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Tag: Music

  • Carrie Underwood Will Perform at American Music Awards

    Carrie Underwood will take the stage at the American Music Awards, the show just announced.

    Also performing at the awards show are Selena Gomez and 5 Seconds of Summer.

    Carrie Underwood is clearly excited about the opportunity.

    Underwood’s new album Storyteller drops this Friday, October 23rd. The first single off the album, “What I Never Knew I Always Wanted”, talks about her son Isaiah, who was born in February.

    Look what I got!!! So exciting!!!!! #Storyteller

    A photo posted by Carrie Underwood (@carrieunderwood) on

    Underwood recently admitted that she suffers from “mom guilt” while trying to balance her booming career and her new son.

    “I think mom guilt is rampant in my life,” she said. “I am sure it is in any mom’s … I still constantly wonder, ‘Is this fair to him? Is my life fair to him?’”

    “He’s my No. 1 priority. But it’s just a question of how am I going to do this? … I’ll probably never find the answers to those questions.”

    The American Music Awards air on November 22nd. Before that, Carrie Underwood will perform at the Country Music Association Awards on November 4th.

  • Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton Both Performing at CMAs

    Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton shocked fans when they announced their divorce in late July. The country power couple appeared to be one of the most rock-solid around, so the breakup really surprised a lot of people.

    Now, the two will share the same red carpet (and later, a stage) for the first time since their split.

    The Country Music Association just announced that Blake Shelton will be performing at the upcoming CMAs on November 4th. Miranda Lambert had already been announced as a performer.

    So it looks like the two will “reunite” on the red carpet. Or maybe exchange pleasantries backstage. Or maybe ignore each other completely.

    But this will be the first event the two have both attended since their divorce.

    Lambert and Shelton join a star-studded lineup, including scheduled performances by Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Sam Hunt, Kelsea Ballerini, Maddie & Tae, Kacey Musgraves, Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood.

    “This is not the future we envisioned,” said Lambert and Shelton in a joint statement in July. “And it is with heavy hearts that we move forward separately. We are real people, with real lives, with real families, friends and colleagues. Therefore, we kindly ask for privacy and compassion concerning this very personal matter.”

    They were married for four years,

  • Keith Richards Continues to Slam Classic Bands

    Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has made headlines with some interesting comments about classic bands.

    The latest targets of Richards’ ire are contemporaries Led Zeppelin and The Who.

    Talking to Rolling Stone, Richards called Zeppelin “hollow” and said The Who’s lead singer Roger Daltrey is “all flash.”

    “I love [Led Zeppelin guitarist] Jimmy Page, but as a band, no, with John Bonham thundering down the highway in an uncontrolled 18-wheeler. He had cornered the market there. Jimmy is a brilliant player. But I always felt there was something a little hollow about it, you know?”

    He also took a shot at late Who drummer Keith Moon.

    “[Moon] could play to Pete like nobody else in the world. But if somebody threw him into a session with somebody else, it was a disaster. There’s nothing wrong with that; sometimes you’ve got that one paintbrush, and you rock it.”

    Fightin’ words for sure.

    This isn’t new for Richards, who recently dismissed Metallica and Black Sabbath.

    “Millions are in love with Metallica and Black Sabbath. I just thought they were great jokes,” he said.

    He also went after an entire genre of music, calling rap fans “tone deaf.”

    “What rap did that was impressive was to show there are so many tone-deaf people out there All they need is a drum beat and somebody yelling over it and they’re happy. There’s an enormous market for people who can’t tell one note from another.”

    Keith, @ronniewood and @eltonjohn at the @GQ Men of the Year Awards

    A photo posted by Keith Richards (@officialkeef) on

    Not even The Beatles are safe from Keith Richards’ scorn.

    “The Beatles sounded great when they were the Beatles,” he told Rolling stone in August. “But there’s not a lot of roots in that music. I think they got carried away. Why not? If you’re the Beatles in the Sixties, you just get carried away – you forget what it is you wanted to do. You’re starting to do Sgt. Pepper. Some people think it’s a genius album, but I think it’s a mishmash of rubbish, kind of like Satanic Majesties – ‘Oh, if you can make a load of shit, so can we.’”

    Richards just released his third solo album, Crosseyed Heart.

  • Lindsey Stirling Is One of YouTube’s Top Earners

    Lindsey Stirling Is One of YouTube’s Top Earners

    Lindsey Stirling plans a mean violin. And it’s catapulted her to the rank of the top earners on YouTube.

    According to a Forbes list, Stirling made $6 million in the last year, ending in June.

    Taking steps towards the unknown.

    A photo posted by Lindsey Stirling (@lindseystirling) on

    She couldn’t top PewDiePie, however. The video game-playing Swede, real named Felix Kjellberg, apparently rakes in $12 a year.

    A pair of comedy YouTubers tied for second place. Smosh, best friends from California and the Fine Brothers, who got famous with their react and autotune the news videos, both pulled in $8.5 million.

    Says Forbes:

    She plays the violin. She dances. Then she does them at the same time, and it’s kind of amazing. Stirling began posting her videos of herself performing in 2007 after failing to be signed by a major record label. Now they are begging to sign her, but too late—she doesn’t need them anymore. Explains Stirling: “It’s a very loyal fan base that wants you to succeed because they found you. It wasn’t some big radio station or record label that shoved art down someone’s throat.”

    Stirling, who combines violin with dancing and other performance art, burst on the scene in 2007. She plays originals, covers, and responses to other popular songs.

    Her YouTube channel has over 7.1 million subscribers and more than a billion views.

  • Kristin Chenoweth Sings ‘For Good’ With 8-Year-Old, Cries [Video]

    Kristin Chenoweth reportedly performed at the Tilles Center in New York this past weekend. There’s a video of a performance in which at one point, she invited an eight-year-old on the stage to sing a duet of “For Good” (From Wicked) with her. According to Chenoweth, the two have a past together, and the they appeared to delight the crowd.

    “She’s eight and a half years old…now let me tell you something about Olivia,” Chenoweth told the audience. “I’ve known her for a very long time. I haven’t sung with her. I’ve seen her sing to me on YouTube, and this whole night is about the arts, right? You guys have been supportive of the arts. This is your Carnegie Hall. This is where people go to get entertained and to see good work. And this is the beginning. And this is the beginning of a new…many generations after me, and I asked her if she knew the words to ‘For Good…’

    Chenoweth proceeded to joke around with Olivia, asking her if she knew that she had missing teeth, and telling her to avoid words beginning with “s”. The singer asked the young girl where she goes to school, to which she replied, “I could tell you, but I’d have to kill you.”

    To laughter (and a little bit of apparent confusion) from the audience, the two from there went on to sing “For Good”.

    As Oliva began singing, Chenoweth became visibly moved to tears. You can watch the whole performance below.

    The video description from YouTube user Christina Avila says, “A wonderful moment between Kristin and a uniquely talented 8-year-old little girl, Olivia, (who I’ve learned is the daughter of John Edward, the famous medium). I was enamored by her talent and fortunate enough to capture it with my camera as I sat in the audience. She definitely has a bright future ahead of her!”

    Interestingly, this isn’t the first time Chenwoweth has invited an eight-year-old girl named Olivia on stage with her to sing “For Good”. Here’s a video from early last year, which features Chenoweth and a girl named Olivia Petti performing at Proctor’s Theatre:

    As Just Jared notes, Chenoweth has been welcoming audience members on stage to perform the song for “some time”. The fact that both of these videos feature eight-year-old girls named Olivia appears to be nothing more than coincidence.

  • Bruno Mars. The Weeknd Lead Soul Train Nominations with Five

    Bruno Mars and his collaborator Mark Ronson are tied with The Weekend for total nominations at this year’s BET Soul Train Awards.

    Bruno Mars received five nominations – video of the year, song of the year, best dance performance, best collaboration and The Ashford & Simpson Songwriter’s Award.

    The Weeknd is also nominated for video of the year, song of the year, and The Ashford & Simpson Songwriter’s Award.

    Coming in behind Mars is Beyonce, Chris Brown, Jidenna, and Tyrese with four nominations a piece.

    The taping of the 2015 Soul Train Awards will take place on November 6th, during the Soul Train Weekend in Las Vegas. R. Kelly, featuring special guests Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds and Common, will close out the weekend with a concert.

    The awards will air on November 29th and 8pm ET.

    Bruno Mars is no stranger to winning awards as of late:

    Thank you MTV Thank you Hooligans!!

    A photo posted by Bruno Mars (@brunomars) on

    Apart from his music career, Mars is taking a step into the world on television. Just a few days ago we learned that Mars will produce a show for NBC with Empire producer Brian Grazer.

    The show will be a sitcom that “follows a loud, boisterous musical family from the Bronx.”

  • Kellie Pickler, Faith Hill Team Up for New Daytime Show

    Kellie Pickler, Faith Hill Team Up for New Daytime Show

    Kellie Pickler wants to give you lifestyle tips.

    The singer is teaming up with another country star, Faith Hill, to launch a new daytime talk show. Hill will produce the yet-to-be-titled series, and Pickler will co-host with another yet-to-be-named star.

    According to Billboard, the show will focus on cooking, home design, and gardening.

    Looks like Kellie Pickler could be your next Martha Stewart.

    “I got to see firsthand how women live on Pinterest,” says Lisa Erspamer who is co-producing the show with Hill. “They’re looking at recipes and home design and all those types of things that make up a home and help you have a good quality of life. I felt like that type of show was really missing in daytime television.”

    “Kellie is as real as anybody could ever be.”

    This new show isn’t the only one Pickler has on the horizon. Her new reality show with husband Kyle Jacobs, I Love Kellie Pickler, premieres next month.

    “This is a woman of so many talents,” Faith Hill said of Kellie Pickler. “Kellie is smart, compassionate, funny, quick-witted and has a heart for service … She possesses the ability to reach far beyond the camera and into the hearts of people, allowing you to feel immediately connected to her.”

  • Selena Gomez On Her Favorite Lyric From New Album ‘Revival’

    Selena Gomez On Her Favorite Lyric From New Album ‘Revival’

    Selena Gomez appeared in a new video from lyric site Genius, to discuss her favorite lyric from her latest album Revival.

    Gomez says, “My favorite line from my album would probably be from my song ‘Revival,’ and what it says is, ‘What I’ve learned is so vital, more than just survival, this is my revival,’ and I think for me it’s just basically describing everything in one sentence about no matter what pain…no matter what the highest of highs are, I’ve learned so much from them, and I don’t regret anything in my life.”

    You can check out the video here:

    Gomez is apparently quite serious about that being her favorite lyrics. The following is currently her pinned tweet:

    The Revival album was released on October 9th. Here’s a preview from the official Selena Gomez YouTube channel:

    Revival is currently available, and is headed for number one on the Billboard 200 Chart.

    Who's here?? ? I'm getting way too excited…

    A photo posted by Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) on

  • Sheryl Crow: Debate National Anthem Draws Mixed Reviews, Jokes

    Sheryl Crow performed the National Anthem before last night’s Democratic Debate, and not everyone was a fan.

    Before we dive into the criticism, check it out for yourself:

    So what did you think?

    Here’s what Twitter had to say:

    All she wanted to do was have some fun, I’m sure. Apologies.

  • Nicki Minaj Racks Up American Music Award Nominations

    Nicki Minaj is up for a handful of prizes at the upcoming American Music Awards. The nominations were revealed on Tuesday.

    Minaj is up for Favorite Artist – Rap/Hip-Hop, Favorite Album – Rap/Hip-hop (for The Pinkprint), and Artist of the Year.

    There’s a lot of competition for that last one, however. She’ll be up against Luke Bryan, Ariana Grande, Maroon 5, One Direction, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Taylor Swift, Meghan Trainor, and The Weeknd.

    On Monday, Minaj gave her followers some words of encouragement – and a pretty sexy selfie.

    “Everyone’s looking for someone who helps them see beauty in every little thing. Life is so precious. Choose to see the good in everything & in everyone for as long as u can. Choose to count your blessings every chance you get & watch them continue to pile up. Happiness is a choice. Choose it,” she wrote.

    Here are the full 2015 American Music Award nominations:

    ARTIST OF THE YEAR
    Luke Bryan
    Ariana Grande
    Maroon 5
    Nicki Minaj
    One Direction
    Ed Sheeran
    Sam Smith
    Taylor Swift
    Meghan Trainor
    The Weeknd

    NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
    Fetty Wap
    Sam Hunt
    Tove Lo
    Walk the Moon
    The Weeknd

    SONG OF THE YEAR
    Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth – “See You Again”
    Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars – “Uptown Funk!”
    Ed Sheeran – “Thinking Out Loud”
    Taylor Swift – “Blank Space”
    The Weeknd – “Can’t Feel My Face”

    COLLABORATION OF THE YEAR
    Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth – “See You Again”
    Rihanna & Kanye West feat. Paul McCartney – “FourFiveSeconds”
    Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars – “Uptown Funk!”
    Skrillex & Diplo feat. Justin Bieber – “Where Are Ü Now”
    Taylor Swift feat. Kendrick Lamar – “Bad Blood”

    FAVORITE ARTIST – RAP/HIP-HOP
    Drake
    Fetty Wap
    Nicki Minaj

    FAVORITE ALBUM – RAP/HIP-HOP
    J. Cole – 2014 Forest Hills Drive
    Drake – If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late
    Nicki Minaj – The Pinkprint

    FAVORITE MALE ARTIST – SOUL/R&B
    Chris Brown
    Trey Songz
    The Weeknd

    FAVORITE FEMALE ARTIST – SOUL/R&B
    Beyoncé
    Mary J. Blige
    Rihanna

    FAVORITE ALBUM – SOUL/R&B
    Chris Brown – X
    D’Angelo and The Vanguard – Black Messiah
    The Weeknd – Beauty Behind the Madness

    TOP SOUNDTRACK
    Fifty Shades of Grey
    Empire: Original Soundtrack from Season 1
    Pitch Perfect 2

  • Ed Sheeran Makes Spotify History with Song Streamed 500 Million Times

    Ed Sheeran just broke a pretty huge Spotify record.

    One of the artist’s songs (I bet you can guess which one) is the first to ever hit 500 million streams.

    Yes, “Thinking Out Loud” has been played more than a half a billion times on Spotify. That’s a lot of Sheeran.

    “Chuffed to hear that ‘Thinking Out Loud’ has had half a billion plays on Spotify,” said Ed Sheeran. “Being the first artist to hit that milestone is amazing. Thanks to all the people who use this as a wedding song, soundtrack to a date, and as a way to woo someone into a netflix-and-chill situation.”

    This isn’t even his first major Spotify record – Sheeran was named the most-streamed artist overall last year. As of now, he’s the second-most streamed artist, behind Eminem.

    Speaking of hundreds of millions of listens, the official music video for “Thinking Out Loud” has a whopping 755 million+ views.

    Spotify shared some additional Sheeran facts, like him being on 38 million separate playlists – one in four users has at least one Ed Sheeran song on a playlist.

  • Jimi Hendrix Family Wants His Guitar Back, Owner Says It’s Legally His

    Jimi Hendrix guitars are always a big deal, as there just aren’t too many of them around anymore. One in particular is now at the center of a lawsuit between the late guitarist’s estate and a guitar shop owner who says the guitar is legally his.

    According to the Arizona Daily Star, Experience Hendrix, the estate of Jimi Hendrix, is suing local Tuscon shop owner Harvey Moltz.

    Janie Hendrix, Jimi Hendrix’s adopted sister and CEO of Experience Hendrix, says that her brother’s Black Widow guitar belongs to the family.

    “The guitar is priceless to our family,” said Hendrix. “It is one of the few guitars that came home after Jimi passed away. We just want our guitar returned safely and back where it belongs.”

    Moltz is fighting back, however, as he claims he purchased the guitar fair and square.

    From the Daily Star:

    Experience Hendrix said in its complaint that it first learned the guitar was missing in June 2014 when Julien’s Auctions — a Los Angeles firm that bills itself as “the auction house to the stars” — called to authenticate a claim made by Brian Patterson, who was trying to auction the Black Widow.

    Moltz said he bought the guitar that month from Patterson, who said he bought it previously from Sheldon Reynolds, the ex-husband of Janie Hendrix and a former member of the band Earth, Wind, and Fire.

    “My client purchased the guitar in good faith from a private seller, without knowledge of competing claims of ownership,” said Todd Jackson, the Tucson-based lawyer representing Moltz.

    But Experience Hendrix says the guitar was stolen.

    And at an estimated $750,000 to $1 million, it’s quite the axe.

  • Shawn Mendes Sings With A$AP Rocky

    Shawn Mendes Sings With A$AP Rocky

    Shawn Mendes and A$AP Rocky headlined the Forbes Under 30 Musical Festival in Philadelphia on Tuesday and hung out backstage singing a song together.

    Mendes shared this clip on Instagram, which features A$AP Rocky singing, “Look at what I bought, Dior is the coat, you know what it cost.” as Shawn Mendes plays guitar and chimes in with his own vocals.

    . @asaprocky and i wrote a song back stage. @forbes haha

    A video posted by Shawn Mendes (@shawnmendes) on

    Forbes, which obviously hosted the event, has the full “performance,” and says “what really happened” when the two met:

    Mendes and Rocky both came to the hotel for a photo shoot prior to the show. And before the flashbulbs went off, Mendes was roaming the hall with his guitar, plucking and singing just for fun. At one point, Mendes sat down on the floor near where he and Rocky were both scheduled to be photographed.

    When the fashion-forward rapper walked in, decked out in a knee-length black Dior coat, the two struck up a conversation. Soon Mendes was strumming chords and exhorting a bashful Rocky to sing along with him.

    Here are a couple more Instagram posts from Shawn Mendes from Tuesday:

    A video posted by Shawn Mendes (@shawnmendes) on

    "Hold Tight" JB

    A video posted by Shawn Mendes (@shawnmendes) on

    Shawn Mendes will appear on the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball tour this December. Check his site for dates. A$AP Rocky has dates spanning the rest of the month and well into November.

  • Pandora Is About to Start Slinging Concert Tickets

    Pandora Is About to Start Slinging Concert Tickets

    Streaming music platform Pandora has just announced it has acquired ticket-selling site Ticketfly, in a deal valued at around $450 million.

    Pandora says it will help in “achieving Pandora’s mission to help artists find their audience and help listeners find the music they love—whether it’s coming through their earbuds or live on stage.”

    Ticketfly boasts that it works with around 1,200 concert venues and promoters.

    “This is a game-changer for Pandora – and much more importantly – a game-changer for music,” said Pandora CEO Brian McAndrews. “Over the past 10 years, we have amassed the largest, most engaged audience in streaming music history. With Ticketfly, we will thrill music lovers and lift ticket sales for artists as the most effective marketplace for connecting music makers and fans.”

    Pandora lays out this vision for its Ticketfly integration:

    The combination of Pandora and Ticketfly will solve the longstanding problem of event discovery by seamlessly connecting Pandora’s nearly 80 million monthly active music fans to events they’ll love. This will enable artists and promoters to sell out more shows and will strengthen the bond between artists and their fans. The companies will also harness the power of their combined data to create new tools for music makers to increase their revenue and improve recommendations for fans to enhance their overall music experience.

    Pandora has been making moves to get beyond simply offering internet radio, and has been pushing a mission of “connecting artists with fans” for some time now. Last fall, it announced its Artists Marketing Platform, a set of analytics tools for artists. And earlier this year the company began to allow artists send personalized messages to their listeners – messages that can take the shape of tour announcements, news about a new album, or song-specific descriptions.

  • Amazon Prime Music Finally Snags Universal Artists

    Amazon Prime Music Finally Snags Universal Artists

    Last summer, Amazon launched Prime Music as an added benefit to an Amazon Prime subscription. At the time, it only boasted about a million songs in its catalog – so it was never really supposed to be a Spotify killer or anything. What Amazon Prime Music always felt like was just one more dangling carrot for those on the fence about paying for Amazon Prime.

    The service has added artists since then, but one of the glaring omission was always Universal Music artists.

    Well, that’s changing. Amazon has just announced a new deal with Universal that brings its artists to the service.

    “We are pleased to make a selection of our catalog available on Prime Music,” said Francis Keeling, Universal Music Group’s Global Head of Digital Business. “With Amazon’s tremendous reach and consumer appeal, we are delighted to build on our relationship by making Universal Music’s world-class artists available to Amazon Prime members.”

    Amazon lists Katy Perry, Luke Bryan, Lana Del Rey, Maroon 5, Of Monsters and Men, Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, Ellie Goulding, Drake, Lorde, Jessie J and Eminem among the Universal artists now streaming in their catalog.

    “Prime Music has already become a top destination for streaming music in the U.S. and U.K., and we are thrilled today to make it even better by growing our selection with Universal Music artists,” stated Steve Boom, VP of Digital Music for Amazon. “From chart topping artists like Lady Gaga to legendary musicians such as Tom Petty and Nirvana, we know our Prime members will love listening to all the additional music that’s now available as part of their membership.”

    The new music is now available.

    Image via nikotransmission, Wikimedia Commons

  • Bryan Adams And Justin Bieber Remake ‘Baby’ In Unlikely Duet

    Justin Bieber’s hit “Baby” is one of his major hits but it is also one of the most disliked video on Youtube, with 5 million dislikes from viewers.

    However, it is still the song that marks Bieber’s beginnings as a music superstar.

    But will listeners still respond negatively to new version featuring Bryan Adams?

    Bryan Adams and Justin Bieber performed a surprise duet of  “Baby” at the Universal Inside 2015 conference in Berlin on September 15. It was like a combination of two genres.

    Unlike Bieber’s version with rapper Ludacris, his acoustic version with Adams is a slower, raw version of the song. It’s not the sweet, young version anymore but a more matured ballad that is far from the versions Bieber did in his past performances.

    Bieber had a lot of hits already, and he also did other renditions of his other hits, but this is the first time he made an acoustic rendition of “Baby” and with Adams joining him, it’s indeed a special one and nothing like any other renditions we’ve heard before.

    Bieber also has an acoustic version of “What Do You Mean” that his fans will get to hear once its original version is streamed enough on Spotify.

    Bryan Adams will be releasing his new album called Get Up this October, and Justin Bieber will also have his upcoming album this November. Both Adams and Bieber were there to promote their music at the conference.

    Could Adams and Bieber do an album or hit together?

  • Pandora Turns 10, Offers One Ad-Free Day for All

    Pandora Turns 10, Offers One Ad-Free Day for All

    Pandora is celebrating a big birthday this month, and it’s handing out a small gift to its users.

    On September 9th, Pandora will turn 10. It’s declared the day “Listener Love Day” and with that comes 24 hours of ad-free streaming – for everyone – no matter what you pay for the service.

    Everyone in the US will enjoy ad-free streaming from 12am to 12pm ET.

    “We promise to keep this short, but it’s hard since each and every one of you has played a huge role in making Pandora the most streamed music platform in the world. Together, you have listened to 74 billion hours of music, thumbed up or down over 55 billion times and created 8 billion stations. Those are a lot of big numbers, but it boils down to one simple thing – when Pandora was created 10 years ago, we had one goal – to play the best music for each listener. That has not changed, it will not change, and we thank you for spending the past 10 years with us – here’s to decades more!” says the company in a blog post.

    Pandora has been exploring a few different options concerning ads and streaming. Of course, the company offers a “Pandora One” subscription (which it hiked the price on last year) that gives users ad-free listening. The company is experimenting with day passes for those who don’t want to pay for an entire subscription.

    And last month, it rolled out Sponsored Listening, which offers users a deal: one ad-free hour of music, uninterrupted, if they just pay special attention to one (longer) ad first.

    If you’re a Pandora free user, make sure to load up the app on September 9th. I’m sure Pandora’s hoping you’ll see how awesome it is without ads, and think about a subscription.

    Image via Pandora, Facebook

  • Apple Music Sees 48% of Trialers Stop Using the Service, Says Study

    There’s a new study out about Apple Music, and it suggests that a lot of people have given up on the company’s new streaming service.

    According to a MusicWatch survey of 5,000 US consumers, 48 percent of those who have tried Apple Music have stopped using the service.

    And only 11 percent of iOS users are using Apple Music.

    “In terms of benchmarking Apple Music, 40 percent of iOS users are buying digital downloads from iTunes, suggesting trial of Apple Music could be higher,” said Russ Crupnick, managing partner of MusicWatch. “That’s the disadvantage of not being the first mover in a market where very good services currently exist.”

    Also, 61 percent of those enjoying a free trial have already turned off the auto-renewal option. If you want to but haven’t done that yet, here’s how.

    That’s some of the bad news – now here’s a piece of meh news. According to the study, 64 percent of those currently using Apple Music said they were “very likely” to pay for it once their free trial ends.

    Now for a little bit of silver lining: 28 percent of Spotify Premium subscribers are also using Apple Music. But of course, Apple Music users are still in free trial mode – so whether or not that 28 percent will pay for both Apple Music and Spotify is still to be determined.

    MusicWatch found that only 77 percent of iOS users even knew about Apple Music – so Apple still has a bit of educating to do. Maybe once the entirety of the iOS community is made aware, those subscriber rates will jump.

    Apple did have quite a bit of success with a recent exclusive, however. Dr. Dre’s new Compton album saw 25 million streams in its first week of availability. It also had about a half a million iTunes downloads.

  • YouTube Music Videos In the UK Are Getting Slapped with Age Ratings

    YouTube Music Videos In the UK Are Getting Slapped with Age Ratings

    Some in the UK feel that YouTube videos, like movies and other forms of art/media, need age ratings.

    According to The Guardian, YouTube and Vevo have collaborated with two organizations – the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) – to make sure new music videos made in the UK come with age ratings.

    “Keeping children safe as they experience and enjoy all the benefits the internet has to offer is a key priority for this government’s one-nation approach to help families across Britain,” said minister for internet safety and security Joanna Shields. “We will continue to work with industry to develop ways to help parents to better protect children online from inappropriate music videos with explicit adult or violent content.”

    All new videos from major record labels will be submitted to the BBFC to be rated. Soon, the ratings pilot will be tried with independent labels as well.

    The YouTube video ratings system has been tested in the UK since last fall, and 132 new videos have been rated in all. 56 have been given a 12+ rating, 53 a 15+ rating, and just one has been hit with an 18+ rating.

    This one:

    Image via Dizzie Rascal, YouTube

  • Apple Music Festival Kicks off Sept. 19 with Pharrell, One Direction, Disclosure

    Apple Music Festival Kicks off Sept. 19 with Pharrell, One Direction, Disclosure

    For eight years, Apple put on the iTunes Festival in London.

    Now, it’s out with the old and in with the new. The multiple-day concert has been rebranded as the Apple Music Festival, and the company has just announced its dates and headliners.

    This year’s major acts will include Pharrell, One Direction, Florence + The Machine and Disclosure.

    The 10-day event will kick off September 19th.

    “We wanted to do something really special for music fans this year,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “The Apple Music Festival is a greatest hits set of ten unbelievable nights featuring some of the best performers on the planet appearing live and interacting directly with their fans on Connect and Beats 1.”

    #AppleMusicFestival is coming! @Pharrell, @OneDirection, @ouhoh, @Disclosure and more. applemusic.com/festival

    A video posted by Apple Music (@applemusic) on

    Folks across the world will be able to stream the event on Apple Music (both live and on0-demand). As Eddy Cue mentioned above, there will also be a lot of special cross-promotional content on Beats 1. If you live in London (or anywhere close) and want to actually attend the event, you’ll have to apply to win tickets.

    Image via Apple

  • Spotify Is About to Severely Limit Free Streaming, Says Report

    Spotify Is About to Severely Limit Free Streaming, Says Report

    According to a new report, Spotify is planning on making its free tier a lot less appetizing in the hopes of assuaging major labels and getting more users to pony up and pay for its premium service.

    Digital Music News quotes “several sources” who claims that Spotify “will soon be shifting towards a premium-only, ‘gated access’ model.”

    What does this mean, exactly? Well, the sources aren’t even sure – as it’s still being hammered out. But it could mean that Spotify cuts off access to some of its content – unless you pay for premium.

    As of now, Spotify’s free-tier users still have access to everything. Sure, there are ads and users have to listen to albums in shuffle mode – but nothing is off limits, really.

    The report suggests that Spotify could block access to certain high-profile releases – maybe offer free users only a few songs from a new album.

    Or, in another scenario, free users’ access to certain tracks could be limited to a strict window.

    The same publication quoted sources in May who said that Spotify was bowing to pressure from the big labels and planning on limiting its free tier to a three-month trial. That report said that new Spotify users would be limited to three months of free, ad-supported listening. Existing free tier users would have a six-month grace period before being forced to upgrade to a paid tier.

    Of course, that’s not happened. This new report seems like a less drastic version of that – as Spotify is clearly looking to boost its paid customers.

    Last month Spotify hit 20 million paid users and 75 million total active users, meaning 55 million free tier users stand to be affected by any decrease in streaming access.

    Image via Spotfy