Music

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Universal Music taps AR and VR to hype new releases
VR storytelling company Within has been experimenting with different musical collaborators. Universal Music Group artist The Chemical Brothers worked with the company to create an immersive, web VR-based visual interpretation of the duo's tune, "Under Neon Lights." Within also put together a music video for OneRepublic in VR for their single, "Kids." Within is now going big in a new partnership with Universal Music Group to develop augmented and virtual reality experiences with the music label's large roster of artists.
Listen to a discarded score for ‘Star Trek: Discovery’
Cliff Eidelman (pictured) famously penned the ominous score for Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country after (first pick) James Horner was too expensive. Now, the composer has revealed that he was in the running to produce the soundtrack for Star Trek: Discovery. The job eventually went to Jeff Russo, but Eidelman chose to continue working on the project since he was never tied down to a contract. As a consequence, the musician has published a four-track look into an entirely different form of theme for the series.
Pharrell Williams will co-own Roli's modular instrument business
There's no question that Pharrell Williams has had at least some fondness for technology (his Daft Punk collabs and gold-tinged smartphones were big clues), but now he's taking that appreciation to Will.I.Am levels. Roli has revealed that Pharrell is not only becoming its Chief Creative Officer, but will invest in and take co-ownership of the modular instrument startup. He'll have a vested interest in Roli's success, in other words. The company hasn't outlined the terms of the deal, but the superstar will help develop "revolutionary" digital instruments that are accessible and "iconic."
Recommended Reading: The 'Blade Runner' effect on electronic music
Do Androids Dream Of Electronic Beats? Al Horner, FACT After months of teases, trailers and short films, Blade Runner 2049 is now in theaters. FACT takes a look at the original film's impact on music, including comments from electronic music legend Gary Numan on how he was influenced. There's also a 12-minute documentary to accompany the written portion, and it's well worth your time.
Ghostface's cryptocurrency demands bulletproof wallets
At this point it's kind of surprising that Wu-Tang Clan hadn't gotten into the cryptocurrency game. After all, even Burger King is doing it and Wu-Tang Financial was all about diversifying your investments. Ghostface Killah has picked up the baton, though, announcing Cream Capital will be seeking a $30 million initial coin offering (ICO) for his branded bitcoins.
Dance in a trippy VR rave inspired by Tokimonsta's new album
Producer and DJ TOKiMONSTA has partnered with social VR music platform TheWaveVR to release a special edition of her next album, Lune Rouge. While the new record drops today, fans with an HTC Vive or Oculus Rift can watch the virtual reality portion on TheWaveVr's free app when it goes live on at 6PM PT October 8th.
Apple Music tunes are now available inside Facebook Messenger
We've known for a while that both Spotify and Apple Music were coming to Facebook Messenger. Spotify was integrated as a chat extension this past August with an AI-powered group playlist feature. Now Apple Music is getting its own presence as the streaming music service has officially launched inside the social network's Messenger system.
Apple Music will stream documentary on Pink's new album October 13th
Superstar Pink is about to launch her seventh studio album, Beautiful Trauma, on October 13th. To celebrate (and get the hype machine moving, of course), she's teamed up with Apple Music for an exclusive behind-the-scenes documentary titled On the Record: Pink – Beautiful Trauma. The short film will release October 13th on Apple Music.
Alexa voice control comes to Sonos speakers in public beta
A year after saying it was coming, Sonos finally announced that a public beta is incoming for Alexa support. At an event in New York today, the company said the functionality will be rolling out to all current models of its speakers. Support is provided by your Echo, Echo Dot or other Alexa-enabled device. But this just the first step, don't be surprised if Google Assistant or Siri show up as well. Sonos is also working to get more developers onboard for its ecosystem, with a "Works with Sonos" certification program.
Microsoft gives up on Groove Music, switches customers to Spotify
Microsoft still isn't having much luck competing in the digital music realm. The software behemoth has announced that it's axing its Groove Music services (streaming, purchases and re-downloads) after December 31st, 2017. And unlike in the past, there isn't another Microsoft-branded service waiting in the wings. Instead, the company is transitioning everyone over to Spotify. The Groove Music app will offer to migrate your collection and playlists through an update, starting with a preview version this week and more broadly on October 9th.
Recommended Reading: Streaming is changing the sound of music
Uncovering How Streaming Is Changing the Sound of Pop Marc Hogan, Pitchfork You don't have to look far to find evidence of how streaming services have dramatically changed the way we listen to music. But it's not just the consumption that's been affected, it's the creation too. Pitchfork takes a look at how services like Spotify have impacted music trends and why things like globalization, collaborations and slower tempos have taken over the pop sound.
Roli makes its Blocks music-making module more responsive
British music company Roli introduced an affordable, innovative music-making gadget last year called Roli Blocks. It's a set of modular synth controllers that can snap together and connect via Bluetooth to your iOS device. Roli is now updating the iOS app, Noise, and updating its surface controller, the Lightpad M.
Yale's next concert brings your phone into the performance
Normally, bringing out your smartphone at a classical concert is a surefire way to get kicked out, or at least receive some disapproving stares from everyone in the room. Not so at the Yale Concert Band's next performance, though. When it holds its season-opening concert on October 6th, it'll want you to keep your phone out for a key segment. The band is performing Cody Brookshire's "Honeycomb," which uses any web-capable mobile device as part of the performance -- what you see on stage is just one part of a much larger show.
EU withheld a study that shows piracy doesn't hurt sales
In 2013, the European Commission ordered a €360,000 ($430,000) study on how piracy affects sales of music, books, movies and games in the EU. However, it never ended up showing it to the public except for one cherry-picked section. That's possibly because the study concluded that there was no evidence that piracy affects copyrighted sales, and in the case of video games, might actually help them.
US music sales keep climbing thanks to streaming
Last year, streaming generated more money in the US for the music business than all other forms of distribution for the first time ever, and that trend is continuing in spades. In the first half of 2017, the industry raked in just under $4 billion, up 17 percent over the same period last year, with 62 percent of that coming from streaming. If the trend continues, the industry should easily surpass the $7.7 billion it earned in 2016, which was already the best year for music since 2009.
London venue is first to eradicate touts with digital-only tickets
Touts are something you'll no longer see roaming the pavements outside of London's Islington Assembly Hall. The music venue has become the first in the UK to commit entirely to digital tickets, all of which will be sold through mobile app Dice. Tickets are inextricably linked to the Dice app, so they can't be posted on resale sites or flogged to touts. That works in your favour, of course, because you'll only ever pay list price. Just make sure you don't drain your battery organising pre-drinks with the squad.
A Chinese tech giant tried to buy Spotify
Spotify is known for being fiercely independent, but that go-it-alone attitude might have been put to the test in the past several months. A TechCrunch source understands that Spotify rejected a buyout bid from Tencent, the Chinese internet giant behind WeChat, earlier in 2017. Reportedly, Tencent saw Spotify as an opportunity to expand its streaming music influence beyond China, where it thrives through services like QQ Music and KuGou. The insider doesn't say whether or not talks got to the point where a price came up.
Netflix and John Legend are making a music competition show
For all the ground Netflix has covered with its original shows, there's one area it has yet to touch: the talent show. If you ask Variety, however, that's about to change. It understands that Netflix is partnering with John Legend's production company Get Lifted Film Co. on Rhythm & Flow, a music talent competition series. It's still in the early stages (they haven't chosen any hosts yet), but it would focus on R&B and soul music. A former NBC executive, Jeff Gaspin, is reportedly involved through his Primary Wave Entertainment business.
Spotify no longer streams music in Apple's Safari web browser
If you use Safari to stream Spotify tunes, you're going to need a plan B. Listeners have discovered that Spotify's web player no longer works with Safari. Visit and you'll be asked to either use an alternative browser or fire up the native Mac app. When asked about the abrupt change, the company's customer support could only say that "recent updates" made Safari incompatible. It can't say if or when the feature will come back. We've asked Spotify if it can elaborate, but there's already some speculation as to the possible cause.
Spotify's music event picks up where Apple left off
Apple may believe that hosting music festivals is old hat, but don't tell that to Spotify. It just announced Who We Be, an event based around the popular hip-hop and grime playlist (it has 143,000 subscribers) of the same name. The November 30th gathering takes place at London's Alexandra Palace, and will have some of the UK's best-known artists from the scene, including Dizzee Rascal (above), Bugzy Malone and Giggs. If you're intrigued, tickets go on sale 10AM local time on September 11th.

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