Music

Twitter may try to buy its way out of its growth problem by making another move into music. The company is considering a deal to acquire SoundCloud, the music and audio-sharing company, according to people familiar with both companies. Berlin-based SoundCloud is a free service that lets users upload and share audio files around the Continue Reading →

Shazam Entertainment, the music-identification app, landed small investments from the world’s biggest record companies, according to people familiar with the matter. Warner Music Group owner Access Industries – the holding company of billionaire Len Blavatnik – along with Vivendi’s Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, are each taking $3 million stakes in Shazam, these Continue Reading →

If you’ve tried listening to any of your old CDs lately, if you even own them anymore, you may have noticed they won’t play. That’s what happened to mine, anyway. CD players have long since given up on most of the burned mixes I made in college. (In some cases, this is for the best.) Continue Reading →

Microsoft already has an online file-storage service, OneDrive, and its own streaming music platform, Xbox Music, and the company appears to be combining the two to create a music locker in the cloud. LiveSino has discovered references to a OneDrive Music folder in source code files from Microsoft’s cloud-storage site. The files describe the new Continue Reading →

Apple is set to make the biggest purchase in its history: A $3 billion-plus deal for Beats, the company that sells high-end headphones and recently launched a streaming music service. The deal, first reported by the Financial Times, isn’t closed yet, according to people familiar with the transaction. But let’s assume it is going to Continue Reading →

According to the Financial Times, Apple is closing in on an acquisition of Beats, the headphone manufacturer turned streaming music service. The $3.2 billion deal would give Apple control over a powerful brand, but at the same time, it would be puzzling and uncharacteristic of Apple. The FT points out it would be Apple’s biggest Continue Reading →

Pandora is testing a new native ad unit called ‘Promoted Stations‘ with 10 percent of the people who tune in to its Internet radio service. Currently in beta, these branded stations are auto-populated and then listed within the ‘Stations You Might Like’ section of the app. Initial partners for the new solution include Kleenex, Skechers, Continue Reading →

Spotify has spent years battling the perception that it skimps on royalties; on average, the company pays out $0.007 each time an artist’s song is streamed by its millions of users. In March, one Michigan-based band set out to defy the odds and bring in enough money to fund an upcoming tour. And they took Continue Reading →

Rap Genius, a popular website that compiles annotations of song lyrics, has reached a licensing agreement with music publishers after being accused of using the lyrics of thousands of songs without permission. The agreement announced Tuesday ends a standoff that began in November when the National Music Publishers Association, a trade group, singled out Rap Continue Reading →

Sprint has gathered the NY media on Tuesday to reveal a new smartphone in collaboration with HTC and Harman/Kardon, as well as a discount partnership with Spotify. Sprint unveiled a partnership with Spotify alongside a new service called Sprint Sound sessions, the carrier’s own portal to premium discounted live event, advanced music releases, and of Continue Reading →