YouTube, the gorilla in the room when it comes to online music listening, is reportedly ramping up to launch a freemium music service, probably modeled after Spotify and Rhapsody with a video component. (See Billboard’s breaking report here.) If true,… Continue Reading
This is Part 2. Read Part 1 here. You might have The Echo Nest to thank for the thing you love most about your favorite music service. The Echo Nest is a data company that develops music intelligence technology, used… Continue Reading
You might have The Echo Nest to thank for the thing you love most about your favorite music service. The Echo Nest is a data company that develops music intelligence technology, used by many of the most popular listening services… Continue Reading
After launching on September 18, simultaneous with the release of iOS 7 and baked into that mobile operating system, iTunes Radio has attracted 20-million users. Apple announced this milestone in a live product event on Tuesday. Many media outlets are… Continue Reading
It makes sense. Put the new model where the old model lives. Try to bring in a new audience that might not have sampled competing services yet. That’s what Rhapsody’s just-announced partnership with Best Buy is attempting. Anyone buying a… Continue Reading
The release of Apple’s iOS 7 mobile operating system, with its dramatic design changes, has generated an influx of app re-releases of a new “iOS 7 update” category. In other words, little or no functional changes, but the app is… Continue Reading
Let’s talk about Smooth Jazz. We know what you’re thinking. But the problems with Smooth Jazz — the sugary coating, the lascivious saxophone licks, the percussion chimes sprinkled like fairy dust over cadences, the pseudo-funk, the quasi-cool — all that… Continue Reading
Windows 8.1 was released last week, and with it an updated Xbox Music service. Some of the upgrades to Xbox Music are merely usability features that make interactions easier. But one entirely new feature expands the competency of Xbox Music… Continue Reading
YouTube, which a music producer recently told RAIN is “the world’s biggest record label,” has announced its nominees for the upcoming YouTube Music Awards presentation. The point here isn’t the nominated artists, but the often-disregarded reality that YouTube, ostensibly a… Continue Reading
We appreciate TuneIn’s distribution of favorite public radio programs. The ability to timeshift enhances broadcast listening and ensures that nothing is missed. Speaking of inclusiveness, TuneIn announced the start of a new station devoted to stalwart PRI show “This American… Continue Reading
Ten years of hand-to-mouth operation hasn’t dimmed the fire of BellyUp4Blues (www.bellyup4blues.com), an Internet-only blues-rock stream. If its tagline (“The Only Ass-Kicking Blues Rocker”) exaggerates the exclusivity of its musical mission, the description is certainly accurate. This is relentless pounding… Continue Reading
Adding to its portfolio of custom royalty-payment deals with record labels, Clear Channel reached an agreement with Black River Records, a country label whose roster includes Kelly Pickler, Craig Morgan, and Glen Templeton. Details were not announced, but this deal… Continue Reading