Music

The latest news and reviews of music.

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Apple Music makes it easier to see new albums that are on the way
Apple is releasing some updates to Apple Music today that will make it easier to see what new music is on the way and when it's set to arrive. MacRumors reports that a new "Coming Soon" section is rolling out to both the iOS and macOS versions of the music streaming service and it currently shows upcoming albums from artists like Florence + The Machine, Interpol and Gorillaz. To get there, go to the Browse tab, select New Music and then scroll down until you find the Coming Soon section. Tapping the albums listed will bring up additional information like the expected availability date and track listings.
Spotify offers advances to indie artists who directly license music
Apple might not be the only streaming music giant eager to cut out the middle managers. Billboard sources claimed that Spotify has offered advance fees to indie artists and managers in exchange for licensing some of their songs directly to Spotify. They'd get 50 percent of the per-stream revenue. That's less than the 54 percent under conventional arrangements, but the absence of a publisher would give them dramatically more money. Right now, they typically only receive 20 to 50 percent of the label's share -- they'd get a pay raise even as Spotify took a larger slice of the pie.
The humble music box gets a 21st century update
Outside horror movies, music boxes are pretty cool, but their big flaw is that they can only play a few bars of one song. This inflexibility wasn't so much of an issue a century ago, but in the era of Spotify, it's not great. That's why Taiwanese company Tevofy Technology has sought to update the music box for the modern age, in the form of the Music Robot Box, or Muro Box.
Spotify's FCC registration hints that hardware is on the way
Spotify just made it clear that its hardware plans are more than a passing fancy. The streaming music mainstay has registered with the FCC, giving it a grantee code (2AP3D if you're curious) and signalling its intent to test wireless devices. There are no filings at this stage (those usually appear closer to a product's release), but there have already been hints of a smart speaker and an in-car player.
Apple Music's web player now streams whole songs
To date, playing full songs on Apple Music has meant firing up iTunes or the mobile app. You could listen to samples on the web, but that wasn't much different than playing iTunes Store clips years ago. This appears to be changing, though. Reddit users have discovered that Apple Music's embeddable web player now plays complete songs as long as you sign in to your account. You can even add albums and playlists to your library without having to leave your browser.
Spotify hip-hop programming head leaves for YouTube
YouTube's latest streaming music initiative may be off to a rough start, but it's determined to step up its game. The service has confirmed months-long rumors that it hired Spotify's hip-hop programming head Tuma Basa (pictured at left) to become its urban music director. The music industry veteran will use his "deep knowledge" to help connect "artists and fans," according to YouTube's music lead Lyor Cohen (shown at right).
Watch this weekend's Governors Ball music festival live on Twitter
Festival season is officially upon us. But if you'd rather not stand in the sun for hours to hear any of this weekend's Governors Ball performances from New York, Twitter's got you covered. The microblogging service will be live-streaming the concert all weekend long, with performances from Sylvan Esso, Jack White (above), Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Post Malone, Eminem, CHVRCHES and others among the scheduled acts. Note that the stream schedule embedded below is through AT&T, and is split among two different channels.
Microsoft will 'retire' Groove Music Android and iOS apps December 1st
Microsoft's Groove Music service bowed out months ago, but all the apps have been available for listening to your personal files... until now. The company has revealed that its Android and iOS apps will disappear from their respective online stores on June 1st, 2018, and the apps themselves will be "retired" (that is, stop working) on December 1st. After that, you'll have to use OneDrive or migrate your songs elsewhere to keep listening in the cloud.
Spotify CEO on new content policy: 'We rolled this out wrong'
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek admitted the service handled its policy to limit promotion for artists based on their conduct poorly. "We rolled this out wrong and could have done a much better job," Ek said at the Code Conference, according to Deadline. He said that the company never intended to serve as the "morality police" with the policy, and conceded that the framework was too vague at its inception.
Apple Music sets up publishing division as it chases down Spotify
Apple Music has been on its way to overtake Spotify in terms of subscriber base for a while now. The service got a new boss, Oliver Schusser, this past April, as well. Now, Schusser's first major initiative appears to be the launch of Apple's own music publishing division, headed by Elena Segal, previously the Legal Director of iTunes. As an unnamed source told Music Business Worldwide: "Oliver wants to underline the importance of publishing and songwriters to Apple. That's what this move is all about."
Buskers in London are the first to accept tap-to-pay cards
The move toward a cashless society has created a problem for buskers: how do they get paid when many listeners won't have physical currency? There's now a solution on hand. The Mayor of London's office and iZettle (which was recently snapped up by PayPal) have partnered on a first-ever initiative that lets buskers accept tap-to-pay contributions. Participants plug special card readers into their smartphones and set a fixed donation amount -- after that, you just have to wave your card (or a compatible NFC device) to ensure a street performer gets paid.
Spotify will revise artist behavior policy following backlash
Spotify may already have to backtrack on its policy limiting promotion for artists based on their conduct. Bloomberg sources have heard that it will alter the conduct policy in response to an uproar over its decision to pull XXXTentacion's music from playlists for his behavior, including charges for allegedly beating a pregnant woman. Artists like Kendrick Lamar reportedly called Spotify chief Daniel Ek and artist relations head Troy Carter to not only show their displeasure, but to threaten to pull their music from the service if it didn't make changes.
Tidal's new desktop app makes it easier to find the music you want
Tidal's desktop music app has never been a particularly strong selling point compared to its rivals, but the company might change your mind. It's releasing revamped Mac and Windows apps that promise far simpler home screens that borrow a page from their mobile counterparts. The stripped-down page focuses on new music and exclusive content, your recommendations and favorites from both Tidal's editors and your friends.
Amazon Music app now offers hands-free control thanks to Alexa
Amazon Music's mobile app introduced Alexa voice control back in September, but there was a catch: you still had to tap a button to take action. Why couldn't you just talk to it like you would an Echo speaker? You can now. Both the Android and iOS apps just received hands-free Alexa control, with many of the same commands that you'd use with other Alexa devices. You only have to start talking to listen to a favorite playlist or queue up a song you don't remember by name.
Vevo goes all-in on YouTube music videos
Raise your hand if you used Vevo's apps instead of watching music videos on YouTube. Anybody? That's what we thought. Despite Vevo's effort to grow its brand through apps and its website, nothing quite clicked -- so it's killing them to re-focus on YouTube. Variety reported those who did use Vevo's site and mobile apps can export their playlists to YouTube. The smart TV apps, meanwhile, seem to be sticking around for now.
Facebook AI turns whistling into musical masterpieces
Ever wish you could whistle a tune and have a computer build a whole song out of that idea? It might just happen. Facebook AI Research has developed an AI that can convert music in one style or genre into virtually any other. Instead of simply trying to repeat notes or style-specific traits, the approach uses unsupervised training to teach a neural network how to create similar noises all on its own. Facebook's system even prevents the AI from simply memorizing the audio signal by purposefully distorting the input.
FL Studio's music-making software comes to the Mac
Image-Line has released the latest version of its music production software, and it's seen a big jump since its last offering of FL Studio 12. First up, the name: FL Studio 20. No, you haven't somehow missed eight releases -- it simply honors the 20 years the software has been in existence, including its former FruityLoop days. The other big leap is that FL Studio is shaking off its Windows exclusivity and is now available on as a native 64-bit application for Mac.
Sonos bundles offer audio options for home theater, vinyl and more
As we head towards Sonos' home theater event on June 6th, the company has just revealed new speaker bundles that will help you save on a Sonos-based home sound system.
YouTube’s 'Artist on the Rise' program spotlights new music stars
There are few better ways to win points with your music-loving friends than being the first to find a great new artist. It's easier to find emerging names through streaming rather than by trawling through the latest release section at a record store. Most of the major services highlight new stars with curated playlists, documentaries and prominent placement, and YouTube's delving deeper into the action with its Artist on the Rise program.
YouTube Music subscriptions shake up Google Play Music and YouTube Red
YouTube execs have finally announced the long-awaited revamp for YouTube Music that they say will eventually replace Google Play Music. In interviews with Recode, CNET and USA Today, they revealed the new YouTube Music will soft-launch next Tuesday with a $10 subscription packages (you can sign up now for updates right here). Similar to its previous iteration, the focus here will be on personalization that tries to learn what music you like, but this time it's pushing music videos to the background in favor of audio. The personalization will naturally tie into Google Assistant AI, and pull from a subscriber's YouTube history to serve up suggestions. Google Play Music will remain for now, but the plan is to "close gaps" between services like YouTube Music's lack of a music locker for users to upload their tunes before GPM goes away at some unspecified point in the future -- YouTube exec T. Jay Fowler told USA Today it could be as far away as 2019. Meanwhile, the YouTube Red section will transition into YouTube Premium -- a paywalled, ad-free video experience available only as a $2 add-on for YouTube Music. That means accessing originals YouTube is spending "hundreds of millions" on like Cobra Kai, will mean shelling out $12 per month. Update: YouTube officially announced the changes here, confirming its Music Premium service will launch May 22nd at a $10 per month price. Google Play Music subscribers will get access as part of their membership automatically and the blog post said that (for now) "nothing will change -- you'll still be able to access all of your purchased music, uploads and playlists in Google Play Music just like always." It also touts the new app's personalized home screen that "dynamically adapts" to your preferences, history, current time and location (just like Google Play Music). You can still use YouTube Music for free, but Premium enables background listening, downloads for offline and removes the ads. The new service arrives Tuesday in U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and South Korea.

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