Innovative Icelandic musician Bjork is combining technology and music with her release of the first ever “app-album.”
The collection features games, visualizations and songs that allow fans to interact with the music in a unique way.
“The main ‘Biophilia’ app is available for free,” reports CNN Tech. “Each sub-application, which contains a song and some sort of interactive game, costs 99 cents, or $9.99 for the whole album. A non-app version of the album also is available.”
“Apps and iPads are just tools — they have to be human and they have to have soul,” comments the singer.
Article includes podcast and transcript of CNN Radio interview with Bjork.
Check out this fascinating TED presentation on data visualization, crowd-sourced collaborative art projects, and the interface as a narrative device.
“We’re collecting and creating all kinds of data about how we’re living our lives and it’s enabling us to tell some amazing stories,” says digital artist Aaron Koblin. The TED description suggests, “his works brilliantly explore how modern technology can make us more human.”
Compelling tweet from the opening: “19th Century culture was defined by the Novel, 20th Century culture by Cinema — the culture of the 21st Century will be defined by the Interface.”
The second half ties in with interactive, collaborative music videos featuring Johnny Cash and Arcade Fire, earlier reported by ETCentric.
Google is expected to roll out its own music store in the next few weeks.
It will reportedly tie into the company’s Music Beta service that allows users to upload and store their music collections.
Music Beta was announced after launch of Amazon’s unlicensed service, Cloud Drive. Also worth noting: “Apple got licenses for iTunes Match, which will instantly link a user’s songs to Apple’s master collection.”
“Its earlier negotiations with music companies, for a so-called smart locker service — a Web storage system that lets people link their digital music collections to a vast central database — broke down over financial terms and the music companies’ complaints that Google was not doing enough to curb piracy,” reports The New York Times.
New research from Rice and Duke universities challenges conventional wisdom by suggesting that the removal of digital rights management restrictions can actually decrease music piracy.
“Marketing professors Dinah Vernik of Rice and Devavrat Purohit and Preyas Desai of Duke used analytical modeling to examine how piracy is influenced by the presence or absence of DRM restrictions,” explains the press release. “They found that while these restrictions make piracy more costly and difficult, the restrictions also have a negative impact on legal users who have no intention of doing anything illegal.”
“In many cases, DRM restrictions prevent legal users from doing something as normal as making backup copies of their music,” said Vernik, assistant professor of marketing at Rice. “Because of these inconveniences, some consumers choose to pirate.”
According to the research paper, copyright owners don’t necessarily benefit from less piracy. “Decreased piracy doesn’t guarantee increased profits,” Purohit said. “In fact, our analysis demonstrates that under some conditions, one can observe lower levels of piracy and lower profits.”
The press release includes a compelling statement from the late Steve Jobs: “Why would the big four music companies agree to let Apple and others distribute their music without using DRM systems to protect it? The simplest answer is because DRMs haven’t worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy.”
Streaming music service Spotify, which recently partnered with Facebook, saw its revenue more than quintuple last year. However, the British company still showed losses totaling $42 million, an increase from $26 million in 2009.
“Spotify’s performance has been closely monitored by the music industry, which sees it as a kind of litmus test for the viability of digital music by subscription, which pays labels each time a listener streams a particular song,” reports The New York Times. “That system brings in lower royalties per song than downloads, but with a large enough listener base could in theory bring in substantial amounts.”
Spotify subscriptions cost about $10 to $15 per month and includes an ad-supported free version. Daniel Ek, Spotify’s chief executive, recently announced that the service had reached the 2 million mark with paid subscribers, although there are believed to be more than 10 million total users.
Subscription-based music service Rhapsody has acquired Napster from Best Buy in a deal expected to be finalized the end of November.
“There’s substantial value in bringing Napster’s subscribers and robust IP portfolio to Rhapsody as we execute on our strategy to expand our business via direct acquisition of members and distribution deals,” said Rhapsody president Jon Irwin.
Rhapsody and Napster have the two largest music service subscriber bases and the acquisition could impact other music services such as Rdio, Spotify and MOG.
Irwin emphasized the importance of a strong subscription base: “This is a ‘go big or go home’ business, so our focus is on sustainably growing the company.”
“Apparently it takes more than Facebook sharing to win the subscription war,” comments Gizmodo. “Too bad I haven’t seen a Rhapsody or Napster song actually shared on Facebook.”
Spotify has been drawing a great deal of media attention this week, more so than the growing number of other streaming music services.
Since the company announced its partnership with Facebook at the recent F8 event, Spotify has gained more than one million new users, despite the public outcry from those who question limiting the service’s signup to Facebook users only.
In response to concerns regarding Facebook’s media-sharing philosophy, Spotify released a new update that enables users to access the Facebook app without sharing their listening habits, reports Digital Trends. This may be good news for subscribers not happy with the recent announcement regarding Facebook integration — and could potentially serve as a model for how others offer access to services via social networking.
In related news from The Hollywood Reporter, Spotify recently released a radio feature in the U.S. that has long been available to European users. Radio will be accessible on the desktop client, but not on the Spotify mobile app. The add-on is reportedly in no way a Pandora killer, due mainly to its lack of mobility and attention to detail.
Additionally, Digital Trends reports that Spotify may be having a significant impact on music piracy. Illegal downloads in Sweden have reportedly dropped 25 percent since Spotify launched there in 2009. “Here in the U.S., Spotify isn’t the only option — and it may not even be the best, depending on user preference. Pandora, MOG, Rdio, Grooveshark — the list goes on,” indicates the article. “We don’t yet have numbers to show how these services are affecting music piracy in the U.S. But we’d put our money on them having a similar effect as Spotify is having in Sweden.”
Pandora now claims more than 100 million registered users. CTO and EVP of Product Tom Conrad credits the success of his company’s Internet radio service with the decision to embrace both Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android mobile operating system. Conrad spoke at this week’s GigaOM Mobilize conference.
However, Pandora had a rocky start regarding growth on mobile platforms until the iPhone came along to help turn things around. And at one point, Conrad had little interest in Android. Pandora shipped its app through the iTunes store and watched its user base explode from 13 million to what it is today.
“Conrad has also since made peace with Android, about which he had previously said that he needed the platform ‘like I need a hole in my head,’ referring to the confusing state of Android fragmentation. On Monday, Conrad didn’t want to go into the specifics of Android vs. iOS market share amongst Pandora users, but he called Android’s growth ‘nothing short of remarkable.'”
Now Pandora is embracing HTML5 as it looks to what’s next.
“The company launched a new HTML5-powered website last week, and Conrad said that using HTML5 helped to both dramatically increase the performance of the site as well as implement new social features,” reports GigaOM.
Conrad calls HTML5 a “key enabler for connected devices,” hoping that it will provide opportunities for Pandora on connected TVs and car dashboards.
Currently, 70 percent of Pandora’s listening occurs on mobile devices. “In the future, the majority of Pandora listening will happen in the car and on the connected device,” predicts Conrad.
Following last week’s F8 developer’s conference, and the news that Facebook is making a significant shift into media sharing, Wired offers an interesting take on possible missing elements to successfully sharing music via the social network.
“Yes, Facebook will facilitate legal music sharing — something the industry has been trying to do ever since Napster electrified (some would say “electrocuted”) the music business over 10 years ago,” suggests the article. “But as important as it is, Facebook’s music initiative is missing five key ingredients, all of which are within its grasp.”
According to Wired, the following are the missing ingredients…
True Music Sharing: Facebook should allow people to listen to each other’s music using whatever music service they want. Instead of using the service that the friend is using, you should have the option to select which platform you would like to use. They’ve started doing this (somewhat unfairly) for Spotify with a “play in Spotify” link in shared songs on other platforms, like Rdio.
Real-Time Group Listening: “Why didn’t Facebook music launch with the ability to join other listeners on a station in real-time, so that people can chat about what they’re hearing…?”
Music Tab in the Ticker: With all the new information coming to Ticker through automatic updates in Open Graph, it would be nice to have a music filter to separate music updates from other things like adding friends.
Apple: Apple, iTunes and iCloud were not included in the media system and would be beneficial to users.
Independent Developers: Facebook just needs to “stay out of the way” of independent app developers that build third-party players atop their catalogs — apps that could offer a range of interfaces, platforms, designs, features, and more to programs like Rdio or Spotify.
YouTube added several new tools for video creators this week, as part of its “ongoing goal to foster the creation of great video content,” explains the company’s Broadcasting Ourselves blog.
The first tool, currently in beta, converts 2D video content into 3D. YouTube admits you’ll get better results with a 3D camera, but this is at least an option for those without one.
Second, you can now upload videos longer than the current 15-minute limit allows, and the advanced uploader is no longer required for larger files. However, the feature is restricted to users with “a clean track record who complete an account verification and continue to follow the copyright rules set forth in our Community Guidelines.”
Finally, YouTube gives creators the ability to add effects and text using Vlix, and adds Magisto, which will automatically take your unedited video and create a short clip complete with music.
Turntable.fm, a rival music service to Pandora and Spotify, is negotiating with the four major music labels to license content. Turntable.fm is a social media site that allows people to share songs with friends and other online users.
The New York-based startup is looking to create a deal that would be unique and allow users to legally stream music internationally, but CEO Billy Chasen has not disclosed the details of the proposal.
“Both sides are super eager to get this done, and we’re getting closer,” Chasen said. “We take very seriously the music labels and publishers, and we want to make sure they’re with us.”
Turntable.fm, which launched earlier this year and requires users to log in via Facebook, currently has about 600,000 users. The startup recently raised $7 million from investors including Union Square Ventures, First Round Capital, Polaris Venture Partners, Benchmark Capital, Lady Gaga’s manager Troy Carter, and Maverick Records co-founder Guy Oseary.
Digital Trends is among the sites currently featuring a 10-minute video shot from the audience (courtesy of Joystiq) during Microsoft’s recent Build developer’s conference.
The video shows what the upcoming Metro-inspired dashboard for Xbox 360 running in Windows 8 will look like.
“Microsoft confirmed last week that the upcoming Metro-styled update for the Xbox 360 dashboard will appear in Windows 8 as the user interface you’ll use to access Xbox Live from your PC,” reports Digital Trends.
From an earlier article on the same site: “Based on the ‘Metro’ design of WP7, ‘Immersive’ will be the name of a secondary User Interface (UI) you’ll be able to select when you boot up Windows 8.”
This video was first brought to our attention via Engadget, submitted by ETCentric staffer Dennis Kuba who commented: “The focus at Build 2011 was on the social and gaming aspects. They also mentioned that they will be talking in the future about content services such as video and music.”
“We get the feeling that Microsoft’s thinking this one through; rather than just shoehorning a gaming element in, things like ‘cloud saves’ and dedicated Music/Video panes will be around to enjoy,” reports Engadget. “Moreover, participation in the Xbox Live development program will purportedly be free, and if [Microsoft’s Avi] Ben-Menahem has his way, this will bring ‘everything you know and love on Xbox 360 and Xbox Live to Windows.'”
Facebook is expected to unveil a new service at its F8 developers conference in San Francisco on Thursday that allows users to share their music, TV shows and movies (for example, a user’s Facebook profile page would display the music being consumed to friends).
The New York Times suggests that Facebook has reportedly signed deals with Spotify, Rhapsody, MOG, Deezer and Vevo that may bring millions of new users to their sites. Some are responding by introducing new ad-supported services to lessen the “friction” for new users (however, Rhapsody will reportedly continue with its subscription-only service).
Related news has been reported via ETCentric in recent days…
More information is emerging about Facebook’s new music service (which may be called Vibes). TechCrunch reports that “MOG, Spotify and Rdio have of course already been widely reported as launch partners for ‘Facebook Music,’ but notably, Deezer, SoundCloud and Rhapsody are new names.” This is based on “interesting references” found in the HTML code of the various streaming services.
In addition to an anticipated new music service, reports are circulating that the social networker may announce plans for bringing Hulu and possibly Netflix into the fold. We’ll see what shakes out this week, but until then the news media is in rumor mode: “Real-time viewing parties? It’s possible. Just not confirmed,” reports Gizmodo. “But the deal keeps things interesting for Hulu pre-buyout, its backing providers having all but jumped ship and offering their own streaming services.”
ETCentric will have more later in the week following the conference. Stay tuned…
Apple’s iPad is becoming a production tool for both professional and amateur musicians.
One band, The Ultramods, produced their recent album in two weeks using only GarageBand on the iPad.
Damon Albarn’s hip-hop project, Gorillaz, combines real vocals and instruments with synthesizers using a collection of apps including Korg iELECTRIBE, Moog Filatron and FunkBox Drum Machine. According to Pocket-lint: “It perfectly illustrates the convenience of being able to lay down tracks on a device, while on the move, with no access to a desktop computer or studio.”
Accessory brand Griffin’s PR director, Jackie Ballinger explains the benefits of tablets for musicians: “Technology, like the iPad enables musicians to become mobile without losing quality, now people are able to make music anywhere without limitations and without substantial costs. With the iPad and relevant apps a less costly alternative to recording studios and instruments, aspiring musicians have the opportunity to produce professional recording using solely these means.”
The article points out that Apple’s GarageBand is the top-selling music app on the iTunes store, and with “iPad prices starting at $499, along with the $4.99 for the GarageBand, that puts the basic cost of The Ultramods’ album production at just under $505.”
The Million Song Dataset has been released for free by The Echo Nest music application company to facilitate research into music recommendation engines. The dataset consists of audio features and metadata (but not the actual music) for a million popular music tracks.
Ars Technica reports that the dataset is a “freely-available collection of audio features and metadata for a million contemporary popular music tracks,” being analyzed by Columbia University’s Laboratory for the Recognition and Organization of Speech and Audio.
Currently, services like Pandora make use of musicologists to catalog the characteristics of songs. Researchers are looking at methods for computers to analyze songs in order to make recommendations based on your preferences. The dataset could potentially be used to develop a new generation of Music Information Retrieval services.
The National Science Foundation is also conducting The Listening Machine Project which is focused on analyzing “the individual sources present in a real-world sound recording,” which could lead to improved perception for robots, new prosthetic devices for hearing impaired and “a wide range of novel applications in content-based multimedia indexing,” explained LMP’s Dan Ellis, associate professor of Electrical Engineering at Columbia.
