Could Apple Really Be Buying Beats Music?, From Yahoo Tech

Could Apple really be buying Beats Music?

Read into Yahoo Tech

"Apple is close to acquiring Beats Electronics, the Dr. Dre-associated company most well-known for its premium headphones, for $3.2 billion, according to multiple reports. If the acquisition goes through, it would be Apple’s largest purchase of all time.

The acquisition was first reported by Financial Times. The New York Times, Bloomberg News, and the Wall Street Journal all later chimed in.

Beats Electronics was founded by rapper Dr. Dre and music mogul Jimmy Iovine in 2008, and is currently the largest maker of high-end headphones in America. Beats is most famous for its “Beats by Dre” over-the-ear headphones worn over the ear, which are popular with rappers and celebrities, and which start at around $300 per pair. Beats also makes in-ear headphones and a Bluetooth speaker, Beats Pill.

It’s not clear which part of Beats that Apple might envy. Recently, Beats introduced a streaming music service, Beats Music, to compete with Spotify, Rdio, and iTunes, after acquiring the MOG streaming service in 2012. Though critics applauded the design of Beats Music, it has reportedly been slow to pick up subscribers.

For Apple, meanwhile, a Beats acquisition could help it continue to dominate in digital music, where it has reigned supreme since its launch of iTunes in 2001. Digital sales on iTunes have been declining steadily in recent years, and Apple has long been rumored to envy an all-you-can-listen streaming music service, similar to those offered by upstarts Spotify and Rdio.

Spotify, Rdio and Beats Music all offer the same basic service: Stream all the music you want on any device for $9.99 per month. Apple does not have a directly competing service: listeners can pay by the song or album in the iTunes Store, and a new service called iTunes Radio lets them listen to any of their downloaded songs on any device for $25 per year.

In 2012, the phone manufacturer HTC bought a 51 percent stake in Beats for 300 million, though it later sold back 25 percent of its share. In 2013, HTC installed Beats-manufactured speakers in its HTC One smartphone. That phone won plaudits from critics for its audio quality. Beats speakers could also hypothetically be worked into future iPhones and iPads."

Shaking Up The Music Industry And The Future Of Streaming Content

There are five big companies to always be on the lookout for in the high tech crowd. Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft have done more to shape the last number of years than we care to write about. Whether its epic failures such as Microsoft's Zune or the epic heights, when it comes to Apple's stock price, these companies continue to shape our future online.

Hearing the news of Google being ready to grow it's own music service is no surprise. I am honestly surprised it hasn't happened sooner, but it plays in accordance with the skyrocketing growth of the Android market and the new phones and notepads about to be released for the holiday shopping rush. Add into this mix, Apple's announcement of it's own Pandora style music player that is customizable to your tastes and now there are some game changing plays in motion.
Competition breeds innovation and we are stoked to hear about Apple's new streaming service, as Pandora is a great application, but it has done little in terms of progression within the last few years. With Apple and Google exploring new streaming options, indie labels such as us, without deep coffers, can continue to charge into battle.

Could Apple's new streaming service put the nail in Pandora's coffin?

Social Music Mash Up Gaming, Is It The New Guitar Hero?

For all of there nerds out there such as ourselves who dig understanding social media and where technology is heading, constantly keep in the back of your mind, video games. Now don't think of the adventure games that suck you into a time warp and make days go by where your identity then becomes something in the realm of DragonSlayer666 or CultOfAragorn. Rather think on the apps that you use on phones or with Facebook.

If you have seen the data on the use of apps and the amount of users, what is most compelling is how games are top of the food chain. We get hit up often about creating a Rusty Knuckles music app or one for the bands, but in all honesty, the traffic just isn't there. But, this is where a company such as Songster is taking things in the direction that Guitar Hero did a few years back. Their plan of attack is stupid simple. Pair up gaming and music to create mashups and let it reside in the world of Facebook. Read on it more below and see what ya think. 

Gaming dominates mobile apps - Link to article

Link to Songster

Original article below found on Mashable

Songster launched this week through Facebook

"Dr. Dre never had it this easy. Music-creation social site, Songster, launched at SXSW on Wednesday for the music portion of the conference. Songster lets you feel like a musician and mix various beats and vocals to make your own tracks.


To access the game, you need to sign-in with your Facebook account. Songster lets users chose from rap, rock and alternative music to mash together and create their own song. Users can share their tracks on Facebook and connect with other Songster players. Players can also use virtual coins to progress to bigger and better gigs. The virtual venues can be selected from a cartoon map.


Songster is the first game by Atlanta-based startup, Mowgli. Founder and CEO Marshall Seese, Jr. came from a legal background, practicing entertainment and technology law for seven years while balancing that with his own music career (Seese is a musician, too). He combined his expertise in entertainment and passion for making music to create Songster.


“As a musician, I’m really passionate about people connecting through music,” he told Mashable. “So I wanted to enable anyone to make great songs, not just sounds. Social gaming seemed like a great fit because it embraces user creation.”


Players can step in the shoes of a struggling musician (as least virtually) and work their way up the ranks of the music industry. Players start by doing gigs at frat parties and eventually arenas — depending on how well they do. Because music is so subjective, Seese said, they plan to track the success of a song by how many “Likes” and comments it gets rather than an AI component. The feedback songs receive will translate to virtual record sales, enabling players to progress faster through the game based on how popular their songs become.


As more players join, the team at Mowgli can work out any issues and add more features such as charts, which will be available within the next couple of months. Players will be able to see how their songs compare against their friends’ songs based on shares and “Likes.”


Currently, Songster is in beta but it’s open to the public now. The game is free for everyone.
“Most song packs can be bought for in-game currency, which can be earned by playing the game,” Seese said. “Only premium features and unlocking things early costs money at this point.”"

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