Remember Google Music? That was Google's attempt to cut into the growing music streaming business prior to iTunes Match becoming a reality, but one has to wonder what kind of traction the service has had in the months since. Google has remaining mostly quiet on new features for Music, but there's a new update today...Read more...
It's not every day a music artist hits 1 billion views on YouTube. Asian pop artist Park Jae-sang, who is also known as PSY, is getting ready to do just that, however. PSY's hit "Gangnam Style" has been viewed nearly 900K times on YouTube since it was released in July. As you might expect, PSY is making lots of money...Read more...
People taking old hardware and tuning it to make music isn't anything new, but it's not often we see it done on a much grander scale. Today, we can, thanks to some geeks over at isthis.gd. Inspired by other "radical tinkerers", they set out to create a MIDI orchestra for the Grey London PR agency and Brother - a...Read more...
Something that has long set Apple apart from its competitors, and is one of the reasons for its success, is that it refuses to release a product that's less-than-perfect. Of course, recent launches and issues brought forth by those may lead us to question if that's still the case, but more often than not, the company is truly meticiulous when...Read more...
It won't be long before "BlackBerry" refers to a phone that boomed in 2008, and fell completely flat by 2012. That is, unless RIM can somehow turn things around in Q1 2013 with the launch of BlackBerry 10. The company is fighting an uphill battle; iOS and Android have leapfrogged it in terms of market share, and even...Read more...
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has long sought to demonize file sharers who download, trade, and share songs illegally, noting that the cumulative impact of their deeds -- obtaining millions of songs illegally -- is nothing short of devastating. But is it really? A new study throws a...Read more...
Welp, here comes another major player in the music industry. Microsoft has just shown its much-rumored cards, officially unveiling plans to launch Xbox Music. The company isn't downplaying the service's significance, calling it the "ultimate all-in-one music service, featuring free streaming on Windows 8 and Windows...Read more...
As we inch closer to the Windows 8 launch, taking place on October 26th, it's becoming ever-more clear that Microsoft has one seriously ambitious day on its hands. Not even taking into account the fact that Windows 8 is a major shift for Microsoft's OS, the company and its legion of partners will be unveiling the...Read more...
After channel surfing and catching the tail end of HBO's "2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony" on TV last night, I got a hankering for some Guns N' Roses and Red Hot Chili Peppers. One thing led to another, and before I knew it, I was signing up for a 30-day free trial of Spotify's Premium service. I...Read more...
Ever since Spotify launched in the U.S. last year it’s been rapidly acquiring subscribers, who have been enjoying the music streaming service on computers, mobile devices, and even A/V receivers. Spotify offers, among other features, the ability to create “radio stations”--just like Pandora. Spotify...Read more...
There was once a time where Apple's iTunes was revolutionizing things in the digital music world. Remember when all digital music had DRM? Then, iTunes made a point to stop that for the mainstream. But lately, iTunes has faded in hype while services like Pandora, Spotify, MOG and Rhapsody have soared. But not so fast...Read more...
It looks like Pandora, and smells like Pandora, and tastes like Pandora, but it’s not Pandora--it’s Spotify. The music streaming service, which already offered free streaming and the ability to create Pandora-like radio stations on computers and iOS devices (the latter as of June), announced today that Android users will get to...Read more...
Can you believe it's been a year since Spotify launched in the US? Since then, the music streaming outlet has enjoyed tremendous growth. In the past year, Americans have played more than 13 billion tracks on the service. Sharing is even more popular, with 27,834,742 being shared. A little over half of that sharing...Read more...
Welp, it's another acquisition in the books. Rumors were flaring months back, but all fell quiet until now. USA Today is reporting that Beats Electronics -- the company responsible for those colorful headphones adorning the heads of athletes everywhere -- has acquired MOG. If you're unfamiliar with MOG, it's...Read more...
When Amazon launched its Amazon Cloud Drive and Cloud Player music service without any licensing deals in place, it was an ask-forgiveness-not-permission sort of thing in regard to the major music labels. There was a sense that Amazon execs had a meeting where they looked at each other and said “Screw it, enough...Read more...
The cloud races have turned into sprints, and no one is slowing down. In fact, Samsung's speeding up, and this week they've picked up another company to help them along the way. mSpot was one of the first major outfits to offer a service that allowed you to store music in the cloud (a lot like Google Music, actually), and eventually they moved...Read more...
You've probably heard of iTunes, Rdio, Spotify and maybe even Rhapsody. But have you heard of MOG? You will soon enough. MOG was recently purchased by Beats Audio, and given Beats' link to HTC, we wouldn't be surprised to see MOG become a staple of HTC's Sense overlay. But estimations aside, one of the major reasons...Read more...
We suppose it was only a matter of time, really, before Google took stock of its media, entertainment, and app stores and decided to roll them up into one unified product. Today, the company is unveiling the Google Play Store, which combines Google’s Android Market, Music, and eBookstore into one ball of wax. Simply put, Google Play...Read more...
The impact of piracy on the music business has been studied in detail, but the relationship between illegal downloads and film revenue hasn't been explored to nearly the same degree. A new study from researchers at the University of Michigan and Wellesely College has examined the impact of BitTorrent on domestic and...Read more...
Last year, Google launched the Google Music service which lets you upload as many as 20,000 songs. You can also purchase songs through the service. The songs purchased through the service could then be downloaded to a PC. As for the songs you uploaded on your own, well, they were stuck in the cloud—until now...Read more...
Remember Real Player? Evidently that's still around, and Intel -- of all companies -- is interested. RealNetworks just announced that it has signed an agreement to sell a significant number of its patents and its next generation video codec software to Intel Corporation for a purchase price of $120 million. Under...Read more...
If you managed to survive Christmas, give yourself a pat on the back. And if you survived the holiday while spending time with the in-laws, figure out a way to reward yourself. One way you can do that is by grabbing some free tunes and other content from Apple as part of its annual "12 Days of Christmas" promotion, which starts today. From...Read more...