It has been around two years since Apple first launched ‘Apple Music', its own streaming service set to take on Spotify. Since then, the service has expanded into offering original video content in addition to music and it appears to be paying off nicely, with 27 million people now subscribed. This …
Read More »Music streaming services call for European Commission to end ‘app store abuse’
It looks like rival music streaming services are getting sick of Apple and Google's app store dominance, causing the likes of Deezer and Spotify to send in their complaints to the European Commission. The letter accuses Apple and Google of abusing their position as the largest app store holders, asking …
Read More »Spotify won’t be buying out SoundCloud any more
Earlier this year, word began spreading that Spotify was in ‘advanced talks' to acquire SoundCloud, another music streaming service that focusses on user-made tracks. However, after much consideration, it looks like Spotify has decided to back out due to ‘additional licensing headaches'. This is all according to a source speaking …
Read More »Spotify user data shows up online but was apparently not hacked
This week, a Pastebin post containing hundreds of Spotify account credentials popped up online, leading many to believe that the music streaming service had fallen victim to some kind of hack. Information released included usernames, passwords, emails amongst other details but no payment information was leaked. However, it seems that …
Read More »Pirate Bay founder is concerned no one owns media anymore
The rise of streaming content has been a godsend for heavy media consumers. No longer do they have to faff with pirating content, or even downloading and storing it at all – they can just stream it and move on. But that has its own potential problems, and Peter Sunde, …
Read More »Spotify is moving its data over to Google’s cloud servers
This week, Spotify announced that it would be moving its business over to Google's servers, taking over most of its data to the Google Cloud platform. According to those working at Spotify, this move was largely down to Google's data analytics capabilities though some of Spotify's business will stay with …
Read More »EU Comission rules Spotify as one of the best anti-piracy tools
As much as many media groups around the world have attempted to combat media piracy with the aid of legal action, take down tools and threatening letters in the post, more often than not it's been shown that legal alternatives to piracy have had the greatest impact and now the …
Read More »Netflix is still against allowing offline viewing
Recently, Amazon Prime Video announced that it would be allowing its users to download shows for offline viewing, similarly to how Spotify allows subscribers to listen to their music playlists offline. This obviously raised questions for Netflix, which has been against offline viewing in the past. It turns out that …
Read More »New Spotify data spots growth in relaxation listening
If some of the responses to our recent VR ASMR showcase story told us anything, it's that more of you than ever before are listening to things that relax you before heading to bed, or to aid concentration during the day. That's something that Spotify's recent data release backs up, …
Read More »Spotify’s new privacy policy demands much more from users
In our more privacy concious world, the policies that our favourite software makers operate under can be very important. In the wake of updates made to the music streaming service, Spotify's privacy policy, many fans have dropped the service, citing excerpts that demand access to their private media on their device, as …
Read More »Spotify swiftly apologises following privacy concerns
Earlier today, Spotify updated its terms and conditions and thanks to the wording, it sounded like the streaming service wasn't taking user privacy very seriously at all. Fortunately, the company's CEO, Daniel Ek, is eager to clear things up a bit and try to stop people from freaking out. In …
Read More »Spotify might limit free streaming from next year
It looks like Spotify might be preparing to limit its free streaming tier from early 2016 onwards in order to keep record labels signed on to the service. Spotify is apparently facing pressure from labels, including Sony and Universal to offer less music in the free tier in order to …
Read More »EU clears Apple of anti-competitive behaviour with Apple Music
Earlier this year, ahead of Apple Music's initial announcement, the European Commission launched an investigation in to Apple's business practises leading up to the streaming service's launch. At the time, the EU suspected that Apple may be resorting to anti-competitive tactics in order to get an edge over competing companies. …
Read More »Apple Music already has 11 million users
Around six weeks back, Apple launched Apple Music, its new streaming service set to take on Spotify. In order to get people on-board, Apple offered its users an extensive three-month free trial, which apparently a lot of people were interested in as the service already has around 11 million users. …
Read More »Apple Music and iOS 8.4 arrive today
Apple is all set to launch Apple Music later on today, alongside the latest iOS update, bumping things up to iOS 8.4. Right now everything is expected to launch at 4PM here in the UK or 8am PST in the US. iOS 8.4 will début the new music app for …
Read More »Google brings free ad-supported tier to Play Music
Apple Music is less than a week away at this point and is set to cause a stir in the music streaming business. In order to grab the largest audience, Apple is not limiting its service to iOS either, it is sending the streaming app out to Android as well, …
Read More »Dating app adds Spotify support to connect people through music
In a move that is sure to please 13 year olds of the world, dating app Happn has implemented Spotify's API in its service, to make it possible to find people that have similar music tastes to each other. Those using the location based matchup application, will be able to integrate …
Read More »UMG denies collusion with Apple in antitrust investigation
Ahead of Apple's official announcement for its new music streaming service, it was reported that the company was already at work trying to pressure labels in to withdrawing support for Spotify and its advert based business model. As a result, the European Commission and the FTC both began probing the …
Read More »Spotify not concerned about Apple Music
Showing just the right measure of confidence and indifference, Spotify has stated that it isn't concerned about the recently unveiled Apple Music, which perhaps offers the most legitimate threat to the streaming provider. It's not because it thinks the new service won't be successful though, but because in reality it …
Read More »Spotify will match Apple Music’s family sharing option
Last night at the World Wide Developer Conference, Apple went ahead and officially announced its long expected music streaming service, known as Apple Music, bringing some pretty heavy competition to Spotify's door. In an effort to stay competitive, Spotify has revealed that it will be matching one of Apple's subscription …
Read More »Sony CEO says we we will see Apple Music at WWDC
We have been expecting an Apple Music streaming service announcement for some time now and even though negotiations with certain record labels slowed things down a bit, all signs still pointed towards a reveal at Apple's annual World Wide Developer Conference this month. Now, it seems that Sony's CEO has …
Read More »Microsoft has redesigned its music app for Windows 10
Microsoft has been previewing the new Windows 10 operating system for some time now and it looks like some of its basic apps are coming along nicely with the new music app getting a design overhaul, which appears to have been partially inspired by Spotify. The updated preview app for …
Read More »Apple Music streaming service to feature social network for artists
Apple's re-branded Beats Music streaming service is still expected to be revealed next month at the World Wide Developers Conference, despite difficulty during negotiations. As the reveal gets closer, we have been learning even more information, pointing towards new features Apple may have cooked up. According to 9to5Mac, which has …
Read More »Spotify accuses Apple of anti-competitive behavior
Spotify is putting Apple on blast, arguing that its App Store and iTunes practices are anti-competitive. This follows reports that Apple is currently trying to push music labels in to withdrawing support for Spotify's free ad-supported business model. We already know that the EU Commission is already investigating Apple's currently …
Read More »Spotify big data spots age related trends
Even though we love a good opportunity to rail against mass data collection, there is some interesting information that can come out of it. Take Spotify's look at the habits of its millions of users, which has pointed out that age seems to be a big factor in a user's …
Read More »The EU is already probing Apple’s unannounced music streaming service
The European Commission is already taking a good hard look Apple’s long rumored but as of yet, unannounced, music streaming service on anti-trust grounds. Regulators are concerned that Apple could use its sheer size, influence, and relationships to push record labels to abandon rivaled streaming services, like Spotify. The Financial …
Read More »Jay Z launches new Tidal streaming service with friends
Rapper Jay Z has (re)launched the Tidal streaming service with a new plan to make it a more profitable way for artists to share their music with the world. To commemorate the occasion, he, along with a number of other high profile artists all signed a “declaration,” at the service's …
Read More »Spotify comes to the PS4 and PS3 today
PlayStation Music Unlimited is officially dead and has now been taken over by Spotify on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. Over the last six months, Sony has been working with Spotify to build its debut console app. The console app will be available to free Spotify users as well …
Read More »Spotify is coming to PlayStation
Sony's Music Unlimited service won't be around much longer as the company has now teamed up with Spotify to bring PlayStation Music to the PlayStation Network this year- some time in the Spring to be exact. The new service will close down Sony's current Music streaming option on the 29th of March. …
Read More »Apple plans to slash price of Beats Music subscription
Streaming music is cheaper than buying all the tracks that you would like to hear. Modern streaming services charge from $7 to $10 per month, which may not be a lot for music fans, but which keeps a lot of people away from them. Apple wants to change that and …
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