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 »
Spotify app Spoundrop relaunched over the weekend, adding features that make collaborative listening on Spotify even more social. This should help Spotify to bring more curation to its music catalog, making it possible for users to tune into a more radio-like listening experience. Read more »
The recruiting ecosystem is changing, led by professional social networks like LinkedIn and Viadeo and companies like Jobvite and BranchOut, which are building Facebook apps for hiring and career development. The bottom line is that technology enables the recruiting process to be more streamlined, scientific and democratic. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Spotify has moved a step toward embracing the web by introducing a new embeddable widget – but the launch highlights perhaps one of the biggest anomalies of the music service. Read more at paidContent »
In the land of the freemium, how much free is enough to convince users to pay?
In the latest refinement to its market strategy, Spotify in… Read more at paidContent »
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 »
UK advertising buyers now say Spotify is the outlet they enjoy the best experience with. Read more at paidContent »
The music industry enjoyed its best sales performance for eight years in 2011, as CDs’ collapse decelerated, digital sales continued growing… Read more at paidContent »
MOG, a streaming music service has been subject of acquisitions rumors, with phone maker HTC as the likely buyer. The really low valuation shows how far behind it has fallen behind current industry leader, Spotify, which ironically is being valued at a breathtaking valuation. Read more »
Two of the subscription-music space’s main players are set to launch in several new markets, as the segment’s many budding exponents race to… Read more at paidContent »
Spotify is adding a second batch of apps to its desktop player, and this time around, there is a big emphasis on record labels. That’s good, because labels could use these kinds of apps to reestablish themselves as curators in the age of subscription music. Read more »
The new iPad isn’t exactly like Oakland and Gertrude Stein – there’s a there, there — but it won’t be obvious to most people. Read more at paidContent »
The audio file is no longer the product when it comes to digital music. Instead, the experiences built around it are, and services like Spotify, Facebook, Topspin and others are leading the way into this new era of dynamic, interactive and social music. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Spotify apparently didn’t want to wait any longer for its launch in Germany, which came two weeks before the service is having its final negotiations with rights holders group GEMA. The final deal with GEMA could determine how much music Germans will get for free. Read more »
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 »
The new wave of global subscription music services going global has picked Germany, perhaps Europe’s most under-developed digital music mark… Read more at paidContent »
Berlin’s Tape.tv has teamed up with Spotify to help fill the void left by the old, music-oriented MTV. But underneath the hood, its approach could be another interesting example of how onerous music rights in Germany have sparked a different kind of music startup. Read more »
Veteran music access vendor Omnifone may not own a stake in Rara, the fledgling Spotify rival it span off last year – but CEO Jeff Hughes te… Read more at paidContent »
Spotify is launching in Germany within the next two weeks, according to German media reports. The streaming service already has an office in Berlin. It also recently hired a PR rep for the country, which in the past has been a difficult market for music services. Read more »
Record labels’ equity in Spotify has allowed the music subscription service to start and to flourish. But, if the company decides to file fo… Read more at paidContent »
Music’s new wave of unlimited-access services is now supported by most labels, who dearly hope that new subscription payments will make up f… Read more at paidContent »
The debate over whether artists get enough money from streaming played out in public last week when EMI and Spotify executives failed to win… Read more at paidContent »
The debate over whether artists get enough money from streaming played out in public last week when EMI and Spotify executives failed to win over two skeptical EMI acts during an industry seminar… Read more »
Last week, a negative Bloomberg story about Facebook storefronts described how GameStop, Gap, J.C. Penney and Nordstrom had closed their Facebook stores. That doesn’t mean retailers should give up. Instead, they should put their Facebook stores in the hands of their marketing and promotions staff and ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Berlin is famous for its thriving music scene — and now local startup wahwah.fm is taking on the idea of pirate radio with a social, mobile app that lets you broadcast to your friends. Read more »
When it comes to the future of music, we all like to talk about Spotify, file sharing and the decline of the CD. But those flashy stories may distract us from a much bigger trend – a trend that is powered by CMS systems and CRMs. Read more »
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 »
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 »
Warner Music Group Chairman Edgar Bronfman, Jr. is a big fan of Spotify. In fact, at the D:Dive Into Media conference, the music mogul touted the music streaming service as a complementary service on top of other sales channels. Read more »
Facebook’s users have shared more than five billion songs through the site ever since it opened its social graph up to music services like Spotify, MOG and Rdio four months ago at its f8 developer conference. Sharing has also led to more concert ticket sales. Read more »
I’ll bet The Times sub-editors raised some eyebrows when their business writer Emily Ford filed her piece, Why I’m not paying any more, for… Read more at paidContent »
Early last week, a six-month promotion period, during which U.S. users were exempted from Spotify’s five-plays-per-song, 10-hours-per-month… Read more at paidContent »
Chasing the post-download digital music opportunity, veteran services are seeking scale to fight dominant newcomers, whilst strangers from o… Read more at paidContent »
Music subscription service Rhapsody is going to Europe, but not under its own name. The company will use the Napster brand in the U.K. and Germany to compete with Spotify. The company announced the acquisition of Napster’s foreign assets three months after it bought Napster USA. Read more »
iTunes may be great for syncing your iOS devices, or buying songs, movies, apps and books, but it’s not exactly the most nimble music player anymore. Here are five great Mac-compatible alternatives that focus on the music, without the bloat that iTunes brings. Read more »
New entrants are pushing alternative business models in the music industry. Though this evolution will take time, the overall industry should return to growth within the five-year forecast horizon, as digital music spending, driven by subscriptions, will average double-digit yearly growth to total $4.1 billion in 2015. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The fourth quarter may have lacked a dominating big-event product announcement like Q3’s Facebook platform extension or Q2’s unveiling of Google+, but the NewNet world continued to buzz along. In the battle for mind share, everyone wanted to be a platform. Meanwhile, consumer and social technologies continued to gain momentum, and new vehicles for content and service discovery presented both challenges and opportunities for NewNet companies. And it is hard to ignore the overcrowded but growing world of daily deals. This quarterly report analyzes these trends and others, and it also provides a near-term outlook of trends, technologies and companies to watch in 2012. Companies mentioned in the report include Amazon, Facebook and Socialcast. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Grooveshark has shut down in Germany, blaming exorbitant licensing costs and redirecting users to a local Spotify clone. However, rights holders singled out by Grooveshark say that they have never actually been contacted by the service. Meanwhile U.S. lawsuits against Grooveshark continue. Read more »
It has been a month since Spotify rolled out its app platform to all of its users, and early data from some of the participating third-party developers looks very positive: Spotify users seem to like the added functionality, with many coming back to their favorite apps. Read more »
Shazam, best known for its music tagging app, is now rolling out its first new app, called Shazam Player, a free app that replaces the iOS music player and provides a deep set of features including lyrics, social sharing, smart playlists, bios and more. Read more »
