spotify

EA treading into social networking territory?

Gaming company Electronic Arts has come out with something totally new -- a free music and photo social networking app called Vue.

No, it's not a social network focused game. It's simply a social network.

The question is -- why did a gaming company create a social networking app? It's not yet entirely clear. According to Venture Beat, it is a "low-budget exploratory project" started by EA Partners group.

The premise of Vue is to find songs on music services like Spotify and Rdio, pair them with personal photos, and then share the package with … Read more

When will Apple kill the iPod?

Physical music formats were so 20th century, so we put our music on computers. But even that was too much of a burden, so music is going up, up, and away, into the cloud and streaming. The iPod Classic is firmly rooted to the ground, and I like it that way.

I can live without Siri, iCloud, a camera, iOS 6, a Lightning connector, Bluetooth, AirPlay, or any of that jazz to keep the Classic's 160GB storage capability, and the Classic's "classic" 30-pin connector that still works with gazillions of docks and accessories. Is there another … Read more

The 404 1,238: Where we open up for Bayside (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Listen to the music of Bayside and check them out at one of their upcoming shows.

- Nick's clothing label is called Born and Bred, and 404 listeners can save 20 percent off all merchandise with code BB404.

- Follow Nick Ghanbarian and Born and Bred on Twitter

Episode 1,238

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The one bright spot for the music labels: Digital

The music industry is still in rough shape, based on data released today by the Recording Industry Association of America. But U.S. digital revenues continue to climb, helped by the growth of so-called "access services" such as Spotify, YouTube, and Vevo.

And the bigger picture shows that the beaten-down industry is stabilizing. Recorded music sales slipped 0.9 percent from 2011 to 2012, totaling $7.1 billion. That's roughly in line with the total sales for the last few years.

Sales from digital formats, meantime, rose 14 percent from 2011 and last year surpassed $4 billion … Read more

Microsoft, Spotify, The Echo Nest team up on MixShape

A triumvirate of companies have come together to deliver a new way of handling playlists, both in the browser and through Spotify.

Microsoft, Spotify, and a "music intelligence" start-up named The Echo Nest announced yesterday the launch of a visual playlist tool called MixShape. The feature allows users to toss their Spotify playlists of up to 300 tracks into MixShape and come away with a finely tuned playlist, complete with visual display. MixShape analyzes the tracks and creates a mix for the "optimal flow between songs." That flow depends on the "mood" the user … Read more

Spotify tries to go mainstream, launches splashy ad campaign

Spotify today is rolling out a major advertising blitz, including a series of TV spots as the company hopes to reach a mass audience in the U.S. The campaign, called "For Music" and created by Droga5, will debut tonight during NBC's "The Voice" and will have Web and social media components.

Spotify's push comes at an important juncture for the company, which now has 24 million active users and 6 million paid subscribers. Spotify, which offers both on-demand music and Internet radio, said in December that it had passed 1 million paid subscribers in the U.S. … Read more

Is Spotify gearing up to take on Netflix? Not soon

Spotify, the largest on-demand music service with 24 million active listeners, is in the early stages of exploring a possible video service, according a person close to the company. But CEO Daniel Ek says building a Netlix competitor is not something the company is gearing up to do anytime soon.

"I won't rule it out because we're a company that looks at what we're doing incredibly long term," Ek said in a recent interview with CNET. "But right now, we're all focused on music."

The idea of a Spotify video service came … Read more

Amazon looking to add subscription music service

The music industry is pinning great hope on subscription music services such as Spotify, a segment that's growing faster than any other part of recorded music industry. And now comes news that Amazon is looking to jump into the fray.

The Verge, citing multiple sources, reports that Amazon is holding informal talks with the music industry about launching an on-demand service similar to Spotify, which is the largest such service with 24 million active users and 6 million paid subscribers.

This development comes as Google is trying to launch a pair of subscription music services this summer, one tied … Read more

Spotify's Daniel Ek: I don't worry about Apple, Google

AUSTIN, Texas -- Google is aiming to roll out two subscription music services this summer, and Apple is reportedly trying again to tackle the streaming business. But Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek says he's not concerned, because his company is laser-focused on music and music only.

"We're obviously watching what everybody is doing," said Ek, who wore a Gibson guitar T-shirt and was interviewed by Forbes Associate Editor Steve Bertoni at the SXSW Interactive conference. "Music is something that is so inherently important to people that it makes sense for gigantic companies to have … Read more