Nintendo has released a new app designed to delight gaming fans who have embraced the music featured in popular games such as “Super Mario Bros.,” “The Legend of Zelda” or “Pokémon.” Nintendo Music parses nearly 40 years of musical history from the Japanese gamemaker, available free via the Nintendo Switch Online subscription service on iOS and Android. Users can stream songs or download for offline listening, building their own playlists to share or accessing Nintendo-curated programming. Recommendations will propagate based on a fan’s Nintendo Switch play activity. Continue reading Nintendo Music Debuts with 40 Years of Tunes for Switch Subs

In a move that may appeal to music fans as well as marketing professionals, ByteDance-owned video platform TikTok just announced the availability of a new promotional feature called “Share to TikTok” that enables users to share music, podcasts and audiobooks from Apple Music and Spotify to TikTok, directly from the share menus of the streaming services. Content shared to TikTok will feature links directing users to the original sources to foster discovery and engagement on the partnering services. The new feature follows the launch of “Add to Music App,” a tool for users to save songs they discover on the TikTok app to their streaming service of choice. Continue reading TikTok Introduces New Feature to Share and Promote Music

YouTube has added new features to its apps for mobile, Web and TV, including expanded controls for playback speeds, badges, a miniplayer redesign, and the ability to create collaborative playlists. The company is also debuting an authenticity tool. By affixing a “captured with a camera” label, creators can indicate their work is shot with an actual camera, with unaltered visual and audio. Among the general platform improvements that YouTube implements annually, users can now share playlists via link or QR code, and create custom thumbnails for those lists, either by uploading an image or generating one with AI. Continue reading YouTube Expands Features and Adds an Authentication Tool

Apple is giving bands the opportunity to turn their concert repertoires into Apple Music playlists with the Set List feature, which lets fans savor the live concert experience. Powered by Bandsintown, Set List enables artists to turn the songs from a single show, residency or tour into a playlist that in addition to being shared on Apple Music can be displayed on music app Shazam (Artist and Concert pages). Once a Set List is published, artists can use the Promote feature from the web or the Artists app on iOS to share the playlist with fans on social media. Continue reading Apple Helps Bands Promote Live Performances with ‘Set Lists’

Paris-based global streaming platform Deezer is fielding an AI playlist generator in an international beta launch. The move makes the indie-centric service more competitive with Spotify and Amazon Music, which have already been testing the feature. YouTube is reportedly also experimenting with AI-powered personalized radio. As of now, 5 percent of Deezer’s paid subscribers have been selected at random to try Playlist with AI, which creates playlists from text prompts that invoke moods, genres, decades, activities or “anything else that comes to mind,” according to Deezer. Continue reading Deezer Adds AI Playlists to Compete with Spotify and Amazon

Sweden-based digital music service Spotify has redesigned its television user interface to make it look and feel more like the platform’s desktop and mobile experiences, a move its users have been waiting for. The frequently played content now appears at the top of the interface, while playlists and favorites are also easily accessed. A playback queue that opens from the side of the screen lets you see what’s playing and program what’s coming up, and you can easily switch accounts by toggling profile options. A dark mode option has been added for the television interface as well. Continue reading Spotify Redesigns TV Interface to Better Match Its Mobile App

YouTube Music is rolling out an experimental feature that lets English-language users tap artificial intelligence to generate cover art for their playlists. Without leaving the app, creators can now “effortlessly explore from a range of visual themes and options to create one-of-a-kind cover art,” YouTube explains, adding the feature would be rolling out in different languages. That was one of a series of new personalization and discovery tools the streamer recently announced. The company is also adding “speed dial” so music fans can effortlessly revert to their favorite recent listening experiences. Continue reading YouTube Music Experiments with AI for Generating Cover Art

YouTube Music is adding Samples, a discovery feature that lets users scroll by swiping vertically, similar to TikTok’s signature video feed. Described as “the appetizer to a whole meal,” Samples is comprised of 30-second teasers, but quickly lets users add the entire song to a playlist or share it with friends, all “without leaving YouTube Music,” the Google-owned company informs, suggesting fans “kick off a great new radio station, watch the full video, visit the album page, or even use the song to create your own Short.” Rolling out globally in stages, the Samples tab will appear at the bottom of the YouTube Music app next to the Home, Library and Explore sections. Continue reading YouTube Music Adds a Vertical Video Scroll Called ‘Samples’

YouTube Premium is upping is value proposition, adding new features including an enhanced bitrate for web and iOS, SharePlay so Apple users can watch together on FaceTime, and the ability to manage queues using mobile devices. The broader functionality is designed to impress upon potential subscribers that the $12 per month service offers more than ad-free viewing. YouTube says it now has 80 million Premium members “and trialers” taking advantage of a “more immersive YouTube experience.” In the coming weeks, enriched 1080p HD video will be available for Premium accounts first on iOS and then on the web. Continue reading YouTube Premium Adds Value to Platform with New Features

Chat app Discord is expanding the use of artificial intelligence on its platform, including the addition of OpenAI technology to its chatbot and moderation features. Discord says it has 150 million users across 19 million interest groups, called “servers,” that dialogue using text, audio and video chat. Discord’s Midjourney text-to-image generation group is its largest community, with in excess of 13 million members. “Harnessed properly, AI can fundamentally enhance and empower genuine human connection,” Discord CEO Jason Citron said at a press event last week, heralding “the most exciting moments in technology emerging.” Continue reading Discord Integrates OpenAI Tech, Updates AI-Driven Features

Spotify is harnessing OpenAI’s generative artificial intelligence for DJ, a personalized audio guide that will not only curate tunes based on a listener’s taste, but will also deliver commentary and banter “in a stunningly realistic voice” that leverages technology from subsidiary Sonantic, acquired last year. The new feature is launching in beta this week in the U.S. and Canada with a high level of human oversight, expected to diminish over time. The combination of “generative AI tooling” and the expertise of Spotify music editors will allow the company to scale and customize “in ways never before possible.” Continue reading New Spotify AI DJ Offers Custom Playlists and Commentary

Facebook is expanding its Watch Party feature globally, to all Pages and all users. The company debuted the feature to all Groups in July 2018; in the following months, users streamed more than 12 million Watch Parties, which allow remote viewers to watch and comment together in real time. According to Facebook, these Watch Parties have resulted in eight times as many comments as the number generated by non-live videos in Groups, which the company regards as a “key metric” that the feature does indeed encourage engagement. Meanwhile, a new app named Playlist is bringing similar social interaction to music. Continue reading Facebook Expands Watch Party, Playlist Makes Music Social

Google just announced that New Release Radio is now opened up to all users. The new feature uses machine learning to analyze the user’s taste in music and then suggests new music based on those tastes. The feature will introduce both albums and singles that have debuted in the last two weeks; Google promotes it as “a really quick way to check out all-new music that’s tailored just for you.” Samsung Galaxy S8 users have had early access to New Release Radio since June, as a result of Google’s global partnership with the electronics giant. Continue reading Google Looks to Personalize Music with New Release Radio

Amazon-owned Twitch updated both its iOS and Android apps with a new navigation bar, interface options, recommendation algorithm and mobile streaming. The features will make it easier to use the camera for selfie-style videos and likely result in more content on the platform. Although Twitch has been focused on live gaming-related video — with a total market worth $4.6 billion — it has begun to include non-gaming content as part of Twitch IRL. Twitch also opened subscriptions to affiliates that don’t have as many viewers as a Twitch Partner. Continue reading Twitch Debuts Mobile App Updates Including Cam Streaming

Searching for and organizing content is a fact of life with smart TVs. Samsung has updated its Smart Hub to make that experience — on the TV and smartphone — much easier, especially with regard to sports and music. The company demonstrated its new Smart Hub “experience” at CES 2017. The user no longer needs to search for where his or her favorite team can be found on OTA channels and streaming services. Instead, the user tells the Hub what teams he follows, and the Smart TV will give him channels, schedules and scores. For music, Samsung’s Hub now offers Shazam. Continue reading Samsung Updates Smart Hub with Emphasis on Sports, Music