Universal Music Group, largest of the major music labels, just closed an investment deal with Rockbot, a virtual jukebox service that provides music to bars, restaurants and other locations. Through Rockbot, businesses can play licensed music while customers use a mobile app to check in and interact with the songs. One perk is the ability for customers to vote on which music will be played. Rockbot expects to use the new funding to expand its reach throughout the U.S. Continue reading Rockbot: Universal Music Invests in Social Jukebox Service

In recent months, we reported that Google was planning to acquire popular streaming platform Twitch.tv for more than $1 billion. However, Google was unable to close the deal, reportedly due to concern over antitrust issues related to its streaming video site YouTube. It looks like Google’s loss is now Amazon’s gain. Yesterday, Amazon confirmed that it is purchasing San Francisco-based Twitch, which touts more than 50 million monthly users, for approximately $970 million in cash. Continue reading After Google Bows Out, Amazon Moves In to Acquire Twitch

Spotify’s Artist in Residence Kyle McDonald created a new map feature known as Serendipity that shows when two people in the world are listening to a song at the same time. The interactive map plays a snippet of the song, which both users had to start within a tenth of a second of each other, and spins around to show the two users’ locations in the world. The new feature may help Spotify rise above other music streaming services, and make music a social experience once again. Continue reading Spotify’s New Serendipity Feature May Make Music Social Again

YouTube’s anticipated premium music service will likely cost $10 per month and be called “YouTube Music Key,” although the Google-owned company has yet to confirm. YouTube is already one of the biggest sources for free online music, but since it requires video, it has not taken the place of services such as Beats Music, Rdio or Spotify. The planned premium music service could change that by making the audio easier to access on mobile devices and providing an offline way to hear songs. Continue reading YouTube Music Key: Google’s Upcoming Subscription Service

The partnership to allow musicians to sell directly to Spotify users through BandPage has gone live. BandPage, a platform that allows artists to easily promote themselves and make money online, will enable exclusive offers from the artists directly to the fans. The offers will transcend typical merchandise and instead include secret shows, meet-and-greets, soundcheck parties and more. The service went live on Wednesday, and offers are already available to the public. Continue reading Spotify and BandPage Enable Direct Artist-Fan Engagement

By analyzing the acoustic properties of songs on Spotify, intern and PhD student Sander Dieleman hopes to advance the streaming service’s recommendation algorithms to aid users in discovering new and lesser known music. Rather than basing recommendations on the choices people with similar tastes make, they would be based on songs the user listens to. This method, which requires deep learning, would then mix more obscure but user relevant songs into the recommendations. Continue reading Spotify Intern Creates System to Improve Recommendations

With two million paid subscribers, Rhapsody International says it is the clear number two streaming music service, behind Spotify. The parent company of Rhapsody and Napster points to international expansion and carrier partnerships as reasons for its success. The services also use locations to help identify artist preferences, boosting international popularity. Through joint ventures, the company hopes to continue growing its audience, despite Spotify’s popularity. Continue reading Rhapsody Expanding Music Services with Carrier Partnerships

Viacom’s Music Group is partnering with Spotify to provide consumers with free music from featured artists via their website and apps. The company will also provide music from its series and franchises, including MTV’s “Teen Wolf,” VH1’s “Love and Hip Hop,” CMT’s “Party Down South” and the “MTV Video Music Awards.” More than 150 Spotify playlists will be available across Viacom’s network of sites, while Spotify will promote them to its 40 million global users. Continue reading Viacom Music Group and Spotify Form Streaming Partnership

As a result of Microsoft’s recent downsizing, Nokia has plans for its MixRadio streaming service to become a standalone company. While the app will still be included in handsets running Windows Phone software, MixRadio will now have the opportunity to pursue other platforms including iOS and Android. MixRadio offers themed playlists — online and through an app — free with no advertising. The service also provides users with an option to pay monthly for enhanced features. Continue reading Nokia Plans to Spin-Off MixRadio Music Service as Standalone

Tech companies of all sizes are urging the Federal Communications Commission to enforce net neutrality by reclassifying the Internet as Title II. This reclassification would mean that Internet providers would have to abide by the same laws as public utilities and there would be no Internet “fast lanes.” Representatives from Kickstarter, Spotify, Vimeo and others met with the FCC to discuss the issue last week. Netflix also submitted a filing to the FCC about the proposed net neutrality laws. Continue reading Tech Companies Argue the Internet Should Be a Public Utility

Tonight’s performance by the Dave Matthews Band in Jacksonville, Florida will mark the first in a partnership between Yahoo and Live Nation to provide free, live streams of a different concert every day for a year. The idea is to draw attention to Yahoo’s video site Screen, which the company sees as an eventual competitor to Google’s YouTube. For Live Nation, and the music industry, the effort could lead to a new franchise for online concerts, which have yet to catch on with consumers. Continue reading Yahoo and Live Nation Partner to Live-Stream Music Concerts

To battle the increasing challenges that music labels have experienced with selling albums, some independent labels and their artists have decided to embrace streaming. Drip.fm, a two-year-old subscription streaming and download service, has partnered with Sub Pop Records to provide subscribers with the label’s albums, singles and special exclusives for $10 per month. The idea is to cultivate and monetize the most loyal fans as streaming continues to popularize. Continue reading Indie Labels Adjust to Growing Popularity of Music Streaming

Streaming is the new face of digital music consumption, according to Nielsen’s 2014 Mid-Year Music Industry Report. In the U.S., on-demand streaming was up 42 percent from last year with over 70 billion songs (audio and video) streamed in the first half of 2014. Digital track downloads fell 13 percent to 593.6 million, compared with 682.2 million last year. The entire music industry’s sales, including albums, streaming, and downloads, dropped 3.3 percent. Continue reading Music Streaming Up 42 Percent While Digital Downloads Fall

Google is buying online radio service Songza for an undisclosed amount, in a move that could lead to increased competition with Apple, Amazon and others. The Pandora-like service anticipates the kinds of songs users want to hear with contextual playlists, a model that could be key to a future focused on the Internet of Things. The deal comes after Apple purchased Beats Music, Amazon launched its Prime Music service, and Google’s own YouTube readies a music service for this summer. Continue reading Google Acquires Songza: Music Service with Focus on Context

As expected, Amazon has launched Prime Music featuring more than one million songs and hundreds of playlists. The new service offers unlimited streaming without ads or restrictions. It is free to Amazon Prime members and could potentially help attract new subscribers (those who are interested can sign up for a free 30-day trial). Prime members can also listen to downloaded music offline on their Kindle Fire, HDX, iOS, Android and Mac/PC devices via Amazon’s Cloud Player. Continue reading Amazon Launches Ad-Free, Streaming “Prime Music” Service