Spotify can always be counted on for a data-centric approach to music, and its year-in-review is no exception. Released today, the Year in Music site shared key milestones and top music from 2014. Ed Sheeran was the top-streamed male artist, and Katy Perry was the top female artist. Continue Reading
Spotify is opening up an option for third-party app developers to sell their creations on mobile app stores. The streaming platform announced that it has removed the distribution restrictions for programs made in the Spotify iOS SDK (software development kit) and Spotify Android SDK. As long as an app meets the Developer Terms of Use, the creators can pursue any avenues they choose for monetizing their Spotify-related programs. Continue Reading
Russell Simmons recently gave an interview about his All Def Digital venture and about the role of royalties in the current music industry. “All Def Digital, to me, is the place that promotes freedom for artists,” Simmons said. “It’s a place where people can express themselves in ways that the gatekeepers wouldn’t allow in the past.” Continue Reading
TuneIn Radio announced in a blog post that it is now supported on Google Chromecast. Listeners can now stream the company’s programming to their televisions, and more importantly, to their televisions’ sound systems. To accompany the announcement, TuneIn is hosting a giveaway of Chromecast devices on Twitter. Continue Reading
Guvera is now available in both Russia and Ukraine. The streaming service has pushed for expansion in the past year, currently reaching a total of 16 countries. Most recently, it announced a foothold in India. Guvera first launched in 2010 as a download platform, but it pivoted to streaming over the past year. Continue Reading
This week we noticed an intriguing and festive new feature: Amazon has released an original album of Christmas music as a free streaming playlist for Prime Music members. Called “All Is Bright,” it is Amazon’s first foray into original music content. Continue Reading
The push and pull between one of the world’s biggest audio publishers, Pandora, and one of its most important content providers, BMI (which represents a large catalog of music on behalf of composers and publishers), logged a new mile-marker last week. At issue is whether Pandora owns a “license-in-effect” to use BMI music. Continue Reading
After a flurry of letter-writing, efforts to reach a negotiation between SoundExchange and VerStandig Broadcasting have broken down. On Oct. 24, Judge Michael Urbanski gave the parties a month to resolve the issue on their own before the court stepped in to make a ruling. Continue Reading
T-Mobile announced the addition of several services to its Music Freedom plan, which lets listeners stream songs without counting the activity against their data plans. Google Play Music was the most-requested addition according to T-Mobile’s crowdsourcing efforts earlier this summer, and it is now included under the plan. Xbox Music and SoundCloud are the other better known names added to the list. Continue Reading
Prizm, a new entry in the WiFi speaker field, has successfully completed its Kickstarter fundraising. The device streams music from the cloud, pulling tracks from Deezer and Spotify premium accounts and from free SoundCloud accounts. The team is working on adding support for Rhapsody, Last.fm, and Rdio. Continue Reading
Thanks to new software updates, Slacker is coming to the Toyota Entune and Lexus Enform connected car dashboards. The online radio service will be added to models from 2011 to 2015 from both manufacturers. Both systems have voice activation, so the Slacker software will incorporate that feature in the song and station searches. Continue Reading
U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez has denied Sirius XM’s motion to start an immediate appeal for his summary judgment in favor of members of The Turtles, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He refused the immediate appeal on claims that it would delay instead of advance the end of the lawsuit. Continue Reading