Music

The latest news and reviews of music.

Latest

Apple Music celebrates 40 million subscribers with a new boss
Apple Music has been reported as growing faster than Spotify in the US, adding five percent to its subscriber base each month, as compared to Spotify's two percent growth. Now Apple's streaming service has hit a new milestone: 40 million subscribers, according to a report at Variety (which was also hinted at by a European Apple Music employee last week). The company also announced the that long-time Apple executive Oliver Schusser will take over as vice president of Apple Music and International Content. He'll report directly to Eddy Cue, who hired Schusser 14 years ago.
Spotify may offer free users better features in its mobile app
Spotify might have more to show at its April 24th event than you think. Bloomberg sources have asserted that Spotify is preparing a new version of its free offering that would make it easier to use, particularly on smartphones. The revamp would make it easier to access playlists and would give you more control over what you hear on those playlists, more closely resembling the experience of a paid subscription.
Spotify’s challenge is to prove it’s a real business, not a fantasy
Three months after quietly filing to become a public company, Spotify finally made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday. It was a big day for the Swedish music-streaming giant, to say the least, and it ended up exceeding expectations from Wall Street analysts on its first day of trading. But for many investors, Spotify may not be the safest bet. In its IPO filing, it disclosed that it has incurred significant operating losses over the past few years, warning investors that it may be a while before it's able to generate profits on a sustained basis.
Alexa Routines can now include music and podcasts
Amazon launched Alexa Routines last year and they let users set up a list of automated smart home actions that can be triggered with a simple command. For example, "Alexa, good morning," could launch a Routine that turns on the lights, reports the weather forecast, reads news briefings and starts the coffee maker. Missing from the Routine capabilities, however, has been music. Well, no longer, because Amazon is now rolling out the ability to add playlists, podcasts and radio shows to your Alexa Routines.
Pandora goes full Spotify with personalized playlists
Spotify began building custom-curated playlists back in 2015 and now Pandora is offering a similar option for its listeners. With that Pandora calls "personalized soundtracks," the company will put its Music Genome to work creating a library of playlists based on your listening habits. "The personalized playlists fit your moods, activities and favorite genres and are updated each week based on your individual musical tastes," chief product officer Chris Phillips explained in a blog post. "We combined our human curation with personalized algorithms to automatically serve up new artists and songs anticipating the perfect balance of discovery and steady favorites."
Tidal now streams music to both Amazon Fire TV and Android Auto
When last we heard in December, Norwegian publication Dagens Næringsliv reported that music streaming service Tidal had enough cash to last about six months. But the company is evidently still around and has more to announce: Tidal now has a new app for Amazon's Fire TV products and is compatible with Android Auto.
CDs and vinyl are outselling digital music downloads
Digital music downloads began to outsell physical media since 2012. It took four more years for digital music revenue to surpass those from physical media as well. Then streaming happened, and last year generated more money in the US than all the other formats. Now, digital downloads are coming in dead last, with fewer sales than CDs, vinyl or other physical media, according to the latest annual report from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
YouTube will 'frustrate and seduce' you into its music service (updated)
It's no secret that many people use YouTube as an unofficial Spotify alternative, and artists aren't happy knowing that many of these listeners have little incentive to pay for music as a result. YouTube has a new solution, though: nag users until they switch over. The service's music head Lyor Cohen told Bloomberg in an interview that YouTube will boost the number of ads some viewers see between music videos. This would theoretically "frustrate and seduce" would-be subscribers to YouTube's next-gen streaming service.
Deezer can provide the soundtrack for your Xbox One games
You don't have too many options for large, on-demand music services that will stream in the background of your Xbox One games. Now that Groove Music is no more, Spotify is the main game in town. Thankfully, Deezer just gave you a viable alternative. Its newly launched Xbox One app gives you all-you-can-hear music streaming regardless of what you're doing on your console, including background streaming while you play.
London’s best orchestra is putting on a PlayStation concert
PlayStation, Classic FM and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra are teaming up to bring new meaning to the term "gaming culture". This May, PlayStation in Concert comes to London's Royal Albert Hall, bringing to life music used in games from Original PlayStation, PS2, PS3 and PS4, performed by the 80-strong Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and City of London Choir. Expect the sweeping soundscapes of The Last of Us, The Last Guardian, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture and LittleBigPlanet, among others. And there will be a "spectacular" light show, too.
Spotify needs your help tagging and sorting tunes
Music streaming services can be frustrating if you're an avid listener, since your definitions may not line up with theirs. They may lump trance, techno and drum-and-bass into a generic "dance" category, for instance. Spotify, at least, knows it needs to do better... and it's asking you for help. It quietly launched a Line-In feature that lets you suggest edits to the metadata for artists, albums and songs. You can recommend genres, tags, moods and even nicknames. You could clarify that an "electronica" album is really tech house, or remind Spotify that many people refer to Metallica's self-titled record as "the Black Album."
'Wave' ring is the latest to turn your hands into MIDI controllers
Ring-shaped music controllers aren't anything new. IK Multimedia released the iRing back in 2014, and the Enhancia made its debut at CES this year. Now we've got the Wave, an adjustable MIDI controller ring that can adjust sounds and effects with gestures and taps. Genki Instruments has a working prototype of the device, and is looking to fund a final version on Indiegogo.
The best ways to track your TV, music and reading habits
We've all done it: browsed friends' bookshelves, riffled through their vinyl collection or peeked through a stack of video games left in front of their TV. You can learn a lot about people based on what media they consume and leave lying around their house. And perhaps you're familiar with what director John Waters said you shouldn't do if someone doesn't have books in their house? Unfortunately, the modern streaming age means that we aren't collecting music or movies the way we used to -- we might put a few tomes on our coffee table as decoration, but stacks of books or CDs aren't practical anymore. So how do we remember everything we've listened to lately? How do we show off what we've read? Indeed, there are quite a few apps dedicated to showcasing the media experiences we've "collected." We've gathered some of the better ones so you can easily keep track of -- and brag about -- what you're watching, listening to, playing and reading in this digital age.
Apple will stop accepting iTunes LP submissions this month
Back in 2009, iTunes 9 offered a way for artists and labels to pack in extra album material like art, videos and bonus tracks. Earlier on Tuesday morning, Metro found a leaked Apple document that spelled doom for the bundled extras. The Verge later confirmed that Apple would, indeed, stop taking new iTunes LP submissions as of this month.
Spotify cracks down on free users that steal Premium service
Spotify may have 159 million active users, but only 71 million of those are paid subscribers. It makes sense that the company would want to maximize the number of paying customers, especially in light of the company's recent moves to go public. Now, it appears that Spotify is cracking down on free users that take advantage of hacked apps in order to remove the restrictions of unpaid accounts, according to TorrentFreak.
Google Song Maker adds a music suite to your browser
Google loves using sequencers as a way of teaching folks how to make music, and it's a neat toy to put on its homepage every now and again. The repository for all of these experiments is Chrome Music Lab, a suite of kooky music-makin' tools for budding musicians. And now, the company has added Song Maker, a way for you to craft your own basic tunes.
Spotify might be building a smart speaker of its own
Spotify appears to be working a smart speaker that it says will be "category defining," according to new job listings. "Spotify is on its way to creating its first physical products and set up an operational organization for manufacturing, supply chain, sales and marketing," one ad states. So far, it has relied on other products like Google's Assistant, Amazon Echo and Sonos One to stream its service. However, Apple recently launched its HomePod speaker with only native Apple Music support, showing Spotify's need to take action on its own hardware.
Pandora Premium finally works in your web browser
It's been almost a year since Pandora Premium -- the company's on-demand streaming service and competitor to Spotify and Apple Music -- first arrived. Ever since launch, Premium has only been available on mobile phones, but today it'll finally have a player in the web browser, as well. And while it's been well over two years since Pandora purchased the dearly-departed Rdio, those who used the old service will find Pandora's web service very familiar.
Korg Konnect: A smart amp for small audiences
For large gatherings, PA systems keep you from just yelling at a group of people to share your message. For musicians, a PA is necessary to amplify your voice and instrument to an audience. On the surface, Korg's Konnect PA speaker does pretty much what every other speaker with a few mics attached to it does, make things louder so folks can hear them. But look a little deeper, and you'll see the Konnect takes what Korg knows about sound and performances and shoves it into a four-channel speaker. One you can control via a companion app that's surprisingly robust.
The 'Spire' portable recording studio is all about spontaneity
Inspiration hits you at weird times -- usually when you're in the shower or about to fall asleep. Basically, moments when you have very little chance of putting it down on paper or recording it. The $350 portable Spire Studio from iZotope probably won't help much in those situations (unless you keep it next to your bed with a guitar or keyboard). But, for folks who write music, it's a surprisingly simple to use 8-track recorder that hooks up to almost all your gear.

...