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Spotify Apps are a success, change the way we enjoy music
Posted by Andrey Malskiy Categories: Corporate News, Music, Software,
When Spotify launched in Europe, social music sharing officially arrived, and many services soon folllowed. However, the company soon realized that releasing an API that allowed third-parties to tap into the spotify catalog would mean new features and new ways for its users to interact and enjoy music, and with that came the release of Spotify Apps.
Spotify has shared info on the success of four of these apps. Truth be told, some of them are a runaway success. Each app is unique in its own way in changing the way we do music.
Soundrop, “let’s you discover, listen to, and share music with friends in ‘rooms’ created by genre or theme,” Spotify says. According to the company, Soundrop users in Feburary listened to 15 million songs or the equivalent of 100 years’ of music.
The second app, Tunewiki, lets you sing along to the lyrics of the song you’re listening too. Though we can’t guarantee this will make you a better singer, it's certainly cool to be able to see the lyrics in real-time while playing a track.
Moodagent, plays music according to how you're feeling, which is fantastic time saver. No longer are you a slave to searching your library for the music you wanna listen too when you're 'Angry' or 'Happy', as you can now have Moodagent handle that for you.
The final app, SpotOn Radio, which was built into the mobile version of the app, hit number six on the Swedish iPhone app store.
The success of Spotify and the widespread use and development of its apps should continue to result in new, refreshing ways to both listen to and share music, with Spotify living on the back end. All Spotify apps are free to use, but require a Spotify account (also free!)
Read More 
| Spotify
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Why Turntable.fm matters, and how it enhances music discovery
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Editorial, Features, Internet, Music,
Right now I'm at SXSW, sitting in on the Turntable.fm DJ Battle that's taking place over the next two hours. There are a few DJs on stage playing their best tracks in an attempt to rock the crowd, and as things are unfolding, I can see some real potential for Turntable.fm to bring something to the table that the Spotifys, Rdios, and Rhapsodys of the world just aren't able to deliver at the moment, especially now that Turntable has secured licensing rights from all four of the major record labels here in the U.S.
Click to continue reading Why Turntable.fm matters, and how it enhances music discovery
Spotify Radio set to take on Pandora
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Internet, Music,
The Internet radio market got another shot of disruption today as Spotify announced its new Spotify Radio, a music-streaming app that will function just like a normal radio station, with the added ability to skip songs you don't like.
During this week's LeWeb tech conference in Paris, which was live-streamed online, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek took to the stage to announce the launch of the new app. Outlining the merits of Spotify Radio, Ek said, "It's kind of like Pandora, but with unlimited skipping and unlimited stations... We think people will love playing around it and we'd love to see what developers will do on top of that."
To get started, users simply click the new "Start Artist Radio" at the top of an artist page and the app will automatically create a radio station and continue to insert new music based on its "intelligent recommendation engine."
Click to continue reading Spotify Radio set to take on Pandora
Spotify launches its own app ecosystem in attempt to become a music platform
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Internet, Music, Software,
Spotify has opened its network up to developers, turning the music service into a music platform.
"We're launching truly integrated apps inside Spotify from the best and brightest," Spotify chief executive Daniel Ek said during a New York press event. "We really believe they'll deliver unique experiences tailored to you and your music tastes."
Third-party developers will be able to build HTML5 apps that access Spotify's music library via a JavaScript API. Spotify is "opening our platform in a way that lets you curate the apps you want and make Spotify yours," Ek said.
All app developers are invited to submit apps to Spotify "but we will approve the apps because we think the core here is the user experience," Ek said.
At this point, there are also no monetization possibilities; all apps will be free.
Listen to music with friends on Facebook with Spotify, MOG, Rhapsody, Slacker, and more
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Internet, Music,
Facebook is good for discovering the latest news about your friends and family, but what about music? As part of its f8 developer conference yesterday, the site teamed up with a number of online music entities to bring music discovery to Facebook.
Music companies like Spotify, Rdio, Rhapsody, and Slacker will be offering their own apps, which will allow you to share what you're listening to with friends on Facebook. Their music choices will also show up on your news feed, and you can listen to the songs right inside Facebook.
"You'll now start seeing new music posts and play buttons all over your newsfeeds. Hit a play button and the music starts. Right there," Spotify said in a blog post. "Spotify fires up to give you a new soundtrack to your social life. Check out your new Music Dashboard and your real-time ticker to discover the music that's trending with your friends."
Rdio and MOG prepping ad-free no-cost option for their music catalogs
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Hot Deals, Internet, Music,
Rdio said late Wednesday night that the service plans to provide free access to its music catalog without advertising, leading to speculation that social sharing might be the next business model.
MOG reportedly plans to announce a similar strategy on Thursday, and other music services are expected to follow suit. When Spotify launched in the U.S., it too pursued a free model, and more than 1.4 million people have signed up, according to reports. It's all leading up to an expected launch of Facebook Music next week, where social advertising could pay for the "free" services.
"Continuing on its first-to-market strategy, Rdio will soon be launching free access to its music catalogue without advertising," a spokesman said in an email on Wednesday night.
The offering will be available in the very near future and available to any consumer, with no need for a credit card, Rdio's spokesman added.
Click to continue reading Rdio and MOG prepping ad-free no-cost option for their music catalogs
We’re giving away 50 Spotify invites - win one here!
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Internet, Music,
Spotify launched in the US last week to much fanfare, but the problem is that it's currently an invite-only service if you wanna use the free music streaming part of it. If you've been crestfallen while watching your friends get their jam on while you've been left out, there's hope! We've got fifty (that's 5-0) Spotify invites to hand out, and we're hooking our Twitter followers up. Do you wanna win one? Of course! Here's how:
- Follow the Gear Live Twitter account
- On Twitter, post this tweet, supporting what we do in a contest: “Hey @DListMagazine I vote for @AndruEdwards of @GearLive and Seattle @MindCamp as Trailblazer for #dlistyoungnorthwest!” (Click here to tweet this now)
We'll DM the first 50 people who get that tweet out there with a Spotify invite code, so watch your inboxes!
Sonos releases new PLAY:3 entry-level HiFi wireless speaker
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Home Entertainment, Music, Videos, Wireless / WiFi,
If you don't know, we're huge fans of Sonos here at Gear Live. There's nothing else like it if you're a music lover for managing and listening to just about anything you can think of, in any room of your home, wirelessly. Today, Sonos is introducing a new product aimed at lowering the cost of entry into Sonos ownership with the PLAY:3. The PLAY:3 is a small, Hi-Fi streaming unit that sports three integrated speakers (a tweeter and two mid-range) and three digital amps, offering big sound. There's no subwoofer (save that for the PLAY:5, formerly known as the Sonos S5) on board, but the PLAY:3 does rock a passive bass "radiator" to make up for it, and we hear it works well. You can pick up the PLAY:3 for $299 from Sonos directly, or in stores. If you're new to Sonos, you'll also need to pick up a $49 Bridge to create the Sonos wireless network in your home. Once you have that, you can then just add more Sonos zones to any room in your home, and they'll automatically pick up the network and start working. It's good times.
We expect to get a test unit of the PLAY:3 in tomorrow, and we will start testing and let you know our thoughts.
Read More | Sonos
Spotify launching on July 14 in the US, invitation-only
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Music,
We know a lot of you were expecting OS X Lion tomorrow, and while we aren't saying it's o ut of the question, we do know one long-awaited product that'll definitely be launching tomorrow, and that's Spotify. It took them a hell of a long time to get everything signed, sealed, and ready to deliver, but the Spotify folks are ready to roll:
We were really adamant about bringing the service to the US, which means a really great, free experience. We wanted to be really careful about the way we did this, and the rights holders felt the same way. It took some time, but we're absolutely thrilled that all four major labels and a ton of indies are behind us, and we'll be bringing that Spotify experience to the US tomorrow.
The free service will be invite-only at first, so you'll wanna head over to the signup page now to get your email address in the hat. From there, there will also be two paid tiers--a $4.99 per month service that does away with the ads, and a $9.99 per month service that allows you to use Spotify on a mobile device like the iPhone or an Android smartphone, with the ability to cache tracks for offline access. The European version of Spotify boasts 15 million tracks, but there's no word as of yet on how many tracks they'll be launching with in the US. We'll know tomorrow!
Read More | Spotify US signup
Spotify is finally, officially, coming to the US
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Music,
Looks like Spotify has finally gotten those US record labels in check, as it has put up a page on its site inviting US users to submit their email addresses in order to gain early access! Spotify is the super-popular music streaming service that has taken Europe by storm, offering free access to millions of tracks on-demand from your computer or smartphone. The company has been trying to launch in the US for quite some time, but has seen numerous hurdles and delays. It looks like that's all been turned around now though, and you'll soon be able to ditch your Rhapsody, MOG, and Rdio subscriptions for another service that pretty much does the same thing.
Read More | Spotify US
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