‘General news’ Articles
Apple on Wednesday invited members of the media to its annual media-centric keynote, where it is expected to introduce new iPods and an updated Apple TV, set for Sept. 1 in San Francisco, Calif.
The event will be held next Wednesday and will start at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, 1 p.m. Eastern, and will be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Alluding to the music-themed nature of the event, the invitation includes an acoustic guitar with a sound hole in the shape of an Apple logo.
The announcement dispels an earlier report that the event would be held on Sept. 7.
In recent days, a firestorm of rumors and speculation have centered around a supposed new Apple TV, perhaps dubbed iTV, starting at $99. Both Bloomberg and The New York Times have cited anonymous sources as stating that Apple is currently negotiating with content providers to offer 99 cent TV episode rentals.
However, Apple reportedly does not intend to make the new Apple TV the centerpiece of its announcement, as sources said Chief Executive Steve Jobs doesn’t expect the device to be an instant mainstream hit. Instead, Apple is allegedly looking to improve its product, which it has long referred to as a “hobby,” by transitioning it to the iOS operating system and giving it access to the App Store for content and games.
Apple is also expected to reveal a new iPod touch with a forward facing camera that will allow FaceTime video chat, as is currently available on the iPhone 4. There have been numerous leaked parts alleged to be from Apple’s forthcoming portable media player that show a space in the device’s front panel for a camera.
While the iPod touch lacks a phone number to allow people to connect for a FaceTime call, beta releases of iOS 4.1 show that the media player will identify users by their e-mail address. Jobs said earlier this summer that his company will ship tens of millions of devices compatible with FaceTime this year alone. Currently, only the iPhone 4 is capable of making FaceTime video chat calls over Wi-Fi.
(Source: Appleinsider.com)
Tags: Apple
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Hypebot.com reports:
Press speculation abounds about forthcoming Apple or Google music subscriptions services. If and when they materialize they’ll join a crowded field of alternatives big and small. Competitors range from ten year veterans Rhapsody and Napster, euro-darling Spotify to newcomers like MOG and Rdio. In spite of the enormous investment the global user base is estimated at under 2 million current subscribers globally.
Read the full article here.
Tags: Music Subscription Services
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Songkick has just partnered with YouTube to offer concert suggestions to users. Songkick is a live music recommendation and discovery service which helps users find out when certain bands are playing in their area.
Sitting within the re-launched youtube.com/music site, Songkick will power concert recommendations in the ‘Events Near You’ section which draws on a user’s IP address to pinpoint their location. Sometimes this becomes an issue when your IP is located at a completely different part of the country (which we found that our IP was in Oxford, not in Cornwall!).
Songkick CEO Ian Hogarth says: “From our point of view, this is one step closer to making it incredibly easy to find local concerts, whether you’re on Songkick or on another site discovering music. It’s kind of early days, but it seems like a very significant number of people are coming through, finding out more about the show, buying tickets, etc.”
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Warner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. has gone further than ever to confirm reports Google will launch a mobile music offering.
Asked by analysts specifically about the recent Google Music rumors, Bronfman Jr. delivered an intriguing big-picture assessment on mobile music generally:
“Google has yet to make any announcement about its music plans and I certainly don’t want to pre-empt those. In general, as the economic hierarchy in the mobile space – the wireless space – has yet to be written, there are a number of companies jockeying for position.
Companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Sony, network operators, and device manufacturers all recognize that that economic hierarchy is yet to be established. In that race, in that much larger world than the computer world, we see a great deal of opportunity because content is a critical enabler.
Without being specific about Google’s plans, we are optimistic about the next 12 to 18 months, as the struggle for hierarchy plays out amongst major corporations; we’re optimistic about the role we can play.”
Though Google last year enhanced its music search results using Lala and iLike, rumors about Google Music suggest it will primarily be an Android service.
Tags: Apple
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Music Xray is a platform used by over 600 music industry professionals to receive song submissions from artists, acts, & rights holders. The company is announcing the launch of a new song to opportunity matching service called S2O that automatically pairs songs to opportunities.
Artists simply upload their songs at MusicXray.com and wait to be alerted when appropriate opportunities for their songs are identified. The new service is completely free and marks the first time music analysis technology has been combined with other talent-identifying tools to form the world’s first and only enhanced A&R platform.
In late 2009 Music Xray began enlisting top industry professionals to conduct their A&R activities via the site. Today, the platform is used by several major labels, dozens of independent labels, license agencies, radio stations, advertising agencies, music supervisors, managers, promoters and even influential music bloggers who take submissions from artists vying to have their music featured.
“It’s a great way to conduct A&R.” said Alex Torrez head of Torrez Music Group in Nashville who previously held a position in the A&R department of Columbia Records and who now sources music for many of the top labels and artists. “It’s easier, more organized and the quality of submissions is higher on Music Xray, making it more rewarding to evaluate acts and their music”.
Music Xray does not track the deals that occur between artists and industry professionals but a “Success “Stories” section of the company’s website lists some of the deals of which the company has learned. Todd Gross, manager and father of emerging musician/performer Mary Sarah added, “Music Xray has enabled us to access some of the top people in the music industry more quickly and easily than would have been possible before. As a result, Mary Sarah is being looked at by several top companies and we’re discussing several potential deals.”
Artists sign up on the site to receive weekly emails alerting them of the new submission opportunities that have been added to the listings over the previous week. Currently that email reaches nearly 100,000 artists and the number grows by several thousand each week. Additionally, Music Xray offers artists sleek song presentation packs (called Music Xrays) that enable artists to showcase their songs for free together with the song’s lyrics, artist bio, a video, and even graphs that show how an artist is performing across all the social networks and Internet radio.
“Millions of songs are created and posted to the web each year. The music industry needs the ability to evaluate them for commercial purposes and to efficiently separate the wheat from the chaff.” said Mike McCready, co-founder and CEO of the company. “Music Xray harnesses all the capabilities of the social web, music intelligence technologies, and collective expert knowledge to help the industry spot the hottest new talent and the best songs first.
“In addition to doing deals with industry professionals, artists use Music Xray to get professional feedback on their music, advice and career coaching.”
Tags: Music Xray
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paidContent:UK recently published a overview of the most popular on demand streaming services around the world. You can find the full overview here, but The Orchard’s Daily Rind Blog has published a quick recap:
Rhapsody remains ahead of the pack with the largest published subscriber base of close to 675,000 subscribers, although this number has been steadily declining.
Napster has continued to be a well-known brand name, despite being “the biggest loser” of the 2005 Super Bowl Ads.
MOG is fairly new service in the US (and soon UK) that offers unlimited streaming ($9.99/month) with a catalog of 8 million songs. Last week, MOG unveiled its long anticipated mobile app for the iPhone and Android.
Apple is a wild card. Shortly after Apple shut down recently purchased Lala, many speculated that Apple will step up with a global service of their own. Yet, the future of Apple’s place in online music streaming still remains unknown.
Same goes for Google, who recently hired music attorney Elizabeth Moody. They are rumored to launch a music service later this year along with the Android 3.0.
Tags: Streaming Services
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