Apple Music is teaming up for an exclusive playlist deal with the popular Ministry of Sound music label. The first playlist is set to debut on Thursday, October 4.
The move isn’t just about helping Apple, however. It also hurts Spotify, the only other streaming music company to offer much of a challenge to Apple Music. At present, the Ministry of Sound has several popular playlists on Spotify, which will be removed from all non-Apple streaming services in the days to come.
Spotify’s family plan makes it cheaper for multiple users to enjoy its premium music streaming service. But don’t try sharing it with friends.
Spotify is now asking family plan subscribers to prove they are indeed family by confirming they all live at the same address. “If you don’t confirm, you may lose access to the plan,” it warns.
Two of the biggest companies in the music business are teaming up to try to better take on Spotify and Apple Music.
Sirius XM revealed today that it plans to acquire the music streaming service Pandora in a $3.5 billion all-stock deal. The merger is far from a done deal though and according to a report, Pandora will have the opportunity to find a better deal from another company.
Streaming music has come a long way! According to a new report, the number of people now paying a monthly music streaming subscription in the U.S. is around 51 million. That’s close to double the number at the end of 2016!
In total, last year, streaming music services accounted for 65 percent of the recorded music revenue in the U.S. Spotify and Apple Music combined dominate “at least 80 percent” of the domestic music streaming market, and other platforms — including ones belonging to big names like Amazon and Google — are already, “falling surprisingly far behind.”
Apple’s video offerings could soon rival the biggest streaming service in the game, according to analysts at Morgan Stanley.
Katy Huberty, who has a reputation as one of the best Apple analysts in the industry, thinks video services will be a huge driver of growth for Apple over the next few years. The company’s potential is so huge that Huberty predicts it will rival Netflix by 2025.
Got a bass-bumping home audio system but also got serious smart-speaker envy? The new Sonos Amp is here to save your old speakers by integrating them into Sonos’ ecosystem and adding a few new tricks along the way.
Sonos unveiled the new amp this morning which is the successor to the company’s Connect:Amp. While it’s not something more normal consumers will buy, it could help Sonos become a mainstay in serious audio systems created by professional installers.
Take a look:
Apple has been trying to buy Shazam since last December, but the deal has been held up for months by regulators in the EU. That’s reportedly just about to change.
It’s likely Apple wants this music-identification app as part of its ongoing battle with Spotify.
Beats 1 Radio host Zane Lowe says he’s excited that Apple Music’s competitors are starting to rip off his live streaming radio show.
Lowe, who left the BBC’s Radio 1 to lead Beats 1 Radio, said in a recent interview that he still questions how his radio show fits in with the music scene. In the age of social media where artists can interact directly with fans, radio hosts don’t seem like a necessity, but Spotify and YouTube Music are planning to launch radio shows of their own and Lowe is ready to welcome them to the league.
If you’re a Prince fan and an Apple Music subscriber, today is your lucky day! That’s because the Prince Estate and Sony’s Legacy Recordings have released 23 of the Purple One’s albums, covering the latter half of his career, on streaming services.
If you live in the UK and are a fan of the BBC, Spotify has some good news for you — since it’s just added “thousands of episodes” of BBC content to its app.
“The BBC is one of the largest content creators in the UK, and have worked with the biggest and best audio talent in the world,” said James Cator, Spotify’s Head of Podcast Partnerships, in a statement. “To have a comprehensive audio catalogue in the UK, the BBC are essential, so adding the BBC to our rapidly-expanding catalogue of podcasts was a natural partnership.”
Spotify is exploring new ways to let users on its free tier skip audio and video ads whenever they want.
The feature gives listeners the chance to get back to their music more quickly by skipping ads they’re not interested in. The company is currently user-testing the feature in Australia, with plans to later roll it out elsewhere.
Fans of Infowars radio host Alex Jones have flocked to the Apple App Store to grab what’s left of his voice on social media.
The iOS app Infowars Official was ranked the fourth most popular news app earlier today, less than 48 hours after Apple and other tech companies booted Jones off its social media platforms.
When Apple Music made its debut, one of the biggest reasons to switch from rival streaming services was for its $15 family plan. But it wasn’t long before Spotify copied it — and it’s been paying off in a big way.
The bargain family plan helped Spotify attract another 8 million paying subscribers during the second quarter of 2018, taking its total number to 83 million worldwide.
Music artists are getting an all-new way to promote unreleased music thanks to a new feature Spotify is rolling out his week.
Getting a song onto one of Spotify’s curated playlists can give a big boost to an artist or band’s visibility on the platform. So starting today, members with a Spotify for Artists account can submit unreleased music directly to Spotify’s editorial team for playlist consideration.
Streaming music has revolutionized the way we listen to music on the go. Starting with streaming radio, and quickly evolving to carrying millions of songs in your pocket (thanks to cellular data), streaming services have enabled incredible access and discovery of great music.
With Spotify, you can experience your favorites and discover great new music better than ever, thanks to algorithmic intelligence and some genius features.
Sonos is opening its speakers to a new world of listening experiences today with the addition of AirPlay 2.
The smart speaker company teased AirPlay 2 support last month during the introduction of its Beam speaker. Now, just over a month after Apple added AirPlay 2 as part of iOS 11.4, Sonos is the first third-party speaker company to dive head first into the new tech. And the company added a few tricks your HomePod can’t match.
Apple Music now boasts more paying subscribers that Spotify in the United States.
Both services have more than 20 million subscribers, but Apple Music is finally “a hair ahead” after creeping up on Spotify for months, according to a new report. Apple’s service is expected to widen the gap in the coming months as it continues to enjoy a faster growth rate than its biggest rival.
Drake’s new album Scorpion may not have been well received by all his fans, but that hasn’t stopped it from destroying pretty much every record on Apple Music.
Scorption launched last Friday and quickly became the fastest growing album ever on Apple Music’s chart. Its rise was so meteoric that it became the number one album in 92 different countries almost instantaneously. And Apple didn’t even spam promotions for it like Spotify did.
Spotify is taking some flack after getting carried away promoting the June 29 release of hip-hop artist Drake’s new album “Scorpion.” In an effort to commemorate the release by the streaming services most-played artist, Spotify spent the weekend highlighting the Canadian artist’s music. These highlights came through Drake-inspired playlists, banners, and the use of his image on playlists without his music.
Kanye West’s album is launching today — and unlike 2016’s The Life of Pablo this one will be available from Apple Music and other platforms right away.
Given the trouble that Tidal, which had early exclusive rights to TLoP, is reportedly in, that’s not a huge surprise…
Media formats and devices have a way of circling back into relevance. Vinyl, cassette tapes, heck, even VHS are making comebacks. So it should be no surprise to see the handy iPod shuffle style of music player back on the scene. This time, it’s with an eye to streaming music, courtesy of Spotify.
YouTube Music, a new service that will take on the likes of Spotify and Apple, goes live next week.
Listeners will be able to enjoy the service for free if they don’t mind their music interspersed with advertisements. An upgrade to YouTube Music Premium, priced at $9.99 a month, will remove those ads and allow for background playback and music downloads.
Apple Music has passed the 50 million active user mark, just one month after it passed the 40 million user landmark.
Tim Cook shared the news during an interview with Bloomberg Television, during which he also talked about Apple’s original content push and his recent meeting with President Donald Trump.
Apple Music may have made enormous strides, but Spotify remains the king of streaming music. For now, at least.
In its first ever earnings report as a public company, Spotify says that it ended the quarter with 75 million paying customers — and a massive 170 million monthly active users, taken across all user types.
Spotify objects to Apple collecting a share of all the subscription fees paid by iOS users. A law proposed today in European Union would force Apple and Spotify into mediation on this issue.
And it’s not just Spotify. Under the proposal, Apple, Google, and other tech giants would have to appoint mediators in all their disagreements with smaller companies.
