Music - SlashGear

Apple Music’s war with Spotify heats up as it hits another big milestone

Eric Abent | Jun 27, 2019

Ever since Apple Music launched four years ago, it's been gunning for Spotify's spot at the top of the heap. At the time, it seemed like a monumental task, in whole or in part because Spotify had already established itself as the music streaming service by the time Apple Music first became available. What seemed hopeless then feels a little more doable now, as Apple Music has just passed another subscriber milestone.

YouTube Music Smart Downloads will make mixtapes from songs you liked

Ewdison Then | Jun 26, 2019

YouTube Music was created to address what the company discovered to be one of the service’s biggest use cases. But organizing playlists by hand can be a daunting task, especially when the subscription service boasts of thousands of songs. If you’re the type to prefer spontaneity and surprise in your music selection, the app’s new Smart Downloads feature might tickle your fancy. Either that or make you be more careful about the songs you Liked.

Google just vowed to cite sources on song lyric listings

Chris Burns | Jun 18, 2019

Google is currently the subject of allegations of lyric-lifting by the song lyrics site Genius. The folks at Genius suggested that the work they'd put into transcribing and/or attaining song lyrics from artists was essentially copied and pasted by Google in a "Knowledge Panels" feature in Google Search. Google responded once yesterday and again today with similar information on the subject.

ROLI LUMI is a modular light-up keyboard for learners and pros

Chris Davies | Jun 18, 2019

ROLI's flexible modular musical instruments are great if you're a musician that loves tinkering, but now there's an option if you're trying to learn, too. ROLI LUMI combines a portable keyboard with illuminated keys and a companion app, with the lights guiding new players through which key to hit from a database of songs.

Why the Genius Google situation is a societal time-bomb

Chris Burns | Jun 17, 2019

This week music track lyrics-centric company Genius showed the press how their data was published to Google without their consent over the past several years. To prove that their site was being scraped for data, Genius used specific formatting in lyric lines - commas, and the like, that wouldn't normally be in a set of lyrics - and there they were, published in Google Search, in "infoboxes" they say were sourced from 3rd-party partners.

The new Mac Pro isn’t even here yet, but Logic Pro X is ready

Chris Davies | Jun 13, 2019

Apple's potent new Mac Pro isn't even on shelves yet, but the company can't help tease us with updates for some of the apps that'll make most use of the speedy workstation. Logic Pro X is among the first to get a preemptive Mac Pro update, as Apple sets out some of the ways software can be optimized to make the most of the new hardware.

These JLab AirPods-rivals pack a hefty 70 hours of battery

Chris Davies | Jun 11, 2019

Completely wireless earbuds like Apple AirPods and Beats Powerbeats Pro are all well and good, but what if you need more than the average battery life? JLab Audio believes it has the answer, with the new Epic Air Sport promising a total of 70 hours of playtime - enough to get you from San Francisco to London seven times over.

Radiohead got hacked – then called the hackers’ bluff amazingly

Chris Davies | Jun 11, 2019

When you get hacked and held to ransom you can either cough up the cash or call the hackers' bluff, and Radiohead opted to do the latter. Thom Yorke confirmed today that an archive of his old MiniDiscs from around the time of iconic album "OK Computer" was stolen, with the hackers demanding $150,000 unless the band wanted to see the music released.

Spotify Stations is finally available in the US

Eric Abent | Jun 4, 2019

Way back in January 2018, Spotify rolled out an interesting little app called Stations. What is essentially Spotify's answer to Pandora, Stations attempts to get you listening to music right away by creating a number of different radio stations based around your music tastes. No creating and managing playlists, no searching your library for a specific album needed.

Social Listening might be Spotify’s edge in music streaming wars

Eric Abent | May 31, 2019

With a bunch of different services now competing for the largest slice of the music streaming pie, Spotify is looking at ways it can hold onto its crown. Though the company is still on top for the moment, it's facing some heat from companies like Apple and Google, so it's only natural we'd see it roll out new features to give it a competitive edge. A prototype of one such feature was discovered today, and it aims to make music streaming a bit more social.

Ace Frehley Origins Vol. 2 completed: Covers Cream, Hendrix, Led Zeppelin

Chris Burns | May 29, 2019

This afternoon the outer space-centric former KISS lead guitarist Ace Frehley announced completion of his latest album: Origins Vol. 2. That's a follow-up to the 2016 album "Origins Vol. 1" which debuted at number 23 on the Billboard top 200. Did you know people still buy CD albums? It's apparently true! Ask Ace Frehley - he still sells thousands of CDs - and he's making more this year.

Spotify dives into hardware with a device called ‘Car Thing’

Eric Abent | May 17, 2019

Ever since its inception all those years ago, Spotify has focused solely on software. Soon, however, its attention will shift to hardware for the first time. Today Spotify revealed a new device it's simply calling "Car Thing," and it hopes to use it to learn about subscribers' listening habits while they're on the road.