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Apple paid Chance the Rapper $500,000 for a two-week exclusive
It's tough for streaming music services to stand out. Cosmetic differences aside, all of them offer virtually the same thing. Each major platform has the songs listeners want, for the most part. One method that services are using to stand out is exclusive releases -- even if they're only exclusive for a short time.
Pandora's new on-demand music service is beautiful, but is that enough?
Rdio wasn't the first streaming-music service I used, but it remains the one that I've used the longest. A combination of smart discovery, social features and excellent design (something most music services still can't nail) made it a great option, but it couldn't attract subscribers the way Spotify could. Eventually, Rdio shut down -- but at the same time, Pandora acquired its assets, which the company used to build Pandora Premium. Today that service is finally ready to launch. As announced in December, Pandora Premium is a combination of traditional radio stations as well as an on-demand competitor to Spotify and Apple Music (with the same $10-per-month price, to boot). Both of those rival services have been rapidly gaining subscribers as of late. The question Pandora has to answer is not only whether Premium can compete but also whether there's enough of an audience for it in an already crowded market.
Spotify hurtles past 50 million paid subscribers
Last we heard, Spotify had some 40 million subscribers. That was so 2016. Now the music streaming service has announced it's pushed past 50 million paying subscribers. Feel like helping the company celebrate? Well, you could start by listening to a certain song by Kool & The Gang. Soon enough, you could even stream it at a higher audio fidelity, too. Compared against Apple Music's reported (by CNBC) 20 million users, it shows just how far Apple has to go before taking on the current leader in the space.
The New York Times bundles Spotify to entice subscribers
After building up plenty of new subscriber momentum during the election, the New York Times is making a surprising move to encourage people to pay up: Bundling Spotify's music streaming service with unlimited access to its news offerings. The NYT will offer the new joint subscription for $5 a week -- 20 percent less than the current NYT unlimited pricing, which comes in at $6.25 a week -- and will include unlimited access to Spotify's premium offerings (which typically costs $10 a month).
Would you pay to get a new song texted to you every day?
On the surface, every streaming music service offers the same thing: access to tens of millions of songs. That's more music than any human being can ever consume, so the big battle now centers around helping users find songs and albums they care about. Apple Music bet big on human-curated playlists, Spotify has Discover Weekly and Release Radar, and Google Play Music has stations for every mood and activity, to name a few examples. These options help, but getting through your recommendations and actually finding things you love can still take some work. A small startup called Noon Pacific has been helping to cut through the clutter for several years now. Every Monday, the company publishes a curated 10-song playlist in its apps and on its website for visitors to stream, ad-free. If you'd prefer an even quicker way to find new music, the company recently launched its first subscription product: Noon Pacific Daily. After signing up, you'll get a text message every day at noon Pacific (naturally) with a link to a new song.
iHeartRadio's on-demand streaming is now live for all
Last month, iHeartRadio's entry to on-demand music streaming finally went live as a beta service on mobile. Today, that service is officially out of beta testing and available for everyone on mobile, desktop and certain compatible devices.
UK vinyl sales hit a 25-year high in 2016
We hardly need more convincing of vinyl's resurgence over the past few years, but a report from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) today details that more records were sold in the UK in 2016 than have been for the past 25 years. Based on Official Charts Company data, over 3.2 million vinyls were purchased in 2016 -- a volume the BPI predicted early last year -- representing a 53 percent increase over 2015 and the highest total since 1991. The death of several music icons no doubt helped (for lack of a better word), with David Bowie's Blackstar being the best-selling vinyl of the year.
Neil Young's Pono will launch an adaptive bitrate streaming service
Neil Young could be about to launch the most interesting streaming service to come along in a long while. No, really. Young recently spoke at length with Rolling Stone's Music Now podcast. While mostly discussing music, he also divulged his future plans for Pono. Launched in 2014 on Kickstarter as a high-resolution music player and download service, Pono captured the imagination of select audiophiles and not many others. Its total sales were in the tens of thousands as of last year, and its download service is in hiatus after the company running it was acquired. Now, Young's company is planning a streaming service. What's interesting about it is not the fact that it's promising to stream 192kHz, 24-bit resolution audio. Although it totally is. No, what's interesting is that it's promising high-quality adaptive bitrate streaming, which would be a first for a streaming service. See, when you load up your music app of choice, you typically pick a bitrate for downloads, and a bitrate for streaming. In Spotify, for example, you can choose from anywhere between 96kbps and 320kbps bitrates for streaming and downloads. What Pono is proposing is to do away with those designations.
Pandora officially unveils its long-awaited Spotify competitor
It isn't a secret that Pandora was planning to launch a full-fledged Spotify competitor. The company said as much last year when it bought Rdio, which had filed for bankruptcy. But today, at a lavish event in New York City, Pandora gave a small group of VIPs and reporters a look at the new streaming service. It's called Pandora Premium, and, as you'd expect, it offers on-demand access to a massive music catalog. And it looks a lot like Rdio, from the brief glance we have seen so far. But Pandora is leveraging the years of information it has about how its users listen to music to provide the all-important recommendations necessary to help people find new songs.
IHeartRadio app gets on-demand features through Napster partnership
Massive conglomerate IHeartRadio, which owns over 800 radio stations in the US, is getting into the on-demand music streaming market, just as it promised earlier this year. The company just added two paid plans to its iOS and Android app that bring many of the streaming features found in competitors like Spotify and Apple Music. First and foremost is the ability to search for and play any track you want, any time you want, without being beholden to whatever IHeartRadio's FM stations are playing. That music library will be powered by Napster, which had been operating in the US at Rhapsody until recently.
Pandora's iMessage app lets you share songs and stickers
Yesterday, Pandora unveiled a new brand image, but today they're actually putting some new features into the app. iOS users now have access to an iMessage app that easily lets you share what you're listening to with your friends. Of course, since Pandora doesn't have on-demand music (yet), your friend will only have the option to start a new Pandora station based on the artist. They'll at least be able to hear a preview of the song you shared, though.
Amazon's rumored Echo streaming music service may be coming soon
Amazon has offered a very basic streaming music service for a few years now, but it looks like the company is nearly ready to significantly revamp its offerings. An Echo-only streaming music option may be coming in the next few weeks, claims a report from The Verge -- and a full-fledged Spotify competitor that isn't tied to the Echo might be available in early 2017. The Echo-only service would cost $5 a month, while the more expensive $10 per month option would work across any device.
iHeartRadio plays catch-up with on-demand music
Although it was born out of terrestrial radio, iHeartRadio has been working hard to go beyond just streaming FM stations to your phone or Apple TV. The company set its sights on streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music's Beats Radio with last year's introduction of personalized radio stations. Now, iHeartRadio is ready to announce two new on-demand subscription services of its own, coming in January 2017: iHeartRadio Plus and iHeartRadio All Access
Pandora relaunches its mid-level $5 monthly subscription tier [Updated]
After nabbing the remnants of Rdio out of bankruptcy last year, rumors have swirled for months about Pandora Radio's upcoming streaming subscription services. Last month, it seemed that all standing in the way was getting the appropriate licensing — which they got on Tuesday from over 30 major and independent labels . Today, they're relaunching their mid-level $5-per-month subscription radio service as Pandora Plus with a few new features. Unfortunately, this won't be their much-anticipated $10 monthly on-demand music streaming service, which will supposedly come later this year.
Samsung's Milk Music service will end on September 22nd
Users of Samsung's Milk Music -- and by definition, owners of Galaxy or Note smartphones, since the service was only available on them -- are in for some sad news: It will shutter in the US on September 22nd. Fans should switch over to Slacker instead, which powered the service, the company said.
BitTorrent Now is an open, ad-supported music and video platform
Chances are, most people still think of BitTorrent as a tool to pirate the latest Game of Thrones episode -- but for several years now, the company has been using its peer-to-peer internet technology as a platform for independent musicians, filmmakers and other artists to distribute their work. The resulting BitTorrent Bundle network has played host to projects from Madonna, comedian David Cross and Radiohead's Thom Yorke as well as a host of smaller, lesser-known people. Since debuting in 2013, the ways artists can choose to be compensated for their work has evolved too. Originally, BitTorrent Bundle content was free (after you signed up with your email address), and then Thom Yorke's album introduced the "paygate," which let artists offer a preview and put the rest of their work being a paywall. Today, BitTorrent is introducing a new way for artists to get paid: BitTorrent Now is a new, ad-supported service that'll let users stream any participating artist's content to iOS, Android and the new Apple TV. The Android app launches today, with the iOS and Apple TV apps to follow soon.
Rhapsody's VR app is a hub for live music videos
The tech world is obsessed with virtual reality. It should come as no surprise, then, that music-streaming service Rhapsody wants a piece of it as well. The company took a step forward today by introducing Rhapsody VR, an iOS and Android app that offers access to 360-degree videos from music concerts. The content is free for everybody to watch (preferably through a headset like Google Cardboard), meaning it's not limited to people who subscribe to Rhapsody.
A simple tweak to Spotify's iOS app makes navigation a lot easier
Spotify is the leading streaming music service -- despite the fact that its app design has always left something to be desired. Things have improved in the last year or two, but by and large its apps are not easy to navigate. However, a seemingly simple UI update that rolled out to the iOS app today actually makes things a lot easier. The app's main navigation buttons -- home, browse, search, radio and library -- have all been moved from a slide-out menu on the left to the bottom of the app's interface. After the change, it now resembles Apple Music and a host of other iOS apps.
Drake's new album only an Apple Music exclusive for a week
We had an inkling that Drake's next album, Views From the 6, would hit streaming services other than Apple Music but didn't exactly know when. The truth is you'll only have to wait a week after its initial release before you can hear it on other platforms, according to Buzzfeed News. That exclusivity window is pretty brief, and compared to how Kanye West and streaming service Tidal handled The Life of Pablo, refreshingly straightforward. Pretty sure I'm not the only one who's disappointed that the news didn't come via an ill-advised tweetstorm though.
Drake's 'Views From the 6' album is an Apple Music exclusive
Music-streaming services are relying on exclusive content to outdo each other. And whether we like it or not, it doesn't look as if that's going to change anytime soon. Now, Drake has revealed that his fourth studio album, titled Views From the 6, will release April 29th exclusively on Apple Music. Oddly enough, the Canadian rapper tweeted the announcement Saturday night, but he's since deleted that tweet and replaced it with another which doesn't mention the deal with Apple. Nevertheless, the Cupertino company confirmed the exclusive to Pitchfork.
