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 […]
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 […]
Far too long since last update. Here’s a quick one just to get back in the game. Since last I wrote, Coldplay have stirred up some emotions as they refused to license their latest release Mylo Xyloto to streaming music services such as Spotify and rdio. The reason, of course, is the fear that licensing […]
The world of digtal music is not exactly moving at break neck speed right now. Thank god then for Spotify – a company that always manages to stir up feelings and get into all sorts of amusing trouble. First of all, the good news: True to their style, Spotify executed a flawless marketing campaign and quickly […]
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 […]
FaceSpot? Facebook and Spotify partner up – rumours say The story that caused the most buzz this week was the rumour that Spotify and Facebook are to launch a music service together. The origin of the rumour was a piece in Forbes written by Parmy Olsen. Olsen writes that the service “could be launched in […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Spotify changes to free cause commotion This week Spotify announced changes to their free plan. Reactions have been split between two extremes that can be summed up as: 1. Pay up and shut up you spoiled brats. It’s hardly expensive, is it? 2. I hate you Spotify. I hate you, I hate you I hate […]
Photo by: Catherine Amazon cloud player now live Amazon left Apple and Google watching their tail lights as they released their Cloud Player this week (so far US only). The player, a straight up locker service, lets users upload their music library to the “cloud” and stream if from there to any device, be it […]
DIY is a fine ambition but… David Dufresne of Bandzoogle organised a talk at SXSW and the description highlighted the nature of the DIY problem, misunderstood by so many. I think the sheer complexity of it all is too often forgotten. It’s probably wise to stay mindful of the challenges this brave new world poses, […]
100 million USD funding round puts Spotify at 1 billion USD valuation Reports and rumours of Spotify’s recent fundraising endeavours have circled the Internet this week. Word is that Spotify is raising over 100 million USD. The deal is led by Russian venture firm DST, who has previous investments in Facebook, Groupon and Zynga. Over […]
Facebook Credits will roll out July 1. Facebook will be hammering home its Facebook Credits virtual currency on July 1 this year. From this date all payments will go through Facebook Credits and all transactions outside of Facebook’s payment system will be explicitly prohibited. This move will make Facebook credits the main payment system for all […]
Spotify Signs Sony to U.S. Deal Spotify has finally signed with Sony for a U.S. distribution deal. According to rumours, the terms for the U.S. Service is the same as the one Spotify offers in Europe, which is a bit of a surprise. This is good news for Spotify and I hope this can prove […]
