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.
The head of Hip-Hop/R&B Programming at Apple Music, Carl Chery, is reportedly headed for rival Spotify.
Chery worked for Apple since 2014, and was responsible for helping to launch the careers of Cardi B, Bryson Tiller, Post Malone, and others.
Jimmy Iovine’s tenure as leader of Apple Music appears to have come to an end.
Apple promoted Oliver Schusser to be the new head of Apple Music Worldwide. The move comes right after the streaming service hit the 40 million subscriber mark.
Spotify and Apple are in a battle over rival streaming music services, and sometimes such conflicts can turn a bit petty.
After it was reported that The Weeknd’s latest album and lead single performed better on Apple Music than it did on Spotify, Spotify hit back by reporting that the numbers it initially gave were, in fact, wrong. It apparently beat Apple after all.
And that’s where things get confusing.
Apple Music appears to be narrowing the gap with Spotify when it comes to paid subscribers.
In a tweet this afternoon, Apple revealed that the total subscribers for its music service passed the 40 million mark during the same week Spotify’s stock went up for sale on the New York Stock Exchange.
Spotify will finally deliver its first Apple Watch app this year, according to a new report.
It could get an official reveal at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June alongside “StreamKit,” a new framework for watchOS 5 that will boost the cellular Apple Watch’s standalone capabilities.
Spotify says it has between 73 million and 76 million paying subscribers, around twice what Apple Music currently has. This year, Spotify plans for that number to grow to between 92 million and 96 million premium users.
According to Cupertino’s most recent figures, Apple Music has signed up 38 million users who pay a monthly subscription.
Freeloaders who use YouTube as a cheap alternative to Apple Music should get ready to be annoyed. YouTube is about to intentionally irritate users who treat the video site as a jukebox by increasing ads between songs.
The goal? Driving subscriptions to an as-yet-unannounced paid YouTube music service.
Music service Spotify has added a voice search feature to its iOS app that allows users to find song tracks, albums, and playlists.
The new test feature takes Siri out of the equation. With Apple trying to grow its music streaming service, it never allowed Spotify to integrate with Siri, including with Apple’s first smart speaker, HomePod.
Almost 40 million people now pay to listen to Apple Music. That’s not bad for a service that was met with skepticism when it debuted back in 2015.
Apple Music still faces strong competition from Spotify and Google Play Music, but it’s growing strongly. And all those people putting down $9.99 a month adds significantly to Apple revenue as streaming services have become the top way to listen to music.
Rihanna is the first female artist to surpass 2 billion streams on Apple Music, according to a tweet sent out by Cupertino.
It’s not clear whether the quick stat refers to just Rihanna’s solo songs or includes other artists’ tracks on which she appeared. However, it’s a big achievement — and proof positive of just how big Apple Music is getting.
Did you ever hit your macBook’s play/pause key to pause that YouTube video, only to have iTunes launch instead, and start playing that embarrassing tune from your last home workout session? Then you may be interested in a way to have your media keys control the site or app you want to control, instead of the app that Apple decides it will control. Luckily, there’s an app for that, called BeardedSpice.
Apple Music’s biggest competition is about to get an influx of Wall Street cash.
Spotify finally filed documents for an initial public offering, after rumors of going public had been floating around for years. According to reports, the company could be worth as much as much as $23 billion, but it’s still not profitable.
Spotify may be getting ready to create its own hardware to rival Apple’s HomePod, new job listings suggest.
One ad on Spotify’s recruitment website for “Operations Manager – Hardware Product” claims that, “Spotify is on [its] way creating [its] first physical products and set-up an operational organisation for manufacturing, supply chain, sales & marketing.” Could a smart speaker be on the way?
HomePod has landed. If you’re an Apple fan who loves audio, it’s a wonderful day. If you’re a speaker company, however, you now have to compete against the biggest tech brand in the world.
Sonos has shown it’s not scared by trolling HomePod with a Spotify playlist that contains a hidden message.
Apple Music is on track to overtake Spotify as the biggest music streaming service in the United States. Apple’s service has been growing twice as fast, according to industry sources. If it maintains its current pace it will topple Spotify this summer.
With HomePod just over one week away from making its debut, Apple has confirmed which audio sources are officially supported. Apple Music and AirPlay are obviously on the list, but there are some big omissions.
Spotify is testing a new tool to up the competition with Apple Music by stealing a key feature from one of the oldest companies in the streaming game: Pandora.
Stations, a new stand-alone app from Spotify, launched on the Google Play Store in Australia this week allowing users to listen to curated stations without any type of manual controls.
Apple Music will be forced to cough up increased royalties over the next five years. The Copyright Royalty Board has ruled to boost interactive streaming rates by nearly 44 percent for songwriters and publishers — but there is no increase for artists.