No other online music service has excited and galvanised support from enthusiasts and industry in the last twelve months more than Spotify. Its burgeoning popularity is set to explode thanks to the release of the the Spotify mobile application for iPhone and Google Android handsets.
The impressive app has a simple but clever “offline mode” which allows you to listen back to recent playlists. As its only available to premium subscribers, Spotify are pinning their hopes on enough people shelling out €9.99 a month to use it.
Another iPhone app which has impressed me this week is RJDJ, a reactive, real-time music experience which is best demonstrated by a video showing how dance act Kids on DSP utilised the format on their reactive music album.
Continue Reading..»
I first wrote about the brilliant Spotify here in March and in recent weeks, the legal streaming music library has pressed itself into the public consciousness here at home with many people choosing to try out the free service via a proxy loophole.
It’s a brilliant service and one which justifiably could live up to the oft-touted “iTunes killer” tag if the company can keep its revenues flowing and keep Apple onside for the upcoming Spotify iPhone app. If there was one criticism of Spotify from a user-friendly perspective, it would be that it lacks a “browse” function. So for those times when you’re not sure what to search for the following sites are here to help.
By uploading your exisiting iTunes music library file, Spotifitunes can give you a web-based links to the artists you already listen to on Spotify. More of a Last.FM user? Another site (http://short.ie/lastspot) will analyse the top 50 artists in your Last.FM charts and recommend you albums to listen to based on this and Last.FM’s recommendation system.
Continue Reading..»
While royalty negotiations continue to breakdown between Youtube and European music publishers, one Irish-based music video company is aiming to take advantage of the situation. MUZU has struck licensing deals with many independent and major labels as well as unsigned acts to stream music videos, live concerts, video blogs and archive TV footage from programs like The Tube with the aim of sharing the advertising revenue with bands, labels and video owners. Best of all, it’s all 100% legal, and free to watch. So how can a little company like MUZU compete with an online video behemoth like Youtube? “We believe we can co-exist and succeed alongside YouTube which is heavily reliant on poor quality ‘home made’ video and has no definitive focus – a jack of all trades, but a master of none,” says MUZU’s Graeme Slattery pointing out MUZU’s 100% music focus.
Continue Reading..»
With all the negativity surrounding the music industry at the moment, it’s nice to be able to focus on a genuinely brilliant service that could do wonders for all spectrums of the music industry – from small, independent bands right up to the majors. Spotify is such a service. Put simply, Spotify is a huge streaming legal library of music available in an iTunes-like interface which is currently available in Europe (Ireland is currently excluded as is the US and Canada but where there’s a way..).
Anyone can sign up for free and start listening to a band’s entire back catalogue ( I chose Super Furry Animals ), today’s chart hits, full albums and releases from less mainstream artists (MF Doom and Air France), with the (very) occasional advert. More discerning users can pay €9.99 a month for ad-free access.
What really sets the service apart from what’s come before is how easy it is to use. Spotify is fast. Like really fast. Tracks start to play almost instantaneously and in my experience (and many others), the stream was seamless, as if it was playing locally from my computer. The search function is intuitive, fast and accurate. Artist pages include bios, artist radio, top tracks and similar artists. You can create and share playlists with other users or use the radio function or explore.
Continue Reading..»
Last week’s announcement that Eircom has conceded to a plan to stop illegal downloading in the face of court proceedings will come as no surprise to those who are familiar with the music industry’s attempts to save profits from music piracy. Under the plan, Ireland’s largest ISP (Internet Service Provider), Eircom agrees to work with the four major labels in Ireland (SonyBMG, Universal, Warners and EMI) in implementing a “three strikes and you’re out” rule. This means that Eircom customers will be disconnected if the record companies claim a user has repeatedly downloaded music illegally using P2P (peer to peer) networks through Eircom’s service. Eircom’s case wasn’t helped by the fact that the company’s ads appeared on The Pirate Bay, a popular torrent site which is being targeted in Sweden for large scale illegal music and movie piracy.
Continue Reading..»
