Bandcamp made its name as a straightforward direct-to-fan platform, but it has expanded its offerings to give artists more power over the business side of their operations. The latest change opens the door to record labels as well. Bandcamp for Labels is a paid service that provides unified accounting and statistics for all acts under a particular brand. Continue Reading
Line, the Japanese messaging app, isn’t wasting any time moving forward with its plans for a new music service. Shortly after announcing its plans to launch Line Music, the company has agreed to acquire MixRadio from Microsoft. According to the announcement from Line, MixRadio will continue working with Microsoft on a third-party music platform for Lumia smartphones. Continue Reading
Pandora has launched a new native app that brings the online radio service to Microsoft’s Xbox One. The app comes with voice and gesture controls through the Kinect system. According to GigaOm, listeners can use the Kinect to search, skip songs, and give ratings. Continue Reading
Global streaming music service Deezer has announced the appointment of Dr. Hans-Holger Albrecht as the company CEO. The hire culminates an eight-month leadership search that started when previous chief executive Axel Dauchez resigned in April to take the head spot at Publicis France. Continue Reading
TuneCore, the online music distribution and publishing administration platform, announced the acquisition of DropKloud, a location-based app for content delivery. Musicians could use that capability to provide exclusive access to songs, share invitations to special events, or release other material for a specific concert. Continue Reading
Former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar and CTO Richard Tom are back to the video business with an intriguing property called Vessel. This service aims to offer early access to popular web video stars through windowing, showing their content to subscribers several days before the clips hit YouTube and other rival platforms. Continue Reading
France’s Bouygues Telecom has partnered with Spotify to include its streaming music in higher-end mobile plans, according to Telecompaper. The network has 10 million subscribers. Neither party has commented on the deal thus far. Continue Reading
William E. Kennard will join the board of directors at Ford Motor Co. effective Jan. 1. He is a former chairman of the FCC, as well as a former U.S. Ambassador to the EU. Before entering the government, Kennard’s career covered the areas of law, telecommunications, and private equity. Continue Reading
After our review of Slacker’s inventive new app, which represents a meaningful re-launch of the brand and its content focus, we wanted to dig deeper. Jack Isquith, SVP of Strategic Development and Content Programming, joined us on the phone for a chat about his priorities and the thinking behind Slacker’s reinvention. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Mixcloud’s anniversary data; Daniel Ek on misunderstood streaming; how China’s telecoms rule music. Continue Reading
Bose may be positioning itself to move beyond the hardware realm and add a listening service to its catalog. Hypebot has unearthed a job posting for a Senior User Experience Designer: Cloud Music Services at the respected sound company. The description calls for somebody who will “lead design and prototyping of our next generation streaming music platform and ecosystem of products.” According to the post, the ideal candidate would have work experience at one of the many streaming music companies dominating the digital airwaves. Continue Reading
Beatport has built itself as a digital store for creators and fans of electronic music, but now parent company SFX Entertainment seems poised to add a streaming component. The Beatport website will reportedly have free, ad-supported, on-demand streaming starting early next year, sources told The Wall Street Journal. Continue Reading