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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.
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.
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.
Frank Ocean's 'Blonde' has been pirated 750,000 times
It seems streaming exclusives are continuing to create a rise in piracy. After a four-year hiatus Frank Ocean finally resurfaced, dropping his long-anticipated sophomore album, Blonde, on Apple Music last weekend. Critics and fans are enjoying it, but it's not all good news for the R&B singer. So far, the album has been illegally downloaded over a whopping 750,000 times.
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."
EE's latest perk is six months of free Apple Music
Hot on the heels of EE giving subscribers free access to BT Sport's app for six months -- big spenders get it for the length of their contract, too -- the carrier is adding yet another tantalising perk. Starting September 1st, any new or upgrading pay-monthly customer on a handset or SIM-only plan can also enjoy a free, six-month Apple Music subscription. It's the standard win-win scenario for both companies. EE hopes it'll tempt users to stick with or move to the network, with Apple hoping you'll cough up £10 each month to keep your subscription active after the trial period ends.
Watch the trailer for Apple Music's Cash Money documentary
Wondering what Apple's Cash Money documentary will look like? You can already get a peek today. Apple has posted a trailer for the feature, The Cash Money Story: Before Anythang, that gives you a sense of what to expect from the Apple Music exclusive. The minute-long clip suggests that the feature won't pull too many punches just because label founders Birdman and Slim are executive producers -- it illustrates an early life punctuated by a mix of runaway success and tragedy.
Whyd is a colorful take on voice-controlled wireless speakers
Just two years ago, Whyd was trying to mix up the music streaming world, with a service that let you collect tracks from around the internet, and put them in one place. Today, it's moving into hardware with a multi-room wireless speaker. Don't worry, if you were into its aggregation service, (as you likely know) it wasn't killed, but made open source earlier this month. Starting today, though, the Whyd brand will live on as a multi-room speaker system.
Apple is making a documentary with Cash Money Records
Cash Money Records' deal to stream some of its music exclusively on Apple's subscription service appears to be about more than just tunes. Bloomberg reports that Drake and Nicki Minaj's record label is working with Apple on a documentary as well. The two companies are already quite familiar with each other as Drake's Views From the 6 was an Apple Music exclusive the first week after it was released. Drake was also on stage at the event where Apple Music was first revealed to the world.
Recommended Reading: How Netflix is changing storytelling
Netflix and the future of entertainment Ben Bajarin, Techpinions Since Stranger Things debuted on Netflix, I've seen a number of articles and heard a few podcasts discuss the merits of an 8-episode season over the usual 13. When you think about shows like Daredevil and Jessica Jones, there can be some filler that helps meet the quota. In this piece, Ben Bajarin takes a look at how Netflix and the concept of binge watching is changing how writers and directors tell stories. Bajarin makes the case that the future of entertainment is in fact storytelling as a service through things like original content and posting an entire season at once.
Apple Music for Android is officially out of beta
For the past 10 months, Apple Music's Android version has been sitting in Beta. That changes with the 1.0 update that just hit the Google Play Store today. While the latest version fixes some bigs and adds the long-missing custom equalizer feature, users still won't be able to get Apple Music running on an Android tablet.
Frank Ocean's long-awaited album is an Apple Music exclusive
Fans of Frank Ocean have been waiting for the singer's followup album for years, and according to the New York Times, it is finally coming this week -- if you have Apple Music. Following the likes of Drake and Future, the release will be a timed exclusive that releases on Friday, before coming to other outlets after a couple of weeks. Anticipation for the Boys Don't Cry album has grown over the months and years with rumors and cryptic posts causing fans to think it would arrive on one date or another, including a website with an Apple logo. Now it's confirmed, and a weapon in Apple's battle with the likes of Tidal and Spotify over exclusives to attract subscribers.
Kanye West wants Apple and Tidal to stop fighting over exclusives
Kanye West may be best known on Twitter for starting feuds, but now he's trying to end one... and it's even a rivalry he helped create. In a flurry of four tweets, the rapper griped that the competition between Apple and Tidal over streaming music exclusives is nothing but a "dick swinging contest" that's "fucking up the music game." Yes, that's right -- the man who released his latest album as a Tidal exclusive (if only temporarily) now wants peace. He's even suggesting a meeting with Jay-Z, Tim Cook and other bigwigs to make it happen, and wishes that Apple would just buy Tidal to end the fighting once and for all.
Apple Music signs up 'Carpool Karaoke' as a new show
On The Late Late Show with James Corden the "Carpool Karaoke" segment has seen visits from a number of celebrities, and now Apple wants in. It's signed an exclusive deal with CBS to produce a 16 episode series where celebrity guests ride along with the host (still TBA), visit "meaningful" places, sing songs and surprise fans. This is apparently the kind of thing Eddy Cue meant when he said Apple was only interested in developing content that could be complementary to Apple Music.
Apple rolls out more accurate iTunes matching for Apple Music
Apple Music's ability to match and sync songs that users had already purchased in iTunes was a notable feature when the service first launched last year. Unfortunately, it didn't work as well as the iTunes Match tool that preceded the streaming option. Well, it looks like Apple is working to improve how that all works. The Loop reports that the company is rolling out an update that uses the iTunes Match audio fingerprint to handle syncing those songs you've bought. Before now, Apple Music was using a less accurate version of iTunes Match that relied on metadata to pair tracks.
Apple's idea for music royalties could stick it to Spotify
The Copyright Royalty Board, a three judge panel that sets licensing rates, is trying to figure out what the statutory rate music download and streaming services will pay publishers between 2018 and 2022. Now, the New York Times and Billboard report that Apple has a suggestion on how to figure out those rates that oh-so-coincidentally would negatively impact services with free streaming options like Spotify (heating up their back-and-forth battle) and YouTube. The statutory rate is what services pay unless they make a direct deal with a publisher, and can shape negotiations between them.
Apple says Spotify wants 'preferential treatment' for iOS app
It didn't take long for Apple to respond to Spotify's claim that it's using App Store approvals a way to handle competitors. In a letter obtained by BuzzFeed, Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell described the allegation as "troubling" and that Spotify was "asking for exemptions to the rules we apply to all developers." Sewell went on to say that the streaming service was "publicly resorting to rumors and half-truths about our service" with its statements about App Store policies being designed to squash competition.
WSJ: Apple in talks to buy Tidal
Jay Z could be the next rapper making a big sale to Tim Cook, as the Wall Street Journal cites anonymous sources saying Apple is in "exploratory" talks to buy Tidal, although a spokesperson for the music service said there had not been any talks. As to why Apple would buy, the answer could be Tidal's direct relationship with artists, something that could bolsters Apple Music's offerings. Exclusivity of high-profile album and mixtape releases has been a recurring theme lately, and buying out the service could arm Apple with more content that competitors like Spotify (which has its own issues with Apple) and Google Play can't offer.
Spotify: Apple is holding up app approval to squash competition
How do you catch up with the biggest music streaming service? Well, not approving app updates is one tactic, and Spotify says Apple is doing just that. The streaming service sent a letter to Apple's legal counsel this week claiming that the company is rejecting an update to Spotify's iOS app and it's "causing grave harm" to users by doing so. The letter explains that Apple won't approve the new version because Spotify doesn't use the company's billing method for in-app purchases and subscription services. Apple announced the changes to app subscriptions in iTunes just before this month's WWDC.
Adele's '25' heads to streaming services now that you bought it
Chances are you've already purchased Adele's 25 if you really wanted to hear it or obtained it through other means. Now that the artist has enjoyed seven months of albums sales, the collection of songs will debut on streaming services tonight at midnight ET. According to Billboard, Apple Music, Amazon Prime, Spotify and Tidal confirmed that the album will be available in their respective libraries this evening. Mashable reports that Google Play is a landing spot for the singer's latest work as well.
