Spotify buys music discovery app Tunigo
Spotify has acquired the music app Tunigo, which helps users discover Spotify playlists and browse music and music-related news. Read more at GigaOM »
Rhapsody exec: splashy ads and free streaming promotions don’t work
Rhapsody has some advice for its competitors Spotify and Rdio: Don’t invest in splashy ads. Focus on featuring your service instead. Read more »
This is why Apple wants to launch iRadio
People still buy a lot of music downloads, and most of them use iTunes to do so. That’s why Apple is now building its own streaming service. Read more at GigaOM »
Spotify hits 6 million paid users as market for music streaming heats up
A report shows that music subscription service Spotify continues to grow at a rapid pace. The growth validates Spotify’s business model but is also inviting a growing cluster of rivals. Read more »
Rdio expands global footprint, Spotify reportedly extends free mobile offering
photo: Shutterstock / Smith
Rdio is coming to Austria, Ireland, Italy and four other countries. Spotify, meanwhile, plans to offer free mobile radio around the world. Read more »
Music site This Is My Jam could spin out from Echo Nest
A year after it launched as a skunkworks project inside music data company The Echo Nest, trendy social music site This Is My Jam is “looking at options” for going independent — as well as getting ready to launch some fun new site exploration features. Read more at GigaOM »
Spotify gets $100M, including $10M from Coca-Cola
Want a coke with that $3 billion valuation? Spotify apparently does: The company just raised an additional $100 million in funding, with Coca-Cola being one of the more notable new investors. Coke has been experimenting with digital music for some time. Read more at GigaOM »
Curtains for MOG: Townsquare buys MOG’s blog & ad business
The market forces conspired against MOG, a music service and blog network started by David Hyman. The growing popularity of Spotify saw the company fall on hard times and was sold in pieces. One half went to Beats Audio & Townsquare media has bought the other half. Read more at GigaOM »
With 15M active users, Spotify adds free radio on Android
Spotify’s conversion rate isn’t bad: Out of 15 million active users, more than 4 million are paying subscribers. That number may soon increase thanks to Android support for Spotify radio, which is ad-supported and offers unlimited playback of Spotify’s entire digital music catalog. Read more at GigaOM »
paidContent turns 10: A brief history of digital media
Remember when Friendster was the hot social network, publishers doubted that ebooks would ever sell, and Netflix thought DVDs in red envelopes was the future? We do — that was that state of digital media when paidContent launched in 2002. Read more »
Musicplayr: cross-platform harmony for web music
It’s easy to embed a wide variety of music players on your website, but hard to get them singing from the same hymnsheet. Musicplayr’s trying to fix that with a newly-revamped player it calls ‘eye-candy for the ears’ Read more at GigaOM »
Yandex bets on iPhone to get Russia paying for music
Moscow-based search engine Yandex is hoping to steal a march on international rivals with a new music subscription app for the iPhone — but it’s gambling that users will be ready to stump up cash for the service in a country where paid-for digital music is […] Read more at GigaOM »
Spotify said to hit 20M users, but it’s no wunderkind
Spotify has now 20 million monthly active users, according to new estimates based on publicly available Facebook data. The company’s growth has accelerated ever since its Facebook integration launched – but it’s success isn’t extraordinary: Long forgotten music services like Imeem were once just as popular. Read more at GigaOM »
Spotify plays its most requested tune: an iPad app
While Spotify has been churning out news, one question kept popping up: when are we going to get an iPad app? Well, Spotify is finally obliging, giving premium users a polished iPad version that it hopes can rule the living room. Read more at GigaOM »
Spotify may add Pandora-like radio service
photo: Rasmus Andersson
Spotify is reportedly working on a Pandora-like radio service that would launch by the end of the year. Read more »
Spotify partners with Coke to expand international reach
Spotify is partnering with Coca Cola in a deal that it says will expand its international reach, giving it a boost similar to the way Facebook integration has supercharged usage. Coke will use Spotify to power its music outreach and will help promote the service internationally. Read more at GigaOM »
Spotify dips a toe in web waters, but isn’t yet swimming
photo: Spotify
Spotify has moved a step toward embracing the web by introducing a new embeddable widget – but the launch highlights perhaps one of the biggest anomalies of the music service. Read more »
Facebook's Big Freemium Funnel Helps Spotify Et Al Find The Pay In Free
photo: mpgrigg
In the land of the freemium, how much free is enough to convince users to pay?
In the latest refinement to its market strategy, Spotify in… Read more »
Interview: Rdio Prepares To Take On Spotify, Deezer Et Al In Europe
Unlimited-music service Rdio concedes it will have to fight incumbents as it prepares to launch across the whole of Europe. Read more »
Suddenly, Spotify Is Ad Buyers' Favourite Thing
photo: BBC / AMC
UK advertising buyers now say Spotify is the outlet they enjoy the best experience with. Read more »
Music Industry Can See The Light After 'Least Negative' Sales Since 2004
photo: Shutterstock / Edyta Pawlowska
The music industry enjoyed its best sales performance for eight years in 2011, as CDs’ collapse decelerated, digital sales continued growing… Read more »
Music Wars: Spotify Heading For Ireland And Oz As Rdio Gears Up In Europe
photo: Spotify pics: Spotify | Zennstrom/Friis: Corbis | Montage: ContentNext
Two of the subscription-music space’s main players are set to launch in several new markets, as the segment’s many budding exponents race to… Read more »
Spotify’s New Apps Could Be A Big Boost For Labels
Sub Pop, Ninja Tune, Matador: Record labels used to be known as curators of a certain sound, and collectors would sometimes buy every new re… Read more »
First Look: New iPad's A Pair Of Stylish Glasses You May Not Need
photo: Apple
The new iPad isn’t exactly like Oakland and Gertrude Stein – there’s a there, there — but it won’t be obvious to most people. Read more »
Music's Celestial Jukeboxes Square Off In Germany; Next Stop Asia-Pac
photo: Lithian/Shutterstock
The new wave of global subscription music services going global has picked Germany, perhaps Europe’s most under-developed digital music mark… Read more »
Interview: Omnifone CEO Eyes Investments As Music Access Takes Off
Veteran music access vendor Omnifone may not own a stake in Rara, the fledgling Spotify rival it span off last year – but CEO Jeff Hughes te… Read more »
What Happens Next If Spotify Goes Public?
photo: Spotify
Record labels’ equity in Spotify has allowed the music subscription service to start and to flourish. But, if the company decides to file fo… Read more »
When Will Music’s Celestial Jukebox Go Mainstream?
photo: Renata Osinska/Shutterstock
Music’s new wave of unlimited-access services is now supported by most labels, who dearly hope that new subscription payments will make up f… Read more »
When Will Music's Celestial Jukebox Go Mainstream?
photo: Renata Osinska/Shutterstock
Music’s new wave of unlimited-access services is now supported by most labels, who dearly hope that new subscription payments will make up f… Read more »
Labels And Spotify Still Struggle To Convince Some Artists On Stream Rates
The debate over whether artists get enough money from streaming played out in public last week when EMI and Spotify executives failed to win… Read more »
The Future Of Music Is Boring – And That’s Exciting!
photo: Flickr / quinn.anya
I noticed an interesting trend at the MusicTech Summit in San Francisco this week: A lot of the talk over lunch and during hallway conversations wasn’t about the next big thing, about fancy Spotify apps or sexy mashups. Instead, people were busy talking about CRMs, CMS platforms and e-commerce. Read more »
The Times And Spotify: Why Pay When Everything’s Free?
I’ll bet The Times sub-editors raised some eyebrows when their business writer Emily Ford filed her piece, Why I’m not paying any more, for… Read more »
Spotify Not Throttling Americans, Subs Hit Three Million
Early last week, a six-month promotion period, during which U.S. users were exempted from Spotify’s five-plays-per-song, 10-hours-per-month… Read more »
Rhapsody Goes To Europe As New Music Services Compete, News Corp’s Fails
photo: EPA/Corbis
Chasing the post-download digital music opportunity, veteran services are seeking scale to fight dominant newcomers, whilst strangers from o… Read more »
Coldplay Will Warm To Streaming After Unit Sales Ebb
In October, Coldplay withheld its new album from streaming services like Spotify, Rdio , We7 and Mog.
But that absence is not indefinite. Read more »
Rhapsody Now Has One Million Music Subs In The U.S. Next Stop: Europe
It’s taken ten years, and a last leg up by way of an acquisition of a competitor, but Rhapsody says that it has finally reached one million… Read more »
Nielsen: Android And Apple Dominate The App Space But Mobile Browser Rules
Apple’s and Android’s stronghold on the U.S. smartphone market has been the case for many quarters already, and figures out today from Niels… Read more »
Get Ready For Another Streaming Music Service: The Ad-Free Rara.com
photo: Dplanet
Spotify and Pandora (NYSE: P) may be the music brands people think of today when it comes to streaming services. But with only five million… Read more »
7digital Music Adds Microsoft To Its App List, Still Awaits Apple Approval
Music downloads may have taken a backseat to streaming services like Spotify in the buzz stakes, but with iTunes still driving more music sa… Read more »
The Morning Lowdown 12-1-11
photo: Corbis / Patricia Curi
» At least someone in the market is optimistic about Spain and Italy – *Amazon* has just launched the Kindle there. (paidContent)… Read more »
