The clock has been counting down, and the time is night: If you signed up for that three-month free trial of Apple Music back in June, today is the last day to cancel that subscription before it automatically renews on Sept. 30. Here’s how to make sure you don’t wind up locked into paying for a service you don’t want. [More]
streaming music
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]
Sen. Al Franken Calls For Federal Investigation Into Apple Music
By 7.23.15
In response to concerns arising from the recent launch of Apple Music, U.S. Senator Al Franken called on both the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the possibility that the tech giant may be creating an anticompetitive environment in the streaming music market. [More]
How To Opt Out Of Getting Phone Calls, Texts From Pandora Under Music Service’s Updated Contact Policy
By 7.16.15
Proving that it’s always a good idea to thoroughly read any changes in a company’s terms of service, even if you really don’t want to because it’s just so many words, Pandora customers might be interested to know that they could be getting phone calls, text messages or even videoconferencing calls from the company in the future if they don’t opt out. [More]
App Loops 30-Second Spotify Snippets To Support Your Favorite Artist
By 6.25.15
Do you want to support your favorite musicians, but do so without spending any money and without actually listening to their songs? A band came up with a brilliant scheme to extract as much royalty cash from Spotify for your favorite musicians in the shortest amount of time. It’s called Eternify, and it renders your favorite songs unlistenable. [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]
Apple Knows You Hate iTunes And Love Spotify, So They’re Launching A Streaming Music Service Too
By 6.2.15
Apple’s iTunes digital storefront for music was a pretty big deal when it launched over a decade ago. But time, and data plans, march on. Where once being able to buy a cheap single was the new hotness, these days consumers are more likely to want to stream their music, through a service like Spotify or Pandora. And so, Apple being Apple, they’re about to launch a new streaming service too. [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]
Warner Music Is Totally Cool With Streaming Music Now That It’s Making More Money Than Song Downloads
By 5.12.15
Once seen as the knife that would slay the music industry, it seems the popularity — and profitability — of streaming music is making some labels change their tune. Warner Music Group said revenue from streaming music has passed that from digital downloads for the first time. [More]
Report: DOJ Has An Eye On Apple As It Makes Moves To Push Free Streaming Music Rivals Out Of The Way
By 5.4.15
Let’s be honest: It would be ideal for a business if it could somehow snap up every customer looking for a certain service. But because we (thankfully) live in a world filled with choices, companies instead must compete with rivals to get our hard-earned dollars. A new report says Apple is preparing to debut its new streaming music service by trying to put the squeeze on competitors like Spotify that offer content for free. [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]
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]
Sony Ditches Its Streaming Music Service, Teams With Spotify For Playstation Music
By 1.28.15
If at first you don’t succeed, try again using someone else’s system: Sony is pulling the plug on its current streaming music offering, Music Unlimited, and hitching its wagon to Spotify’s star with a new partnership for PlayStation. [More]
Spotify Launches Family Plan That Allows Users To Share A Discounted Subscription
By 10.20.14
As competition heats up in the world of streaming music, Spotify is following the lead of other streaming services like Netflix with a new family plan. The option allows up to five family members to subscribe together for a monthly discounted rate. [More]
Google Buys Music Playlist Service Songza For Reported $39 Million
By 7.2.14
The coffers of Silicon Valley are tinkling sweetly again with the sound of coins exchanging hands upon the news that Google has bought music playlist service Songza for a reported $39 million. Because in the technology world, everyone’s gotta have a piece of every pie. [More]
Amazon Creates Streaming Music Service, But Don’t Expect To Hear New Releases
By 6.12.14
If you’re a fan of six-month old music releases and happen to have a Prime membership, then Amazon’s newly launched streaming music service might be for you. [More]
Spotify Has 10 Million Paying Customers, Still Loses Money
By 5.21.14
There have been three broad eras so far of online music. There was the era of Napster, when rampant piracy was great for music-loving young people, and a seeming catastrophe for artists and record labels. There was the era of iTunes, which allowed fans to buy only the single song that they wanted to hear. Now the era of Spotify lets us simply stream music on a variety of devices. It’s convenient, but is it sustainable for everyone…especially Spotify, which still doesn’t turn a profit? [More]
YouTube Prepares Subscription Music Service For Possible December Debut
By 10.24.13
When it comes to having choices, we’re of the mind that more is always better. So welcome to the ring of streaming music services, YouTube. It’s reportedly going to launch its own subscription music service as early as December, lining itself up to compete with current popular options like Spotify and Rdio. [More]
