Janus Friis’ video service Vdio opens up for everybody. Next up: subscriptions?
Users don’t need a Rdio subscription to access movies and TV shows on Vdio anymore – but the services are working on even closer ties. Read more »
Twitter #music wants to be the sharing layer for the music subscription web
photo: Rani Molla
Twitter’s #music app was built in secrecy, but engineers from Spotify and Rdio were involved early on. That’s because Twitter wants its app to become the sharing layer for music subscription services. Read more »
Rhapsody exec: splashy ads and free streaming promotions don’t work
Rhapsody has some advice for its competitors Spotify and Rdio: Don’t invest in splashy ads. Focus on featuring your service instead. Read more at paidContent »
GigaOM Reads: A look back at the week in tech
Its a unicorn. No it’s a phone. Actually it is Facebook Home, for now; Apple’s China Syndrome is making it think different; The Bit coin boom (& bust); Chrome & WebKit go to war and did Vdio really kill the Rdio star? Read more »
Spotify hits 6 million paid users as market for music streaming heats up
A report shows that music subscription service Spotify continues to grow at a rapid pace. The growth validates Spotify’s business model but is also inviting a growing cluster of rivals. Read more at paidContent »
Rdio expands global footprint, Spotify reportedly extends free mobile offering
photo: Shutterstock / Smith
Rdio is coming to Austria, Ireland, Italy and four other countries. Spotify, meanwhile, plans to offer free mobile radio around the world. Read more at paidContent »
Mobile’s newest star Songza is red hot with 1.15 Million iOS downloads in 10 days
Songza launched in 2007, and put to rest a year later. In 2011, it was reincarnated as a mobile music discovery service and a mobile app. By marrying algorithms with human curation, the service wants to challenge Pandora and others in battle for music-app supremacy. Read more »
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How social discovery is transforming entertainment
In this busy new world of multiple social networks and recommendations tools, the discovery process itself is being disrupted by innovation and by the changing ways in which consumers now interact online. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Physical media is dead — long live the app
Physical media is dead. It is being replaced with “apps” From music playlists to catalogs to retail stores to television — it wouldn’t surprise me if in near future everything is an app. It is a scary future for some, and yet full of opportunities. Read more »
Interview: Rdio Prepares To Take On Spotify, Deezer Et Al In Europe
Unlimited-music service Rdio concedes it will have to fight incumbents as it prepares to launch across the whole of Europe. Read more at paidContent »
Rdio relaunches with new web UI and revamped desktop apps
Music subscription service Rdio relaunched its web and desktop experience at a press event at SXSW Tuesday in an attempt to focus more on music discovery and bring a desktop-like music experience to the web. The new UI takes some hints from iTunes, Spotify and Facebook. Read more »
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10 ways big data changes everything
The emergence of the big data phenomenon is fundamentally changing everything from the way companies operate to the way people interact to how the world deals with outbreaks of infectious diseases. Here we highlight 10 case studies illustrating how big data is changing the world. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Online music is hard: iLike shuts down
iLike was once the most popular music application of Facebook, with close to 10 million active users generating 1.5 billion page views per month. On Tuesday, it finally shut down. Its demise proves once again that online music is a tough business to be in. Read more »
Hands on with the remastered Rdio for Android
I took a look at Rdio’s new Android client and it’s a vast improvement. The application is a full re-write, rather than an update, and better supports Android 4.0 smartphones and tablets, allowing the app to be controlled on a device’s lock screen. Read more »
The confusing, contrary arguments over music streaming
Arguments over the compensation that artists get from streaming services like Spotify and Rdio just won’t go away — because everyone has wildly different experiences. So who’s got it wrong? Perhaps the real problem is that everybody is right in their own way. Read more »
Indie labels stage another Spotify walkout
A consortium of more than 200 small electronic music labels have become the latest to quit Spotify — and other streaming services — in a protest at the amount of money they earn. But can compensation ever match consumption? Read more »
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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 »
Mixberry Media brings audio ads to streaming music apps
Mixberry Media is introducing a new ad platform aimed at inserting ads into the dead space in audio streams whenever a user switches channels or changes songs. The goal is to fill in the dead space in between songs with short brand messages. Read more »
What happens to ownership as the world goes digital?
The launch of Amazon’s new “Kindle lending” feature means another form of content is becoming something that we rent, Netflix-style, rather than owning. But moving to a rental rather than an ownership model changes our relationship to content, and not always in a good way. Read more »
It’s confirmed: Skype founder’s new startup is Vdio
Vdio just confirmed the story we broke earlier today: The new video startup was founded by Skype cofounder Janus Friis, and the team includes veterans from Skype and Joost. Vdio hasn’t publicly launched yet, but it’s already taking swipes at Netflix and Lovefilm. Read more »
Scoop: Skype founders gunning for Netflix with Vdio
First there was Rdio, now there is Vdio: The Skype founders have stealthily been working on a new video service that seems to be gunning straight for Netflix. Vdio hasn’t publicly launched yet, but we uncovered many details about the company and the people behind it. Read more »
Music wars heat up — but is free really the future?
As music services Mog and Rdio take up defensive positions by launching new free-to-listen services, it may look like streaming is the future. But retailers like eMusic are fighting back by arguing that purchasing songs remains as relevant as ever. Read more »
Sonos hits the 1M mark as digital music grows up
Sonos, the wireless music system, has achieved what it calls the 1 million room milestone. For a web service, such a milestone may not be as notable, but for a hardware maker that has been selling gear since January 2005, it’s a big deal. Read more »
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Connected Consumer Q2: Digital music meets the cloud; e-book growth explodes
The second quarter of 2011 was a fast-paced one for the connected consumer segment, with every sector of the digital media landscape — music, e-books, online video and gaming — experiencing significant events and changes. Media consumption, purchase and management continued its shift towards the cloud, ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Bad taste in music? Here’s how to avoid sharing on Spotify
We all have our secret Lady Gaga songs tucked away in our playlist or the 80s’ Monster Ballads that are loved rather than laughed at, so now as Spotify comes to the U.S., here’s how to avoid sharing the skeletons in your musical closet. Read more »
The best music service you don’t know just got better
EXCLUSIVE: Clio might not be the most familiar name in the world of music recommendation — but its system is one of the most intelligent. And now the Philadelphia service has strengthened its hand by signing a major deal to provide its services to Hollywood’s biggest studios. Read more »
Turntable.fm and SoundCloud ushering in new era of social music
As Turntable.fm has shown, a new era of social music may be upon us, one that is less about scaling wide, but more about going deep. The third era of social music is about immersion as sites add more immediacy and intimacy to the experience. Read more »
Rdio Taps Developers to Compete in Digital Music Arena
Rdio, the social music subscription service built by Skype founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, is one of the later entrants to the digital music space. But it’s working hard to catch up by tapping developers to make its service widely available. Read more »
Skype’s Real P2P Network
Skype, the web’s telephone and video chat pioneer, has seen a lot since its inception eight years ago. But it’s real legacy is its people. The well-connected network of alums reads like a Silicon Valley who’s who. Read more »
Spotify Shift Signals the End for Ad-Supported Music
Europe’s hottest on-demand music service, Spotify, is narrowing its free offering as it tries to boost subscription numbers and prepare for an American launch. Will it finally end the ongoing delusion that advertising can ever make enough to support streaming music services? Read more »
Rdio Gives Music Lovers More Options on Roku
Music subscription service Rdio, which exited beta last summer, has added a new platform for its on demand cloud-based library: the Roku. This adds Rdio to the list of streaming services discovering the unexpected popularity of music channels on the set-top box. Read more »
Spotify: We Are Not for Sale
The latest rumor to hit says Apple might be interested in buying Spotify, a hot music startup based in Sweden. There’s news that Google almost bought them for $1 billion last year. What does the company say to all that? It’s not for sale. Read more »
Rdio Now Broadcasting to Everyone: Here's How it Stacks Up
After two months in invite-only beta, streaming music service Rdio will enter general availability Tuesday morning, offering unlimited access to a library of seven million songs for a flat fee of $5 for desktop service and $10 to add a mobile component. Read more »
MOG Finally Goes Mobile With New iPhone, Android Apps
Expected soon after the launch of its music subscription service last fall, MOG’s iPhone and Android mobile apps will allow access to a library of more than 8 million songs for a monthly fee of about $10. That represents an increasingly attractive standalone offering for handset makers. Read more »
Rdio's Silence Ends As Skype Founders Launch Music Subscription Service
The newest music subscription service to launch is Rdio, the creation of Skype and Kazaa founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis. Like some of its newly launched peers, it’s a well-designed service that’s satisfying to curious listeners, but how many people will pay for it? Read more »
Still Quiet Before Launch, Rdio Introduces iPhone App
Rdio, the startup created by Skype founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström, hasn’t yet launched its music subscription service. But the company quietly introduced its iPhone app in the last day, giving beta testers early access. Read more »
