According to Billboard, SoundCloud is preparing to introduce a new payment system that would allow fans to pay artists directly. From the report: The move would make SoundCloud the first major music streaming service to embrace a direct payment model, a strategy that has been popular with Chinese streaming services like Tencent Music’s QQ Music for years, and one that subscription…
Tag: music streaming
Amazon To Buy Podcast Maker Wondery
Amazon announced Wednesday that it’s acquiring podcasting company Wondery, expanding its catalog of original audio content. From a report: As part of the deal, Wondery will join Amazon Music, the e-commerce giant’s music streaming business. Amazon Music in September added podcasts to its platform, looking to carve out a share of the increasingly competitive podcasting market, in which Spotify, Apple and…
Spotify Resets Passwords After a Security Bug Exposed Users’ Private Account Information
Jerry Rivers shares a report from TechCrunch, adding: “…and it took the music service seven months to notice.” From the report: In a data breach notification filed with the California attorney general’s office, the music streaming giant said the data exposed “may have included email address, your preferred display name, password, gender, and date of birth only to certain business partners…
Hundreds of App Developers Want to Join New Apple-Defying Coalition
The Washington Post reports: App developers are defying Apple in record numbers, according to a new coalition of companies aimed at breaking the iPhone maker’s tight grip over its mobile software and the way it governs the App Store. The Coalition for App Fairness, which launched last month and counts as members video-game giant Epic Games, dating company Match Group and…
How Many Americans Still Secretly Use Their Ex’s Passwords
A recent survey by British Virgin Islands-based VPN service provider ExpressVPN asked 1,506 American adults in an exclusive (non-married) relationship to find out their password sharing habits across social media platforms. ZDNet reports on the findings: The survey showed that couples share a variety of passwords with each other, and they most commonly share within the first six months of dating….
Amazon Remasters Streaming Tracks in Effort To Woo Subscribers
Amazon has teamed up with Universal Music and Warner Music to remaster thousands of popular streaming tracks to better-than-CD audio quality [Editor’s note: the link may be paywalleddd; alternative source], as the music industry tries to lure listeners to pricier subscriptions. From a report: In addition to a standard $10 a month streaming service comparable to Spotify, Amazon offers a high-definition…
Apple Will Stop Taking a Cut of Some Video App Purchases Made Through the App Store
Yesterday, Apple said it would stop taking a cut of some sales for “qualifying” streaming video services on iPhones and other Apple devices, including Amazon’s Prime Video. Reuters reports: To make purchases inside apps on its App Store, Apple requires the use of its own payment systems and takes a commission of between 15% and 30% before passing on the rest…
Coronavirus: Radio Listening Booms While Music Streaming Stalls
People staying at home due to the coronavirus pandemic appear to be listening to more radio rather than music apps, figures suggest. The BBC reports: Global, which owns Capital FM and talk station LBC, said online radio listening had risen by 15%. The BBC said streaming of its radio stations had risen 18% since last week. Meanwhile, data from two US…
Music Streaming May Actually be Falling Because of Coronavirus
The isolation caused by the spread of coronavirus means people are sitting inside all day streaming music, right? Actually, maybe not. At least for the most popular songs, people in some highly affected countries are streaming far fewer songs during the pandemic than before. From a report: In Italy, one of the countries hardest hit by coronavirus, the top 200 most…
Resso, ByteDance’s Music Streaming App, Officially Launches in India
TikTok, the hugely popular social media app, found a lot of early traction by giving users a way to create funny lip-synced versions of clips from well-known songs and then share them with friends (its predecessor in the West was even called Musically). Now at long last, TikTok’s owner, China’s ByteDance, is doubling down on the music connection with the release…