spotify

Maybe there's hope for the music industry yet

The big digital music companies, from Internet radio company Pandora to fast-growing startups like Spotify and Deezer, face huge business challenges because of the simple fact that the majority of the money they bring in -- either from ads or subscriptions -- goes to the big music labels and publishers.

And that's starting to look pretty good for the long suffering music industry.

A pair of reports published today on the music industry -- one from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the other from research firm NPD -- highlighted the first glimmer of good news that the … Read more

The 404 1,215: Where we stand up to stereotypes (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Beatles fan exhibits record store that only stocks The Beatles' "White Album," featuring more than 650 first pressings. Here's a preview.

- Stereotype.fm comes up with quirky statistics about music fans, like "MJ fans likely to join a cult."

- Nine new ways to sit, thanks to tech.

- Illegal music downloads took a nosedive in 2012.

- Check out Samsung/GameSpot's Unicorn Apocalypse contest for a chance to win $25k.

- Ghostbusters HQ Lego creation by Orion Pax.… Read more

Spotify finally finds an automotive home

BARCELONA, Spain--Internet music service Spotify gained more than 10 million users in Europe before its U.S. launch in July of 2011. But despite all the fanfare, no automotive integration had been announced. That all changed today as Ford welcomed Spotify integration into its Sync AppLink stable.

Spotify joins automotive standard Pandora, along with music apps Slacker, Mog, Rhapsody, TuneIn, IHeartRadio, and the Amazon Cloud Player among music apps integrated with Ford's Sync AppLink feature. AppLink gives drivers control over app on their smartphones using the car's interface, including voice command.

For Sync AppLink integration, apps must be … Read more

Google in talks with labels over streaming music service -- report

When your market cap is north of $263 billion and the company's stock price is hovering around the $800 level, the prevailing question du jour becomes "well, why not?"

So it is that we learn, courtesy of the Financial Times, that Google has been talking with the major music labels about a possible streaming music service. The Times report said that "it is expected that the streaming service will offer a subscription model as well as free unlimited access to songs, supported by advertising, mirroring models adopted by Spotify and Deezer."

What with everyone seemingly … Read more

The 404 1,213: Where Sphere says no to 'Yes to the Dress' (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Is Spotify unfair to musicians?

- Spotify reports net loss of $59 million 2011.

- Spotify will pay $500 million to artists and rights holders in 2013.

- Benford's law, also called the first-digit law.

- Godwin's Law, also known as Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies.

- The Audiophiliac wants to see your audio system.

- Are the Monoprice 9774 speakers inspired by, or knocks-offs of, the Energy Take Classic 5.1?… Read more

Add an equalizer to Spotify with Equalify

Judging by the genres represented in my iTunes library, I listen to a wide variety of music, from alternative, blues, and country to R&B, reggae, and rock, with a bit of electronica/dance, hip-hop/rap, and jazz in between. I don't always adjust iTunes's equalizer, but when I do, I find it helps. For the last year or so, however, I've switched from using iTunes to Spotify for the majority of my listening pleasure. I love Spotify's seemingly limitless library and its ability to load in a fraction of the time it takes iTunes, … Read more

Shake that app with Spotify apps

Spotify has been around for a good year and hasn't changed much; it's still one of our favorite applications for music on-demand and music library management. Taking cues from iTunes, Spotify integrates your existing music libraries with its own giant catalog of songs from artists all over the world. Where it trumps iTunes is that all the music is pretty much available to stream for free, with offline functionality for an addition ten bucks a month. In their in-app advertisements, claimss like "Piracy is overrated" are quite justified; it's seriously one of the most easiest … Read more

Beats' curated music service heading for summer launch

DANA POINT, Calif.--Jimmy Iovine has worked as a producer with everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Lady Gaga over his 40-year career, and is currently chairman of Interscope Geffen-A&M. As a second, or companion, act he cofounded the popular Beats by Dr. Dre headphone company in 2006 because he thought the iPod earbuds were terrible.

"If Beats did anything, it got kids interested in audio again. We turned an entire generation on to sound," Iovine said in conversation with Walt Mossberg at the AllThingsD Dive Into Media conference here.

But his third act is even bolder … Read more

LinkedIn eyes content as connection

Friday's CNET Update endorses your video-watching skills:

Stories from today's tech news roundup:

- LinkedIn eyes future as professional publishing hub

- NBC deems EveryBlock a dead end, turns off local news service

- Twitter enabling searches for tweets older than a week

- Guess what? Vine videos are longer than six seconds

- Zynga's FarmVille coming to a television near you

- Spotify releases a beta Windows Phone 8 app

- Get romantic with Spotify's Playlist Poetry

Watch CNET Update in the video above, and subscribe to the podcast via the links below.

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Spotify debuts music-streaming app for Windows Phone 8

Spotify released its music-streaming app in the Windows Phone 8 store today, according to the Windows Phone blog.

The app is still in beta, which means Spotify isn't done tweaking it just yet, but people can try it out. Users can stream Spotify songs over Wi-Fi or a 2.5G or 3G connection, according to the app's description.

The app lets users make playlists, browse friends' playlists, or download songs to play later when there's no Internet connection. Plus, the phone app syncs with your PC, so your playlists will stay consistent on both. Spotify said its … Read more