# AI Monetization and Content Platform Strategy Shifts

**Podcast:** TechCrunch Daily Crunch
**Published:** 2026-02-28

## Transcript

This is TechCrunch.
This episode is brought to you by Modulate.
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Niklas here from Ecommerce.ecommerce.de.
Spotify is rolling out audio book charts.
I'm Aran Shake, and your weekend crunch starts right now.
ChatGPT's reached 900 million weekly active users.
OpenAI announced on Friday, putting the AI chatbot within striking distance of yeah, one billion.
OpenAI also shared that it now has 50 million paying subscribers.
Subscriber momentum accelerated meaningfully to start the year, with January and February on track to be the largest months for new subscribers in our history.
Simpler times.
Now OpenAI shared the new numbers as part of its announcement that it's raised 110 billion dollars in private funding, marking one of the largest private funding rounds in history.
The new funding includes a $50 billion investment from Amazon, along with $30 billion each from NVIDIA and Softbank at a $730 billion pre money valuation.
The round remains open, and the company expects more investors to join.
Suno co-founder and CEO Mikey Shulman shared on LinkedIn that the A-Guy Music Generator has amassed two million paid subscribers and $300 million in annual recurring revenue.
Now, just three months ago, sudo announced a $250 million dollar funding round that valued the company at $2.45 billion dollars.
At the same time, Zuno told the Wall Street Journal that annual revenue had hit $200 million.
That would indicate that the company has had some major growth in a short time frame.
Now, if you don't know, Suno lets users create music using natural language prompts, making it possible for people with little to no experience to generate audio with very little effort.
This has sparked concern from musicians, of course, and record labels, who have sued Sono for copyright infringement, since its AI model was likely trained on existing recorded music.
But Warner Music Group recently settled its lawsuit and instead reached a deal that allows Suno to launch models that use licensed music from its catalog.
Suno's generated synthetic music that sounds real enough to top charts on Spotify and Billboard.
Talisha Jones, a 31-year-old in Mississippi, used Suno to turn her poetry into the viral RB song How Was I Supposed to Know, and signed a record deal with Hollywood Media in a deal reportedly worth $3 million.
Still, many musicians have spoken out against the use of AI in music, including Billy Eilish, Chapel Roan, Katy Perry, and more.
Hey, Berlin.
Wusest du das to mit einem Eco-Strom richtig was bewegen kannst?
Then yeah the Ökostrom der Berliner Stadtwerke beziehen, desto mehr können wir gemeinsam für unsere Stadt tun.
Then the Berliner Stadtwerke investieren direct here for dich.
Good for Berlin.
On Friday, Spotify announced that it's launching audiobook charts for the US and UK.
Now, similar to the streaming giants music and podcast charts, the audiobook charts will be updated weekly and highlight the top audiobooks overall and by genre.
Now, these rankings are based on listening behavior and engagement on the streaming service, the company says.
Spotify's continued investing in audiobooks with additional features like the recently launched page match tool, which lets users scan a page from a physical book to instantly transition to that spot in the audiobook and audiobook recaps, which are short audio summaries to catch you up on what you've already read so far.
Spotify is saying the new audiobook charts will benefit both readers and authors by giving listeners a trusted way to discover popular titles while also creating new opportunities for authors and the publishing industry to reach wider audiences.org.
And folks, that's your daily crunch.
Today's stories were reported by Aisha Molik, Amanda Silberling, and more awesome TechCrunch journalists.
We'll see you here next week.
And until then, find us at TechCrunch.com.
Yeah, Job oder Umzug.
Stimmt, krass.
Fühlt sich gar nicht wie Steuern an.
Steuern erledigt?
Safe.
Mit Wieso Steuer.