Deezer has launched a new app to bring its music service to the Xbox One and Xbox One X. The music app brings Deezer’s lean-back Flow playlists and other features to Microsoft’s linest video game consoles. Continue Reading
Apple’s Eddy Cue shared some updates and milestones about the tech company’s streaming music service at SXSW. The senior vice president for Internet software and services announced that Apple Music now has 38 million subscribers. That’s 2 million added to the audience in just over a month. Continue Reading
Spotify’s direct listing is nearing its next stage, with sources reporting that it plans to list shares on the New York Stock Exchange the week of April 2. That leaves a few weeks for the streaming music company to prepare for the non-traditional approach to going public. It’s also moving forward with plans for international expansion. Continue Reading
Label services company Kobalt has made a big investment in independent artists. It has combined its recording business under the AWAL brand and is putting $150 million into marketing and advances for indie performers. AWAL is also hiring 100 more employees, about doubling the headcount under Kobalt’s umbrella. Continue Reading
Google is opening up a new option for musicians to curate their presence online. The company offers Posts, where verified people can supply content that appears in the Knowledge Panel when they are the subject of a search query. In effect, this allows artists to directly message their fans or potential fans. Continue Reading
Voxmatic is looking to put voice commands into the hands of podcasters large and small. The business has launched a free platform for the creation personal skills on the Amazon Alexa platform for podcasters. Its starter kit offers individual skill/flash briefing publishing. It plans to add a professional package later this year. Continue Reading
Facebook continues its assembling of music industry deals. The social media company has secured a broad licensing deal with Warner Music Group that covers use of both its recorded music and music publishing catalogs. Continue Reading
The Infinite Dial 2018 shows steady growth in online audio. The latest installment of the research project found that 64% of survey respondents, or an estimated 180 million people, listened to online audio in the past month. Weekly online audio listening has risen at an even more dramatic clip. Continue Reading
While the Infinite Dial is broadly concerned with listening patterns of American adults and teens, podcasting holds special interest for many online audio stakeholders — creators, distributors, hosting companies, advertising networks, and digital audio advertisers and their agency buyers. The… Continue Reading
Amazon has updated Alexa to accommodate some more complex and subtle voice commands for music listening. The voice system can now react to contextual requests based around time, such as “Alexa, play Rihanna songs I haven’t heard in a while” or “Alexa, play the hip-hop music I was listening to last week.” Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Apple developing high-end headphones. Growth of branded podcasts. AI creates an infinite podcast. Continue Reading
Spotify’s latest strides toward a direct public offering has led to some speculation around how the labels that own stakes in the streaming company will distribute their windfall. But independent artists and labels are looking for more assurance that they won’t be shortchanged. Continue Reading