Beats Music - page 2

Jay Z challenges Apple with artist-owned streaming music service

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Jay Z
Jay Z's got 99 problems, and Tim Cook may be one. Photo: NRK P3/Flickr CC
Photo: Flickr/NRK P3

On his Kingdom Come album, Jay Z talked about being a big star “befo’ Steve Jobs made the iPod.”

Now, close to a decade later, the hip-hop mogul is keen to show that he is still ahead of Apple by introducing his new streaming music rival to Spotify and Pandora, prior to Apple’s own rumored Beats Music rebrand.

Trent Reznor is rebuilding Apple’s Spotify killer from ground up

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Apple has big ambitions for its new music streaming service.
Beats redesign is coming to WWDC 2015. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple is planning to unveil a hot new redesign of Beats Music at WWDC. The new streaming service is aimed at killing rival’s like Spotify and Pandora, but rather than relying on an Apple software veteran to redesign Beats Music, Nine Inch Nail’s frontman has been tapped to lead the redesign.

Nearly a year after acquiring Beats for $3 billion, Apple plans to overhaul its music strategy behind the Beats Music redesign, reports the New York Times. Reznor, who was the chief creative officer for Beats, has been made the point main for overhauling the iOS music service to include the streaming service.

Safari plugin adds Beats Music to your browser, minus the Flash

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Apple has big ambitions for its new music streaming service.
Beats needs a native Mac app, bad. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Beats Music is due for a big redesign come WWDC. Hopefully that means a native Mac app is on the way, as well as a web player that doesn’t use Flash.

While we’re waiting for Apple to trash its use of the web plugin Steve Jobs loathed, Chris Aljoudi has solved the problem with a brilliant Safari extension that brings Beats Music playback to your browser using HTML5.

Apple will kill free music with Beats revamp

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Apple has big ambitions for its new music streaming service.
Beats redesign is coming to WWDC 2015. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple will supposedly unveil a big redesign of Beats Music in June, but if you are hoping it will come with a free, ad-supported tier, you’re going to be out of luck.

Apple wants to help music labels kill free music streaming by inking deals that will give subscribers exclusive access to albums before they hit rival players like Spotify, Rdio and Pandora.

Beats Music redesign will be ready to rock WWDC

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Apple has big ambitions for its new music streaming service.
Beats redesign is coming to WWDC 2015. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

The next episode of Beats Music won’t be making an appearance at Apple’s ‘Spring Forward’ event next week.

Sources “with a knowledge of the company’s current plans” have told TechCrunch that Apple will debut the new service — which ditches the Beats branding for tighter iTunes integration — during Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference.

Jay Z takes aim at Dr. Dre with his own high-def music streamer

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Apple has big ambitions for its new music streaming service.
Jay Z is readying his Beats Music rival Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Dr. Dre became the first billionaire of hip-hop thanks to Apple’s $3 billion acquisition of Beats Music and its accompanying over-priced headphone brand. Jay Z is pretty much the only big name rapper that hasn’t imitated Dre by slapped his name on headphones. Instead, he’s decided to do the next best thing and buy a high-def music startup.

Jay Z purchased the Scandinavian music streaming company Aspiro today, adding to his array of businesses that include clothing, sports bars, and a sports agency. The takeover cost Jay Z $56 million in an effort to take on the likes of Spotify, Beats Music, and the fiery music titan Neil Young.

Apple snaps up music analytics startup as part of possible Beats revamp

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The new analytics dashboard for Beats Music? Photo: Musicmetric
The new analytics dashboard for Beats Music? Photo: Musicmetric

Although we’ve heard vague reports about it, all’s been quiet on the Cupertino front about Apple’s plans to relaunch its Beats Music streaming service later this year — possibly as early as February.

Today another piece of the puzzle may have fallen into place, however, with the news that Apple has acquired U.K. startup Semetric, which runs the Musicmetric analytics tool, designed to allow music labels to track sales, BitTorrent, YouTube, Spotify and social-networking data for their artists.

7 things Steve Jobs would have hated about Apple today

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Steve Jobs started Apple in his image. But would he like everything about it in 2015? Photo: Ben Stanfield/Flickr CC
Photo: Ben Stanfield/Flickr CC

A lot has changed at Apple in the years since Steve Jobs died. While much of it is good (record-breaking iPhone sales, work on the new Apple campus, the stock-split leading to new share price highs), it’s unavoidable that one or two (or, indeed, 7) things would slip through the cracks, which Apple’s notoriously perfectionist late CEO would have hated.

The recent publishing of a patent for an iOS stylus — an accessory Jobs was vocal about opposing — got us thinking about other aspects of Apple, circa 2015, that likely would have rubbed the company’s late CEO the wrong way.

Here’s what we came up with.

Jimmy Iovine is lining up artists for more iTunes-exclusive albums

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Apple has big ambitions for its new music streaming service.
Could more exclusives be in iTunes' future? Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine is in fresh talks with the world’s top musicians, in hopes of landing more exclusive album deals for iTunes, reports The New York Post.

Apple is looking to replicate the success Beyonce had with her exclusive iTunes album in December 2013, by signing other hot artists to drop their albums early on Beats Music and iTunes. But according to industry sources, the idea of artists making side deals with streaming services is not going over well with record label executives.

Bose plans to take on Beats with its own music streaming service

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Be cool. Stay in school.
Is there room for Bose now that Apple has Beats? Photo: Beats
Photo: Beats

The battle for your eardrums is about to heat up in 2015, as a new report suggests Bose is planning to take on Beats with its own music streaming service next year.

Bose is quickly trying to transition into a media company, according to Hypebot which reports the company is readying its own “next generation streaming music platform” to take on Apple, Pandora, and Spotify. Details of Bose’s music streamer have been kept secret, but it isn’t being shy about its ambitions to poach some of Apple’s top designers.

Crystal Baller: iPhone 7’s astonishing camera and other tantalizing Apple rumors

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The Rumor: Arch-rival Samsung will remain Apple's top chip supplier. 
The Verdict: Most likely. Apple's been trying to reduce its dependency on Samsung components and manufacturing for years, but the problem is there's just not another company that can compete with Samsung's chipmaking biz. TSMC tried but they're still not able to handle as much of the load as Apple would like, so Apple's stuck with Samsung, for better or worse.

The Rumor: Arch-rival Samsung will remain Apple's top chip supplier.

The Verdict: Most likely. Apple's been trying to reduce its dependency on Samsung components and manufacturing for years, but the problem is there's just not another company that can compete with Samsung's chipmaking biz. TSMC tried but they're still not able to handle as much of the load as Apple would like, so Apple's stuck with Samsung, for better or worse.


Apple to preload Beats Music on iOS early next year

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Apple has big ambitions for its new music streaming service.
Apple has big ambitions for its new music streaming service.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

You’ll soon have Beats Music on your iOS device whether you want it or not.

Apple is planning to bake the streaming music service into iOS in early 2015, according to The Financial Times. The integration could happen “as early as March,” which would line up with the possibility of a media event to announce the rumored iPad Pro.

A streaming milestone: Spotify overtakes iTunes in Europe

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Photo: Kobalt/TechCruncg
Downloads are dead, long live music streams. Photo: Kobalt/TechCrunch

If you’re searching for further evidence that music streaming is overtaking downloads, look no further than a new report claiming that over the last quarter European revenue from Spotify streams were 13% higher than revenues from iTunes downloads.

The report comes from Kobalt, a company that helps collect music royalties on behalf of thousands of big-name artist. Currently it only collects earnings from Spotify streams in Europe — which means it’s unknown if similar figures are true in the U.S.

This time last year, iTunes’ earnings were 32% higher than that of Spotify in Europe, although streaming revenues have tripled over the past two years.

Southwest Airlines adds free Beats Music to in-flight entertainment

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Beats is providing free music on all Southwest Airlines flights Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns/Flickr
Beats is providing free music on all Southwest Airlines flights Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns/Flickr

Southwest Airlines can’t guarantee you’ll get the seat you want on your next flight, but starting this week you’ll be slightly more entertained wherever you end up, as the airline is introducing free Beats Music streaming on flights.

Beginning today, Southwest will provide all WiFi-enabled aircraft with a custom curated Beats Music experience that’s free for all flyers.

Beats Music trails Pandora and Spotify in revenue and downloads

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So long as the next episode doesn't include antitrust violations, that is. Photo: Beats Music
Photo: Beats Music

Beats Music may have Apple’s support behind it, but it’s still got a long way to go before it tops the crowded online marketplace.

According to new figures from app analytics firm App Annie, Beats is currently trailing industry leaders Pandora and Spotify. In September, both of those services racked up more downloads and earned more revenue than Beats, across both the App Store and Google Play.

Beats was the ninth most downloaded music app in September, with once again Pandora and Spotify taking the lead — but also the likes of Shazam, SoundCloud and even Apple’s own GarageBand receiving more downloads.

Reviews are in on iPad Air 2 and our day with Apple Pay on The CultCast

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cultcast-bono

This week: the iPad Air 2 reviews are in, and not everyone’s feeling the love; Cult of Mac spends a day with Apple Pay; Yosemite and iOS 8.1 Continuity features delight; a potential cure for the painful #6PlusPinch; some welcome changes rumored for Beats Music; and we wrap with our favorite movie trilogies of all time on an all-new Get To Know Your Cultist.

Titter your way through each week’s best Apple stories! Stream or download new and past episodes of The CultCast now on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing on iTunes, or hit play below and let the chuckles begin.

Our thanks to lynda.com for sponsoring this episode! Learn virtually any application at your own pace from expert-taught video tutorials at lynda.com.

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Show notes ahead, mateys.

Apple aiming for $5 Beats Music streaming subscriptions

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So long as the next episode doesn't include antitrust violations, that is. Photo: Beats Music
Beats Music could cost as little as $5 per month. Photo: Beats/Apple

Having helped pioneer the concept of the $0.99 music track on iTunes, Apple is now trying to bring down the price of streaming music.

According to a new report published by Re/code, Apple is pushing music labels for extensive price cuts that would bring the cost of a Beats Music subscription from its current $10 price point all the way down to $5.

Apple wants labels to cut streaming music prices

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beats

Apple is reportedly in early talks with music labels about “a new set of rights and features,” prior to the company’s Beats Music refresh next year.

No concrete details were provided about what these rights and features might involve, but Re/code claims Apple is gunning for lower content licensing fees, that would enable the company to charge under its current $10 price point.

A recent survey suggested that just 25% of music streamers spent more than $10 on music every three months.

More music lovers are paying for their tunes with in-app purchases

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August was a good month for streaming music services with in-app purchases.
August was a good month for streaming music services with in-app purchases. Photo: Pandora

New figures released by app analytics firm App Annie show that mobile users are more likely than ever to pay for music services by way of in-app purchases.

Looking at figures from August, streaming music offerings from Spotify, Pandora and Beats Music were among the top earning apps in terms of revenue.

U2 and Apple crank marketing debacle up to 11

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Apple delivers U2's Songs of Innocence to millions of iTunes users, but not everybody's buying the hype. Photo: Roberto Baldwin/The Next Web
Apple delivers U2's Songs of Innocence to millions of iTunes users, but not everybody's buying the hype. Photo: Roberto Baldwin/The Next Web

Thousands of angry iPhone users have found an album they weren’t looking for: U2’s Songs of Innocence.

Instead of making the band’s mediocre new album an opt-in freebie, Apple jammed it down the throats of a half-billion iTunes Store customers, enraging some of the company’s most loyal fans. Whether they wanted the album or not, it’s now showing up as “purchased” in individuals’ iTunes libraries on their computers and phones.

When Tim Cook trotted out the Irish rockers for a limp finale to Tuesday’s big Apple Watch announcement, he called giving away the band’s new record “the largest album release of all time” — but now it looks like one of the dumbest.

Rdio for iOS, Mac and Web goes freemium

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Screen Shot 2014-09-04 at 8.10.40 AM

Forget Spotify, Pandora and Beats Music. I’ve tried them all, and for my money, Rdio is the best streaming music subscription service out there. It has the best app design and, for my tastes, the best music selection. But you have to pay.

An update, though, is trying to make Rdio much more palatable to free users, as well as help all users find new music faster. It’s making the service free to everyone, emphasizing ad-supported stations for free users (with up to 15 times as many tracks as competing services), and new, smart social services for paid users.

iTunes adds Beats Music to ‘Apps Made by Apple’ section

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beatbyApple

Beats Music is now the first app to greet iOS users browsing the ‘Apps Made by Apple’ section of the App Store, giving the streaming music prime real estate on iTunes that should help it reel in more users than ever.

iTunes added the Beats Music app to its list of homegrown apps today that can be found on both the iOS App Store and iTunes desktop, placing it at the top of the featured list that also includes Pages, Numbers, Keynote, iPhoto, iMovie, Garageband, and more.

Beats Music teams with Spike Lee for Do the Right Thing documentary

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dotherightthing

Beats wowed soccer fans with its epic World Cup ad earlier this summer, but Apple’s new acquisition is now flexing its creative marketing muscles in an all-new way: documentaries.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Spike Lee’s legendary Do the Right Thing, Beats created a 22-minute short that follows the director and other actors from the film as they revisit the famous Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn that was featured in the movie.

Along with chatting up residents about changes the iconic neighborhood has seen since the film was released, Beats Music also threw a block party to celebrate the 1989 film, with guest appearances by Dave Chappelle, Wesley Snipes, Mos Def and Erykah Badu, along with a performance of “Fight the Power” by Public Enemy.

Check out the full documentary below:

Apple taps Beats Music CEO to run iTunes Radio

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Beats Electronics president Luke Wood (left), Beats Music exec Trent Reznor (center), and Ian Rogers. Photo by Art Streiber for Time
Beats Electronics president Luke Wood (left), Beats Music exec Trent Reznor (center), and Ian Rogers. Photo by Art Streiber for Time

Apple’s $3 billion acquisition of Beats was finalized this morning, and it’s up to Apple to determine what will happen to the hundreds of remaining Beats employees it hasn’t laid off.

Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine have already said that they’re joining Apple, and now it’s being reported that the head of Beats Music, Ian Rogers, will oversee iTunes Radio as well.