Spotify - page 10

Apple hires YouTube vet to shape video strategy

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Planet of the Apps
Not a high point for Apple.
Photo: Apple

In another sign that Apple is gearing up to make a big push into video, the company has hired former YouTube executive Shiva Rajaraman.

The hire comes as Apple is beginning to launch its own efforts to create original video content for Apple Music subscribers, but the addition of Rajaraman could mean Apple is looking to explore other avenues for its video content too.

Chance the Rapper reveals how much Apple Music paid for Coloring Book

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Chance The Rapper performing at Wireless Festival Birmingham 2014.
Chance The Rapper performing at Wireless Festival Birmingham 2014.
Photo: Daniel Gregory/Flickr

Apple’s war with Spotify for exclusives can be a great thing for artists, according to three time Grammy winner Chance the Rapper.

In a series of tweets posted this morning, Chance the Rapper elaborated on his music with Apple Music and revealed how much the company paid him for exclusive access to his award-winning album Coloring Book.

Spotify may block free users from listening to new music

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Spotify
You won't have to listen to music you don't like.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Spotify users who aren’t paying $9.99 a month for a Premium subscription could be prevented from listening to the hottest tracks.

A new report claims the Swedish music streaming company is nearing new deals with major music labels, which stipulate that top releases will initially be available only to paying users.

Tim Cook promises to make Apple ‘pro’ again, this week on The CultCast

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Are you ready for Apple to make Macs
Are you ready for Apple to make Macs "pro" again?
Photo: Cult of Mac

This week on The CultCast: Are you yearning for a more powerful Mac? Well, friend, Tim Cook is promising to make Apple “pro” again. We discuss! Plus: iPhone 8 ditching Lightning for USB-C; Spotify about to go Hi-Fi; why your next iPhone screen might read your fingerprints; and the best iPhone bumper case in the land!

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to accept Apple Pay and sell your wares with your very own Squarespace.com website. Enter offer code “CultCast” at checkout to get 10 percent off any hosting plan.

Apple Music’s new ads highlight the best of British music

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apple-music
Grab the latest update from the Play Store now.
Photo: Apple

Apple has published a new series of ads for its music streaming service and just like its last ads for AirPods, the new spots focus on the U.K. market.

The two new Apple Music ads originally aired during the BRIT awards last month, but Apple just added them to its YouTube channel. Beats 1 radio host Julie Adenuga narrates the ads which highlight a bevy of British artists while talking about Apple Music’s best features.

Check ’em out:

Spotify boasts more than double the subscribers of Apple Music

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Spotify
You won't have to listen to music you don't like.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple Music’s batch of exclusives haven’t been able to stop Spotify’s impressive growth of paid subscribers over the last year.

Spotify revealed today that it new has over 50 million paid subscribers for its music streaming service, which is more than double the 20 million subscribers Apple Music had at the end of 2016.

Spotify eyes lossless audio to wow your ears

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Spotify
CD quality audio is coming to Spotify.
Photo: James Merithew/Cult of Mac

Spotify appears poised to put the final nail in Tidal’s coffin.

The music streaming service is planning to launch a new feature that will give listeners access to lossless audio streaming, according to a new report reveals the feature is currently in testing.

RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic and other awesome apps of the week

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App holiday1
'Appy holidays everyone!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

If you find yourself at a loose end today, perhaps after overindulging on the eggnog and looking to sit down for a few minutes, why not check out our picks for the top apps of the last week?

Whether you own an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch or MacBook, we’re confident you’ll find something to enjoy on our list!

Apple Music racks up more than 20 million subscribers

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Apple-Music-Android
Apple Music has hit a big milestone!
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple Music has passed the 20 million subscriber mark, according to new figures released by Apple.

Last time the company released adoption figures, back in September, those numbers hovered around 17 million — meaning the number of paying Apple Music users jumped 15 percent in the past three months.

Drake sings Taylor Swift in new Apple Music ad

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Drake-Apple-Music-ad
Drake has bad blood with the bench press.
Photo: Apple

Canadian rap star and Apple fanboy Drake gives us a glimpse at his comical side in the company’s latest Apple Music ad by singing along to Taylor Swift while getting beaten by the bench press.

The ad is part of Apple Music’s ongoing “distractingly good” campaign, which has previously featured Swift herself.

Apple scoops up talent, tech from bankrupt music pioneer Omnifone

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apple music app
Omnifone's tech is already inside Apple Music.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

To beef up its streaming music service, Apple has hired some key employees from Omnifone, a company that was a pioneer of in music streaming industry.

Rumors floated this summer that Apple was looking to acquire Omnifone after the company filed for bankruptcy. Instead of buying the whole thing though, a new report claims that Apple instead bought some of parts of Omnifone’s tech and workforce.

Neil Young returns to Apple Music

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Neil Young hates your silly music stream services
Neil Young previously swore off Apple Music for quality issues.
Photo: Kris Krüg/Flickr

Well that didn’t last long! Having previously taken almost all of his music off streaming services due to their alleged poor sound quality, Neil Young is back on Apple Music, Spotify and Rdio — as well as new music service Amazon Music Unlimited.

The creator of the high-fidelity PonoPlayer, Young last year published a missive in which he said that he didn’t want his music to be “devalued by the worst quality in the history of broadcasting or any other form of distribution.”

Somewhere along the way, though, it seems his stance his changed.

Apple Music might be about to get a big price drop

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AppleMusic
Apple could cut $2 off its regular monthly subscription cost.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Forget $9.99 per month — Apple might slash the price of Apple Music subscriptions to better compete with streaming music rivals, most notably Amazon.

According to a new report, Apple could drop monthly subscription prices by as much as 20 percent. The Apple Music price drop would mean a regular subscription would cost users around $7.99 per month, while a family package would go for $12.99.

Jimmy Iovine gives a glimpse of Apple Music’s future

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Iovine
Apple Music wants to have a strong voice in the music world.
Photo: Apple

Apple Music remains a long way from being a finished product, according to Apple executive and Beats Electronics co-founder Jimmy Iovine.

In a new interview discussing the struggles of building a product that fuses the worlds of tech and music, Iovine revealed that the company wants to build a product that is more than just a utility for accessing your music or getting a weekly playlist.

Apple Music and Spotify offer user-uploaded remixes

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Apple Music
Dubset Media brings legit remixes to listeners and ensures musicians get paid.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple Music and Spotify have started offering users access to unofficial, user-uploaded music remixes, courtesy of a deal with Dubset Media Holdings.

The company uses algorithms to sort out licensing and royalty payments for musical remixes. It’s an incredibly complicated problem to tackle, since a single remix might have upward of 600 different rights holders.

With new hardware trio, Google makes major play for your home

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google home speaker
Google Home is taking on the Amazon Echo.
Photo: Google

Not only does Google want to replace your iPhone with a Pixel, the search giant revealed today that it plans to invade homes with three new products that directly compete with offerings from Apple and Amazon.

During an event in San Francisco today, Google unveiled a new Wi-Fi router, an improved Chromecast and a new Google Home device that’s a lot like Amazon’s Echo smart speaker, only it’s powered by Google Assistant.

Apple Music tops first JD Power music streaming rankings

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apple music app
Exclusives are keeping Apple Music subscribers loyal.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

The first ever J.D. Power music streaming satisfaction survey found that Apple Music is the most liked streaming service in the U.S.

Spotify didn’t even manage to crack the top 3 in the survey that polled over 4,000 subscribers to music streaming services to gauge how well each company performs when it comes to performance and reliability, ease of use, cost, content, communication and customer service.

Drake’s Views is first album to hit 1 billion streams on Apple Music

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Apple CEO Tim Cook with Drake
Eddy Cue and Tim Cook personally congratulated Drake.
Photo: Champagnepapi/Instagram

Apple hit a huge milestone this week thanks to Drake’s latest album, Views, which just became the first album to hit one billion streams on Apple Music.

Apple CEO Tim Cook made it a point to personally toast Drizzy on his accomplishment, and presented a plaque to the singer/rapper alongside VP of Service Eddy Cue.

Apple Music drives first serious music industry growth since 1999

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Apple Music
Apple Music is doing good in the eyes of record labels.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple Music is having a big impact on the profitability of the music industry, according to a new report from the Recording Industry Association of America.

How big? Apple Music is one of the key players driving what looks to be the recording industry’s first back-to-back yearly growth since 1998-1999.

Surge in Spotify subscribers makes it twice as big as Apple Music

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Spotify
You won't have to listen to music you don't like.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple Music doesn’t appear to be slowing Spotify’s growth at all, based on the number of paid subscribers the rival streaming service has added in 2016.

During the iPhone 7 event, Apple boasted that it has 17 million paid subscribers. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek fired shots back on Twitter this morning, revealing his company has more than twice as many paid music listeners.