Canadian music industry outlet FYI Music News reports that Spotify and Beats Music will open their on-demand platforms to Canadian users, but not immediately. According to the report, Spotify will cross the border in October. Beats will give Canadians a New Year gift in January, 2015. Continue Reading
Rusty Hodge is founder and general manage of SomaFM, one of the most enduring and successful pureplay Internet radio outlets. Started in 2000, SomaFM now operates 20 stations, of which Groove Salad is perhaps the best known. In this guest column, he proposes that T-Mobile’s unmetered music-streaming initiative is unfair to independent online radio stations, possibly violates net neutrality principles, and can be solved. Continue Reading
We recently reported that Google was (or is) in acquisition talks with Internet radio service Songza. Part of that report indicated that Google might have been talking to other (unnamed) streaming-music platforms also. today, a report emerges that Google attempted to buy 8tracks, a popular and profitable listening service that specializes in crowd-sourced playlists. Continue Reading
Mark Mulligan is co-founder of MIDiA Consulting, and has been a digital music analyst for over a decade. In this guest column, he compares Amazon’s music strategy with those of Google and Apple, and speculates about the future perceived value of music. Continue Reading
The rumor factory is never idle for long these days. Days after Apple turned rumor into reality by acquiring Beats Electronics (including Beats Music), unnamed sources told the New York Post that Google is interested in grabbing Internet radio brand Songza, at a reported value of $15-million. Continue Reading
Items of interest in the music-app realm: Google Play Music updates its Apple app, Rdio gives smoother listening to Android users, and iTunes Radio is rumored to go local. Continue Reading
On one hand, Google’s newly-announced partnership with Sonos, which builds a highly regarded line of home WiFi speakers, is just another distribution agreement. On the other hand, the six-month trial represents the latest supposition that short trials of streaming services don’t convert well to paying accounts. Continue Reading
Microsoft is apparently preparing a music storage system to be combined with its subscription streaming service, Xbox Music. Combining owned files with a cloud-based streaming service covers all the bases for users who likes streaming music, but still value their purchased music collections. Continue Reading
Google expanded its streaming-music service into the Canadian market. The inelegantly-named Google Play Music All Access service is now available in 26 countries. Canada is a music-starved regional frontier, and Canadian music-lovers complain about poor choice of music services compared to their American neighbors. Continue Reading
Apple’s CarPlay, a digital-dash system based on the iPhone, got more exposure at last week’s New York International Auto Show, where Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, and Hyundai showed off their CarPlay integration concepts. The big question in the audio-content industry is the extent to which AM/FM radio will be displaced by Internet-delivered listening. Continue Reading
Music publication Pitchfork has produced a dazzling feature called Station to Station: The Past, Present, and Future of Streaming Music. It is a worthwhile read for anyone in the field, or interested in the evolution of music listening — if you can figure out how to read it. Continue Reading
Just as automakers can introduce concept cars, Microsoft has unveiled a conceptual connected-car platform. First looks make Microsoft in the Car appear to be a direct competitor to Apple’s CarPlay system which is rolling onto the street in a few models this year. Continue Reading