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Jay-Z’s new album ‘4:44’ drops exclusively to Sprint and Tidal customers June 30

Following a deal with Sprint to acquire 33% of Jay-Z’s TIDAL streaming music service, today the companies announced that the first exclusive release as part of the partnership will be Jay-Z’s new album later this month. The release will be a big one, Jay-Z latest full-length album set for release at the end of this month. But it won’t exactly be a total Sprint exclusive like the company is making it seem…


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Amazon reportedly planning standalone subscription streaming music service for later this year

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Reuters reports that Amazon is preparing to take on Google, Apple, Spotify and the other music streaming services with a similar, full-fledged competitive subscription music service. That would be a step up from the limited catalog of music it currently offers to subscribers of its Prime shipping service that bundles perks for various Amazon services for a monthly or yearly fee.


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YouTube responds to recent record industry complaints, says it is committed to fair compensation

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YouTube on a smartphone: the company is accused of playing Goliath to small indie music labels.

Earlier this month the head of the Recording Industry Association of America, Cary Sherman, spoke out against the deals that are currently in place between record labels and YouTube. Sherman voiced her displeasure with how effective the DMCA is, as well as with the negotiation process between labels and YouTube. Now, YouTube’s head of international music partnerships Christopher Muller has shared a blog post offering his response to the complaints by the RIAA.


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The Beatles music will be available to stream from Christmas Eve on Google Play, Spotify, Apple Music, many more

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At long last, The Beatles music is going to be available to stream on many of the most popular music streaming services from tomorrow, December 24th. Whether you prefer to use Spotify, Google Play, Apple Music, Rhapsody or one of many others, you’ll be able to sing along to the Fab Four’s most popular tunes anywhere you like, without having to pay to download individual songs or albums …


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Genius app detects what song is playing on your phone and provides lyrics

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After Rap Genius rebranded to just plain ‘Genius’, their mission expanded beyond one genre of music to annotating every piece of text in the world. However, they still maintain a vast and up-to-date collection of music lyrics. An update to their Android app recently added the ability to know what song is playing on your phone and display the accompanying lyrics.


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Google Play Music family plan now available, $14.99 gets 6 people unlimited streaming + YouTube Red

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Having announced its intention to do so earlier this year, Google is now rolling out its up-t0-6 person family plan for its popular music streaming service. Starting today, you can sign up to the Google Play Music family plan for $14.99 per month and you and your family can listen to as much music as you like without ads. Over the next few days, Android devices in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, France and Germany should see the option to sign up become available in the Play Music app.


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Songza shutting down in January, features will be folded into Play Music

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Google acquired music streaming service Songza in June of last year, and Songza’s unique recommended playlist feature was integrated early on into Play Music. Today, the Songza team has announced (via The Verge) that the rest of the service will be shut down on January 31st, and that Google Play Music’s free tier will soon be coming to Canada…


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Take 50% off any album purchase from Google Play

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You can save 50% on any one album from Google Play this weekend. Go through this special link to activate the coupon and then the discount will be automatically applied at checkout. This is a great chance to save on music that isn’t available on any streaming services including Adele’s new critically acclaimed album. Deal expires at midnight on December 1. If for some reason Google Play does ask you for a coupon code, just enter 50ALBUM2015.

Terms and Conditions are as follows:

Get 50% off any one album of your choice. Select any album on Google Play and redeem your offer by midnight December 1, 2015. Your discount will be applied at checkout.

Must be redeemed on Google Play from compatible Internet connected devices using a Google account. Limit 1 per user. Age restrictions apply. Valid in AU, BR, CA, DE, FR, GB and US. Nontransferable. No cash value. Cannot be used in conjunction with other offers or discounts. See Google Play Terms & Conditions

Apple Music on Android: Setup and first impressions [Video]

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Apple Music is finally available to download for Android, so I wanted to give you a quick setup tour and first impressions of Apple’s second app for Google’s mobile platform. It’s free to download and offers almost all of the same features and services found in the iOS and OS X apps, including the option to sign up for a free three-month trial…

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Amazon Music update brings offline storage on SD cards, Android Wear support, more

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The “Amazon Music with Prime Music” app has today been updated with some of its most oft-requested features. The big one, and the one that people have been wanting practically since Prime Music launched, is the ability to store offline music on a device’s SD card for offline playback. The update also brings Android Wear support, and other, more minor enhancements…
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Spotify support is now landing on the original Chromecast via firmware update

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We first reported last month that Google was bringing Spotify support to the Chromecast, and those who already have the second-generation Chromecast in their possession (like myself) have probably been toying with the feature for a while now. Google did mention at its event last month, however, that support for the streaming service would be coming to the first-generation Chromecast at some point within a few weeks. It looks like that update is now rolling out…
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Report: YouTube will place some content behind paywall when subscription service launches

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We’ve read many times over the past months that YouTube is planning to launch a subscription service. The company itself has announced as such, and is already nearly all the way to getting enough partners onboard with the new monetization method. In return for a low monthly fee, likely $10, YouTube wants to give you access to all the videos and music you can manage, and without showing any ads of any kind. Google is planning announce this new service at an event this Wednesday, October 21st.

What Google has said all along, however, is that customers who don’t pay can still watch all their favorite videos, but with the ads (as normal). What it hasn’t stated publicly, is that it may be holding some exclusive content back, for the eyes of subscribers only. In a report from Re/code, it’s rumored that when YouTube kicks off its new paid service, the streaming site will also place content that it funds behind a paywall. Regular non-payers won’t be able to watch it.

It’s unclear when you’ll be able to see the new programming YouTube is announcing. Sources say some of the stuff YouTube is paying for hasn’t been created yet, and won’t be available until 2016. In September, I reported that industry sources expected YouTube to launch its subscription service near the end of this month, though it could slip past 2015.

The timing of YouTube’s planned subscription service launch is still, clearly, up in the air. But it will be interesting see how the streaming platform delivers the service, and how many long-time YT users sign up. Will YouTube be able to tempt enough people to subscribe with its own funded and exclusive content? Those questions remain unanswered for now. Let’s just hope the launch happens sooner rather than later, if only to satisfy my curiosity.

Some users already noticing Chromecast support in the Spotify Android app

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As we exclusively reported earlier this month, Spotify is teaming up with Google to — finally — introduce support for the Chromecast. Now, as the event is nearing kickoff, some users are already noticing their Chromecast devices appearing in the Spotify Connect list, although the feature doesn’t seem to be working quit yet.

As you can see above, it looks like Spotify is going to include Google Cast devices in the same list as other Spotify Connect devices (via Reddit). However, as of right now at least, try to cast your stream to a Chromecast simple results in the following error message: “Spotify is not support on this device right now.”

Google is sure to make mention of Spotify’s new support for its platform at its event scheduled to kick off at 9 AM PT. If you want to keep in the loop on this as well as new Chromecast hardware, new Nexus devices, and more, be sure to head over and watch the livestream when it becomes available.

Site claims to be offering Apple Music for Android beta access

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UPDATE: One of our readers, with experience of using Betabound commented the following: “Centercode, who runs Betabound, has been around for over a decade running software/hardware betas. I have been through numerous tests with them. I understand the skepticism but this is a legit company.” Perhaps then, we can be a little less skeptical of the beta test.

Apple shocked the tech world back in June when it announced that its music streaming service, Apple Music, would be making its way cross-platform. Up until now, the company has kept all of its mobile products in-house, and hasn’t offered anything on the Google Play Store except for the ‘Move to iOS’ app, and we all know how that turned out. In an unusual move, it looks like Apple may have signed up a third party to get early beta testers onboard its first media app for Android.

Members of Betabound.com have received emails inviting them to apply to test Apple’s music app for Android. Little detail is given in the email, except a short paragraph and a linked questionnaire which hopeful testers have to fill in. Betabound, a Centercode company, proudly labels the test as an exclusive.

We’re excited to invite you to come test Apple Music for Android. If you’re a current Android user that would like to join the beta for the new music streaming service, you won’t want to miss this opportunity. To learn more and apply, click the link below. Best of luck! The Betabound team.

There are plenty of reasons to be skeptical. First off, Apple tends to manage its beta testing in-house, even to the point of offering a public beta of iOS 9 to anyone and everyone who wanted to try it before launch. Why then would it go with a third party company, especially one which is seemingly so unknown? It definitely seems weird. Perhaps the Android community’s response to its last app prompted the Cupertino-based tech giant to try a much quieter launch of Apple Music for Android. Perhaps it only wants a small number of testers onboard, and so isn’t announcing anything. Perhaps, it’s just a way for Betabound to get their name out there and isn’t a genuine beta test.

 

Report: YouTube Subscription service to launch next month as 2-in-1 music and video bundle

File photo shows people walking by a YouTube sign at the new Google office in Toronto

According to industry sources who spoke to Re/code, YouTube is aiming to launch its long-awaited subscription service as soon as next month. What’s interesting in this report is that the sources in-the-know stated that the subscription will be sold as a 2-in-1 deal. One monthly fee will purportedly get you access to both music streaming and ad-free videos…


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HTC Mood Player lets you create a custom Spotify playlist just by taking a selfie [Hands-on]

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To celebrate the launch of its mid-range Desire 626, HTC has just announced that it is collaborating with Spotify to let you create custom playlists using just a picture of your face. HTC Mood Player is a fun concept and one which I’m sure will give you at least a few minutes of fun while you interact with what is essentially just an advertisement for the Desire 626. Of course, we couldn’t let this announcement go by without taking the site for a spin…


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Twitter introduces Music on Vine: Better audio controls and music discovery on Vine app

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Last night, Vine announced that it’s bringing greater music controls to its popular video-looping app on Android. While users have always had the ability to include audio of any kind in their Vines, this new update makes it far more precise. The biggest update is a feature called ‘Snap to Beat’ which enables users to more easily create a seamless loop, or perfect loop where you can’t tell the beginning of the audio from the end.

To get Snap to Beat working for you, choose a song by tapping on the music note in the ‘Details’ screen. Snap to Beat automatically identifies how much of the song to use to make a seamless loop, then trims the video to fit that music clip. If you don’t want it happening auto-magically, you can switch off Snap to Beat and edit the audio manually yourself. This gives the user complete control over how much sound to include in the Vine, and which part of the video it should play over.

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As a part of Vine’s new-found focus on music, there’s also a new audio discovery tool within the app. First up is a new ‘Featured Tracks’ section which you can explore when you create a new Vine and tap on the music note to add a song. What’s more, you can use Vine to detect what you’re listening to while watching other Vines. If a musical note icon appears beneath a Vine, tap on it, and it’ll show you the name of the track, and the name of the artist performing.

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The Music on Vine updates will be rolling out to Android from today and will be available to download from the Play Store for free.

Rdio Android app live-streaming 460 traditional AM/FM radio stations as of today, more to come

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Rdio is today adding live streams of 460 traditional AM/FM radio stations, reports the Los Angeles Times.

The rollout, which starts Wednesday, includes 460 stations owned and operated by stakeholder Atlanta-based Cumulus Media Inc [including] long-running stations such as Cumulus’ KLOS-FM (95.5) in Los Angeles and KFOG-FM (104.5) in San Francisco, along with talk radio and sports outlets … 


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