"Google today launched a streaming music service that borrows from both Spotify and Pandora.  With the rather unwieldy title of Google Play Music All Access, the $9.99 per month music service includes curated playlists, Pandora-like song driven streams and access to tracks from all the major labels.

As expected, a rumored streaming music service for YouTube was not announced today.
There is a 30 day free trial, and U.S. users who sign up before June30th get an introductory price of $7.99.  But unlike most music streamers, Google Play Music All Access offers no free ad supported tier.
Users can blend their own uploaded songs with a catalog with the millions of tracks available on All Access. Music discovery is also a part of the new service. "We set out to build a music service that didn't just give us access to great music, but that helps guide you to it," Google engineering director Chris Yerga said." - via Hypebot

Read more about Google Play Music All Access here and here.

Sesame Street and Young Turks are among 30 YouTube services that, beginning today, will offer content to people who pay a subscription fee following a 14-day free trial period. They’ll cost an average of $2.99 a month, payable via credit card or Google Wallet, and some will go for as little as 99 cents, says YouTube Director of Content Partnerships Malik Ducard. Some will also have ads, but a majority won’t. Google will collect about 45% of the subscription and ad revenue. Most of the content will be available on demand but Ducard says the initiative will accommodate live transmissions. In addition, content providers can choose where among 10 countries they’d like to distribute their material. Others are expected to also launch subscription services on YouTube using what Ducard calls a “self-service” model. Sesame Street will start off providing full episodes of the TV show.

I've been writing this monthly blog for a few years now, usually focused on new bands that I like and want to bring to your attention. But not this time.

I suppose I take for granted that most fans of iconic music would naturally have already seen the truly great American artists live such as Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, and Bob Dylan. Yet I talk to people and am always amazed to discover how many of them still haven't seen these essential artists in concert. It's baffling, because they are still making great music and, to paraphrase Bruce, "bringing it every night".

There's another great artist who belongs in that elite company -- a musician who has defined integrity since he came on the scene more than 35 years ago and deserves the same kind of reverence. And he's the only guy cooler than Johnny Depp: Tom Petty.

Check out the full article here.

 By Alex Ben Block for the Hollywood Reporter

The lines continue to blur between digital media and traditional media as new partnerships reshape the landscape. Companies that were once considered upstarts are now dominating aspects of print, music and video. This week, we’ve had a good look at this principle, as Twitter, Spotify and Amazon have all made significant moves to partner with or, when necessary, bypass traditional media. These three companies, each at its own stage of development, and each in its own way, are redefining the media.

Facebook never intended to develop its own phone. Instead, it just wants to take over the home screen on as many existing phones as it can. Tomorrow Facebook will officially launch “Facebook Home,” its software suite for Android phones. Facebook Home will be an optional, free download, available on 3 Android phone models starting Friday. And, in the case of the HTC First phone, Facebook Home will come pre-installed. Over time, it’ll be rolled out on other Android phones, but don’t expect to see it on the iPhone. 

This Friday marks the highly anticipated opening weekend of one of the most popular festivals in the world, Coachella. The three-day festival will take place on two consecutive weekends again this year, Weekend 1 from April 12-14 and Weekend 2 from April 19-21. The massive festival in Indio, CA always sells out within hours of tickets going on sale, and with good reason. Warm weather, a stellar lineup, and a bohemian care-free vibe draw tens of thousands to the desert in search of a good time and great music. This year's lineup is less EDM-centric than last year, but still features some great breakout stars from the genre, as well as a fantastic lineup of alternative, indie rock, and hip-hop groups. 

Check out the full article here.

Reselling digital items is not like reselling physical goods, so says a federal court in New York. The case involves ReDigi, a company that was attempting to build a business around the selling of used digital music. ReDigi’s technology makes a copy of the validated digital file, and then deletes the original before re-sale. ReDigi contends that this practice is no different than someone reselling a book or CD, which is legal under the First Sale Doctrine. The First Sale Doctrine, which originated in 1908, deemed that a publisher could dictate the “first sale” of a product, but after the initial sale they no longer possessed “the authority to control all future retail sales”.

Streaming music services, especially Spotify, have been making a lot of news in the last few days. The big news came on Wednesday with the RIAA’s (Recording Industry Association of America) announcement to Digital Music News that streaming music services generated more than $1 billion in the US in 2012. The big four services driving the growth of what they call “access services” (non-ownership) are YouTube, Sirius Satellite Radio, Pandora and Spotify.
 
The rise in streaming services is being cited as a primary reason for sluggish digital sales this year. Billboard reports that Nielsen Soundscan data shows a 2% drop in sales of digital track downloads in the first two months of this year (although digital album sales are increasing). Billboard also did the math and figured out how many new streaming subscribers would be required to make up for the loss in digital track sales.

 It was unexpected -- there was great music all about and I saw some really memorable performances last week (21 Pilots, Grohl/Sound City/ St. Lucia, Zedd...), but the band I couldn't get out of my head was a group barely anyone remembers these days: the iconic British art rock band from the '70s, 10cc.

Why 10cc? It all came about because my old Irish friend Suzanne invited me to view a very cool new app called WholeWorldBand, which had been shortlisted from 500 entrants into the final 8 at SXSW Music Accelerator Awards. It was created by Kevin Godley, man of so many careers: songwriter, singer, original member of 10cc, Godley/Crème, video and film director, breakthrough work with U2 etc.

I was supposed to concentrate on the app, but even though I had met Kevin quite a few times, I couldn't stay on topic as I kept thinking about how unique that original lineup of 10cc was. And I wanted to know more about the band.