In browsing Radionomy sites for some new listening, we couldn’t help pausing at the name “Barock Music.” Is this a pun from someone who considers Bach and his contemporaries rock stars? Or is it simply the unintentional consequence of Google Translate for the French station? Whatever the source of the name, the music selections are worth a listen in their own right. Continue Reading
A Google Chrome browser extension called Streamus is lit up with buzz after the developer posted a promotional status report on Reddit. Streamuis makes YouTube music navigation easier and more lightweight. At the same time, the extension separates the user from YouTube, and provides some of the value that YouTube’s new Music Key subscription service promotes. Continue Reading
Automaker Hyundai is planning its 2016 digital dashboards, and issued a press release with some details. The system is called Display Audio, and comes in Google and Apple flavors. It is plug-and-play, where the driver connects a smartphone to the dashboard with a USB cable. The CD player has been eliminated. Continue Reading
In sharing the news of Google Cast from CES, we noted that the tech giant could face an uphill battle getting both streaming audio services and hardware companies to sign on to its vision for at-home listening. Less than a week after the announcement, Google Cast already has a major player that’s not interested: Spotify. Continue Reading
Now that we’ve set off on a fresh new year, we’re getting some interesting and insightful perspectives on everything that transpired in the music world during 2014. Data scientists have had the time to collect final numbers and finish analyses. On Jan. 2, we got a preliminary look at the work of Nielsen SoundScan team, which showed a general trend of increased streaming and decreased sales. Today, we have the 2014 Nielsen Music U.S. Report to expand on those first finds. Continue Reading
Is streaming a winner-take-all market? Bob Lefsetz recently implied that, and guest columnist Mike Spinelli offers strategic thoughts targeted to specialized streaming services. Rather than attract every listener in the world, optimize the service around core specialty audiences. Continue Reading
Google is kicking off CES with a major musical announcement. The company is launching new software called Google Cast that will stream audio content directly to speakers. The initial partnerships include Pandora, Rdio, iHeartRadio, NPR One, and, unsurprisingly, Google Play Music. More tie-ups are in the works, CNET reported. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Google rolls out Songza feature in UK; British musicians might leave Bandcamp for tax reasons; Amazon’s holiday music winners. Continue Reading
Are lyrics the new hip feature for music services? Hot on the heels of Deezer announcing the addition of Lyrics to its streaming service, Google is now displaying the words to certain songs in its search results. For the tracks getting the lyric treatment, a large number of the lines will appear at the top of the hits with a link to the full lyrics on Google Play. 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
With the “freemium” model of ad-supported, semi-interactive listening under attack in some quarters, YouTube has formalized whole-album listening in its new YouTube Music section. The impact might be to raise consumer expectation of a highly interactive feature in a free, ad-supported service. Continue Reading
In an initiative marked by repeated long delays, it is perhaps unsurprising that Music Key, YouTube’s new music subscription service which was supposed to start today, has been pushed back to tomorrow. In other Music Key news, it is widely reported that a rumored subscriber connection between Music Key and Google’s audio-only subscription service, All Access, will indeed happen. Continue Reading