music
Streaming now dominates music consumption, physical and digital sales almost equally split
We've all seen streaming take off in near-real-time, with Spotify making decent inroads in South Africa even before its official launch. Deezer, Joox, a set of wholly-local options... streaming is here to stay. And, based on a new report from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), music streaming has taken over how most folks access music.
Spotify confirms it will acquire podcast companies Gimlet Media and Anchor
Spotify has announced that it will acquire Gimlet Media, an independent podcast producer, and Anchor, a platform with tools for podcast creators.
You’ll soon be able to #MuteRKelly on Spotify
Soon you’ll be able to #MuteRKelly without waiting for anyone else to intervene on your behalf. Okay, and mute any other artists you don’t want contaminating your musical sanctuary called Spotify. Music streaming service Spotify is working on a feature that will enable users to block any artist. This will render that artist invisible on the streaming service, whether in the user’s pers...[Read More]
Mini Meme: Be a real guitar hero
From tentative strummers to professional Hendrix impersonators, we can all improve our plank-spanking with judicious use of these rocking apps. Yousician Free / Android, iOS Learning a new instrument can be a right old trudge, which is why Yousician wisely reimagines plucking and strumming as a game. Its exercises are like Guitar Hero turned on its side, as you time your efforts to match coloured ...[Read More]
Listening to music at work: what you need to know to improve your productivity
We all know the struggle that open-plan offices bring for many office-crawlers. Living the headphone life is almost compulsory if you hope to get any work done. What with talk radio and the politics around the stuff that’s usually playing in the background, being in an open office can be tough. But it doesn’t have to be. According to numerous studies, music can help with productivity, ...[Read More]
Get Spotify Premium for R6 – that’s not a typo
For those of you who have been holding off on getting a Premium Spotify subscription. Do it now. It’s only R6 — what costs R6 these days? You can’t even get a Simba Chips Party Pack. We know, the free tier is essentially the Premium tier with ads. But Spotify SA just announced a special price of R6 for a Premium subscription for the first three months. Thereafter you will be charged the norm...[Read More]
Deezer adds South African radio stations to its lineup
Music streaming service Deezer is adding South African radio stations to their ‘Live Radio’ lineup, with plans to add even more in the future. If you’re not into Spotify or Apple Music, you’re likely subscribed to Deezer. It could be described as the ‘underdog’ in the music streaming space but, weirdly, a range of wearables have Deezer capability. The service is available on Android Wear, Apple Wa...[Read More]
DJs will soon be able to mix while streaming music on SoundCloud
Who even needs hard drives anymore? Streaming is so much more convenient, and doesn’t fill up all the space on 128GB smartphones — so you have more space for pictures of your pug. Not all streaming offerings are cut from the same cloth, though. Outfits like SoundCloud have had to change things up to survive in the cut-throat music streaming industry. One thing SoundCloud has always got righ...[Read More]
Spotify announces more Premium features and an updated Wear OS app
The world’s most popular music streaming service, Spotify, has recently announced a whole range of new features for its Premium-tier users, as well as an app for Google’s Wear OS. Firstly, the Spotify Premium changes — the most noteworthy of which is the streamlined navigation in the app (we appreciate slick interfaces, okay). The five tabs at the bottom have been condensed into ...[Read More]
Joox partners with DStv so you can stream music for free
Multichoice’s DStv is on a path to “put together the best 360 entertainment package in South Africa”, according to a press release announcing a new partnership. The new partner? Local streaming service (think a South African Spotify), Joox… which, not coincidentally, is also part of the Naspers stable that includes DStv, Showmax, Voov and others. If you’re a DStv subscriber, you’re in ...[Read More]
AI’s first pop album ushers in a new musical era
Last December, the world ushered in a new era of popular music: human and artificial intelligence (AI) collaboration. Musical eras are often defined by their dominant modes of production — analog, electronic, digital — each bringing about new styles and ways of listening. This era is marked by the release of the first AI-human collaborated album, Hello World, by the music collaborative Skygge. Sky...[Read More]
Spotify will allow (some) indie artists to upload their music themselves
Our fave music streaming app, Spotify, has announced that selected independent artists will be able to upload their music directly to the service, which bypasses the need for third-party distributors that to date have been the only way for indies to get their material on the world’s biggest music-streaming platform. The new feature is available through the standalone Spotify for Artists app ...[Read More]