Apple Music will exclusively stream 'The Chronic,' Dr. Dre's 1992 debut studio album, Rolling Stone reported Monday. As a matter of fact, the seminal album will actually make its streaming debut when Apple Music launches tomorrow morning.
This is newsworthy because 'The Chronic' has not yet been available on digital platforms like the iTunes Store, Beats Music, Spotify or Rhapsody due to legal disputes regarding distribution rights.
Apple's Beats 1 streaming radio service will feature celebrity hosts such as Pharrell Williams, Drake and Elton John, reports The New York Times. In a profile of Apple's newly recruited D.J., Zane Lowe, the outlet says a number of well-known stars have been given spots.
Other well-known stars on the menu for Beats 1 programming include Dr. Dre, who will host a show called "The Pharmacy," teen actor Jaden Smith, and Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age. Apparently, each of them will be hosting and planning the shows themselves.
Apple denies claims made by some artists that it's threatening to remove their songs from iTunes if they don't sign up for Apple Music, reports Rolling Stone. A company spokesperson told the outlet that music "will not be taken off" as a result of license negotiations.
The controversy arose earlier this week when Anton Newcombe of psychedelic rock group Brian Jonestown Massacre took to Twitter to complain about Apple and its bullying tactics. "I said what if I say no, and they said we'll take your music off itunes. hard ball?"
Apple was unable to secure the streaming rights for Taylor Swift's '1989' album, BuzzFeed reports. The outlet says both Swift's label and Apple have confirmed the story, meaning the massively popular album won't be available on Apple Music at launch.
Apparently Apple Music will feature Swift's back catalogue, however, which includes 4 other highly sought-after records. But those can already be found on other subscription services such as Rdio and Tidal, so they won't serve as a differentiating feature.
If you ever wondered which artists you would be listening to if you were born in another time, now you can thanks to Rewind, a new feature by Spotify that helps you turn your music back in time.
By doing so, Rewind makes it easy and supposedly fun to know what you'd be listening to in another decade, based on what you listen to today and thanks in no small part to Spotify's rich knowledge graph about its user base.
Spotify has a lot to lose should Apple Music catch on with music lovers. Following Monday's WWDC 2015 keynote which saw, amongst other things, the announcement of Apple's ten bucks per month on-demand music subscription service, Spotify has felt compelled to share the latest stats to reinforce its position as the world's leading streaming music provider.
As of May of this year, the Swedish startup had more than 75 million active users, of which more than 20 million are on one Spotify's paid Premium tiers.
While following the keynote yesterday and trying to cover the event at the same time here on iDB with the rest of the team, there seemed to be one word I didn't hear Eddy Cue pronounce: streaming. I actually made a note of it in our Let's Talk iOS episode dedicated to WWDC 2015.
It seemed odd that the word wouldn't even get a mention. To confirm the omission was on purpose, I took a look at Apple's mini-site dedicated to Apple Music, and realized the word streaming is nowhere to found there either. It's like it's not even part of the offer. Is the S-word taboo?
Apple is planning a departure from the long-standing 70/30 iTunes pricing arrangement it has with digital media companies, reports the Financial Times. According to sources familiar with the matter, Apple is discussing new commercial terms with a number of players in the video, music and news subscription space.
The split, which doles out 70% of app and media sales to content owners/creators and 30% to Apple for hosting and distribution, has been around since the iTunes Store first launched in 2003. Apple hopes the change can improve its relationships with media firms, and reassure regulators that it's not abusing its power.
Periscope for iPhone, a Twitter-owned live-broadcasting app, was updated Thursday with a few new features, including one that lets you browse live broadcasts on a world map by location.
You'll notice a new Map option under the Global section within the app. Tap it for a nicely done zoomable map which highlights live streams relevant to your current location.
Showtime, a CBS-owned premium cable television service, has taken the plunge and will offer a standalone video-streaming service over the Internet with Apple as its first partner, the company confirmed Wednesday.
Simply called Showtime, the service will cost $10.99 per month and will be hitting the Apple TV, iPhone, iPod touch and iPad on July 12 ahead of season premier of several shows such as Ray Donovan and Masters of Sex.
A free 30-day trial will be available to new customers who sign up through Apple in July. Like HBO Now, Showtime's new service will be an Apple exclusive at launch.
It looks like Apple is going to once again be providing a live stream of its WWDC keynote this year. On Monday the company updated its Events channel on Apple TV with a new program labeled "WWDC 2015 Keynote - LIVE."
There's no word on Apple's website yet regarding streaming to other devices, but the company typically offers live video on both Macs and iOS products via its Safari web browser. It's set to begin at 10am Pacific Time on June 8.
Apple won't be announcing a new subscription TV service at WWDC next week, reports Recode. According to its sources, the Cupertino company has told network executives the unveiling will be postponed until the proper licensing deals are in place.
The holdup seems to be with negotiations over financial terms and new tech that would be required for broadcasters to deliver local programming. Apple is hoping that offering local stations will differentiate its service from Dish's Sling and others.