the wayside when smartphones got good enough to do the exact same thing. But given the current penchant for nostalgia tech, cassette players and digital detoxing, these music controllers are seemingly making a comeback.

No, Sonos isn't re-releasing its beloved CR100. And while a new Google Nest Hub is on its way, it's apparently going to focus more on AI chatbots than music controls. So to manage your Sonos, we have to turn to Redditors.

Over on the r/sonos subreddit, a user appropriately called hometechgeek has shared a small, simple smart display they created. Using software shared in the post (and screens bought for cheap online), they have fashioned a home assistant controller which you can use to change lighting, check sensors and, yes, control your music.

Cover art and smart room control using a £16 touch screen from r/sonos

Screens show a play/pause button, volume controls and track skips, and a default screen shows the song you're playing — perfect, in other words, to manage your Sonos devices from one controller. Some commenters have compared it to the Windows Phone's old software, and more widely to Windows' noughties and 2010s boxy look, and honestly they're not wrong.

Can you make it at home?

Making a controller like this doesn't sound expensive. The 4-inch screen hometechgeek used cost £16 (about $20 / AU$30), bought cheap from AliExpress, and they list plenty of other models that'd work. The internet is, as it turns out, rife with little screens you can buy and use for your own ends.

The software is free too, and it sounds like plenty of people on the r/sonos subreddit have already got their hands stuck in by trying it out, reporting any bugs they've found and suggesting tweaks.

If you're a technophile you'll likely find it really easy to make at home, then. However, as some commenters point out, not everyone will find it feasible. You'll need a little technical know-how to set up the screen, and to use Github for the code.

Obtaining that technical knowledge shouldn't be too hard, with a few YouTube tutorials sure to get the job done, but it might not be worth it for everyone. This kind of kit will be useful to people with a smart home full of gadgets, but if you've just got a single speaker or soundbar, it likely won't be worth your time.

There's a reason the smartphone killed the Sonos controller: a dedicated screen to control your music just isn't necessary for most of us (because it's already at our disposal with zero effort, in our phone).