Pressplay, an online music joint venture between Sony Corp. and Vivendi Universal, yesterday said it will launch to consumers in the United States on Wednesday, December 19. The service, which will offer fans streaming, downloading and CD-burning of music from Sony Music, Vivendi’s Universal Music Group, EMI Group as well as several independents. It will be available to the first several thousand consumers through Microsoft Corp.’s MSN Music, Roxio and Yahoo! and will soon be offered through MP3.com and other affiliates, the companies said. Pressplay said it plans to widen the availability of its service after the New Year.
Everyone at some point has dreamed of being a rock star. Now even the least musically inclined among us can feel like a real rock star – actually playing the guitar and drum parts of our favorite songs thanks to a one-of-a-kind interactive music experience from MusicPlayground. Available now at www.MusicPlayground.com, MusicPlayground makes use of virtual instruments – plug-and-play USB peripherals – that simulate their real-world counterparts, allowing users to literally take over the guitar, bass or drum parts of their favorite songs. They simply plug in their virtual instruments to the back of their computer and start playing along… Read more »
Apple Computer Inc. unveiled on Tuesday a portable music player that can hold an entire music collection and takes Apple outside its core computer business for the first time in eight years. Apple’s “iPod” is the size and shape of a deck of cards, with a small LCD screen and round dial on a white front and a stainless steel back. It holds about 1,000 songs in the MP3 music format and has a battery life of 8-10 hours. Apple will begin selling iPods, which only work with its Macintosh computers, on Nov. 10 at a suggested retail price of… Read more »
Pressplay, a online music joint venture between recording giants Vivendi Universal’s Universal Music and Sony Corp.’s Sony Music, is still on track to launch this fall, a spokesman said Friday. The Pressplay spokesman declined to comment on a specific launch date for the service, which was originally earmarked to launch in September by Vivendi Executive Vice President Edgar Bronfman Jr at an industry conference in July. Many of Pressplay’s employees are based in New York City, where business has been severely disrupted by the attacks on the World Trade Center, the spokesman said. Pressplay and MusicNet, a competing music joint… Read more »
Microsoft Corp. said Monday it is enlisting three companies to sell plug-ins to enable its upcoming media player software to record music in the MP3 format and play DVD movies. Microsoft’s Windows Media Player, a new version of which will debut in the software giant’s new Windows XP operating system in late October, has not supported high-quality music recording in MP3, the most popular format for storing songs and CDs as digital files on a computer. Critics have said lack of MP3 support was evidence that Microsoft was trying to drive users to its own format, called Windows Media Audio,… Read more »
Songbird, the software brainchild of a 20-year-old Internet entrepreneur, was launched on Wednesday with song-swap company Napster firmly in its sights. The technology, billed as the first offered to everyone as an Internet search tool, enables artists and musicians to track down who has done what with their compositions. The software, invented by Utah-based Travis Hill, won the backing of the record industry’s IFPI watchdog and 10 organizations representing artists, songwriters and publishers. Songbird was introduced at IFPI’s London headquarters. “Songbird gives music copyright holders a completely new insight into how Napster is using their music and, if they want… Read more »
Microsoft has taken a big plunge with the major labels by weaving copyright protection into its newest operating platform. The record labels and rights holders have successfully lobbied the Redmond, Wash. based behemoth to shun the most popular audio file format on the planet, and press to introduce its own alternative. With Microsoft’s net generation Windows operating system, dubbed “Windows XP,” music recorded in Microsoft’s proprietary Windows Media Audio format will offer clearer sound than the MP3 format and take up far less space on a computer. However, Microsoft’s new XP system contains built-in software that cannot record MP3 files… Read more »
Calling all gals who love sitting shotgun, Nessa Barrett just dropped the perfect song for you, “PASSENGER PRINCESS.” The alt-pop track serves as the first single from her forthcoming sophomore record AFTERCARE. The LP is set to arrive later in 2024 via Warner Records. The track “represents the intense honeymoon phase when you first enter in a new relationship. The mindset where you would do anything for the one you love just to experience the passion of a connection,” Barrett says. Read more: MisterWives Taps PVRIS, Taylor Acorn, More On ‘Nosebleeds: Encore’ She seductively sings in the chorus, “I’m your shotgun,… Read more »
After teasing his new single earlier in June, YUNGBLUD officially released his track with a corresponding “breakdown.” music video. Filmed in coastal England near the Seven Sisters cliff, the video concept is “really simple,” he shares. It’s “really representative of what’s going on in my life right now,” YUNGBLUD said in a pre-premiere livestream. The artist shared on social media, “Cortisol, often called the ‘stress hormone,’ is higher during the first hour after waking for people experiencing stress so gettin’ out of bed in a morning can sometimes be really hard. You can wake up in the morning with a… Read more »
On June 8, YUNGBLUD dropped a thrilling teaser for his forthcoming track “BREAKDOWN,” which will officially release on June 21. Of the new project, the artist says, “This song is a message to myself to try and exist alongside my insecurities and my darkness by grounding myself and remembering what is real in life and the world is so much bigger than me. Try and get out of your head and notice the world around you, notice the things and people around you.” He continues, “Don’t let the bullshit inside your head consume you. It just wastes precious time. Remember… Read more »
