Slacker debuts weekly top 40 chart based on ‘Engagement Quotient’ of songs

Slacker will start offering a weekly top 40 chart today, joining the likes of Spotify, Stitcher and Twitter Music. Unlike those services however, the list isn’t necessarily filled with the most popular tracks. Instead, it’s comprised of what’s deemed as the 40 “most engaging tracks” in that particular week. Compiled using an algorithm the company calls the “Engagement Quotient,” each song is dealt an “EQ” score of one to 100 based on a number of data points. We list what those criteria are after the break, along with quotes from a brief talk with Jack Isquith, Slacker’s senior VP of content programming and strategic development.

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Source: Slacker

WWDC 2013: the rumor roundup

WWDC 2013

It’s that special time for Apple devotees: WWDC 2013 is next week, and that means a customary glimpse of where iOS and the Mac are going next. However, we’re getting everything but business as usual this year. The crew at 1 Infinite Loop has shaken up its software strategy, putting much of its emphasis on Jony Ive’s design chops and tighter collaboration between teams. Is Apple about to deliver major OS refreshes that some say are long overdue? And what about hints of new hardware introductions at the same time? We’ve gathered together some of the more notable rumors to help understand what Apple may introduce on June 10th — and what’s likely to remain wishful thinking.

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Pandora for Android loaded with lock screen controls

Pandora for Android loaded with lock screen controls

A fresh release of Pandora’s Android app hit Google Play, and it carries a light, but welcome changelog. New lock screen controls for hardware packing Ice Cream Sandwich or later flavors of Google’s confection-themed OS headline the update. In addition, the revamp brings shortened startup times for the application and a track progress indicator that sports elapsed and remaining timestamps. Naturally, assorted bug fixes and enhancements round out the tweaks. Click the bordering source link to snag the download.

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Source: Pandora (Google Play)

iHeartRadio slips local news into streams, hopefully without the used car ads

iHeartRadio slips local news into your stream for that personal touch

The advent of internet radio let many of us tune into music we never would have heard without packing our bags for a trip. However, it often keeps us isolated from events just outside our door — a disconnect that Clear Channel wants to end through its newly launched Add-Ins for iHeartRadio streams. Check the right boxes and hourly local news, traffic and weather will appear between tracks, whether for the nearest city or a manually chosen favorite. Add-Ins don’t have much mystery involved as a result, but they could keep us grounded in the real world… minus some of the all-too-real commercials.

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Source: iHeartRadio

Reports: Apple’s internet radio service delayed by slow-going music licensing negotiations

According to folks in the know who’ve spoken to Bloomberg and The New York Times, Apple’s oft-rumored streaming radio service is set for a late arrival. The reason is because of snails-pace negotiations with the publisher Sony/ATV for music licensing deals. As the Times notes, Sony no longer lets outsiders like ASCAP dole out licenses, leaving itself as chief point of contact for such agreements on its content — this apparently got Pandora locked into a twenty five-percent increase on royalty payments to Sony. Prior to today’s reports, Bloomberg stated that Cupertino was aiming for a Q1 release for this year, and the NYT notes Apple hoped that launch would’ve happened near the Grammy Awards. If you’ll recall, Apple’s service is said be direct competition to others like Pandora rather than Spotify, as it would be ad-supported for revenue. As usual, take all of this with a grain of salt, and don’t get too thirsty for an Apple-curated streaming music service just yet. More info at the source links.

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Source: New York Times, Bloomberg

TuneIn launches TuneIn Live, hopes to encourage radio station discovery through custom UI

DNP TuneIn launches TuneIn Live, hopes to encourage discovery through custom UI

With around 70,000 stations from around the world in its database, TuneIn is rightly one of the more popular radio apps out there. Unfortunately, it also means customers don’t always have the easiest time finding what they want, something the Palo Alto firm plans to fix with a new update it’s rolling out today. The key new feature is TuneIn Live, which aims to encourage content discovery through a customized interface. By culling eight favorite genres from about 100, users can build a custom tile layout that, when activated, hunts down a station playing the appropriate tune — be it in Los Angeles, New York or even Iceland.

On top of that, the company introduced integration with Google+ Sign-in so you can immediately place a reminder for scheduled audio events on your Google Calendar. Radio stations broadcasting live sporting events or special in-studio concerts can add “@tunein” to their tweets to prompt TuneIn’s servers to add them to the roster. This move towards improved discovery also includes a recently launched Trending feature that lets listeners know the most popular audio content at any given time.

TuneIn marketing director Ryan Polivka and director of product Kristin George told us that the refocus toward discovery will get users addicted to new stations they would never have heard of before. “What’s best about radio [instead of algorithms like Pandora] is that there’s a human on the other end hand-picking those songs,” Polivka said. “Hopefully this will bring a bigger fanbase to those stations, no matter where they are in the world.” The new TuneIn features should be available on the iPad app and TuneIn.com today, while other platforms will get them later in the year. For more information about the update, check out the press release and a full gallery of TuneIn Live screenshots after the break.

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Source: TuneIn, TuneIn Radio (App Store)

Google reportedly in negotiations with music labels to launch streaming service

Google reportedly in negotiations with music labels to launch streaming service

Surprise, surprise: Apple isn’t the only company that’s rumored to be developing a music streaming service. According to Financial Times, Google is working to augment its current download store with a streaming service that could take on the likes of Spotify, Slacker and Nokia Music. The outlet’s sources suggest that Google is currently in the negotiation stage with record labels, and that its service would likely feature both paid and free, ad-supported components. Naturally, while this news remains in the realm of rumors for both Apple and Google, it seems that the race is now on for which company is both willing and able to supplement its music store with a streaming service. Anyone care to place bets on which company is first to the starting line?

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Via: CNET

Source: Financial Times

Pandora cranked out over 13 billion hours of music in 2012

DNP Pandora cranked out over 13 billion hours of music in 2012

Springing into the new year, internet radio heavyweight Pandora has released some of its major statistics from 2012. The company states that 1.6 billion personalized radio stations were created and that it played over 13 billion hours of music. These hefty stats translate to the service’s users listening to over one million different songs from more than 100,000 artists. Wrapping up last year’s scorecard, around 10,000 artists reached about 250,000 unique listeners. While these numbers are impressive, we can’t help but wonder how many audio commercials had to be endured so people could continue listening to countless hours of One Direction. In any case, we’re sure it was worth it.

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Via: The Next Web

Source: Pandora

iTunes refresh delayed till ‘end of November’

We were all a little shocked when Apple failed to deliver a redesigned iTunes at its last keynote. The company promised a major revamp of the service would land in October yet, here we are with one day left in the month, and no iTunes overhaul in sight. Today Tom Neumayr, a spokesperson for the Cupertino firm, confirmed to AllThingsD that the software release had indeed been pushed back by a month. Only a few short days ago CFO Peter Oppenheimer was touting the refresh during the company’s earnings call saying, “We look forward to looking to launching a redesigned iTunes. The new iTunes has a dramatically simpler and cleaner interface.” But he made no mention of a delay. Neumayr says the goal now is to release the update before the end of November stating that development is “taking longer than expected and we wanted to take a little extra time to get it right.” While the issue primarily cited in Neumayr’s statement is “seamless integration with iCloud” we wouldn’t be shocked if it’s rumored internet radio service also is playing a role in the delay. Read the complete statement below.

“The new iTunes is taking longer than expected and we wanted to take a little extra time to get it right. We look forward to releasing this new version of iTunes with its dramatically simpler and cleaner interface, and seamless integration with iCloud before the end of November.”

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iTunes refresh delayed till ‘end of November’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Oct 2012 16:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceAllThingsD  | Email this | Comments

Apple nearing deal with labels for internet radio service, says Bloomberg

Apple nearing deal with labels for internet radio service, says Bloomberg

Rumors of a music streaming service from Apple have been circulating since the dawn of the iPod age. Bloomberg is reporting that an internet radio platform from Cupertino is nearing reality, as talks between Apple and the major music labels have “intensified.” The negotiations center around how to share revenues from an ad-supported service that, according to reports, would pose more of a threat to sites like Pandora than it would Spotify. In fact, after Bloomberg reported that the new Apple service could launch during the first quarter of 2013, Pandora stocks plummeted over 17 percent and trading of the company was briefly halted. According to sources Cook and co. are seeking much more flexibility than its potential competitors enjoy and earlier access to new releases. The shift towards ad revenue and a new platform for helping listeners discover music is considered by most involved to be an essential evolution of the iTunes ecosystem as sales of digital downloads have slowed. For more, hit up the source links.

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Apple nearing deal with labels for internet radio service, says Bloomberg originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Oct 2012 16:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceBloomberg, Forbes  | Email this | Comments