Apple Music
Streaming Symmetry: See the Countries Where Apple Music is Cheaper Than Spotify—and Vice Versa
CashNetUSA‘s personal finance blog SavingSpot recently published a study that highlights the difference in the cost of an Apple Music subscription between countries. Their data shows both the actual cost of the monthly subscription and also the relative cost which computes the subscription price as a percentage of the country’s average monthly income. As shown in the infographic below, India, China, and Turkey have the cheapest monthly subscription costs while listeners in Denmark, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom have the highest costs. However, the ensuing charts—which compare the costs to monthly income—show that Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, and Macau pay the least while subscribers in Niger, Mozambique, and Madagascar pay the most when the cost is examined in t...
Radiohead, Elbow Members Call for Better Streaming Royalties at Opening of UK Parliament Probe
Garvey and Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien were among a group of four artists and two industry analysts that provided evidence on the first day of the inquiry, which is anticipated to stretch for several months and will call upon executives at major labels and streaming platforms to answer questions. The Parliament probe — which so far is being done with witnesses testifying virtually, as the U.K. is in lockdown — is also addressing a lack of transparency in record contracts and opaque accounting practices, safe harbor provisions and the European Copyright Directive, which will hold online user-generated services like YouTube liable for unlicensed content. The inquiry comes at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has decimated income from touring, focusing artists’ attenti...
Apple Launches Free, 24-Hour Music Video Channel
Remember the days when MTV was the home of music videos? Looking to bring back that kind of programming, Apple has now launched its own free, 24-hour music video channel. Simply called Apple Music TV, the nonstop livestream promises “exclusive new music videos and premiers, special curated music video blocks, and live shows and events as well as chart countdowns and guests,” according to a statement via Variety. One such countdown — the Top 100 most-streamed songs on Apple Music — was the focus of today’s kick-off event. During its inaugural week, Apple Music TV will also celebrate Bruce Springsteen and his new album, Letter to You, with “an all day Bruce takeover” on Thursday, October 22nd. In addition to popular music videos from The Boss, the channel will air a special livestream f...
UK Government Launches Investigation of Streaming Platforms’ Economic Impact on the Music Industry
The world’s music streaming platforms have often been a source of controversy and debate in the music industry. While many love the convenience they offer to listeners and the ability to reach markets easier than ever, many artists are facing economic and financial strife due to the low payout per stream. The United Kingdom’s Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport Committee (DCMS) is aware of these issues and is now getting involved in a new investigation into streaming platforms’ economic impact on the music industry as a whole. On the DCMS Committee’s website, officials shared a statement highlighting the large revenue brought in by the companies and emphasized how small the portion actually paid to artists is. “With streaming currently accounting for more than ...
Tiësto Reveals a New Album in the Works
Tiësto is the like Energizer Bunny of EDM, refusing to pump the brakes even after decades of releasing its most inescapable anthems. In a recent chat with Apple Music‘s Zane Lowe, the dance music legend revealed that he has a new album in the works. In addition to chatting about his approach to DJing live, embracing younger artists such as Martin Garrix, and his recent signing to Atlantic Records, Tiësto told Lowe about the album, which does not have a release date at the moment. “Well, I just signed with a new record label and I signed to Warner now, so that’s a big difference the team there really helps me to get good songs to work on. So yeah, we were working on a new album,” he said. “It was just a different kind of beast, I f...
Apple Announces Bundle Package for Music, TV, and Gaming Services
Apple will offer a bundle package of its streaming music, TV, gaming, and iCloud services. Under the banner of Apple One, the bundle brings together Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and 50GB of iCloud storage for the monthly price of $14.95. Two other tiers of Apple One will also be available: a “Family” plan priced at $19.95 per month, and a “Premier” tier which also includes subscriptions to Apple News+ and Fitness+ in addition to 2GB of iCloud storage for $24.95 per month. Apple plans to roll out their bundle packages this “fall” with a 30-day free trial for new users. The announcement of Apple One was made during Apple’s “Times Flies” presentation on Tuesday afternoon. The media company also revealed that Apple iOS 14 would launch tomorrow (Sept. 16th), and detailed new iterations...
Honey Dijon Discusses Origins of Her “Realness Remix” for Lady Gaga In Insightful Apple Music Interview
Honey Dijon dropped a statement-making remix of Lady Gaga‘s “Free Woman” this week and sat down with Zane Lowe to discuss how it all went down in an illuminating, wide-ranging interview. The Chicago-born house DJ and producer released her remix of Lady Gaga’s “Free Woman,” a cut from the latter’s Chromatica album, playing up the song’s natural club elements, adding a thumping foundational kick and layering in supportive rhythmic instrumentation. While the remix choice feels like a natural fit, the story of how the project ultimately came to fruition was somewhat circuitous. Honey Dijon told Lowe she was originally offered the opportunity to remix Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande‘s “Rain On Me.” Ultimately, she did not f...
Lady Gaga and Tchami Discuss “Chromatica” Album: “I Could Cry That You Put That to Dance Music”
As her momentous Chromatica LP continues to shatter streaming records, Lady Gaga has continued to tip her cap to electronic dance music via “GAGA RADIO.” Every Friday, she has been using her Apple Music radio show to pay homage to the genre by chatting with the DJs and producers who breathed life into her sensational sixth studio album. In the forthcoming final episode of “GAGA RADIO,” Mother Monster talks to house music maven and Chromatica collaborator Tchami, who produced four tracks on the record: “Stupid Love,” “1000 Doves,” “Babylon,” and the Ariana Grande-assisted “Rain On Me.” In the interview, Tchami says that “1000 Doves” is “the one that wins [his] heart,” rhapsodi...
Boiler Room Partners with Apple Music to Share Extensive Series and Archived Sets Worldwide
Boiler Room recently celebrated 10 years of showcasing the underground to the masses through its digital music broadcasting platform. What started in London has spread across 200 cities with over 8,000 performances by more than 5,000 artists. To continue their ethos of DJ representation, they’ve partnered with Apple Music to give subscribers access to Boiler Room’s “Streaming From Isolation” lockdown series alongside over 200 of the most influential recordings from their illustrious history. “The partnership launches with the common aim to compensate all artists involved in a DJ set,” Boiler Room said in a blog post. “Not only does that mean payment for DJs but crucially also, compensation for the artists, producers and songwriters b...
Beats 1 Radio Is No More, Say Hello To Apple Music 1 & Two New Radio Stations
Source: Apple / Apple Music Radio Apple’s Beats 1 Radio is getting a swift rebrand and two new stations the tech company announced Tuesday (aug.18). The company that Jobs built said goodbye to Beats 1 radio, well just the name and today revealed the renaming of its flagship radio station to Apple Music 1. The decision is a no brainer as Apple continues to transition away from the Beats branding, which could only be found on the then-named Beats 1 station on the Apple Music Service. The station is described by Apple as “one of the most-listened-to radio stations in the world.” Along with the name change, Apple revealed it will be launching new stations as well. One of them being Apple Music Hits, which will give listeners who enjoy bopping to hit records strictly from the ’80s, ’90s, and 20...
The Weeknd Unearths Kiss Land Outtakes, Plus a Lana Del Rey Remix: Stream
Seven long years after its initial release, The Weeknd’s Kiss Land reached the top of the charts this week. In honor of the surprise achievement, the R&B singer has now dug up “a few songs and ideas that didn’t” end up making the final tracklist of that 2013 album. Abel Tesfaye shared these previously unreleased songs and outtakes during episode 9 of his “Memento Mori” radio show on Apple Music on Friday. He called the reveal a “special thank you episode to the fans for showing so much love to kiss land this week.” Amongst the demos and alternate versions is a remix of Lana Del Rey’s Ultraviolence cut “Money Power Glory”, as well as a demo of “One of Those Nights”, a track which appeared on a deluxe edition of Juicy J’s 2013 album Stay Trippy. Other demos include “Angel Face”, “For You...
The Blessed Madonna Drops Momentous Remix for Dua Lipa, Talks “Subversive Women in Pop Music”
The Blessed Madonna dropped her highly anticipated remix of Dua’s “Levitating,” which features Madonna and Missy Elliott. Following the release of her highly anticipated remix of Dua Lipa‘s “Levitating” with Madonna and Missy Elliott, The Blessed Madonna joined Zane Lowe of Apple Music to rhapsodize about the track along with Dua. Remixing a Grammy Award-winning pop superstar is one of the most daunting tasks a music producer can take on, but it can also be one of the most rewarding. The Blessed Madonna described the feeling of receiving the stems, telling Lowe that it was like “a million air horns going off in my own head.” “Even the idea of it, the first thing I said was, I was like, ‘If this is a possibility...
