Music

The latest news and reviews of music.

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The Enhancia ring turns your gestures into musical effects
Enhancia consists of a rubber ring that you wear while playing the keyboard, connected to a larger hub. Its purpose is to augment whatever tune you're playing with effects that are common in modern music -- often added later in the production stage -- with natural gestures and in real time. "We wanted to create the shortest path between musical intention and musical creation" said Damien Le Boulaire, CEO and one of Enhancia's four co-founders from Grenoble, France.
Spotify quietly files to become a public company
It's a poorly-kept secret that Spotify wants to go public, but when, exactly? Apparently, the answer is "soon." Axios has learned that Spotify quietly filed initial public offering documents with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in late December. The company has declined to comment, but the insiders claim that Spotify has chosen to go with a direct listing, saving costs and preventing shareholders from losing money. The timing suggests that Spotify could launch its IPO in the first quarter of 2018, although whether or not that happens is up in the air -- the streaming service may have serious legal hurdles to clear.
Brits are paying more for music streaming than ever before
The UK economy might be slowing, but a new report shows that Brits aren't averse to paying for the things they love. The Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) revealed today that sales of music, movies and video games reached a record high in 2017, helped mostly by digital services like Spotify, Valve, Netflix, Amazon Sky, Apple and Google.
Spotify faces $1.6 billion lawsuit over song licensing
Spotify is no stranger to facing lawsuits accusing it of offering unlicensed songs, but the latest could prove to be very costly. Hollywood Reporter has learned that Wixen Music Publishing, which manages the song composition rights for artists ranging from Neil Young to Zach de la Rocha, has sued Spotify for copyright damages of at least $1.6 billion. Wixen claims that the streaming service is using tens of thousands of songs without proper licenses and the compensation to match. The plaintiff had already objected to proposed $43 million settlement in another case in May, so this wasn't coming entirely out of the blue.
A robot arm is Prague's latest star DJ
Never mind the debate over whether digital or vinyl is better for DJs -- the real question is whether or not a human should be there in the first place. Prague's Karlovy Lazne club has started employing an automotive robot arm as one of its DJs after its management challenged a robotics company to make it happen. The bot uses custom software to pick songs, and grabs CDs with its pincers to queue up tracks. It can dance and even scratch records. That'd make it more involved in the mix than some DJs we've seen.
Sony recruits Khalid for its next VR music event
Google and Samsung have been adding tons of virtual music experiences, both live and pre-recorded, to their respective line-ups this year. So where does that leave Sony? You'd think a corporation that straddles both industries would be the most likely to gain a monopoly on the burgeoning VR music space. Well, it's not for want of trying. The company kicked off its 'Lost in Music' VR campaign at the onset of the year, courtesy of an immersive music video collaboration with The Chainsmokers. Now, as 2017 draws to a close, it's leveraging its label roster once more for an upcoming partnership with pop hitmaker Khalid.
Facebook deal lets you use Universal's music catalog in your videos
Most internet giants strike deals with major labels explicitly with music services in mind, but not Facebook. It just reached a worldwide agreement with Universal Music Group that allows the group's music to be used across Facebook, Instagram and even Oculus VR experiences. This will let you (legally) upload videos with Universal artists' music and "personalize" your music experience. In theory, you could drop some Kanye West or Tove Lo into your Instagram clips without worrying about a possible takedown.
Amazon won't let you upload your own MP3s anymore
Streaming services from Spotify, Apple, Google and Amazon have all but made personal MP3s extinct in most circles. It's not a huge surprise, then, that Amazon has decided to end a program that allowed customers to upload and listen to their own MP3 tracks. Originally noted by Slashgear and reported by TechCrunch, members of the free plan cannot upload music with the Amazon Music app as of on December 18th. New subscriptions will be accepted until January 15th, 2018, however, which means you can still pay to upload up to 250,000 songs before then.
Spotify made it easier to install its app on Linux
According to Canonical, the company behind popular Linux distribution Ubuntu, Spotify just made it super simple for subscribers to install the music-streaming app on Linux machines. The company has just released a Spotify "snap," a universal app package that works across Linux flavors.
Magic Leap tips its mixed-reality hand with a Sigur Rós app
We really don't know a lot about Magic Leap, the secretive mixed reality company that made waves back in 2015 with a huge investment from Google. Magic Leap has been experimenting with light-bending nanomaterials, and has promised Madefire mixed reality comics for an undefined launch day and may or may not have leaked a backpack-style prototype. The thing is, no one knows what Magic Leap's technology consists of.
Deezer's 'SongCatcher' borrows Shazam's song ID trick
As Tidal has showed us lately, streaming is a tough business, but underdog French company Deezer is trying to keep up with its giant rivals Spotify and Apple Music. The site is launching a new feature called SongCatcher that can identify any song, much like Apple's new acquisition, Shazam. It works in much the same way; you launch the app, and it will identify any music playing from its 44 million song database. Once it's found the tune, you can then add it to your favorites or playlist and play all the recognized tunes directly from SoundCatcher.
Amazon Echo now streams Spotify and SiriusXM to multiple rooms
Amazon brought multiroom audio support to its Echo speakers a few months ago, but let's face it: unless you're a big fan of Amazon Music Unlimited, it hasn't been very useful for on-demand streaming. That changes today. As promised, Amazon has added multiroom support for Spotify (oh, and SiriusXM) to let you play the tunes of your choice across more than one Echo at a time, including groups. You won't have to stop listening to an album just because you've moved from the living room to the kitchen.
Frank Ocean has his own 'GTA V' radio station
Tired of the same tunes on GTA V? Frank Ocean is here to help. The insanely talented musician, who already has his own Beats 1 show, is now getting a Los Santos radio station to boot, courtesy of the Doomsday Heist update.
Tidal may only have enough cash left to last six months
Music streaming service Tidal is facing both money and user growth woes, according to Norway's Dagens Næringsliv. After reportedly losing roughly NOK$368 million ($44 million dollars) before taxes in 2016, Tidal is now left with just enough cash to last six months. This despite Sprint buying a 33 percent stake in Jay-Z's streaming service in January. The $200 million deal, which included a reported $75 million fund for exclusive content, should've given Tidal "sufficient working capital for the next 12-18 months," said Jay Z's business partner and Roc Nation Sports president Juan Perez (via DN).
Amazon's Alexa can now wake you up with music instead of alarms
One of the greatest perks of connected speakers is waking up to whatever music you like, not just a buzzer or the radio. However, that hasn't been an option for Alexa-equipped devices like the Echo -- until today, that is. Amazon has added a feature to Alexa that lets you wake up to the music of your choice from one of several streaming services, including its own options and Spotify.
Apple confirms it's buying music recognition app Shazam
Well, that was fast. Following reports on Friday that Apple was planning to buy music recognition app Shazam, CNBC reports that Cupertino has confirmed the purchase. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but TechCrunch estimates the agreement to be worth around $400 million. The site was also the first to report news of the acquisition Friday afternoon.
Apple is reportedly buying Shazam and its music identification tech
In a bit of Friday afternoon news, TechCrunch reports that Apple plans to buy Shazam, the company behind the popular audio identification software and app. Apparently, the site's sources indicate the deal could be announced Monday, but it's quick to note the timing on these things isn't always solid. As you can imagine, rumored terms of the deal, including a sale price, aren't reliable just yet. The acquisition would give Apple ownership of the music, TV and movie identifying tech and a group of features it could easily take advantage of with its own products.
Amazon Echo speakers and Music Unlimited head to 28 more countries
It took Amazon a while to get its streaming music strategy truly off the ground -- its Music Unlimited service, with competes with Spotify, Apple Music and the like, only launched last fall. But today, both Music Unlimited and the Echo smart speaker lineup are expanding in a big way: Amazon has announced that both are available in 28 new countries, most of which are found across Europe and South America.
Quincy Jones has a streaming service for jazz documentaries
It's easy enough to find concert movies or music documentaries online, but watching them across various services is kind of a pain. Jazz legend Quincy Jones wants to help with that. Along with a French TV producer, Jones is launching Qwest TV. For between €7.49 and €9.90 per month ($8.83 - $11.68; the higher price is for HD/4K streaming) you'll get access to "hundreds of hours" of jazz programming, sourced from European TV and other places. Annual subscriptions are available as well.
Tidal now works with Apple's CarPlay
Spotify, Google Play Music and the BBC's iPlayer Radio all work with Apple's CarPlay. Now Tidal users can get in on the action, too; the company tweeted the compatibility of its streaming app with the iOS-based in-car system.

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