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Quick Hits: Grammys wrap-up. Languages in pop music and smart speakers.

Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web:

SoundCloud at the Grammys: The music industry had its big awards show last weekend, and several of the nominees emerged into mainstream recognition through the SoundCloud ecosystem. The audio company highlighted six of the nominees who used SoundCloud early on in their careers, including notable performers Anderson .Paak and Ella Mai.

Apple Music’s Grammy deal: The Grammys usually involves plenty of live performances, and Apple/Shazam planned a special experience for the viewers who tagged tracks during the broadcast. Tagging a song unlocked a list of all the tunes performed at the awards show and offered a four-month free trial of Apple Music for new subscribers to the streaming service.

Smart speakers’ language options: As smart speakers gain more of a foothold internationally, tech companies will have to invest in more language capabilities for their voice assistants. VentureBeat compared the leading voice platforms’ language options, finding that Google Assistant is currently in the lead with support for 30 languages. It also explains some of the tech reasons why new languages are, unsurprisingly, a challenge to add.

Singing in tongues: Between the growing reach of the K-pop phenomenon, the range of Latin subgenres finding devoted fans, and India’s recent video successes, today’s pop music charts aren’t being dominated by English lyrics. An article in Music Business Worldwide tracked some of the trends in international pop music. There’s a lot to hear.

Anna Washenko

2 Comments

  1. Tagging a song unlocked a list of all the tunes performed at the awards show and offered a four-month free trial of Apple Music for new subscribers to the streaming service.

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