Smule users record one billion songs, generate $12.6 M in revenue in 2012
iOS app maker Smule has been autotuning and auto-rapping the music app genre all the way to a sweet $12.6 milion in revenue. Read more »
Don’t overspend on new guitar amps: get these 2 great Mac apps instead
There are two OS X modeling programs I’ve become quite enamored with: AmpliTube 3 Custom Shop and Guitar Rig 5 Pro. Both can also plug in directly to GarageBand for use in recording a variety of sounds without having to blow out your bank account. Read more »
Ocarina 2 app teaches people to play songs for a price
Smule, whose Ocarina app turned the iPhone into a digital flute, is following up its Hall of Fame app with Ocarina 2, which is designed to teach people to play songs for a price. Users can prompted like Guitar Hero to press buttons that create music. Read more »
Music app maker Smule finally gives Android some love
Music app maker Smule has been one of the longest Android hold-outs, often citing the way Android devices handle audio as a reason it hasn’t embraced the mobile platform. But the company is finally showing Android some love with the release of Songify. Read more »
How my iPhone and iPad helped me (re)learn guitar
About 20 years ago, I was a pretty good guitar player. Once it hit me that I was never going to be a rock star (although I did have a fun four summers setting up stages for some instead) guitar playing fell off the radar. I […] Read more »
Got Spotify? Got friends? You should also get TuneTug
Can’t bear to hear “All I Want for Christmas is You” again at a holiday house party? You may be in luck. TuneTug is a mobile app that works with iTunes and Spotify to let party guests vote for the songs they want to hear next. Read more »
Lessons from Billy Chasen’s epic pivot to Turntable.fm
Billy Chasen, the co-founder of Turntable.fm, talked on Thursday night about his pivot away from his barcode-scanning startup Stickybits. It was a tough decision to pull the plug on a mediocre success, but it’s worked out for him. Here are some lessons from his big restart. Read more »
Subscriber Content
Connected world: the consumer technology revolution
Connectivity changes everything. That’s the credo driving just about every corner of our day-to-day lives. As human beings, we are now connected to one another through not just our social networks but also our cars, the books we read, the albums we download and even our own health and wellness habits (to name just a few areas). With that in mind, GigaOM Pro has singled out certain areas in the technology industry where we see this shift to constant connectivity taking place most drastically. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
MOG sees 246% user growth, thanks to Facebook tie-in
Music streaming service MOG just released new growth figures, and it turns out that the music platform launched by Facebook in late September has given it a big boost. MOG now has 160,000 monthly active users, representing 264 percent growth for the month of October. Read more »
Facebook’s f8 conference is coming. Here’s what to expect
Facebook’s big f8 conference is now less than two days away, and it’s shaping up to be one of the hottest tickets in tech. Facebook has some splashy launches lined up to keep the crowd at the one-day conference happy — here’s what to expect. Read more »
How to stream Spotify to Apple TV and iOS devices
One thing that iTunes has over Spotify’s online music service is its wireless connectivity to the Apple TV. But it is actually possible to get the same kind of connectivity with Spotify, and use it from any room in your house. Here’s how. Read more »
Hands on with Spotify for mobile devices
Spotify, one of the most popular music streaming services in Europe and other regions, today launched in the U.S., as expected. But mobile users will have to pay for the Premium plan, a $9.99 monthly subscription. What features do you get and is it worth it? Read more »
Who needs iTunes? HP TouchPad has HP Play
HP hasn’t introduced the rumored music store and streaming service for its line of webOS devices, but it does have an application that currently syncs music to the HP TouchPad tablet and Veer smartphone. HP Play, for Windows and OS X, shows promise and works well. Read more »
Revealed: Spotify’s US launch dates, price plans
UPDATED: The buzz around European music streaming service Spotify’s United States launch just keeps getting louder. Our sources reveal that Spotify’s US launch will happen in mid-July and feature a tiered pricing plan. Spotify US may initially be invite-only, an anonymous report said. Read more »
Lights, camera… Facebook? Netflix CEO joins board
Facebook announced Thursday it has added Reed Hastings, the chairman and CEO of Netflix, to its board of directors. The addition of Hastings to Facebook’s boardroom is the latest signal of the Palo Alto, California-based social networking giant’s growing focus on the entertainment industry. Read more »
Confirmed: Spotify raises $100M
UPDATED. Spotify, the European on-demand music service, has closed on about $100 million in a new funding round from DST, Kleiner Perkins and Accel Partners that values the company at $1 billion. The fresh funding will be put toward Spotify’s highly anticipated US launch. Read more »
Can Tablets Resurrect the Album? One Start-up Hopes So
The album may be long dead, but the idea of having a digital package filled with music, pictures, information and more from an artist may have some life. That’s the hope of 955 Dreams, which is looking to push a new musical media format for tablets. Read more »
