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Apple Music - page 12

New Shot on iPhone ads go behind the scenes with your favorite musicians

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Florence and the Machine
Apple pulled back the curtain in its latest ads.
Photo: Apple

Apple hit the road with some of the most popular bands touring the world for its latest round of ‘Shot on iPhone’ ads.

The new one minute spots offer an intimate look at what goes on backstage before Florence and the Machine, FKA Twigs and Kamasi Washington make their appearances at concerts in Colorado, New York and London. Each of the three ads were shot by a different director giving them a unique feel.

Watch all three right here:

Rockers Tool are finally bringing their music to streaming services

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Tool
Tool performing a headline slot during their "10,000 Days" tour.
Photo: Denuo/Wikipedia CC

Tool, the American rock band which was a staple of alternative music in the 1990s and early 2000s, is finally bringing its back catalog to streaming services.

The exact services the album will be available on haven’t been named. However, it seems incredibly likely that Apple Music — one of the most popular streaming services — will be among them.

5 key things to watch for in Apple’s most boring earnings report of 2019

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Earnings call
Apple's Q1 2020 earnings report will probably break some records.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

The most yawn-inducing Apple earnings call of the year is just days away, and Wall Street is eagerly anticipating the results — though maybe for reasons you wouldn’t expect.

Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri are scheduled to hop on the phone with investors at 2 p.m. Pacific next Tuesday for Apple’s Q3 2019 earnings call. Even though Apple doesn’t reveal quarterly sales for iPhones anymore, there are a lot of metrics to look for that could clue us in on how well or poorly the company is performing lately.

Keep an ear out for these five things during Apple’s July 30 earnings call.

Apple Music may reduce free trial to just one month

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A new ad for Apple Music shows a one-month free trial.
Apple's new banner ad.
Photo: Apple

Right from the start, Apple Music offered a three-month trial to new users to try and get them to subscribe. In some cases, this even extended all the way up to a six-month free trial before users would have to pay a dime.

Apple may be shifting away from this strategy, though. A new banner ad on Apple’s website mentions a one-month tryout period for the streaming music service.

DJ Khaled named first-ever ‘Artist in Residence’ for Apple Music

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DJ Khaled
DJ Khaled and his son Assad starred in an Apple Music ad last year.
Photo: Apple/YouTube

Apple Music is letting DJ Khaled take the reigns of its most popular playlists as the company’s first-ever Artist in Residence.

Khaled has already put his stamp on the music streaming service by revamping Apple Music’s popular Office DJ playlist. Some of the new songs added include songs from Drake, Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross, Jay-Z, Lauryn Hill and more.

Check out DJ Khaled’s funny Instagram post about the new gig:

Apple denies report of App Store search monopoly

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Appstore
You can request them manually if you need to.
Photo: Apple

The Wall Street Journal claims Apple is giving its own apps preferential treatment in the iOS App Store search results. During a wide-ranging test of basic app search terms like “maps”, WSJ discovered that some of Apple’s apps show up first in the rankings 60% of the time. For other terms, the rate was even higher.

CarPlay in iOS 13, the perfect road trip companion [Video]

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CarPlay Dashboard in iOS 13
The new CarPlay Dashboard puts everything you need on your... dashboard.
Photo: Apple

We’ve already extolled our excitement over CarPlay changes coming in iOS 13. But now that the beta season is well underway, we’ve had the chance to go fully hands on.

After taking it on a road trip, using it while commuting, and exploring the new features, this is our hands-on look at CarPlay in iOS 13.

Apple Music rebrands one of its most popular playlists

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Apple Music's focus on hip-hop continues.
Apple Music's focus on hip-hop continues.
Screenshot: Apple

Apple Music has switched the names of one of its most popular playlists. “A-List: Hip-Hop” is now branded as “Rap Life,” and comes with a new show on Beats 1 radio.

The change was orchestrated by Ebro Darden, global editorial head of hip-hop and R&B at Apple Music. “Rap Life” will be promoted as a segment during Darden’s daily show on Beats 1. Apple is also launching a self-contained “Rap Life” show on Beats 1 every week.

Apple renews Carpool Karaoke for another singalong season

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Carpool Karaoke
Miss Piggy rides shotgun with Jason Sudeikis in the second season of Carpool Karaoke.
Photo: Apple

Apple isn’t quite ready to pump the brakes on its celebrity singing TV show, Carpool Karaoke

The iPhone-maker has reportedly renewed Carpool Karaoke for a third season. Production on season three is already underway and we already know at least one group of TV stars that will be joining the show.

Everyone is sleeping on Amazon Music Unlimited

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Amazon Music
Amazon Music Unlimited is bigger than you think.
Photo: Amazon

Spotify and Apple Music are facing increasingly tougher competition from Amazon when it comes to adding new paid subscribers to their services.

Amazon Music Unlimited was the fastest-growing music service over the last year according to new data that shows its subscriber base grew by 70%, even though it launched a year after Apple Music.

Apple Music offers 6-month free trial to students

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Apple Music gift card
You won’t believe how cheap Apple Music is for students.
Photo: Apple

Apple is trying to woo new students gearing up for the school year with a new offer that gives them six free months of service before they have to pay a dime.

The offer popped up on Apple’s educational site just after the company revealed its back-to-school promotion of free Beats headphones with qualifying purchases.

How to create smart playlists in Apple Music on iOS (finally)

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Cassette tapes
Let's do this.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

It’s impossible to create smart Apple Music playlists directly on the iPhone. Or rather, it was impossible. Previously, you had to fire up iTunes on your Mac or PC, create a smart playlist there, and then let it sync to your iPhone over iCloud.

Even in iOS 13, this is still the case. But now there’s another way. A new iOS app called Miximum can create smart playlists, and even sync them to the regular Apple Music app. It is, as they say, a game-changer.

CarPlay is better than ever in iOS 13 — here’s what’s new

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CarPlay-dashboard-iOS-13
My cheap Kia came with CarPlay as standard.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

iOS 13 doesn’t just mean big improvements for your iPhone. Apple is making some pretty significant enhancements to CarPlay, too, including a brand-new dashboard and better apps.

Some of these great new CarPlay features are long overdue. Here’s everything you can expect from Apple’s in-car platform in iOS 13.

You can now enjoy Spotify Stations on the road with CarPlay

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CaPlay 1
Spotify Stations is like your own personal radio station.
Image: Spotify

Spotify has updated its Spotify Stations app with support for CarPlay. The app is intended to provide a radio station-like experience, which customizes itself to your tastes.

With its latest update, you no longer need to use your iPhone to access the app. If you’re a CarPlay user, you can do it right from your dash.

Apple Music hits 60 million paid subscribers

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Apple Music
Apple Music is a very bright spot in Apple’s portfolio.
Photo: Apple

Apple Music passed a milestone: it has 60 million subscribers worldwide. That’s a 20% increase in just over a year.

This news comes straight from the mouth of Eddy Cue, who heads up Apple’s streaming music efforts.

Bootleg tracks for rapper Playboi Carti pop up on Apple Music

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Playboi_Carti 1
Rapper Playboi Carti's debut album, Die Lit, launched last year.
Photo: The Come Up Show/Wikipedia CC

Apple Music is a great place for listening to official albums. It also turns out that it’s not a bad place to find unauthorized leaked tracks.

According to a new report, a series of leaked tracks belonging to the rapper Playboi Carti have turned up on the streaming music service. They were allegedly uploaded by a person unconnected with the artist.

Apple’s not making much money off Spotify

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Spotify Premium update October 2018
Anyone paying for a Spotify subscription probably isn’t also sending money to Apple.
Photo: Spotify

Only a small percentage of Spotify subscribers pay a portion of their monthly fees to the Apple Store. This weakens Spotify’s argument that Apple is using required revenue sharing to stifle its rival’s ability to compete in the music streaming business.

iTunes isn’t dead. It’s alive and better than ever [Opinion]

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Apple Music in macOS Catalina
iTunes is being replaced with Apple Music and several other apps.
Photo: Apple

Headlines this week trumpeted the death of iTunes. While these stories made good clickbait, they understandably caused concern for those who used this application to build up extensive music and video libraries. You may be one of the people left wondering what’s going to happen to decades of purchases.

Relax, your music and video collection isn’t going anywhere. It’s actually getting easier to access.

Apple explains iTunes changes in macOS Catalina

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Apple Music in macOS Catalina
So long, iTunes!
Photo: Apple

Apple’s plan to ditch iTunes starts this fall with the release of macOS Catalina, which will offer standalone apps for Music, Podcasts, and TV.

WWDC offered a brief glimpse at how other things — like syncing iOS devices — would work after the update. Now Apple has published a new support document that explains everything for those who are still confused.

The document promises that “all of your favorite iTunes features” will still be available in Catalina. And it tells you where they will be.

iOS 13 opens door for Spotify to use Siri

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Spotify Premium update October 2018
Jamming out on Spotify using Siri is finally possible.
Photo: Spotify

One of the best features on Apple Music could soon make its way onto Spotify thanks to iOS 13.

Apple is finally making it possible for Spotify and other music, podcast and audio apps to use Siri. Not being able to integrate with HomePod or Siri were two of Spotify’s many complaints in a recent open letter slamming Apple. When iOS 13 comes out that will finally be possible.

Spotify’s Social Listening feature will let you jam out with friends

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Spotify Connect
Screenshots of the upcoming Social Listening feature.
Photo: Jane Manchun Wong

Spotify is about to make it possible to listen along to music with your friends, no matter where you’re at.

The new feature, called Social Listening, will allow users to connect to friends and listen to the same thing they’re playing. You’ll also be able to add your own tracks to the queue and control playback from your phone.

Stunning iOS 13 concept packs all the features we want

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We hope iOS 13 looks a lot like this.
We hope iOS 13 looks a lot like this.
Photo: Alvaro Pabesio

WWDC 2019 and the grand unveiling of iOS 13 is just over a week away and based on the rumors, it could be one of the biggest iPhone and iPad upgrades ever.

Designer Alvaro Pabesio published a beautiful new concept that showcases what some of the most popular requested features could look like. Dark Mode, an updated Files, a redesigned volume indicator, iMessage profiles and more are on full display, plus some tweaks that Alvaro dreamed up himself.

Take a look:

Apple Music’s summer playlists show what top celebs are listening to

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Streaming services like Apple Music dominate the US music market
Apple Music now shares celeb playlists by Chris Hemsworth, Lizzo, and more.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s got no shortage of celebrity friends — and a few of them just shared their summer playlists to Apple Music.

Apple’s “Summertime Sounds” curated playlist collection contains the tracks hand-picked (well, presumably) by names including Chris Hemsworth, Lizzo, Shawn Mendes, J Balvin, and more. Want to know what Thor is bumping as he heads on the latest Avengers press tour? This might be your best hope of answering that question.