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Amazon Music adds artist Twitch streams
Artists can now offer live Twitch streams in the Amazon Music app.
Music streaming subscriptions grew by nearly a third in 2019
Streaming music still has a lot of room to grow, it appears. Counterpoint Research has determined that paid music subscriptions jumped 32 percent in 2019 to reach 358 million thanks to a mix of exclusives, phone service bundles, regional price cuts and extended trial periods. Not that the services will want to get complacent -- competition is heating up, according to analysts.
Amazon Music opens up Alexa and streaming stats to artists
Amazon is finally launching an app to help musicians better understand how their music is performing on its music streaming service. It's available starting today on iOS and Android, and through a companion website.
Lawsuits claim Amazon, Apple and more are streaming unlicensed music
When you walk into a bar, hotel or store, you probably hear music. The same goes for when you tune into a TV channel or radio station. Those businesses are supposed to pay royalties to the artists for using their music. Collection firms like Pro Music Rights (PMR) are tasked with monitoring these things. And they've had a lot more work on their hands, now that they need to keep track of streaming services which must properly license the songs they add to their libraries. PMR -- which sued Spotify last year -- alleges that 10 of the biggest services have been streaming unlicensed music from artists the company represents, and has filed lawsuits against each.
Streaming now accounts for 80 percent of the US music market
Streaming has completely reshaped the face of the music industry over the last decade, with the likes of Spotify and Apple Music proving to be overwhelmingly popular with music fans. The Recording Industry Association of America has revealed some stats that underline the mammoth sea change. The organization says streaming accounts for 80 percent of the US music market, compared with seven percent in 2010. Streaming subscriptions rose from about 1.5 million to around 61 million between 2010 and the first half of 2019, according to the RIAA.
Mighty's iPod Shuffle for Spotify now works with Amazon Music
When Mighty arrived in 2017, the device offered the convenience of offline playback for Spotify. In other words, you could take your favorite tunes anywhere -- and you didn't need your phone to do it. Basically, it's an iPod Shuffle for any albums, songs, playlists or podcasts you've made available offline. The company (which goes by the same name) returned in 2018 with the updated Mighty Vibe, a device with much improved Bluetooth range and more consistent battery life. Of course, there was still a key issue: it only worked with Spotify. Well, that changes today. Mighty now works with Amazon Music.
Amazon Music HD expands 3D audio library with Warner Music Group tracks
Echo Studio, one of Amazon's latest smart speakers, might sound great, but until now it offered a limited library of 3D audio through Amazon Music HD. However, if you picked up the speaker and signed up for the hi-res streaming plan, you now have more 3D music options. You can listen to tracks from across the Warner Music Group empire in Dolby Atmos starting today.
Amazon expands free music streaming to Android, iOS and Fire TV
Amazon's free, ad-supported music tier is no longer confined to Alexa devices. The service is now available through the Amazon Music app on Android, iOS and Fire TV for listeners in the US, UK and Germany. You're still limited to listening to playlists and stations (based on artists, eras, genres and songs), but this makes it trivial to check out the latest rap tracks or queue up holiday songs.
Amazon Music now streams tunes to your Apple TV
Spotify isn't the only large music service to launch on Apple TV this week. Amazon Music is now available on Apple's media box in 13 countries, including the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Pair the app through your browser and you can listen to Prime Music or Music Unlimited in the living room even if you're in an otherwise Apple-centric household. You'll have access to all your purchased and imported music, complete with (increasingly common) synced lyrics.
Amazon Music HD offers lossless streaming starting at $12.99 per month
Amazon is launching a new tier for its Music subscription service that will offer high quality, lossless audio streams and downloads, the company has announced. With Amazon Music HD, as the plan is called, Amazon says people are going to have access to over 50 million high-resolution tracks at CD quality and better, thanks to support for 16-bit files and sample rates of 44.1kHz and above. The service will also come with "millions of tracks in UHD," which includes hi-res audio streaming at up to 24-bit/48kHz (or 96 to 192kHz) -- in case you're a hardcore audiophile and need the absolute highest quality possible.
Spotify will reportedly test a price increase in Scandinavia
Spotify may get a little bit pricier for some Scandinavian users. The music streaming service plans to test a more expensive version of its family plan in the European region, reported Bloomberg. It's unclear whether the price hike, which is estimated to be 13 percent, will also include new features or services.
Amazon Music Unlimited isn't actually growing faster than Spotify
Critics are taking issue with the claim that Amazon Music Unlimited is growing faster than Spotify. Music Business Worldwide has determined that Amazon grew more percentage-wise (70 percent year-over-year versus Spotify's 32 percent), but it was well behind in terms of raw subscriber numbers. Spotify hit the 100 million subscriber mark by adding 25 million Premium members between its March 2018 and March 2019 quarters -- that's just about double the 13 million Amazon added over a similar period. That rate held up in the second quarter, where Spotify's 108 million total subs represented another jump of 25 million.
Comcast customers can now play Amazon Music on their TVs
Comcast users will soon be able to access their Amazon Music playlists with their voice remote. The cable company announced today that the streaming music service will be integrated with Xfinity's X1 and Flex platforms and will roll out over the next few weeks.
Comcast is bringing Amazon Music to Xfinity X1 and Flex
Amazon Music might be coming to a TV near you soon. Comcast is bringing the music streaming service to Xfinity X1 over the next few weeks. It says it's the first time you'll be able to access Amazon Music on a TV via a pay-TV provider. You can say "Amazon Music" into the remote to access the service's library and playlists, or find it in the Apps section of the system.
Google's subscription music numbers reportedly top 15 million
Even as subscription services eat up an ever-growing portion of the overall music business, Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal report that Google's packages are not expanding at the same rate. RIAA numbers showed subscription services added more than a million customers a month during 2018, meanwhile the Wall Street Journal cites sources claiming YouTube Music and Google Play Music subscriptions have been "essentially flat" over four recent months. While Spotify has over 100 million customers, the reported numbers put Google's music offerings at 15 - 16 million. Google told the outlets that subscription numbers and the reports of flat growth are inaccurate, and that as of March, combined subscribers to YouTube Premium and YouTube Music are up 60 percent over last year. Still, the numbers claimed by the sources paint an interesting picture as Google continues to slowly shift from Google Play Music to YouTube Music. A year after launching the YouTube-branded service, it's only just adding features like the ability to play locally-stored songs and still has not replaced GPM's cloud locker for user's own music files. Meanwhile, YouTube continues to be a way many people access music and music videos for free with Google's ads. While it would certainly like to turn those folks into more paying subscribers, having that backdrop means that even with fewer customers, its potential is a bit different than the offerings from Apple, Spotify and Amazon.
Alexa owners can listen to Amazon Music for free -- with ads
Rumors started circulating last week that Amazon was exploring a free, ad-supported tier of its streaming music service. Turns out there was something to those rumblings. Today, the commerce giant announced that Alexa device owners in the US will be able to listen to top playlists and stations on Amazon Music at no additional charge, even if they are not Amazon Prime subscribers. Of course, this news also comes on the same day that Amazon's frenemies over at Google launched ad-supported free YouTube Music streaming on Google Home smart devices.
Amazon may be working on a free, ad-supported music service
Amazon might compete more directly with Spotify in the near future. Billboard sources maintain that Amazon is in talks to debut a free, ad-supported service as soon as next week. You'd only have access to a "limited catalog," but this would also give you something to play on your Echo speaker without having to pay or sign up for another service.
Recommended Reading: Beto O'Rourke and Cult of the Dead Cow
Beto O'Rourke's secret membership in America's oldest hacking group Joseph Menn, Reuters Beto O'Rourke: Democratic presidential candidate and... member of a hacking group? Reuters reports the former Texas congressman once belonged to Cult of the Dead Cow, an influential group "jokingly named after an abandoned Texas slaughterhouse." While there's no evidence that O'Rourke really got his hands dirty with what we'd consider nefarious "hacking," he was a member, which might help explain some of the policies he could champion during a presidential run.
Your Echo device can announce each song before it plays
So many people were asking Alexa what song they just heard and who sang it that Amazon responded with a new Echo feature. Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers and Prime Music listeners in the US can use Song ID to hear the title and artist of each song before it plays on your Echo device. That should cut down on the "hundreds of thousands" of music questions Alexa hears daily.
SoundCloud lets artists distribute music to Spotify and Apple Music
SoundCloud is helping artists distribute uploaded music to other services, including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, Instagram, Pandora and even Napster. The Premier distribution tool will be available in open beta at no extra cost for eligible Pro and Pro Unlimited subscribers. SoundCloud won't take a cut of the earnings artists make from other platforms, and it pledged to streamline payments for them. Musicians will also keep all of the rights to their work.
