Tag Archives: Spotify

Beats Music – Reading The Tea Leaves

Posted on by Musicofourheart

I sip my freshly brewed tea anticipating the pattern of the tea leaves I will find in the bottom of my cup. I contemplate what will occur in the next rounds of competition in cloud music.

I am not concerned about Spotify and its ecosystem. Rumors of Spotify’s death have been greatly exaggerated. Spotify is very practical as it has a fluid model. It is a well architected cloud music platform with an open set of APIs. It is still very much the darling of the music hackathon global audience. Spotify’s effective use of The Echo Nest music back-end is superior to the “pay” model cloud music, look-alike/similar features crowd (amazon cloud player, X-Box music, Rdio, Google Play and Pandora).

The next shoe to drop could be Apple iRadio as early as the World Wide Developer Conference June 10-14. Apple may not announce iRadio the much rumored streaming subscription iCloud music service if they can’t secure revised licensing deals with Sony Music, Warner Music Group, and BMG. (See the latest MacRumors Web article “Difficult Negotiations May Prevent ‘iRadio’ Launch at WWDC“)

Taking a fresh sip I focus next on Beats Music, the brainchild of music industry visionaries Jimmy Iovine and Trent Reznor. Beats Music has acquired MOG Music  and appears to be architecting it to the vision of Trent, Jimmy and Dr. Dre. I wrote about this project when it was codenamed “Daisy” late last year.

There has been significant traction in the Beats Music company formation since that blog post. I have dug around in Google and LinkedIn to get a sense of what is transpiring.

Beats Music requires a well-articulated, open cloud music architecture to distinguish its offering from the present cloud music vendors, which I call the Round 1 players. I am curious how Beats Music will re-engineer the MOG distributed music service to meet that goal. Based upon the software engineering talent I see Beats Music attempting to hire they have their design and development work cut out for them.

I foresee Beats Music harnessing Beats Audio with renewed purpose on the Android and Windows Phone devices. I can’t visualize how the Apple IOS Beats Music dev team can get synchronicity with the lack of a similar Beats Audio chassis in the iPhone. I do recall that Tech Crunch mentioned that a meeting took place in March of this year that strongly hints at Apple and Beats Music partnering later this year (It’s a great hedge their bet play with i Radio don’t you think?)

The Music of Our Heart will continue to watch the Cloud Music skies for more definitive plans and announcements from Beats Music and Apple.

Oh and don’t forget when it comes to 100% high-resolution audio in the clouds we also have Neil Young’s PONO solution pending too. Could that be why Warner Music Group is dragging its feet with Apple? One never knows ;) (Mind you that last comment was purely speculative on my part…)

Special Mention

Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre have warmed the cockles of the music of our heart with their $70 million endowment to the University of Southern California.

The duo’s gift will set up the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation, an environment for those rare undergraduate students whose interests span fields such as marketing, business entrepreneurship, computer science and engineering, audio and visual design, and the arts. The program will prepare them to become a new generation of inspired innovators.

I Googled this announcement after reading the NY Times article from May 14, “Two Music Minds Seek a Different Kind of Mogul“.

The Beats Music ecosystem is establishing very firm academic roots. If you couple that with the investment funding that Beats Music has secured (Forbes: Blavatnik’s Investment In Beats’ Music Service Signals Major Change) I see this initiative as a very serious cloud music innovation play in the months and years ahead.

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Intelligent Digital Music Curation + Discovery = Daisy (Trent Reznor and Beats By Dr. Dre)

Posted on by Musicofourheart

I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It’s cloud illusions I recall
I really don’t know clouds at all

Joni Mitchell, Both Sides, Now © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

The music of our heart steadfastly believes in the next “desired” future state of cloud based digital music. There are some exciting technologies “under construction” above and around us, floating our way.

I reported on Neil Young‘s PONO solution awhile back on this music blog. I see a similar order of magnitude. if not something larger or uniquely designed emerging from Beats Electronics. Inc.

One such solution receiving a huge degree of “buzz” factor is the intelligent music curation and discovery music cloud service, code-named “Daisy” from the collaborative brain trust of Trent Reznor,  Dr. Dre, Jimmy Iovine and others at  Beats Electronics, Inc.

I have sorted through the multitude of music articles about “Daisy” published in the past 48 hours to discern what’s this all about?

“Daisy”, according to Mr. Reznor, Chief Creative Officer for Beats Electronics Inc. will create a recommendation platform where “the machine and the human would collide more intimately”.

The music service “uses mathematics to offer suggestions to the listener… [but also] would present choices based partly on suggestions made by connoisseurs,” describing it as “like having your own guy when you go into the record store, who knows what you like but can also point you down some paths you wouldn’t necessarily have encountered.”

How’s this different from everything else out there? “Here’s sixteen million licensed pieces of music (Mog states) but you’re not stumbling into anything. What’s missing is a service that adds a layer of intelligent curation,” explained Reznor. “Think of how many emotional ties you have with songs from your past.”

I love that phrase “intelligent curation” now I want to know how that technology will be software engineered and implemented. An example of intelligent curation is The Browser, which is creating a 21st century library of Writing Worth Reading.

Trent Reznor posted on Facebook on October 16: Some of you may have read that I have begun working with Beats By Dre. For the past year I have indeed been involved with Dre, Jimmy Iovine, Luke Wood, and the rest of the team on a number of very interesting projects that will start to emerge next year. I have wanted to experiment and focus my energy and creativity in some different directions, and Beats has afforded me that very opportunity. The process has challenged and fascinated and as much as I’d like to tell you about the things we’ve dreamed up… I just can’t.
Not yet…
(I can tell you it’s probably not what you’re expecting!)

Origin: The company has “very big plans,” for Mog, the streaming service it purchased earlier this year, hinting that it relates to how people consume and discover music. Most streaming services need consumers to program their music experience themselves and consumers can’t be expected to do that, which would seem to suggest a greater emphasis on music discovery and recommendations, possibly including a radio function.

David Byrne and Trent Reznor

Speaking of intelligent conversations centering upon the state of digital music, David Byrne and Trent Reznor recently got together in Los Angeles as part of David Byrne’s book tour for How Music Works.

Both artists shared the stance that the current landscape is not about label deals vs DIY marketing but about choosing the right path and the right deals for the artist in question. Here is a YouTube of that conversation.

Conversely after founding his own record label in 2008 and releasing music independently, Trent Reznor has reverted back to the majors for help in releasing his latest project through Columbia Records, How To Destroy Angels, “Ice Age” pointing out that “complete independent releasing has its great points, but also comes with shortcomings.”

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Spotify Continues to Kick Butt and Take Names

Posted on by Musicofourheart

Spotify announced two new features the Discover and Follow Tabs (and more) today that continue to separate them from their competition.

For a look at the screen shots of the next version of Spotify look here. I urge you to browse the evolver.fm Website to view the most comprehensive coverage about Spotify’s announcement in New York City today.

Watch this video about these soon to be available Spotify features (early 2013…)

Oh and Spotify Just Got Louder as Lars Ulrich from Metallica showed up to let Sean Parker know there were no hard feelings over Napster ;)

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SoundTracking + Spotify

Posted on by Musicofourheart

This may be the coolest music app yet. Download and test it out, pronto! It’s immediacy will amaze you and you’ll soon wonder how you got along with out it….

Apple’s App Store has just named SoundTracking the best iPhone Music app in the US.

  • Share music moments right from Spotify
  • Stream and listen to full songs
  • Add your Instagram pics to your music moments 
  • Instantly create playlists from any SoundTracking feed
  • Show your love for other posts right in Spotify

 

Dirty Projectors

Posted on by Musicofourheart

I was reading the August issue of Uncut Magazine when I came across a story by Louis Pattison about the Dirty Projectors. The question posed at the top of the article states, “Are Dirty Projectors the most original and challenging band in America? I didn’t know how to answer a question about a band I know nothing about. So right away I am challenged ;)

I learned that the Dirty Projectors are from Brooklyn, NY. Very specifically they hail from the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn. I have also read that Brooklyn is the Music Capitol of the World (see my past post about Brooklyn from a native artist, Paula Carino) so the puzzle pieces for the question above were beginning to interlock around the edje.

Dirty Projectors: <i>Swing Lo Magellan</i>

I next looked up Dirty Projectors on Spotify so I could listen to their music substantively. They have released six studio recordings since 2004. I knew I had to giddy up to get in league with where they are at so I chose to start with their latest, most accessible work, Swing Lo Magellan (July, 2012). 

I needed another data point about Dirty Projectors, soon I discovered this paragraph about Swing Lo Magellan.

For the group’s sixth album, Swing Lo Magellan, David Longstreth decided to take an approach that focused primarily on songwriting. Rather than trying to make every track work under an overarching theme, the songs on Magellan were crafted individually and with care. Each tune is perfectly capable of standing on its own, and there is a lot of diversity in the music, but the record still manages to feel whole as a work of art in itself. – Paste Magazine

The more I dig in the more I unearth about Dirty Projectors.  They are a fascinating study. I would have to agree that their music is sonic engaging one moment and bewildering the next. . They certainly are original and I must admit I feel challenged by the dense complexities of their never repeating musical structure. 

Dirty Projectors will be appearing at The Capitol Theatre in Portchester, NY on September 25th. I think they may end up being the first act we will see at the newly renovated venue. 

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This Is My Jam Appeals to the Music Of Our Heart

Posted on by Musicofourheart

The Spotify music platform continues to thrive as the ecosystem for launching purposeful social music applications. I was made aware of a simple, but oh so necessary app by The Echo Nest in my Facebook stream today, the app is called This Is My Jam.

I love the focus of the This Is My Jam app (incubated by The Echo Nest) which  is to share your favorite song with others as they share their favorite song with you. You get to choose one song only for your friends to hear. The song expires in seven days if you don’t change it. That’s it. I will try to share a new favorite song every day if I remember to do so ;)

The company’s greatest challenge to date, according to co-founder Matthew Ogle is, “finding a way to make Jam feel like an effortless enhancement of your existing online music life, and not become yet another social network.

I look forward to learning how the forthcoming This Is My Jam API will be structured for my development and customization hacks ;)

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Building A More Perfect Musical Brain – The Echo Nest

Posted on by Musicofourheart

I continually emphasize my passionate technology interest in what The Echo Nest is accomplishing as this amazingly deft music cloud back-end. The more I discover and interpret what they are building, the more enthusiastic I get about the future evolution of music.

Just after I wrote about “The Echo Nest Moves Beyond Music Discovery” on July 16, I saw that Rolling Stone Magazine covered the significance that the $17 million funding The Echo Nest acquired is channeling into “Fanalytics,” the feature that will connect matching users who share similar musical tastes and listening patterns. It makes logical sense that Rolling Stone Magazine reported on this story since RS was involved with the launch of Spotify’s Music Application Platform . Rolling Stone Recomends is their Spotify App.

Rolling Stone Reccomends

The co-founders of The Echo Nest, Tristan Jehan (CTO) and Brian Whitman (CTO) were the in-studio guests on Boston Public Radio recently. The interview that Edgar B. Herwick III conducted with them provides valuable insight into their analysis and scientific methods. They are modest about what they are doing. They readily admit that 15 years into their project they are only beginning to develop the analytics, the semaphores for how to harness the music cloud we all interact with in the music of our heart.

I am fascinated to learn as much as I can about with where music and technology are converging. We have entered the age of Web 3.0, the Semantic Web where machine to machine total knowledge builds a highly stylized and formulaic music intelligentsia. The Echo Nest is a première example of Web 3.0 at its finest in a well conceived architectural platform.

Our Office

Stay tuned for what The Echo Nest will wrought for technology music devotees, it’s very stimulating stuff ;)

Coca-Cola Music and Spotify, A Strategic Partnership

Posted on by Musicofourheart

The Olympic Games begin on July 27, a scant six days from now. Coca-Cola has a long-standing history with the Olympics. They are the longest continuous sponsor of the Olympics since 1928. The world will be focused on London, England and international competition. The purpose of this blog post is to share what is known about the strategic partnership between Coca-Cola and Spotify.

The London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games unites us all. I love that music plays a strategic role in motivating us for the  Olympiad. Every time I see the  London Calling  commercial by British Airways I bristle with anticipation. It’s raised The Clash, “The Only Band That Matters” to a new level with a new audience. Here is the UK version… (Go Team USA!)

The Olympics opening ceremony will be closed out by Paul McCartney. This video from Paul is a great tongue in cheek about the pull the plug curfew incident.

Before I digress any further about the Olympics and music, let me get back to the reason for this blog post. Yesterday we celebrated Spotify’s First Year Birthday in the U.S.A. I discovered during my research that a strategic partnership has formed between Coca-Cola and Spotify. I find this partnership appealing on multiple levels.

Under the terms of the agreement, Spotify will be the key underlying technology for Coca-Cola Music globally, supporting the brand’s mission to give consumers universal access to music. In addition, Coca-Cola will integrate Spotify into its Facebook presence and Timeline, creating a seamless social music experience. This partnership takes advantage of the existing Spotify relationship with Facebook and the Coca-Cola Facebook audience of over 40 million fans to create a social experience that will reach millions of interconnected consumers around the world.

According to Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify, ”Spotify and Coca-Cola both believe that music, technology and creativity can connect people around the globe.”

The main level of appeal for me is the technology initiative between the two companies. I teach an ethical hacking course and I am learning that music hack events (called hackdens, hackjams, hackathons) abound these days. The video from the Coca-Cola Press Center shows how energized Spotify & Coca-Cola and hackers got with their April 14-15 2012 hackden in New York City (if only I had known….)

The winning software development team was London Calling. The new app will be unveiled for the 2012 Olympics in London. Musicofourheart will get back to you when the app launches!

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Happy Birthday Spotify

Posted on by Musicofourheart

 

Spotify Logo

Spotify Logo (Photo credit: Dekuwa)

 

It has been a rewarding and incredible year as a U.S. Spotify Day One subscriber. Spotify is my daily listening source for music. When I get ready to leave my garage everyday for the daily commute, I choose the Spotify App, plug into the music I want to hear and it comes to me through my car audio system.

 

I want to especially congratulate Daniel Ek, the Spotify team and the Spotify App business partners. Spotify the music platform is ingenious.

 

I have a great deal of admiration for the technical co-operation between Spotify and The Echo Nest. Spotify in the Cloud is a beautiful thing.

 

I urge Spotify to partner with Neil Young‘s High Resolution Audio Player when that technology becomes available.

 

Keep on rocking me, Spotify. I’m your biggest fan ;)

 

 

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Steven Wilson – Prog Rock

Posted on by Musicofourheart

I thought it proper to continue the prog rock series with Steven Wilson. The intersection with yesterday’s King Crimson blog post underlies Steven Wilson’s passion for the technological expanse of their music. He has done a superlative job remixing their catalog. Steven Wilson acknowledges that listening to Robert Fripps’s approach and the notes that he chooses has shaped his style of guitar playing.

I plucked this quote from Steven Wilson’s biography on Spotify.

Thanks to a prolific work ethic, self-taught producer, engineer, and multi-instrumentalist Steven Wilson has gradually become one of the U.K.’s most critically acclaimed artists.

imgI decided to stop off at Barnes & Noble to see if I could find a music magazine to fortify my research for this week’s prog rock series. I was searching for Prog Rock Magazine but little did I realize hiding with the jazz magazines would be a copy of Guitar Player Magazine‘s August 2012 issue. I smiled reassuringly to see Steven Wilson with his Gold Paul Reed Smith Custom 22 on the cover. The cover quote solidified my convictions, “Steven Wilson, Reimagining Progessive Rock”.

My inherent sixth sense of music had led me to find a validated discovery. Steven Wilson has forged a major link  in the chain between the 70′s electric fusion of Miles Davis and King Crimson’s Robert Fripp. This linkage is forged by the the fact that Steven Wilson chose King Crimson’s Lizard as the first remixing effort. Steven Wilson states that he realized how integral jazz was to Lizard and King Crimson. Lizard was made with musicians from the British jazz scene in a very analogous fashion to Miles Davis process with Bitches Brew.

I have listened throughout the day to Porcupine Tree and Steven Wilson’s solo efforts. I didn’t intend to over look his other work with No-Man, I.E.M., Bass Communion or Blackfield. It was a capacity issue for me to try to assimilate all of his group projects in a day ;)

I found the Porcupine Tree recordings mesmerizing, equally wildly chilling as they were rich in innovative tonalities.

I became further intrigued by Steven Wilson’s Insurgentes, part documentary/part surreal road movie.

Steven Wilson said this about his second solo album, Grace for Drowning:

‘Insurgentes’ was an important step for me into something new. This record takes that as a starting point, but it’s more experimental and more eclectic. For me the golden period for music was the late sixties and early seventies, when the album became the primary means of artistic expression, when musicians liberated themselves from the 3 minute pop song format, and started to draw on jazz and classical music especially, combining it with the spirit of psychedelia to create “journeys in sound” I guess you could call them. So without being retro, my album is a kind of homage to that spirit. There’s everything from [Ennio] Morricone-esque film themes to choral music to piano ballads to a 23 minute progressive jazz –inspired piece. I’ve actually used a few jazz musicians this time, which is something I picked up from my work remixing the King Crimson records”[8]


Get All You Deserve, is a new high-definition audio-visual set from Steven Wilson. Directed by long-time visual collaborator Lasse Hoile, Get All You Deserve was filmed in Mexico City during the recent Grace For Drowning Tour. The set captures the spectacular live experience that Wilson and Hoile created for the tour on Blu-ray, DVD and 2CD.

The progressive rock chain link will continue tomorrow when I write about the prog rock sub-genre progressive metal and the collaboration between Porcupine Tree‘s Steven Wilson and Opeth’s Mikael Akerfeldt on Storm Corrosion.  It has been described as being “the last part in the odd trilogy of records completed by (Opeth’s) Heritage and Steven Wilson’s brand new solo album Grace for Drowning.[21][22]

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