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Google Assistant can play songs from Pandora Premium
Pandora's Plus and ad-supported users have been able to listen using Google Home for almost two years, and the streaming service is now meshing more tightly with Google Assistant. Starting today, Premium listeners can use their voice to play on-demand tunes and playlists on devices with the assistant baked in, including Google's smart speakers and third-party devices.
Pandora will use its music discovery skills to recommend podcasts
For years, Pandora has been breaking down songs into all sorts of different characteristics in order to personalize listening experiences to each user, and now it's applying that treatment to podcasts. Pandora CEO Roger Lynch said earlier this year that he wanted to develop a podcast version of the company's Music Genome Project and he recently shared some details about that work on The Verge's Converge podcast.
YouTube Music is about to get a lot better
YouTube Music launched in May to mixed reviews. Even though its song catalog matches Apple Music and Spotify's (in addition to millions of videos pulled from YouTube) it arrived missing some essential features. Something as simple as sorting out your saved albums alphabetically, for example, isn't an option. You also can't browse by genre or easily see new albums from the week. But Google, which will replace Play Music with YouTube Music, is aware of these shortcomings and plans to address them soon.
Android's Clock will wake you up with tunes from Spotify
Android users' morning ritual might get a bit more musical. A new update to the Google Clock app adds an integration with Spotify so you can wake up with your favorite track or playlist rather than a droning alarm. As TechCrunch points out, this will work with any handset running Android Lollipop and doesn't even require a Spotify Premium account to use. The update begins rolling out this week.
Recommended Reading: The plight of fact-checkers in the fake news era
The fact-checkers who want to save the world Kate Knibbs, The Ringer In the era of fake news and rampant misinformation, fact-checkers are a key line of defense and an important tool in separating truth from lies. The Ringer takes a look a the organizations and individuals who have accepted the challenge, shifting through stories and even fact-checking those claiming to be fact-checkers.
Spotify lets artists submit unreleased tracks to playlist editors
Spotify announced today that it's making it easier for artists and labels to submit new music to its playlist editors. The company has released a new feature, which is still in beta, that will allow artists and managers with a Spotify for Artists account or labels using Spotify Analytics to submit an unreleased song for curated playlist consideration. That track will then be available to the over 100 editors Spotify has around the world, who can search through submissions for appropriate additions to the playlists they design.
Future earns highest-charting streaming-only album on Billboard 200
Future's new album, Beastmode 2, is now the highest-charting streaming-only album, Billboard reports, debuting at No. 3 on Billboard's Hot 200. With this album, Future has dethroned Chance the Rapper, whose Coloring Book became the first streaming-exclusive album to chart on the Billboard 200, peaking at No. 8. Coloring Book also went on to earn Chance the Rapper the first Grammy awarded for a streaming-only album.
Apple Music reportedly has more US subscribers than Spotify
Thanks to a Wall Street Journal report in February, we knew Apple Music was poised to overtake Spotify in terms of US subscribers this summer. Well, it reportedly has happened. According to sources from Digital Music News, Apple's streaming service now has more than 20 million paying users in the States. The report claims that Spotify also has in excess of 20 million paying customers in the US, but Apple is now in the lead. DBN didn't mention specific numbers, but says its source is a "US-based, major [music] distributor."
You can now sync Spotify podcasts on your Mighty
The iPod Shuffle-like Mighty launched last year, giving users offline access to their Spotify playlists. But missing so far has been the ability to sync the podcasts you follow on the music streaming service to Mighty. Well no longer, because Mighty has now released an update that will let you do just that. If you follow a podcast on Spotify, it will now show up in the Mighty app. Just head to Browse, then Podcasts, then click the series you want to listen to. Select which episodes you want to hear and tap the SYNC button.
Apple Music makes it easier to see new albums that are on the way
Apple is releasing some updates to Apple Music today that will make it easier to see what new music is on the way and when it's set to arrive. MacRumors reports that a new "Coming Soon" section is rolling out to both the iOS and macOS versions of the music streaming service and it currently shows upcoming albums from artists like Florence + The Machine, Interpol and Gorillaz. To get there, go to the Browse tab, select New Music and then scroll down until you find the Coming Soon section. Tapping the albums listed will bring up additional information like the expected availability date and track listings.
Spotify drops artist conduct policy following backlash
That didn't take long. After Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said it was working with civil rights groups and folks within the music industry to retool its "bad behavior" framework this week, the streaming service has scrapped it wholesale. "While we believe our intentions were good, the language was too vague, we created confusion and concern, and didn't spend enough time getting input from our own team and key partners before sharing new guidelines," a statement from the company reads.
Spotify CEO on new content policy: 'We rolled this out wrong'
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek admitted the service handled its policy to limit promotion for artists based on their conduct poorly. "We rolled this out wrong and could have done a much better job," Ek said at the Code Conference, according to Deadline. He said that the company never intended to serve as the "morality police" with the policy, and conceded that the framework was too vague at its inception.
Pandora unveils a $15-a-month unlimited family plan
The streaming business is a tough game, especially if your company isn't called Spotify or Apple Music. Mid-tier player Pandora recently announced it had signed up six million subscribers so far compared to 75 million for Spotify, but it's trying to boost that number with a new Premium Family plan. It offers unlimited streaming with no ads for up up to six family members at $15 per month, matching Apple and Spotify's pricing.
Tidal investigates possible data breach amid streaming stats allegations
Tidal recently came under fire for allegedly inflating play-counts on Lemonade and The Life of Pablo, which in turn resulted in higher payouts for Beyoncé and Kanye West, respectively. The streaming service vehemently denied the allegations, but now it's doing something rather curious: hiring a third-party data security company to investigate a possible breach.
Tidal reportedly inflated streaming stats for Beyoncé and Kanye West
Tidal is under fire once again for allegedly inflating its streaming numbers. This time, it's for misreporting the amount of plays Beyoncé's Lemonade and Kanye West's The Life of Pablo had by "several hundred million" false plays. According to a report (translated) from Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN), there's no way that the streaming numbers could've been that high without Tidal manipulating its data. More plays meant that the two artists garnered higher royalty payments. The publication received a hard drive brimming with Tidal play data including play times, song titles, user IDs and country codes.
YouTube Remix could mean the end of Google Play Music
Google will reportedly shutter Google Play Music as part of a long-rumored audio and video cleanup. According to Droidlife, the subscription streaming service — a rival to Spotify, Apple Music and others — will be replaced by YouTube Remix later this year. The new offering will reportedly offer both on-demand music and video clips sourced from YouTube. In short, it'll be Play Music and YouTube Music (the fate of which is still unclear) mashed together. YouTube Remix has been teased since mid-2017 and was slated for a March 2018 release by Bloomberg last December. (Obviously, that didn't happen.) Droidlife is now reporting that Google Play Music users will be forced to migrate by the end of 2018.
A first look at Spotify’s redesigned free mobile experience
As rumored, Spotify today unveiled a redesigned app that's geared toward users of its free music-streaming service at an event in New York City. The new mobile experience is all about personalized on-demand listening, with 15 playlists that are curated by Spotify based on your listening habits. That includes sets like the Daily Mix, which feature songs you've "hearted" (aka liked) and Discover Weekly, which is designed to help you expand your music taste with artists and tracks you may not be too familiar with. The Release Radar playlist, meanwhile, will let you keep up with all the new music popping up on the service. Spotify says that the more songs you "heart" or "hide," the smarter its playlists will get and others will begin to populate as a result.
Deezer now creates playlists based on your listening habits (updated)
Not to be left behind by the competition, Deezer is tweaking its Flow feature. The app's latest update augments the automatically curated playlist tool to include tracks from artists related to what you're listening to. More than that, the patch gives Flow its own tab within the navigation panel. "You want to discover new music but still have control over what genre is recommended? You in a rock mood and your favorites Nirvana and Guns 'n Roses would definitely cheer you up? Just select the Flow tab that will float your boat," the Deezer announcement says.
Spotify’s challenge is to prove it’s a real business, not a fantasy
Three months after quietly filing to become a public company, Spotify finally made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday. It was a big day for the Swedish music-streaming giant, to say the least, and it ended up exceeding expectations from Wall Street analysts on its first day of trading. But for many investors, Spotify may not be the safest bet. In its IPO filing, it disclosed that it has incurred significant operating losses over the past few years, warning investors that it may be a while before it's able to generate profits on a sustained basis.
Paste Music and Daytrotter made a free app for live music lovers
You have a few options when it comes to streaming music and whether you're subscribed to Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal or something else, there's a lot of music right at your fingertips. But live recordings offer their own sort of listening pleasure, and while you may find some on those streaming services, Paste Music thinks you should have access to a ton of them all in one spot. Together with its sister site Daytrotter, Paste Music has just launched an app that brings together hundreds of thousands of live recordings for you to enjoy including concerts, comedy performances and interviews. And similar to what NPR did with its One app, Paste Music and Daytrotter's lets you take their sites' offerings with you on the go and personalize your listening experience.
