“My album will never never never be on Apple,” Kanye West insisted on Twitter, referring to his latest release, “The Life of Pablo.” This is literally true, but one song from the album is now available on the major streaming services, including Apple, Spotify, and Google Play. [More]
music
Starbucks, Spotify Team Up To Let Users Take The Sounds Of The Coffee Shop On The Go
By 1.19.16
Have you ever walked into a Starbucks for your daily caffeine fix, heard the music playing and thought to yourself, “Man, this is my jam, I wish I had this on my playlist.” No? Well, okay, but just in case this ever does happen, you’ll be covered, as the coffee giant has partnered with Spotify to allow customers to take more than just java home with them. [More]
Apple Increases iTunes Match, Apple Music iCloud Storage Limit To 100,000 Tracks
By 12.7.15
Music lovers, who also happen to be users of Apple products, can now store a lot more of their favorite tunes in the cloud: about 75,000 more songs to be exact. Apple confirmed over the weekend that iTunes Match and Apple Music iCloud libraries will now have the capacity to hold 100,000 songs. [More]
Ringo Starr Auctioning Off Copy No. 0000001 Of Beatles’ White Album
By 11.25.15
Are you a Beatles fan with somewhere between $40,000 to $60,000 to spend on yourself this holiday season? You are! What a coincidence, because Beatles drummer Ringo Starr has a record he’d like to sell you. [More]
Zune Is Officially Dead After Microsoft Pulls The Plug On Streaming Service
By 11.16.15
Microsoft officially pulled the plug on its Zune streaming music service on Sunday, shoveling dirt on the final remnants of its digital media venture that began to unravel in 2011 when the company discontinued the media player. Users will no longer be able to stream or download content from Zune, but those who subscribed to Zune Music Pass will automatically be moved to Microsoft’s Groove service, which is compatible with Xbox One, Windows 10, Android and iOS. The Zune was Microsoft’s failed attempt at taking on the Apple iPod in 2006, and immediately received negative feedback. [PCWorld] [More]
Pandora Mulling The Idea Of An Offline Listening Feature
By 11.11.15
It’s tough out there for a streaming music service like Pandora, with competition from Spotify and Apple Music constantly putting on the pressure to get more subscribers. But there’s one thing Pandora’s rivals have that it doesn’t — an option for subscribers to listen to music offline. That may change in the future. [More]
Apple Launches Apple Music For Android
By 11.10.15
Apple fulfilled a promise to bring its subscription music service to the other side today, launching Apple Music for Android users. Most of the functionality for the new app is the same as its iOS counterpart, minus Siri integration. The Android-based app also offers a free, three-month trial of the service to new users. After that, the service costs $9.99/month for a single user or $14.99 for a family plan, so don’t forget to cancel your subscription if you don’t want to foot the bill after 90 days. [via ArsTechnica] [More]
Kmart Employee Saved Monthly Elevator Music Tapes From Trash To Torture Us All 26 Years Later
By 10.13.15 — Updated: 6.8.17
It’s October 1989. Your family is spending a pleasant Saturday afternoon at Kmart, browsing for some late back-to-school clothes, or maybe some Halloween costumes. The shelves are full of clearance lunch boxes and plastic pumpkins, and you hear soft instrumental adult-contemporary music interspersed with Kmart promos over the store speakers. That music’s all piped in, though, isn’t it? No recordings of it could possibly exist. [More]
T-Mobile Now Exempts 33 Streaming Music Services From Data Limits, Adds Apple Music
By 7.28.15
Last year, T-Mobile added a benefit for their customers that no other mobile provider had tried: data used for music streaming services doesn’t count against their data allowance. Since the launch, Big Magenta has taken suggestions from their users for new services to add, and now they’re up to a total of 33 services that are part of the program. [More]
Musicians Will Get More Than $0 During Apple Music Trial, But How Much Is That?
By 6.23.15
Maybe Taylor Swift doesn’t wield as much power over the world’s largest corporations as we thought. Yesterday, it seemed that her open letter to Apple was influential in convincing the company to pay royalties to song owners and performers during customers’ trial period for their forthcoming Apple Music service. There’s a catch, though: artists won’t be getting 70% of zero, but they may not be getting the full royalties, either. [More]
Is The iPod’s Disappearance From The Top Of Apple Website A Sign Of Its Impending Doom?
By 6.12.15
Well, that was quick: Only a few days after Apple announced its new subscription music service, Apple Music has replaced the iPod at the top of the company’s site. Here’s where everyone starts checking the deathwatch clock. [More]
Starbucks & Spotify Team Up In Streaming Music Deal
By 5.19.15
Just two months after Starbucks stopped selling CDs in its stores, the coffee chain says it’s going to be filling customers’ ears with music another way, announcing a streaming partnership with Spotify that will let customers have a say in what’s being played. [More]
Streaming Music Sales Outdo Revenue From CDs For The First Time
By 3.19.15
The inevitable slide toward outdated technology is continuing for CDs, with the revenue generated from streaming music topping CD sales for the first time ever. [More]
Musician Says Universal Music Has Hijacked His YouTube Videos With Bogus Copyright Claims
By 3.17.15
UPDATE: Shortly after posting this story, Mr. Lynne updated his original Facebook note to say that he was eventually able to get UMG to release its claim to his clip via an “Appeal,” which is a step above the “Dispute” process that had failed him earlier. [More]
McDonald’s Will Pay SXSW Performers After All
By 3.11.15
Global fast-food mega-brand McDonald’s has gone digging behind its metaphorical couch cushions this week after negative music festival-related publicity. A band exposed the company’s plans to not pay artists invited to play in its showcase at the South by Southwest Music Festival, even though it had budgeted to distribute free McDonald’s food and drink. Now, in an unsurprising move, McDonald’s will pay the bands that play in its showcase. [More]
Report: Apple Sides With Music Labels, Thinks Free Streaming Service Tiers Are Bad
By 3.6.15
Last year, Apple acquired Beats, a company that makes two things that go nicely with media players and smartphones: high-end headphones and a subscription-based music streaming service. While they’re happy to offer a free trial and will be reportedly be pushing the Beats Music app to iDevice users in the future, Apple will not follow competitor Spotify’s lead in offering a free, ad-supported tier. [More]
McDonald’s Invites Indie Band To Sell Out For No Pay
By 3.5.15
The South by Southwest Music Festival is an annual event in Austin, Texas, where you can discover relatively unknown independent bands and absorb other forms of culture. Playing the festival can be a great opportunity, and McDonald’s apparently knows this. The duo Ex Cops received an invitation to play at the “McDonald’s Showcase” at this year’s festival. How much was the global mega-corporation going to pay the band? Well, um, they don’t have a budget for paying the artists. [More]
Music Industry Agrees To Release New Albums On The Same Day Worldwide In Anti-Piracy Effort
By 2.26.15
Gone are the days of envying music fans in other countries who get their hands on new albums before the rest of the world: In an effort to cut down on piracy, representatives of the music industry say they’ve come to an agreement to release new albums on the same day worldwide, Friday, instead of different countries releasing music on different days of the week. [More]
