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Recommended Reading: How technology is changing entertainment
The future of entertainment Rolling Stone Whether it's music, movies or television, technology is rapidly changing the ways we experience entertainment. Rolling Stone offers a look at a number of ways things like AI, social media and more are altering the landscape, including how Taylor Swift concert organizers used facial recognition to track her stalkers.
Lyft enables sloth with seat-specific stadium drop-offs
It's Lyft's turn to help you get to an event on time, and with a minimum of legwork at that. The ridesharing firm has forged a deal with SeatGeek to help you book rides to (and from) live events in both companies' apps. You can not only book a Lyft ride through SeatGeek's app, but send your seat location to Lyft's app to make sure the driver drops you off near your gate, not just the default location. You won't have to traipse from one side of the stadium to another just to make it to your seat before game time -- lazy, perhaps, but convenient if you're already running late.
Ticketfly is finally back online after hack
Ticketfly's site is back online after a hack last week which forced the company to take the site down while it investigated the incident. The iOS app, along with the Promoter and Fanbase functions, are still down, as Ticketfly prioritized "bringing up the most critical parts of the platform first." It's also rolling out promoter and venue websites that the platform powers.
Ticketfly hacker stole more than 26 million email and home addresses
A hacker has leaked personal information for more than 26 million Ticketfly users after last week's data breach. That's according to Troy Hunt, the founder of Have I Been Pwned, which lets you check whether your email address has been included in various data breaches.
Ticketfly says user data was compromised in recent hack
After it temporarily shut down its site Thursday, Ticketfly has confirmed it was hacked, and that the attackers compromised some client (i.e. venue) and customer data. The extent of the hack, and the types of data that the attackers accessed, is not yet known. Ticketfly is investigating the issue and has brought in third-party forensic experts to help it get back online. The company will give ticket buyers more information here as it becomes available.
Amazon's US ticket sales talks stall over customer data
Are you hoping that Amazon will sell event tickets in the US and put an end to the dominance of giants who charge endless hidden fees? You might not want to hold your breath. Reuters sources back previous claims that Amazon is in talks with American venues to sell their tickets, but add that negotiations are stalled over access to customer data. Venue owners reportedly want the info to help target their artist bookings and social networking campaigns, but Amazon has "yet to budge." Amazon has even talked to Ticketmaster as a possible partner, but that too has run aground over control of customer info.
Bandsintown concert-discovery app amps up the artist interaction
If you're looking to find a music performance in your local area, you might think about using Google or Eventbrite. If you want a dedicated concert-discovery app with an artist-centric big new update, you might want to give Bandsintown a try. Artists who have registered with the service — including Wiz Kalifa, Lorde, and Green Day — can now send updates to their fans through the app.
MelodyVR's music app will have songs from the biggest labels
When MelodyVR finally launches its virtual reality platform for music, it'll have experiences to offer from all three major record labels. After signing up both Warner and Universal Music within the past few months, it has now forged (PDF) a worldwide multi-year licensing and distribution deal with Sony Music Entertainment. The startup calls the team-up "an extremely significant milestone," since it will now be able to use Sony's vast catalog, which includes music from artists signed by Columbia, Epic, Legacy, Masterworks, RCA Records, Sony Classical, Sony Music Latin and Syco Music. According to VRFocus, experiences featuring Sony's tracks will launch on the platform, but the record label can use them elsewhere after some time.
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.
Recommended Reading: How reliable are internet movie ratings?
'Ghostbusters' is a perfect example of how internet movie ratings are broken Walt Hickey, FiveThirtyEight The reboot of the 1984 classic hits theaters this weekend, but the criticism of the new Ghostbusters has been flying for months. FiveThirtyEight takes a close look at internet ratings for the film as a way of showing that you shouldn't always rely on those numbers when making a decision about which movie to see. "People put far too much faith in numbers that are preliminary, decontextualized and, in the end, oversimplified," Hickey concludes.
NextVR and Live Nation team up to stream 'hundreds' of concerts
NextVR has already brought many important firsts when it comes to live VR broadcasting, so after golf, NASCAR, political debates and basketball, it's targeting live music. The company is teaming up with concert promoter Live Nation to stream "hundreds" of performances in virtual reality to fans worldwide. To increase the you-are-there feeling that makes VR broadcasts unique, it's planning "optimized" 3D audio to go along with the views from the front row, on-stage and backstage.
Ticketmaster will start selling tickets on Facebook this month
You can already buy things on Facebook, and later this month, you'll be able to snag concert tickets without leaving the site, too. Ticketmaster VP Dan Armstrong told BuzzFeed in an interview that the ticket retailer would begin selling admission to live music and other events through the social network's site and mobile app before April's end. While Ticketmaster isn't the first to coordinate purchases from Facebook, making tickets to events available on the social channel seems like a good move for both companies.
Spotify recommends concerts based on your listening habits
Spotify's Discover Weekly feature curates a new playlist based on your listening habits every seven days. Now, the streaming service is using those tracks you play to serve up nearby concert recommendations, too. Spotify says the concert picks are based on the artists it knows you'll want to see live with some other acts it thinks you'll enjoy thrown in for good measure. Just like Discover Weekly, the recommendations will change with your musical tastes. What's more, when you're heading out of town, you can change your location to see which concerts are happening at your destination. The whole thing is powered by Songkick, and the Concerts feature hits Spotify's Android and iOS apps today.
Pandora snatches up Ticketfly to become a one-stop shop for music
Pandora has been providing artists with tools to connect with fans and understand their audience for a while now, but the company is getting serious about event promotion, too. The internet radio service announced that it's purchasing Ticketfly, a company that offers ticketing and other marketing tools for live gigs. Ticketfly currently works with 1,200 venues and promoters to help folks like you and I find and purchase tickets to catch a live show. The acquisition means that Pandora will have a way for artists to sell tickets in addition to its AMP (Artist Marketing Platform) feature that provides audience info and Artist Audio Messages that help them directly connect with fans. It also recently purchased Next Big Sound to help with listener insights and trends. This deal for Ticketfly is worth around $450 million and it's said to be "a nearly equal mix" of cash and stock.
Facebook's Lollapalooza feed shows the festival you're missing
If you can't make a pilgrimage to Lollapalooza but want to get a sense of what it's like to be there beyond the concert streams, Facebook might have what you're looking for. It's testing an expansion of Place Tips that lets anyone in the US see a feed of Lollapalooza's goings-on, whether they're photos, videos, set times or updates. Ideally, this will give you a feel for the event (and possibly a twinge of regret) without having to brave the crowds and summer heat. Facebook isn't saying when you'll see the feature again, but it's promising to "explore" uses in the future. Don't be surprised if it quickly becomes commonplace. The social network is eager to capture the as-it-happens excitement that you normally find on the likes of Snapchat or Twitter -- this could keep your eyes glued to Facebook after you're done catching up with family and friends.
Uber and Live Nation handle your concert transportation this summer
Summer music festivals are just around the corner, and the warmer temperatures offer a good chance to catch an outdoor show at your local venue. Uber's well aware that many music fans plan on doing one of the two, so it's teaming up with Live Nation to make the drive one less thing you have to worry about. The ride-hailing app will help you plan transportation to festivals like Sasquatch! and EDC Las Vegas so you don't miss the artists you want to see most. When the concert you're attending is put on by Live Nation, not only is hailing a ride is easy, but the driver will automatically receive the venue's address from the ticketing app. As you might expect, not every festival, concert hall and amphitheater is in on the offer, so you'll want to consult the full list via the source link below. [Image credit: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images]
Tidal will stream Prince's 'Rally 4 Peace' concert for free
You won't need a ticket to Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore to see Prince perform this Sunday. Heck, you won't even need to be on the Eastern seaboard. Tidal, Jay Z's much maligned streaming music service, announced today that it will broadcast the artist's full 60-minute Rally 4 Peace set completely free of charge. What's more the show will be "pre-paywall," meaning that users won't need a Tidal subscription to access it. Additionally, the streaming service will "match funds" of any donation made through its official website with proceeds going to local youth charities and the Baltimore Justice Fund. Prince is reportedly planning this impromptu concert to bring Baltimore communities together after the death of Freddie Grey in police custody. [Image Credit: Getty]
Find your pals in a crowd with this flashing phone app
We've likely all been there: you're at a concert or some other crowded public space and maybe it's too loud to talk on the phone or you don't have cell reception to send a text. How're your friends supposed to find you? Well, if you use LookFor, all they'd have to, erm, look for, would be your phone's flashing screen. As you'll see in the video below (or the GIF above) the app relies on fullscreen blinking colors to help you stand out from a gaggle of bystanders. Just hold your device in the air and try not to feel too self-conscious while you do it, and getting together with buddies should be a bit easier. As CNET notes, however, should the $0.99 Android and iOS app gain popularity, the six pre-packaged colors might not be enough to keep you from accidentally converging with the wrong group of people. If that does happen, at least you'll still have another sweet mobile-rave option at your disposal.
Final Fantasy composer records symphonic album at Abbey Road
Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu is crafting an album of symphonic music from the Final Fantasy series, to be recorded at London's Abbey Road Studios and released digitally in early 2015 through Merregnon Studios. The album plays off of the Final Symphony concert series, which features songs from Final Fantasy 6, 7 and 10. "It is always an honor to hear my work being performed live on stage, but in bringing Final Symphony to Abbey Road Studios I hope that many more people will now be able to enjoy the outstanding arrangements that Merregnon Studios has become famous for," Uematsu says in a press release. "To work with the London Symphony Orchestra in a studio that has played host to many of my own personal, musical heroes will be a very special experience." Uematsu will supervise the album's production. Working alongside Uematsu is Final Symphony concert conductor Eckehard Stier and solo pianist Katharina Treutler. The Final Symphony concert series began in May 2013 and toured through Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, Denmark, Sweden and Finland. This album is the second collaboration between Merregnon and X5 Music Group, following the game music concert series Symphonic Fantasies Tokyo, which features music from Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and other classic games. [Image: @vgmconcerts]
Zelda-themed Symphony of the Goddesses returns in 2015
The Legend of Zelda-themed orchestra Symphony of the Goddesses begins a new tour next month, the "Master Quest." The concert series will kick off at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, Tennessee on January 21 and 22, wrapping its nine-month tour at the Jones Hall for the Performing Arts in Houston, Texas on October 22. Symphony of the Goddesses will perform an orchestral score approved by The Legend of Zelda series composer Koji Kondo. The four-movement symphony features the stories of Zelda games such as Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, Twilight Princess and Link to the Past. Head past the break for the full list of dates for the Symphony of Goddesses Master Quest tour. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask will receive a 3D remake for 3DS in spring 2015.
