Quick Hits: Cassette Store Day, Dr. Dre, an unusual Spotify protest
Brief news items and worthwhile reads from around the web: Cassette Store Day, Dr. Dre, an unusual Spotify protest Continue Reading
Spotify
Quick Hits: Pandora and Samsung, history of car music, spamming Spotify, Apple dirt
Brief news items and worthwhile reads from around the web: Pandora and Samsung, history of car music, spamming Spotify, Apple dirt. Continue Reading
Spotify pitches summer subscription discount
Hooking into the emerging trend of longer subscription trials, Spotify today announced a “Super Summer of Music” deal — three months of Spotify Premium subscription service for the one-month price of $9.99 in the U.S. Spotify Premium includes unlimited commercial-free, on-demand music selection, and unlimited track downloads. Continue Reading
Spotify opens to the important Brazilian market
As expected, Spotify announced at a press event today that the music service is now available to Brazilian users. The expansion marks the 57th country of Spotify’s global reach. Brazil owns one of the ten largest economies in the world by any reckoning — by some accounts the sixth-largest. The country houses a population of 200-million people. Sixty-two percent of Brazil’s citizens are 29 or younger. Continue Reading
App Wrap: Songza award, Spotify hack, Samsung music decision
Items of interest in the music-app realm: Songza wins an award, Spotify suffers a tiny hack, Samsung will discontinue a music service. Continue Reading
Spotify: 10-million subscribers, 40-million active users, 56 countries
It’s not every day (or week, or month, or quarter) that Spotify releases audience metrics. The company saves it up for big milestones. Today the company unleashed an important one: the on-demand music service has 10-million paying subscribers. In a celebratory playlist, there is a hidden message. Continue Reading
Spotify joining the rush to Brazil
Spotify is reportedly set to make its music-subscription service available in Brazil. The company sent press invitations to an event on May 28 in Sao Paulo. If Spotify didn’t have its own reason for entering the Brazilian streaming market, it would be spurred by competitors. Continue Reading
Spotify updates Windows Phone app to match iPhone/Android — except for free listening
Spotify upgraded its Windows Phone app, putting in features that have been painfully missing for users of that platform (e.g. Radio, Browse, and Discover). But one important feature is missing: Spotify Free. Users shouldn’t be surprised: Spotify warned of this in February. Continue Reading
Avoiding music: The amazing metrics of song-skipping
Song-skipping is a persuasive feature of personalized radio and on-demand services, driving about 50 percent of user, according to one study. Paul Lamere, director of the developer platform at The Echo Nest (now part of Spotify), analyzed millions of users and billions of song plays to tease out how quickly and often we skip songs. Continue Reading
Internet Radio Rewind: #003
Internet Radio Rewind is a weekly program bringing you a quick and concise catch-up of the week’s top stories. Click the Play button, and be ready for the coming week. This week: Sprint and Spotify tie the knot … Royalty-free radio … One music service dies a quick death (maybe) … Rdio makes news … and a 100-day report from Beats Music Continue Reading
Sprint and Spotify tie the knot; Daniel Ek hopes to “hit mainstream America”
Rumor has turned to reality. Two weeks ago we reported that music service Spotify and telecom carrier Sprint were talking about a bundling plan that would put Spotify in front of Sprint’s 54-million customers. Today, the deal is done. Click for details. Continue Reading
Big Data Is Smart Data for Online Audio
Big data, the term used for collections of data that are so big that special processing is needed in order to use it, is a key component of customized music services. Big data processing is important on the advertising side as well. Jennifer Lane thinks about the possibilities that big data can offer to streaming audio. Continue Reading