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J. Lo’s Super Bowl halftime show is coming to Apple Music as ‘visual album’

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superbowl
J. Lo and Shakira are sharing the stage for this year's show.
Photo: Pepsi Co.

Music fans won’t even need to tune into Super Bowl LIV to catch a glimpse of Jennifer Lopez and Shakira’s joint halftime show.

The NFL revealed today that all musical performances at this year’s big game will be released as a visual album on Apple Music. Along with the J. Lo/Shakira set, you’ll also be able to stream the National Anthem with Demi Lovato and America the Beautiful with Yolanda Adams.

Why TikTok could become Apple Music’s scariest rival

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2020 is the year everyone wants to be TikTok famous.
Peace of mind for parents.
Photo: Aaron Yoo/Flickr CC

It’s the year 2020 and absolutely everyone is making a streaming service, including TikTok.

The budding social network is hard at work inking licensing deals for its upcoming music streaming service, Resso, that will compete against Spotify and Apple Music. TikTok owner ByteDance reportedly struck a deal with the agency Merlin, which represents tens of thousands of artists, paving the way for the company to launch its music app globally.

Shifting focus from being a video-sharing app to creating a music platform may seem like an odd move for TikTok. But after months of binging on TikTok videos, I’m convinced it could become the biggest threat to Apple Music and Spotify.

Amazon Music gains on Apple Music with 55 million customers

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amazon-music
Watch out Apple Music.
Photo: Amazon

Amazon Music is inching closer to Apple Music in terms of total subscribers.

The online retailer revealed today that its music service has surpassed 55 million customers but it still has a long road to go if it wants to catch up to Spotify’s numbers.

Apple Music and its rivals dominate US music market

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Streaming services like Apple Music dominate the US music market
Apple Music is one of the main players in today's music industry.
Photo: Apple

Streaming music services such as Apple Music have completely taken over the music market, a new report from the Recording Industry Association of America makes clear.

The organization notes that streaming now accounts for a massive 80% of the music market in the United States. That’s up from a minuscule 7% a decade ago in 2010. In the first half of 2019, 61 million people in the US had streaming subscriptions.

Spotify’s Tastebuds feature will show you what friends are listening to

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Spotify Premium update October 2018
Try it out today.
Photo: Spotify

Spotify is gearing up to add a new social feature to its apps that could give it another edge over Apple Music.

Prototype screenshots of an upcoming feature called “Tastebuds” were unearthed on Twitter this week. From the looks of it, Tastebuds will build off Spotify’s underlaying social networking features, giving users a new way to discover music through what their friends are listening to.

Apple Music loses its exclusive on Ministry of Sound playlists

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Apple Music loses its exclusive on Ministry of Sound playlists
Exclusive no more.
Photo: Ministry of Sound/Flickr CC

Apple Music’s exclusive playlist deal with popular music label and nightclub owner Ministry of Sound has expired. A new report notes that the full set of Ministry of Sound playlists are now available on rival streaming music services like Spotify.

Apple Music’s deal with Ministry of Sound was announced a little over a year ago. Apple debuted its first Ministry of Sound exclusive playlist on October 4, 2018.

Apple Music for Business gives stores a legal way to stream tunes

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Apple Music For Business gives stores a legal way to stream Apple Music
Apple Music is entering the business world.
Photo: Apple

Apple is going after the Muzak market with Apple Music for Business, a new service for legally streaming music in public places.

Apple partnered with PlayNetwork, which specializes in providing music for commercial use, for the endeavor. It has been “quietly piloting” the service with multiple businesses for around six months.

Amazon one-ups Apple with free music on iOS

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Amazon-Music
Start enjoying it today.
Photo: Amazon

Start blasting those holiday tunes with free Amazon Music on iOS.

The streaming service can now be enjoyed without a paid subscription for the first time on iPhone and iPad, giving it a big advantage over Apple Music.

But just like other free music plans, it does come with ads … and some restrictions.

Replay feature is Apple Music’s answer to Spotify Wrapped

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Replay feature is Apple Music's answer to Spotify Wrapped
Take a trip down memory lane with Apple Music Replay.
Photo: Apple

A new Apple Music feature called Apple Music Replay lets subscribers take a trip down memory lane with a look back at their favorite music from 2019 so far.

The feature is similar in concept to Spotify’s Wrapped feature — but with an important difference.

Look back over your favorite songs of 2019 with Apple Music Replay

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Apple Music Replay
Apple makes collecting your favorite songs into a playlist a snap.
Screenshot: Apple

Apple Music Replay is a new feature that automatically collects into one playlist the songs you listened to the most this year.

It’s also available for previous years, for when you want a bit of nostalgia.

Spotify is adding 2x as many monthly subscribers as Apple Music

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Spotify is adding 2x as many monthly subscribers as Apple Music
Spotify reported some great fiscal quarterly earnings.
Photo: Spotify

Spotify’s third fiscal quarter figures show that it is growing considerably faster than Apple Music.

“We continue to feel very good about our competitive position in the market,” the streaming giant noted in a statement. “Relative to Apple, the publicly available data shows that we are adding roughly twice as many subscribers per month as they are. Additionally, we believe that our monthly engagement is roughly 2x as high and our churn is at half the rate.”

Apple’s AR Glasses are almost here! Catch the discussion, on The CultCast

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CultCast 409
A reliable analyst says Apple's AR glasses are right around the corner.
Photo: Apple

This week on The CultCast: Apple’s AR glasses are about to be announced! At least according to one very reliable analyst…. we discuss. Plus: Mac OS Catalina is out, but you probably shouldn’t install it—we’ll tell you why. And Final Cut Pro just got massively faster thanks to a new update, and a long awaited iOS 13 feature finally goes live.

Our thanks to Linked In for supporting this episode. A business is only as strong as its people, and every hire matters… head to LinkedIn.com/cultcast and get a $50 credit toward your first job post.

Amazon Music app arrives on Apple TV

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amazon
Amazon is finally embracing Apple TV.
Photo: Amazon

Apple TV users can finally access millions of songs, playlists and radio stations using Amazon Music.

Starting today, anyone with a 4K Apple TV or the regular HD model can go to the Apple TV App Store and download the Amazon Music app, giving Apple Music some more competition on its own platform.

Congress asks Spotify for information on Apple’s antitrust behavior

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United States Capitol by Jens Junge
All the major tech companies are under investigation.
Photo: Jens June/Pixabay

Spotify is reportedly helping the feds with their antitrust investigation into Apple’s App Store.

U.S. lawmakers asked Spotify to submit information related to an ongoing antitrust investigation into whether Apple engages in anticompetitive behavior. As one of Apple’s biggest critics, Spotify already helped with probes in Europe. However, this is the first news we’ve had of the company assisting investigators in the United States.

Spotify starts testing Siri support for iOS 13

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Spotify app now playing screen
Spotify and Siri are finally a team.
Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac

You will soon be able to ask Siri to play your favorite tracks from Spotify.

The world’s biggest music streaming service just started testing Siri support in iOS 13. It comes after Apple’s latest updates introduced new SiriKit audio APIs that allow third-party access.

Senior UK Spotify exec jumps ship to Apple Music

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Spotify is adding 2x as many monthly subscribers as Apple Music
Austin Daboh will be Apple Music's new Head of Editorial in the United Kingdom.
Photo: Spotify

A Spotify executive described as “one of the most senior and best connected figures at Spotify’s UK HQ” has jumped ship to Apple.

Former BBC Radio 1 and Spotify employee Austin Daboh will act as the new Head of Editorial for the UK & Ireland at Apple Music’s London HQ. Daboh will shape Apple Music’s UK editorial and playlist ecosystem. In particular, he’ll be focusing on promoting new British artists.

Amazon Music HD just upped the ante with lossless audio tier

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Amazon Music
Amazon is throwing down the gauntlet to rivals.
Photo: Amazon

Amazon has launched a new lossless tier of its music service, called Amazon Music HD. The new HD tier costs $14.99 per month or $12.99 per month to Amazon Prime subscribers.

Amazon Music HD offers more than 50 million high-resolution tracks at CD quality and higher, courtesy of 16-bit files and sample rates of 44.1kHZ and above. It also promises “millions of tracks” in ultra high-def for the true music quality connoisseur.

Spotify now matches Apple Music’s 3-month free trial

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Spotify app now playing screen
Spotify and Siri are finally a team.
Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac

Spotify is now matching Apple Music’s generous three-month free trial for new subscribers.

The offer is available to eligible individual and student users who sign up for any Spotify Premium plan, starting today. It will be extended to support Duo and Family Plans in the coming months.

TV drama will show how Spotify ‘beat Apple’

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Spotify is adding 2x as many monthly subscribers as Apple Music
The battle for our ears. And listening dollars.
Photo: Spotify

Streaming giant Spotify’s history shows a company that rose from nothing to take on Apple — and won. Well, kind of. At least, that’s the story that may be told in a new screen adaptation of Spotify’s rise to prominence.

While it’s not yet in production, the UK division of Swedish film and TV company Yellow Bird (the company behind the Swedish Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) just acquired the adaptation rights to the recent book Spotify Untold.

Think of it as The Social Network, only about the world of streaming music.

Spotify Family Plan is finally getting explicit content filters

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Spotify is adding 2x as many monthly subscribers as Apple Music
Spotify is adding 2x as many monthly subscribers as Apple Music
Photo: Spotify

Spotify is finally making its Family Plan more family-friendly by giving parents greater control over the music their kids can listen to.

It will soon be possible to block out explicit tracks with a password-protected setting that only parents have access to. Spotify is also adding a “Family Mix” playlist.

Spotify might finally get Siri support with iOS 13

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Spotify Premium update October 2018
Apple and Spotify might declare a truce.
Photo: Spotify

Apple might be ready to agree to a truce with Spotify that would allow iOS users to control the rival music streaming service with Siri.

iPhone users have been unable to use Siri and Spotify together even though you can do it with Apple Music. Reports of the negotiations come as Apple is facing more intense scrutiny for anti-trust practices, with Spotify being one of the loudest dissenting voices.

Brilliant Amazon deal encourages students to avoid Apple Music

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Amazon Echo
Sign up today for just $0.99 a month.
Photo: Amazon

Amazon is making on-demand music more affordable than ever for students.

Its brilliant new deal provides access to Music Unlimited for just $0.99 a month. Students enjoy exactly the same service as other Music Unlimited subscribers for a fraction of the cost.

AT&T gives free Spotify Premium to unlimited subscribers

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Spotify discover weekly, daily mix, playlists, and sharing features
This should help Spotify grow its subscriber base.
Photo: Ian Fuchs

AT&T is ready to sweeten the deal for some of its monthly subscribers by offering free Spotify premium as of its new entertainment perks.

The carrier revealed its new entertainment perks today that also gives customers the option to choose HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Starz or Pandora as their free entertainment options. Even if you don’t have a qualifying wireless plan, you can still get some other Spotify perks.