Spotify is on a roll at the moment. In only a few weeks they have signed up over 1.4 million US users, with 175,000 paying for the premium service.
This is amazing news for the music industry, because MOG, Rdio and other music streaming services have been having trouble gaining traction.
Spotify is all about conversion rates! The major labels want to see highest possible conversions to the premium service from the free option. In Europe Spotify has a conversion rate of 15% and so far in the US they are seeing 12.5%. Very promising signs for Spotify.
Official.fm has just managed to grab themselves $8 million in funding to build the worlds most advanced do-it-yourself platform for music creators and content owners. The aim is to use the funds to help gain more traction and spread the music across to other download stores and services globally. The site also offers widgets, tools and analytics.
Long term: “We’ll launch premium accounts in the coming months, giving you access to new ways for you to live off of the music you create & control.”
There is a huge amount of competition in this space and it already seems as though Official.fm is going to have a lot of problems with copyrighted content. Already on the site I can download a huge amount of illegal content, so only going to be a matter of time before the labels sue them.
Disclosure: Im founder of RouteNote a digital music distributor based in the UK.
Amazon.com seems to have finally succeeded in breaking into the “cloud” market with their new “Amazon Cloud Drive.” It touts a default of 5GB of online storage for free, unlimited access from any computer and, of course, reassures customers they will never have to worry about losing their files again. Their claim is, “Anything digital, securely stored, available anywhere.” But is it really as great as they claim? I decided to dig deeper and find out.
I received an email from Amazon when the cloud drive was launched and was given $2.00 in credit towards mp3 purchases. Intrigued by this new development (and the free music credits), I ventured to their website to check it out. I quickly found a song I wanted and clicked the buy button. It asked if I wanted to save the music to my cloud drive. “Simple enough,” I thought. Then I wouldn’t have to download it – I could just stream it. I immediately went to my new cloud drive, selected my new song (which was available immediately) and pressed play. It buffered up the song and played but I discovered it was also downloading to my computer as well. Bummer.
Next I decided to try uploading some music. I clicked “Upload to your Cloud Drive” and was prompted to download the “Amazon MP3 Uploader.” Wait a minute – so I have to use proprietary software to upload music? “That’s a bit inconvenient,” I thought, but I downloaded it anyway. After installing the software, it decided it had to scan my entire hard drive for music, which was a long and tedious process. Once it finally loaded, it told me I had X playlists and X songs not in my cloud drive and asked if I wanted to upload it all now. I declined (as it would have been way more than 5GB of space) and chose a few albums to upload. What I found was that it killed my internet speed and I saw no way to limit the upload rate. Frustrated after about 20 minutes of sluggish internet, I killed the uploader until that night when it could run and not bother me.
In the meantime, I checked out the Android mp3 player from Amazon, wondering if it too would have to download my music before playing it. I discovered that while it can play the song through buffered memory, it still has to download; so listening while downloading isn’t a good option as the song often plays faster than it downloads (unless you’re using Wi-Fi). So once again I’m stuck waiting.
Ultimately, I was able to get the music I wanted uploaded and then downloaded again (to my phone). Now that I have done so, I can simply open the Amazon cloud player and quickly hear what I want (slightly faster than searching my hard drive and includes better filtering options). So was the hassle worth it?
Pros:
- Music can save directly to the cloud (optional). This allows me to download my new music at my convenience and on whatever computer or mobile device I wish to listen to it on.
- I no longer have to use a USB flash drive or external to move music around.
- Creating a playlist is simple
- Music can be viewed by songs, albums, artists, or genres.
- In addition to music, the cloud drive can also store documents, pictures and videos
- Music can be listened to through a web browser or via a mobile device using Amazon’s MP3 app.
- 5GB free storage space
Cons:
- Uploading and downloading again is time consuming
- No upload speed limiter makes for doing anything else while uploading nearly impossible (and I have a 15MB connection)
- Must use proprietary software to upload music
- Must buy an annual subscription if you want more than 5GB of storage at $1/GB.
- No true streaming – music has to be downloaded to each device you wish to listen on
Overall, I would say Amazon has a potentially great thing going on here. If they simply added the ability to stream without downloading, I would give the Amazon Cloud Player and Drive 5/5 stars. As it is now, and considering their hefty fees for storage in excess of 5GB, I give it 3.5/5 stars. It’s a great concept, but could use a few tweaks to make it the best.
It seems as though Live Nation have just jumped into the bidding war for Warner Music Group. Live Nation has been trying to get into the publishing business for quite some time now, but so far they havent been able to find the right strategy. Live Nation recently abandoned their 360 deal strategy, so it makes sense that they are now going after a major label. Im also quite surprised Live Nation isnt interested in parts of EMI.
Currently, it seems that there are six bidders on the table for Warner Music. Its expected that the new owner will be announced within the next month or so.
The world of online music is always changing. There are great new startups popping up every day. However, its getting more difficult for musicians and bands to stand out from the crowd. Here is an amazing list of the top 100 sites all musicians should know about and use.
Musician Social Sites
- HitSquad
It is like Digg for musicians, you can submit articles, vote on articles and good stuff gets to the frontpage.
- WeAreTheMusicMakers – Sub-Reddit
A Reddit category just for music makers, good news and discussions are regularly posted here.
- Recording Questions
It’s like Yahoo! Answers but for musicians, ask questions and someone might answer you to help out.
Musician Forums
- GearSlutz
A forum for talking about gear with people who like gear. Great place for people who need info on hardware topics.
- DubStep Forum
Not just for people who like DubStep because the production category has some great posts that would apply to musicians from all styles (link points to Production category).
- IDMForums
Another forum that has a good production section with lots of great topics for musicians to scan through.
- Harmony Central Forums
Very popular forum for musicians with some great categories for individual instruments.
- Future Producers
Music producers forum, very popular and good topics.
- Virtual Instrument Composers Forum
Forums swaying more towards virtual instruments and talk about DAWs.
- Mac OS X Audio
A forums for musicians who use a Mac, but not bad for those who use PC too as many topics apply to both.
Musician Tutorials
- Audiotuts+
Fairly new site that has lots of tutorials to do with audio recording and production created by people who get paid to make them.
- Ricci Adams’ Musictheory.net
Lots of lessons to learn music theory and a few useful utilities.
- Sonic Academy
You need to pay for some stuff, but there are some free tutorials available and if you upgrade you won’t be disappointed.
- Production Advice
The advice is pretty good too with well written regular articles mostly on mixing music.
- War Beats
Great video tutorials, most are showing you techniques using FruityLoops and the videos can also be found on YouTube.
- Music Tech Tutorials
Lots of tutorials collected from around the internet and sorted into categories for you.
- Tunetorials
Loads more tutorials using various music making software collected from around the internet.
Musician Magazines
- Sound on Sound
Top magazine for recording music, good forum to check out. Some things need a subscription but there is plenty for free.
- MusicRadar
Another great magazine style site with lots of great articles for all sorts of musicians.
- Electronic Musician
Music magazine site which has regular interviews with music industry insiders, tutorials and reviews.
- Remix Magazine
Another magazine which reviews music gear and with articles. Not much on remixing though that you would expect from the name.
- Mix Magazine
A magazine aiming more towards the studio or live mixing rather than the actual music making.
- Future Music
A very popular magazine which contains news based more towards new hardware, software and music products.
- Pro Audio Review
Magazine with reviews of music hardware.
Musician Blogs and Web Sites
- Create Digital Music
Very popular blog that contains news about new hardware and other music industry news.
- Key Of Grey
Nice blog with lots of news and interesting articles.
- NoiseAddicts
Although there has been a small drop in new posts recently, it’s still not a bad blog for Noise Addicts.
- Wire to the Ear
Regularly updated with interesting posts and many videos.
- Home Studio Corner
A blog by Joe Gilder for the Home Studio enthusiast.
- Audio Geek Zine
A blog for Audio Geeks with regular new updates.
- HipHop Makers
A blog aiming more towards the musicians who like to make HipHop beats.
- Musformation
Lots of tips and news for musicians of all sorts.
- Berklee Music Blog
Blogs by the teachers from the famous Berklee College of Music.
- Music Think Tank
Another blog with posts about the music industry and musicians.
- Indie Music Tech
A look at new technology that can help the indie artist.
- We Are Listening Blog
Music industry news, many of which applies to indie musicians.
- Ask a Sound Guy
Ask the Sound Guy a question and he will answer with a blog post. The blog also includes music news of interest to musicians.
- Recording Review
Articles and news about recording gear and tutorials.
- Audio Cookbook
A blog with a slant towards the experimental side of audio production and sound design.
- Pro Sound Web
A site for music professionals with news and information.
- Waveformless
A freeform discussion of electronic music and the techniques and gear used in making it.
- SonicState.com
A large and old site with lots of info, news and reviews.
- HypeBot
A blog about news within the music business.
- The Indie Digest
Articles to do with media and how it affects you as a musician.
- DJTechTools
A blog serving musicians who love to DJ. Good forum on there too.
- TweakHeadz Lab
Learn about home and project studios, helping you pick the right gear.
Music Hardware Sites
- Gear Junkies
News about releases of music gear.
- Rekkerd
News and articles about new releases of music software.
- Matrix Synth
A blog with lots of posts about synths and the technology behind them.
- Synthtopia
Another blog dedicated to synthesizers.
- Synth Gear
A site all about the wonderful world of electronic music and electronic instruments.
- Vintage Synth Explorer
Find out about synthesizers from the past.
Music Contests
- OurStage
Win cash, festival slots, magazine coverage and more when you get top places in the fan powered charts.
- Remix Comps
Site for finding out about all the latest remix contests.
- Music Comps
Keep in the know about contests that involve music, songwriting and more.
- LaptopRockers
Another site that lists remix contests and also has music industry news.
- MixMatchMusic
A site which allows you to create your own remix promotion.
Music Collaboration
- Indaba Music
Collaborate with other musicians in their on-line software.
- Kompoz
Another site which allows collaboration between musicians.
Audio Samples
- The Freesound Project
Share and find sounds licensed under creative commons licenses.
- CCMixter
Stems of music licensed under creative commons licenses.
- Acapellas4U
Big database of downloadable acapellas for personal use and Mashups.
- SampleSwap
Big database of free to use sounds.
- Looperman
Lots of free to download loops, new ones added nearly everyday.
Software
- KVR Audio
Huge site which lists virtual instruments and effects. Lots of patches are available too.
- HitSquad Shareware Music Machine
A database of software which is useful for musicians.
- Gersic
Database of free software plugins for those who love plugins and love free too.
Online Sound Distribution
- SoundCloud
Great site and online software for sharing tracks around the internet, free for upto a certain amount of songs.
- BroadJam
A web community for indie musicians and find opportunities.
- BandCamp
Allows you to upload your music and distribute or sell easily.
- ReverbNation
Lots of tools for musicians including Facebook integration and some nice web mp3 players.
- OurStage
Win cash, festival slots, magazine coverage and more when you get top places in the fan powered charts.
- Fairtilizer
Site which you can upload music, take part in the community and get nice players for your homepages.
Shopping
- Musician’s Friend
Online shop for instruments, hardware and other music gear.
- zZounds
Another great shop for musicians who need more gear and stuff.
- Instrumentpro
Yet another fantastic online shop that stocks lots of musicians gear.
Online Distribution
- CDBaby
Will make up cheap CDs and distribute your music to all the top online stores including iTunes.
- TuneCore
Upfront fee but you keep all of the royalties when they sell your music through all the top onlines stores including iTunes.
- Zimbalam
Another place that will get your music into some of the top online stores.
- OOiZiT
Allows you to sell your music on your online profiles and keep the royalties.
- RouteNote
Sell your music in Digital Stores for no upfront payment.
Music Marketing
Guitar
- Guitar Noize
A blog and news site for the musician who loves guitar.
- I Heart Guitar
A blog for those who just love the guitar.
- Guitar Site
News, reviews and more for guitarists.
- Effects Bay
A blog all about those great effects that you can use with your guitar.
Other
- Musician Wages
A website about making yourself a career as a musician.
- GroundZero Projects
An online music community for DJs, producers and music junkies.
- BandCentral
Online tools to manage your band on the internet with both free and paid for accounts.
- Join My Band
Post adverts to find new band members or find bands which require your music skills.
- MobBase
Make your very own iPhone app for your band and get it into the iPhone app store.
- Band Metrics
Get detailed statistical reports about your band by following your stats.
- BandZoogle
Allows you to make a professional looking web site for your band without the need to be a complete internet geek.
- AudioMastermind
A directory of links to music sites for musicians.
It seems as though a hacker has stumbled upon Google’s upcoming Cloud based music service.
I reporting back on something I stumbled on yesterdays after updating to the latest CM7 2.3.3 build. After updating I have been removing the sock music app then replacing it with the Honeycomb version. Upon that I was prompted with several permissions request and accepted them all. Syncing then started and I checked that under that under Account and Sync notice Music was syncing. This synced overnight. I put in a empty SDcard in. Then I went in to the Jumper Test that comes along with the Music app started the peer under the Controls tab, Ran a test under the Logs tab ( showed 785 files and the files names below) went back to the music app then went to music settings and checked Stream Music and my music started to show up! Played a few songs no problems at all. Let me know if this is working for anyone else.
Via XDA-Developers
The Digital Music Report is out and it claims that 95% of all digitial music downloads are illegal. Bittorrent is still on the rise, but it seems like adoption of digital music services is growing and more music is being consumed now than ever before.
CD sales are still on the rapid decline and sales of downloaded music rose by 6% to 4.6 billion U.S. dollars (3.4bn euros). Meanwhile, nearly a third of the total turnover for record companies comes from digital business.
via RouteNote
Musicmetric analytic serice for artists has received a major upgrade of its music data aggregation service. Musicmetric now offers a more 360 degree view, if you will, of activity across P2P filesharing networks, social media, as well as the ability to import and compare this to data based on sales and traditional radio play.
The paid-for service is designed to provide enough data to enable users to better make decisions like which social networks to advertise on or where an artist or band should tour.
So, quite cleverly, that unauthorised P2P downloading that’s going on can be harvested to know where there exists actual market demand. And unlike other services which only track P2P availability, Musicmetric product tracks actual downloads, globally and regionally in real time, hence providing much more valuable data.
There are so many music streaming services available at the moment and it is going to be the future of the industry. Thus, how do you know which one is the best to use? Here is our list of music streaming services with basic details about each platform. Enjoy!
Availability: Finland, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, UK
Pricing: Varies by country, but UK customers are offered:
• “Open,” 20 hours of lower-bitrate streaming with advertisements: Free
• “Free,” unlimited streaming at lower bitrates with advertisements: Free (with invitation)
• “Unlimited,” with no restriction on streaming and no advertisements: £4.99 per month (just under $8 U.S.)
• “Premium,” with no ads or restrictions, higher bitrate streaming, offline storage of playlist tracks, and mobile apps and streaming: £9.99 per month (just under $16 U.S.)
Platforms: Web, Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, Symbian; BlackBerry under development; unofficial client available on Windows Mobile.
Size of music library: Approximately 8 million tracks from major label and indie artists.
Stream rate: 160 kbps for Free and Unlimited plans, 320 kbps for Premium.
Offline storage: Premium subscribers only, up to 3,333 tracks.
Other features: Desktop apps do a fine job managing all your offline music.
Free trial of subscription: No.
Availability: U.S. and Canada.
Pricing:
• Rdio Unlimited, with desktop players, mobile apps, and music downloads: $9.99 (U.S.) per month
• Rdio Web, unlimited streaming through web site: $4.99 per month.
Platforms: Browser only through “Web”; browser, Adobe AIR desktop apps for Windows and Mac, and iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry apps with “Unlimited” plan.
Size of music library: About seven million tracks.
Stream rate: Undisclosed, but representatives claimed it ran “higher than the 64kbps streaming bit rate offered by Rhapsody.”
Offline storage: Playlists can be synced offline with Unlimited, no limits described.
Other features: “Syncing” to iTunes and Windows Media Player, so that your existing offline music and playlists is reflected in your online Rdio dashboard, and you can access an online copy of your playlists anywhere.
Free trial of subscription: Three days of Rdio Web, no credit card needed.
Availability: U.S. only.
Pricing:
• “Rhapsody Premier” with unlimited streaming and (subscription-restricted) downloads to one phone or MP3 player: $9.99 per month.
• “Rhapsody Premier Plus” ups the total of portable synced devices to three: $14.99 per month.
Platforms: Windows and Mac, with apps for iOS, Android, select Verizon Wireless phones, and compatible MP3 players. BlackBerry app in development.
Size of music library: Over 10 million songs
Stream rate: 128 kbps (MP3) for paid accounts, 64 kbps for free previews.
Offline storage: Unlimited downloads of Rhapsody tracks, expire upon subscription ending.
Other features:
Free trial of subscription: 25 streams through the web site per month, and a 14-day trial of Premier, requires credit card and deactivation.
Availability: Global
Pricing:
• “Basic” provides web streaming and customized “radio” stations: $4.99 per month.
• “Primo” covers the Basic plan, plus mobile access and offline storage: $9.99 per month.
Platforms: Web-only for Basic. Primo adds iOS and Android devices.
Size of music library: 7.4 million
Stream rate: 256 kbps through the web, 64 kbps mobile.
Offline storage: On mobile, with either 64 kbps AAC or 320 kbps MP3 files.
Other features:
Free trial of subscription: Three days of Primo service, no credit card needed.
Availability: U.S., UK, Canada, Germany and Japan
Pricing:
• One-month, three-month, and one-year streaming plans; three-month and one-year plans also provide 15 song download credits every three months: $5-$7 per month
• “Napster to Go,” with unlimited song transfer for up to three mobile devices: $14.95 per month
Platforms: Windows and compatible MP3 players.
Size of music library: “Over 10 million.”
Stream rate: 128-192 kbps, depending on track.
Offline storage: Via download credits.
Other features: Extremely annoying woman appears and starts talking to you in lower-right corner of web site when not signed in. She has human-like features.
Free trial of subscription: Seven days of streaming, no download credits, credit card required.
Availability: Global
Pricing:
• Streaming through Grooveshark’s web site, with ads: Free
• Grooveshark VIP, with desktop and mobile apps, no ads, customization options: $3 per month or $30 per year.
Platforms: Desktop streaming through web for free; VIP members get Adobe AIR app for Windows, Mac, and Linux, and mobile apps for Android, Nokia, Palm, BlackBerry, and jailbroken iPhones.
Size of music library: Seven million (unverified)
Stream rate: 192kbps
Offline storage: Yes (through mobile apps)
Other features:
Free trial of subscription: Have appeared in past.
Radio-Style Streaming
Availability: U.S. only
Pricing:
• 40 hours a month of streaming music, limited (five per hour) skips: Free.
• “Pandora One,” with unlimited streaming and skips, no ads, higher quality, and desktop app: $3 per month.
Platforms: Web, Windows & Mac (AIR app), mobile apps for iOS, Android, BlackBerry, webOS, Windows Mobile.
Size of music library: 700,000 tracks.
Stream rate: 64 kbps (AAC+) for free users, 192 kbps for Pandora One
Offline storage: None.
Other features:
Free trial of subscription: None.
Availability: U.S., UK, Germany for continuous free streaming, 30-song trial in all other countries
Pricing:
• Basic sign-up, with unlimited streaming (U.S./UK/Germany) and “scrobbling”: Free.
• Subscriber accounts, with no advertising, custom/”Loved” playlists, server priority, and international streaming: $3 per month
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, and iOS, Android, BlackBerry.
Size of music library: 6.5 million songs.
Stream rate: 128 kbps (MP3)
Offline storage: None
Other capabilities: Near-universal “Scrobbling”: Keep Last.fm informed about what you’re playing and liking through most media players and smartphone apps.
Free trial of subscription: None.
Availability: U.S., Canada
Pricing:
• Unlimited streaming but limited skips: Free.
• “Slacker Radio Plus,” with unlimited skips, no ads, mobile app caching for online-to-offline continuity: $4-$5 month (monthly or annual billing).
Platforms: Web streaming through browser, and mobile apps: iOS, Android, BlackBerry, webOS, Windows Mobile.
Size of music library: More than 2.4 million songs.
Stream rate: 128 kbps (MP3) through web, sometimes 64 kbps (AAC+) mobile.
Offline storage: Mobile apps can cache streams for playing when disconnected.
Free trial of subscription: Seven days of Slacker Radio Plus, requires card and must be deactivated.
Fileminx is a completely simple and free web app which you can use to convert files directly, without the need of registering, filling any form or downloading any software or add-in.
Fileminx takes most common type of files document, video, music and image. Besides being completely free, the steps involved are really simple:
1. Access Fileminx website and select your file (up to 50MB).
2. Select the format you would like to change the file. The selection, of course, varies depending on the file you just uploaded.
In my case, a Word file can be converted to PDF, TXT, RTF, OpenOffice format, etc.
3. Processing…
4. Done! Just download the new and converted file.
Simple as that, this web app represents a perfect fit for most cases, when you need a fast option for conversion.
