Music

The latest news and reviews of music.

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Land that Tinder match with your favorite Spotify track
If you, single person, often find yourself nostalgic for the bygone days of MySpace profile songs*, Tinder and Spotify would like to get you back in the mood with their latest collaboration. Starting today, anyone can add a Tinder "Anthem" to their profile page, show off their top artists on Spotify and quickly swipe through potential mates based on their music tastes.
Tidal lost huge sums of money fighting streaming rivals
If you guessed that it would be expensive for a small streaming service like Tidal to compete with heavyweights like Apple and Spotify, especially through exclusives... you guessed correctly. Tidal's parent company, Aspiro, has reported a $28 million loss for 2015, the year Jay-Z bought it. That's more than twice the $10.4 million loss it chalked up in 2014. While the Wall Street Journal understands that this doesn't include all US financial data (it's not a "complete picture"), it's not exactly flattering. That's particularly true when Tidal didn't have a guaranteed source of funding going into 2016.
Text 'Call Me Maybe' to your crush with Genius Lyric Messages
Genius is where the internet turns for rap lyrics (mostly) and song annotations, and tomorrow you'll be able to send those to your pals without leaving iMessage. The way the press release describes it, the process sounds fairly simple. And even a bit GBoard-like with its card structure. "Users can create Genius Lyric Messages for any song available on Genius, regardless of artist, genre, language, year or chart popularity," the press release reads. From there you can customize the card's background image and send it to whoever you want, be it via iMessage or your preferred social apps. Don't use iMessage? You can send lyrics from within the iOS-exclusive (for now) Genius app itself.
SoundCloud Go promo gives you 3 months of music for 99 cents
SoundCloud's Go streaming service is barely half a year old, but the company is already determined to attract hesitant listeners. It's launching a week-long promo that will give you 3 months of unlimited, ad-free music for 99 cents (or 99 pence in the UK) if you subscribe by September 19th. That's similar to offers we've seen from the likes of Google and Spotify, of course. However, it's more important here. While there's a real chance that you have at least a passing acquaintance with Google Play Music or Spotify, SoundCloud Go is relatively new and untested -- this is your chance to give it an extended try without dropping $30/£30. And when SoundCloud hasn't had much success getting customers to bite, a good deal like this could go a long way toward improving the company's bottom line.
Roland's System-8 synthesizer does almost everything
As Roland's product-packed 909 day comes to a close, one of the more impressive announcements is the new System-8 synthesizer. Taking a design cue from the Aira line, the new keyboard is packed full of features including the ability to add and control multiple synth profiles at once.
The grandfather kings of nerdcore
In terms of popularity, nerdcore occupies a space somewhere between underground hip-hop and the end of the universe, according to rapper and educator Mega Ran. Nerdcore is a brand of hip-hop characterized by a focus on geeky things, which means its subject matter is as vast and varied as Tolkien's Encircling Sea. It's niche but limitless; visible but not known. It's big enough to support the musical careers of artists like MC Lars, MC Frontalot, Beefy and MC Chris, yet it's small enough that even the most fervent Star Wars fan may have never heard of it. Even in an age where geek chic is hot and "nerd" is no longer a vicious insult, nerdcore remains underground -- but its influence on popular culture is showing. More mainstream rappers like Childish Gambino, Danny Brown, Deltron 3030, RZA and Dr. Octagon regularly reference science fiction, astrophysics, video games and other traditionally geeky topics, at times while sampling the likes of Final Fantasy 7 and Pac-Man. Beyond the Billboard charts, Hamilton is a national phenomenon about American colonial history, and even Game of Thrones has its own mixtape.
Justin Timberlake's concert film debuts on Netflix October 12th
As the streaming wars rage on, Amazon, Hulu, Netflix and others continue to add to their libraries. Today, Netflix announced via Twitter that Justin Timberlake's concert film will debut on the service October 20th. Officially titled Justin Timberlake and The Tennessee Kids, the title is the performance from the Las Vegas stop of the singer's 20/20 Experience Tour. This only pads Netflix's music-focused exclusives, following A Very Murray Christmas, Keith Richards: Under the Influence, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead on Steve Aoki and What Happened, Miss Simmone.
Apple Music has 17 million paid users with the help of exclusives
When Apple teased its redesign for Apple Music back at WWDC, the company revealed that the service had reached 15 million paid users. CEO Tim Cook kicked off today's iPhone event by announcing that in the three months since, the music streaming option tacked on another 2 million. That's still a long way from Spotify's 30 million subscribers, but Apple continues to gain ground with features like Beats 1 and a stable of high-profile exclusive releases.
Amazon Alexa support coming to LG's SmartThinQ hub
When LG launched its SmartThinQ hub at CES this year, you couldn't help but notice that it was a dead ringer for Amazon's Echo but, well, dumber. That's because the device could play music and control LG SmartThinQ appliances, but wouldn't obey your voice commands like an Echo. However, LG has announced that that it will join Amazon rather than fighting it by adding support for the Echo's Alexa voice assistant.
Recommended Reading: The political media machine on Facebook
Inside Facebook's (Totally Insane, Unintentionally Gigantic, Hyperpartisan) Political-Media Machine John Herrman, The New York Times Magazine A barrage of political links, ads and other content has filled up your News Feed over the last few months. With each new election, the amount of noise seems to get worse and now that we have two candidates who both have quite a list of shortcomings, the chatter is at an all-time high. The New York Times Magazine takes a deep dive into how Facebook is serving as a massive political media machine and its influence on democracy in the US.
Bloomberg: Spotify buries artists with Apple and Tidal exclusives (updated)
Another week has passed with another high-profile exclusive debuting on Apple Music. As it does each time an artist keeps a new album off its service, Spotify reiterated this week that those exclusives are "bad for the whole industry." According to a report from Bloomberg though, the company isn't stopping there with its anti-exclusive stance. Bloomberg sources indicate that Spotify is retaliating against artists to release their new music on Apple's service first by making those tracks harder to find when they do become available. Those sources say the strategy includes keeping songs off of featured playlists and burying them in search rankings. Spotify declined to comment on the report to Engadget. A Spotify representative told Engadget that the report "is unequivocally false."
Spotify adds a full list of tour dates to artist pages
Spotify has been providing concert info for a while, but now those listings are getting a bit more detailed. Late last year, the company teamed up with Songkick to serve up a list of nearby concerts based on your listening habits. That same partnership will now display full list of upcoming shows on artist pages under the "Concerts" tab. Just like before, there's a "Details" button beside each date that links to the event page on Songkick.
Universal Music Group is reportedly done with streaming exclusives
Apple Music and Tidal have tapped into exclusive releases to gain the upper hand on Spotify over the last year, but it appears one major record label may have had enough. Frank Ocean released his long-awaited follow-up to 2012's Channel Orange on Apple Music over the weekend, an album that should top the charts this week. However, Blond has apparently caused quite a stir with Ocean's label Def Jam and its parent company Universal Music Group. In fact, Billboard reports that UMG CEO Lucian Grainge has informed the heads of Universal's labels that streaming service exclusives are a thing of the past for their artists.
Pandora's new internet radio station is curated by Questlove
Pandora may be prepping a Spotify-like subscription for launch, but that's not keeping the internet radio service from ramping up its original content. Today, the company announced that it's partnering with The Roots drummer and DJ Questlove on a new station. What's more, the station will feature a 3-hour weekly show curated and produced by the musician called "Questlove Supreme." Pandora describes the show as "a weekly ride through the global musical landscape featuring adventurous music selections, compelling conversations and revealing interviews." The company also says the show will have a similar feel to Questlove's NYU music course.
Now that Deezer is widely available in the US, should you switch?
People outside of the U.S. are already familiar with Deezer. The streaming service has been available in other parts of the world for a long time now, but until recently the company only made its subscription available to a select few in the States. Until a few weeks ago, you needed to own either Bose or Sonos speakers (or have a Cricket phone plan) to have the option of using Deezer. After dipping its toe in the U.S. market, the streaming catalog is now available to everyone. Does it offer enough to woo subscribers away from other big-name services? Probably not.
Amazon could launch an Echo-exclusive music service
Back in June, reports came out that Amazon plans to launch a $10-a-month standalone music service similar to Spotify, Apple Music and other subscription-based options out there. According to Recode, though, the tech titan is also gearing up to introduce a second, cheaper offering that will only cost you $5 a month. The catch? It will only work with the company's Alexa-powered Echo speakers. Other than that, Recode says it's just like your typical paid music service: you can choose what to play, and you won't get interrupted by ads.
Pandora's new streaming service could launch as soon as September
We've know about Pandora's plan to turn the remaining pieces of Rdio into its own subscription service for some time now, but thanks to The Wall Street Journal, we know that the launch could be imminent. WSJ reports that the company is close to securing the necessary licensing deals for the new paid service in both the US and abroad. The media outlet's sources indicate that in addition to a free tier, there will also be two paid options -- a detail we've heard the company's CEO discuss in the past. We surmise that listening for free means that you'll have to suffer through some ads, but that's something Pandora will likely confirm at launch.
Listen to Groove Music while you play 'Forza' on Xbox One
One of the cooler features from the Anniversary Update for Xbox One is Background Music. As the name implies, you can use music from practically any source as your soundtrack for a lot of different activities on the console. If you're a fan of Groove Music, there's an update rolling out that adds the service to the list of Background Music sources. It's a feature that's been available to folks in the Dashboard Preview Program for awhile, but Xbox's Mike Ybarra says that the update, version 3.6.2395, will be available for everyone today.
Frank Ocean's new visual album is live on Apple Music
Endless, Frank Ocean's followup to his acclaimed 2012 debut Channel Orange, is available now exclusively on Apple Music as a 45-minute visual album. Rolling Stone says Endless is a separate project from Ocean's next traditional album, but we should expect that to debut this weekend. Ocean gave fans a taste of the album via a stream on his website earlier tonight. We heard on September 1st that his sophomore effort (then known as Boys Don't Cry) was meant for Apple Music, but rumors of a release that week turned up nothing.
Spotify's first documentary recalls the early days of Metallica (updated)
We first heard about Spotify's Landmark series back in May and today the first installment is debuting for Android and iOS users. Landmark -- Metallica: The Early Years is a documentary-style look at the iconic heavy metal band's origins and the move from performing in dive bars to taking the stage in stadiums. During the course of four chapters, the series recounts the formation of the band through the release of 1984's Ride the Lightning.

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