Telefonica is today announcing a deal with Samsung that will see it make an even bigger move into the area of carrier billing: Samsung will integrate the carrier’s billing back-end directly into its own mobile services, meaning that consumers who are customers of Telefonica’s (it has 316 million worldwide) who use the Samsung Hub and Samsung Apps portals on Samsung smartphones will be able to buy apps, music, videos, books, games and more and charge them directly on to their phone bills.
Tag Archives: music
Telefonica Adds Samsung As A Carrier Billing OEM For Apps, Games, Music And More
Posted by Gsurface
on May 16, 2013
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Google dives headfirst into streaming music pool
Posted by Gsurface
on May 16, 2013
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At Google I/O on Wednesday, Google unveiled a streaming music service that will compete directly with the likes of Pandora and Spotify — in what is said to be a growing market, however.
Computerworld News
Google Play Music All Access hands-on
Posted by Gsurface
on May 15, 2013
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More Info
Among the worst kept secrets to be revealed during today’s Google I/O keynote was Play Music All Access. Mountain View’s desire to create a subscription-based music streaming service was pretty well-documented. Now it’s finally here, for $ 9.99 a month (or $ 7.99 if you’re an early adopter and get in on the free trial before June 30th), with at least a couple major labels on board. Of course, All Access is entering a rather crowded field — one already dominated by heavy hitters like Spotify. We spent the afternoon getting acquainted with Google’s subscription music service to see if it has what it takes to hang with more established properties. Head on past the break to see what we learned.
At Google I/O 2013 event, new new maps, music tools, phones, photo software
Posted by Gsurface
on May 15, 2013
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Astronaut makes music video to David Bowie song aboard International Space Station
Posted by Gsurface
on May 13, 2013
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BitTorrent Bundle Puts a Music Store Inside Torrents
Posted by Gsurface
on May 7, 2013
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An anonymous reader writes “BitTorrent has come up with a new way to sell music. It’s called BitTorrent Bundle, and it puts the music store alongside the torrent. At last, someone has come up with a way to turn all us entitled, lawless downloaders into paying customers. BitTorrent thinks of BitTorrent Bundle as a sort of 21st century band flyer. Post a torrent with a handful of live tracks from your latest tour, Bundle it with a store that lets your groupies buy the full album.” Put simply, the idea is that bands publish a basic torrent with a few songs as a teaser. When users download that .torrent file from BitTorrent.com, they’re shown a page asking for something — money, an email address, or social media interaction — in exchange for the rest of the album (or other bonus content). If they comply, they get a different .torrent file. It’s not intended as a guard against piracy, but as a way to link up content creators with the torrenters who are actually willing to pay.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Beer Drone Delivery Service For South African Music Festival
Posted by Gsurface
on May 7, 2013
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garymortimer writes “OppiKoppi music festival in South Africa plans to deliver beer to campers via flying robot.” All I want to know is, when is beer via flying robot distribution coming to a grocery store near me.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Spotify acquisition of Tunigo brings music discovery boost
Posted by Gsurface
on May 5, 2013
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Spotify has recently acquired Tunigo, a music discovery app that creates themed playlists based on your mood. Spotify will transfer all of Tunigo’s 20+ employees to its offices in both Stockholm and New York, where they will be focusing their efforts on Spotify’s main service. Tunigo will still continue to run, however it’s still unknown
Today is iTunes 10th birthday, but has it helped or harmed music over the past decade?
Posted by Gsurface
on April 30, 2013
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AOL shuts down its entire music division
Posted by Gsurface
on April 28, 2013
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AOL has announced that it will be shutting down its entire music division. AOL’s music division had been struggling for quite some time, especially since most users opt for more popular music services like Spotify and Pandora. However, AOL Music had stood its ground longer than other similar music services, such as MSN Music and
AOL Is Shutting Down AOL Music And Firing Staff Who Are Live-Tweeting The Bloodbath
Posted by Gsurface
on April 27, 2013
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While there’s still few details and no official announcement, AOL is shutting down its AOL Music news properties and is firing their employees, according to tweets from the official AOL Music site Spinner’s account and some staff. Poor performance due to competition from independent bloggers may be to blame. However, reports indicate Winamp, Shoutcast, and flagship music blog Spinner may survive.
TechCrunch
Did AOL just close down AOL Music?
Posted by Gsurface
on April 26, 2013
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Rumor of layoffs spread after editor of music site owned by AOL tweets out report of layoffs. [Read more]
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A $12,000 music box for the Sith Lord who has everything
Posted by Gsurface
on April 26, 2013
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This walnut and aluminum, spaceship-shaped music “box” plays music from “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” on one of its cylinders. And when you’re ready to come back down to Earth, you can play classic rock on the other. [Read more]
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Earbits Brings Its Indie Music Discovery Service To Android
Posted by Gsurface
on April 25, 2013
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Earbits, a free music service where independent musicians and labels can pay to promote their work to fans, is launching its first mobile product today — an Android app.
It’s been more than two years since the Y Combinator-backed startup first launched. That seems like a long time for a music service to go without a mobile app.
Twitter Music founder leaves to join Jelly, a new startup
Posted by Gsurface
on April 25, 2013
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Less than a week after #music is launched, one of its chief originators departs for another upstart by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone. [Read more]
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How Twitter #Music plays to the company’s most important asset
Posted by Gsurface
on April 20, 2013
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commentary By promoting the celebrity and ingenue music makers on the platform, Twitter is defending its prized “follow graph” against competitors. [Read more]
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Twitter launches social #music service
Posted by Gsurface
on April 19, 2013
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Twitter unveils new #music app and service
Posted by Gsurface
on April 18, 2013
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Twitter today is releasing a service that the social network hopes will change how people find music and artists.
Computerworld News
Twitter Launches the World’s Upteenth Online Music Site
Posted by Gsurface
on April 18, 2013
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Nerval’s Lobster writes “Twitter is plunging into the online music game. Twitter Music (or “Twitter #music,” in the company’s own rendering) uses Twitter activity such as Tweets and engagement “to detect and surface the most popular tracks and emerging artists,” according to an April 18 posting on Twitter’s official blog. Songs on the app derive from three sources: iTunes, Spotify, or Rdio. And yes, Twitter is big, but its victory is by no means assured: other IT giants have entered the same market only to watch highly-publicized projects wither away, doomed by some combination of audience apathy and implementation issues. Take Apple’s Ping, for example: launched in September 2010 as part of an iTunes update, the ambitious social-networking and music-recommendation engine immediately ran into a number of problems, including a lack of Facebook integration (despite Steve Jobs’ assurances to the contrary) and widespread reports of spam and fake accounts. Can Twitter’s effort stand out, or will it just be lost in all the noise?”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Free music streaming service Songza raises $3.82m in funding
Posted by Gsurface
on April 15, 2013
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The free music streaming and recommendation service, Songza, has just secured $ 3.82 million in funding. Its funding was revealed in a recent SEC filing. Songza offers playlists created by “music experts”. The playlists are configured based on the date, the time of day, your mood, and the type of activity that you’re currently doing. Like
Napster.fm Is An Open Source Social Music Player That Can Be Hosted By Anyone In Case Of Shutdown
Posted by Gsurface
on April 15, 2013
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Anyone who has had a computer and a connection to the Internet in 1999 quickly knew what it felt like to find any song that you wanted, and then listen to it almost immediately. Well, the immediate part wasn’t true, since you had to download the MP3s, which usually took quite a bit of time on a dialup connection. Since Napster, and it getting sued into oblivion (and then acquired for bits and pieces by Best Buy), streaming music has become the technology du-jour. Napster co-founder Sean Parker is now heavily involved with Spotify, which realized the “any song, any time” dream that Napster introduced us to. Today, a service called Napster.fm popped up, and it’s a web-based music player that has some interesting social features. The best part about it is that it’s open source and can be set up by anyone, in case it ever gets shut down. Its creator, Ryan Lester, is a student at Carnegie Mellon who is “taking a few years off to work at SpaceX and do other stuff.” A part of the “other stuff” is clearly Napster.fm. How does it work? Well, after going through the quite FAQ (Lester obviously has a sense of humor), he explains that the service is dependent on “minor inefficiencies in YouTube’s piracy-detection system.” Regardless of where the tracks are coming from, the service actually works. As soon as you visit the site, the song that’s queued up for you is “Never Gonna Give You Up,” which is long-forgotten-once-hated “RickRoll.” The search interface is pretty basic, but once you start adding songs to your playlist, you can share them with friends who have also signed up for the service. Once you’ve done that, you can sync up and listen to exactly what they’re listening to. The “Discovery” tab shows you what everyone has listened to, if you’re in the mood to find something new. You can even create a group of friends that are using the service and someone can play DJ and decide on which tracks will come up next. Sure, these are some of the things that you can do on other services, like Turntable.fm, but the Napster.fm interface is stripped down and basic, not sucking up a lot of resources. The other nice part is that there isn’t a desktop client to worry about, as is the case with Spotify. What you’re listening to will
TechCrunch
Twitter launching music discovery app
Posted by Gsurface
on April 14, 2013
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Twitter dives into the streaming music scene with its own app, and Android users can try Chat Heads without Facebook Home. Also, Bridget Carey previews new gadgets, including a smart thermostat and a wireless charging case for the iPhone 5. [Read more]
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Twitter Adding Music Recommendation
Posted by Gsurface
on April 14, 2013
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An anonymous reader writes “The NY Times reports that Twitter will soon launch a new music recommendation system for users of its service. The company teased the new feature and directed queries to announcement that We Are Hunted, a company focused on music recommendation through social media, would be shutting down and joining the Twitter team. ‘Recommendations based on social media interactions have become common throughout digital media for things like restaurants and shopping. Many online music services offer these features as well. Spotify, for example, can broadcast its users’ playlists through Facebook. Twitter’s advantage, in addition to its size, may lie in the devotion of its customers. “Music is one of the most tweeted topics,” said Ted Cohen, a former label executive who is now a consultant to digital music companies. “Discovery is critical to the growth of music, and the new gatekeeper is recommendations from trusted sources.”‘ Oddly, those ‘trusted sources’ seem to be celebrities with Twitter accounts at the moment, as the system is currently invite-only and restricted to ‘influencers.’”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Twitter readies launch of music service
Posted by Gsurface
on April 13, 2013
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Several signs are pointing to Twitter launching a new music app, and speculation has the company unveiling it Friday.
Computerworld News
Gillmor Gang: Speculation, Music, Death
Posted by Gsurface
on April 13, 2013
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The Gillmor Gang — Kevin Marks, John Taschek, Keith Teare, and Steve Gillmor — spared no expense to bring you the finest in up-to-date tech commentary. In other words, we tore into Twitter Music, ignored Facebook Home, dissected the internals of AirPlay, and cashed our Bitcoin checks. Our attention is a zero sum game, and whether it’s West Wing or Twitter pointers into the musicsphere, how we make our streaming choices will determine who the big winners are. What we’re really waiting for is the tipping point when the streamer artists crossover and recapture the idea that the creators are the real coin of the realm. @stevegillmor, @kteare, @kevinmarks, @jtaschek Produced and directed by Tina Chase Gillmor @tinagillmor
TechCrunch
AirBeats / AirHarp creator demos his forthcoming Leap Motion music apps
Posted by Gsurface
on April 13, 2013
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When it comes to developing music apps, Leap Motion’s naturalistic interface seems like a no-brainer. Sure it doesn’t offer the sort of tactile feedback you get from an actual instrument, but it certainly beats the heck out of, say, a keyboard and mouse. Adam Somers is among the early developers looking to bring a little bit of music magic to the tiny peripheral, and he gave us a sneak peak of what he’s working on at a Smule event in San Francisco earlier this week.
The simpler of the two apps is AirHarp. Still in early developer preview mode, the program is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a virtual harp. Hold your hand out and strings light up — tap down and you can pluck them. Reach in a bit and you can strum with one or several fingers. More impressive is AirBeats, a virtual machine with two pads and a slew of sounds that lets you record tracks. Somers is hoping to have at least one of the apps out in time for Leap Motion’s upcoming launch. You can check out demos after the break.
Source: Stanford
New Twitter music app expected to launch today
Posted by Gsurface
on April 13, 2013
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Soon Your Bird Can Sing: Twitter to Release Music App
Posted by Gsurface
on April 13, 2013
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It sounds cool, but only a select few such as Ryan Seacrest get to play with Twitter’s music app for now.
It’s not yet available to everyone, but Twitter’s giving a few hints about its forthcoming music app, which the social site is surely hoping will challenge music listening and sharing service Spotify.
Twitter Music goes from “Invite Only” to “Coming Soon”
Posted by Gsurface
on April 12, 2013
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It’s nearly time for Twitter to launch their own music service – with today’s updates letting us know that not only is this rumored project real, it’s right around the corner. If you head to https://music.twitter.com/ right this minute, you’ll even be able to connect the service to your own Twitter account – as odd
Twitter’s Music App Launch Reportedly Set For Friday, But Coachella Could Prove Too Chaotic For Marketing
Posted by Gsurface
on April 12, 2013
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Twitter Music will reportedly launch on Friday, reports AllThingsD citing sources familiar with the matter. Earlier today, music discovery service We Are Hunted confirmed that it had been acquired by Twitter, while Ryan Seacrest tweeted that he’d been playing around with Twitter’s new music app. AllThingsD says that Twitter’s standalone music app will suggest tracks based on data gleaned from users’ accounts, including the accounts that they follow. The app will allow users to listen to music using third-party services like iTunes and Soundcloud, or watch music videos provided by Vevo. Its acquisition of We Are Hunted and upcoming music app are the latest signs, along with Vine and its own photo filters, that Twitter is building itself out as an all-inclusive media platform. We’ve contacted Twitter for more information. A launch this weekend would coincide with the massive Coachella Music Festival outside of Los Angeles, CA. The festival carries heavy sponsorships and in the past Facebook has shown off check-in kiosks and other technology companies have attempted product launches there. Our writer Josh Constine has attended the last nine Coachellas and will be there this weekend. He’s not sure the launch of a music discovery app would work so well at the intense festival. Constine explains “Twitter launching a music app at Coachella is risky. The festival is chaotic, there’s poor mobile signal, people try to conserve battery life, and there’s a ton of distraction. Amongst the seven stages and wild crowds of 75,000 attendees, it may be difficult to find time to download and use a music discovery app. There would be no way to hear new music or watch music videos with all the noise there. The festival could be useful for raising awareness of the app, and if it was more of a music moment capturing and sharing app similar to Soundtracking it could see use at Coachellla. But the festival is so overwhelming, inebriating, and exhausting that people might forget about Twitter music app posters seen between sets and might fail to download the app.” We’ll be on the ground at Coachella tomorrow to let you know if Twitter tries anything.
TechCrunch
Twitter acquires music discovery service We Are Hunted, readies music app?
Posted by Gsurface
on April 12, 2013
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Last month, rumors swirled that Twitter had acquired music discovery service We Are Hunted to fold it into a forthcoming music app. Today, that acquisition has been made official, with the We Are Hunted team announcing that it’s shutting down its services and joining team Twitter, with the promise that it would “continue to create services that will delight you.” Alas, there’s no more detail provided about what services it’ll be creating, but its core competency of tune discovery sure will dovetail nicely with Twitter’s rumored preferred method of sonic delivery, SoundCloud. Time will tell if this attempt at a musical social network goes over better than last time.
Filed under: Internet, Software
Via: The Next Web
Source: We Are Hunted
Roku Hits 5M Streaming Players Sold In The U.S., Has Streamed 8B Videos And Music Tracks
Posted by Gsurface
on April 10, 2013
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Roku just announced via its blog that it has sold 5 million of its streaming Internet media players since its launch back in 2008. The devices have managed to stream a total of 8 billion pieces of content in that time, impressive for a device that started out as essentially a dedicated Netflix box. Roku recently introduced its third-generation hardware to market with the Roku 3, which went on sale in March.
TechCrunch
Google Music adds seven new countries to its roster
Posted by Gsurface
on April 10, 2013
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Users in Australia, Ireland, Portugal, and more now have access to the Web giant’s music service, which allows for free storage of up to 20,000 songs. [Read more]
CNET News
Nokia brings Music app to Windows 8, RT
Posted by Gsurface
on April 5, 2013
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The program, similar to the Windows Phone version for Nokia’s Lumia devices, is the company’s first app for PCs and tablets. [Read more]
CNET News
Blackberry shutting down BBM Music on June 2nd, points users to Rdio
Posted by Gsurface
on April 4, 2013
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BBM Music may only be roughly a year and a half old, but Blackberry announced in an email to subscribers that it’ll be put out to pasture on June 2nd, and April is the last month they’ll be charged for it. For those who aren’t familiar with BBM Music, it lets users keep up to 50 songs hand-picked from a larger selection in a playlist, and listen to tunes that friends keep in their own collections. Come May, tracks will appear greyed out and become unplayable as BBM contacts stop using the app. Of course, there are other ways to get your music fix. The company formerly known as RIM went so far as to recommend Rdio, giving folks a voucher code for a 30-day pass in the email.
Filed under: Software, Mobile, Blackberry
Source: CrackBerry (1), (2)
Twitter music app reportedly includes Vevo, may expand to more services
Posted by Gsurface
on March 30, 2013
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As much as we’re intrigued by the prospect of Twitter’s music app, the rumored emphasis on SoundCloud would potentially limit the selection given major label resistance to giving away ad-free content: we’d expect a lot of DJ sets and indie demos. A supposed leak from AllThingsD has Twitter catering to the less adventurous among us by adding Vevo support. While the full workings of the rumored app remain a mystery, Twitter would reportedly play Vevo’s mostly pop-oriented music videos through a custom player. It might not be the only service involved, too: the same tips suggest that Twitter wants to round up multiple services, and the two that have surfaced so far are just the first to hop aboard. We have a hunch that the expanded app (if real) won’t make the originally claimed March launch when we’re already at the last weekday of the month, but the latest tidbit suggests Twitter is far from giving up on turning microblogs into mini jukeboxes.
Filed under: Internet
Source: AllThingsD
Twitter reportedly to offer Vevo content via its music app
Posted by Gsurface
on March 30, 2013
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It has been rumored for a couple weeks now that Twitter will be releasing its own music app using technology from its not-too-long-ago acquired We Are Hunted. While it has already been said that SoundCloud and iTunes will be integrated into the service, the folks over at AllThingsD are now reporting that a Twitter and
Band claims Street View driver broke Google rules for music video
Posted by Gsurface
on March 29, 2013
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A pulsating country music video appears. The band claims it “ambushed” a Google Street View car to make it. Could this possibly be true? [Read more]
CNET News
Introducing MOX, A 24/7 Dance Music Web TV Channel
Posted by Gsurface
on March 28, 2013
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“Electronic dance music is what rock ‘n’ roll was decades ago. It’s a ‘fuck you’ to your parents.” “A lean-back, TV-like experience on the Internet is the future of television.” MOX.tv is a web TV channel built on these two ideas that’s coming out of stealth today. It broadcasts dance music videos, concerts and news hosted by VJs 24 hours a day. Just open MOX and start grooving — no clicks necessary
TechCrunch
Mind-reading headphones pick music based on your mood
Posted by Gsurface
on March 21, 2013
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If shuffle is too random for you, let the Mico brainwave-reading headphones read your mood and pick the right music to soothe the savage beast. [Read more]
CNET News
Supreme Court declines to hear petition over $222,000 music piracy judgment
Posted by Gsurface
on March 18, 2013
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Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a Minnesota woman who has been fighting for years to reverse a $ 222,000 judgment for music piracy, finally ran out of legal appeals on Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear her petition for a review of the case.
Computerworld News
How loud do you listen to music and movies?
Posted by Gsurface
on March 16, 2013
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Some folks prefer to listen at a fairly quiet volume, and some like it really loud. What’s your preference? [Read more]
CNET News
Ambify, A Music App For The Philips Hue Lighting System, Shows The Potential Of The Connected Home
Posted by Gsurface
on March 8, 2013
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The Philips Hue lighting system is pretty neat on its own – it lets you control lighting in your house from your iPhone or iPad, adjusting bulb color and brightness remotely via your Wi-Fi network. Amblify is a new app from Stuttgart, Germany-based developer Kai Aras that makes the connected lighting system even cooler, by plugging it into a media player app on the iPhone to automatically generate real-life light shows from your own iTunes library.
TechCrunch
Apple’s low royalty rate offer for streaming music has record labels grumbling
Posted by Gsurface
on March 8, 2013
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It’s no secret that Apple has been looking into launching its own music streaming service. Yesterday, we reported that Apple’s Tim Cook and Eddy Cue had met up with Beats’ CEO Jimmy Iovine to discuss Project Daisy, a music service the latter company has planned, including its business model and planned rollout. Now the tech
Cook reportedly discussed music streaming service with Beats
Posted by Gsurface
on March 6, 2013
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Apple CEO met with music mogul Jimmy Iovine about Beats planned music service, sources tell Reuters. [Read more]
CNET News
Beats raises $60M to spin off music streaming service
Posted by Gsurface
on March 6, 2013
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Codenamed Daisy, the forthcoming “curated” music streaming service is expected to launch this summer. [Read more]
CNET News
YouTube To Launch Music Subscriptions
Posted by Gsurface
on March 6, 2013
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YouTube plans to launch a music subscription service later this year, to allow people to listen to tracks online, and to possibly cut out the ads that precede each video for subscribers, according to Fortune. The largest storehouse of streaming video, YouTube relies on selling banner ads on the site and running short clips before each video, giving a cut back to record companies. YouTube has released a statement that confirmed it was considering a subscription service, but noted that ads wouldn’t go away: While we don’t comment on rumor or speculation, there are some content creators that think they would benefit from a subscription revenue stream in addition to ads, so we’re looking at that. YouTube stepping up the game as a music provider sense to me. It’s is one of the first places I hit up when I’m looking to listen to a new track quickly. Sure, it’s not often the best quality, but it’ll do in a pinch. A proper subscription service is likely to provide higher fidelity tracks, and elevates YouTube to the same playing field as labels such as Warner Music which do rely on streaming revenue. Google already has partnerships with numerous music publishers. Last November, it struck up a deal with Armonia, one of the largest alliances of music publishers, giving it access to 5.5 million tracks across 35 countries. And in the larger scheme of things, the company might overlap its new subscription plans into its Google Play music service. In December, it rolled out a free “scan and match” feature that allows users to add up to 20,000 songs from their offline collections to the Google cloud and stream it to their devices on the go.
TechCrunch
Keen On… Rhapsody: How Streaming Is Radically Reinventing The Music Industry
Posted by Gsurface
on March 5, 2013
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Jon Irwin, President of Rhapsody, told me at SFMusicTech that smartphone technology – particularly the IOS and Android platforms – has enabled a radically new experience for music lovers. As Irwin explained, this shifts the industry’s business model from the sale of product to what he calls “streaming as a platform,” noting the increasing dominance of subscription services like Rhapsody, Spotify and Pandora.
TechCrunch
Songdrop Is Like A Delicious For Music For That Lives Outside Of Paywalls
Posted by Gsurface
on March 4, 2013
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With competitors such as Ex.fm and Whyd, it may not be the most original idea, but newly-launched Songdrop — which is perhaps best described as a ‘Delicious for music’ — is a fun and well designed take on solving the music discovery and sharing problem, at least for music fans that live outside of the paywalls of services such as Spotify.
Today the company is announcing its first round of funding. SOIC Capital, a seed and early-stage fund that largely focuses on social fashion and music startups, has invested £100,000 (~$ 150k) in the burgeoning London-based company.
Poll: Should music be free?
Posted by Gsurface
on March 3, 2013
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Paying for music is now a voluntary act, so why would anyone ever buy a CD, LP, or download? [Read more]
CNET News
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