Category Archives : Competitive Awareness


This week #2 in digital music

Scandinavian Newspaper giant Schibsted to acquire streaming service Aspiro Streaming service Aspiro (WiMP) is to be acquired by Scandinavian news publisher Schibsted, reports paidContent . The price tag is said to be around $50 million, and the purpose of the acquisition is, writes paidContent to “compete with Spotify on the global stage”. Schibsted, a newspaper […]


“Let’s keep the music special, fuck Spotify”

Stream Wars have flared up again and the world of digital music is in turmoil. The recent round of streaming-bashing originated in a study by NPD group and NARM. Words were harsh “Spotify is detrimental to music purchasing”, the study says. In the words of the researchers, the new digital music climate makes it easier for consumers […]


This week in digital music

Major Label Licensing Will Kill Your Startup The free spoken Michael Robertson did not mince his words when he appeared at the SF MusicTech Summit this week. Robertson, who founded MP3tunes, made his feelings about music startups and the major labels clear. He basically told the assembled crowd to avoid major label licensing or die […]


This week in digital music

Google Magnifier to boost music discovery This week Google not only acquired Motorola Mobility, they also launched a new music blog service named “Magnifier”. The service, which is described as “Google Music’s cousin”, makes music recommendations to users and offers daily free downloads. The downloads will be made available in the users cloud library . […]


This week in digital music

Spotify closing in on the US It seems that a Spotify US release is imminent. For real this time. Multiple sources report that Spotify has signed a deal with Universal. Sony Music and EMI are both already onboard, and so only Warner remain and they too are rumoured to be close. Worth keeping in mind […]


This week in digital music

Apple closing in on the cloud Mashable reports that Apple has signed a licensing deal with EMI for their upcoming cloud music service. As Apple already has a deal in place with Warner, and rumours say that Sony and Universal are to be onboard soon, the music giant might just announce the launch of their […]


This week in digital music

Google Music now in live beta The biggest news this week was the Google unveiling of their music cloud service. Just like Amazon’s Cloud Player, the Google service is launched without the backing of any label deals. The Amazon and Google Music services works in similar ways. What you get is a place in the cloud […]


This week in digital music

Spotify opens download store and syncs with your iPod. Spotify has been all over the digital music news this week, and for good reason. The most recent update to the platform is huge. Here’s a break down: A new a la carte download store – Built in-house, covering the whole Spotify catalogue Wireless syncing with […]


This week in digital music

Apple trumps Google in race to the cloud According to wide spread rumours, Apple has now secured licensing deals with two of the four major labels in support of their upcoming cloud service. Sources say that deals with the remaining two are not far behind. As you know, Amazon went ahead and launched their cloud […]


This week in digital music

Grooveshark app removed from Google’s Android Market Google has removed the Grooveshark Android app from the Android Market store. “We remove apps from Android Market that violate our policies,” Google says. According to sources, Google received a complaint from RIAA. Apple pulled the same stunt last year. More here MSpot executive on how the majors […]