 RAIN 3/22: Apple cloud-based music service reportedly arriving in April ·Mar 22, 10:29 AM HYPEBOT: EARLY LAUNCH PRESSURES GOOGLE, SPOTIFY, SLACKERApple is reportedly prepping to launch a cloud-based music “locker” service sometime in April, Hypebot reports.
The service will integrate with the company’s soon-to-be-relaunched MobileMe product and iTunes to allow users to store their music online and stream it from any mobile device. The service is rumored to cost $20 per year. Such an early launch from Apple “places pressure on Slacker to get their on-demand service to market and for Spotify to finalize their US deals,” Apple’s rumored service sounds similar to Google’s coming cloud music offering (pictured left). Google’s service also stores users music online for streaming access anywhere, and is in fact already in use by some Android hackers (including your humble reporter; more from Rolling Stone here). Some have predicted that Google’s service will cost around $25 per year. “It looks like the race to the cloud is underway,” concludes Hypebot (here). MOG LOOKING FOR UP TO $30m IN NEW FUNDINGOnline music subscription service MOG is reportedly working to raise $25-30 million in new investment. The service raised $10 million in funding last year, All Things Digital reports,  and $15 million altogether.
“The big rap on subscription streaming services like MOG, Rdio, Rhapsody and Spotify is two-fold: Royalty fees from the music owners are too high, and consumer demand is too low,” writes All Things Digital (here). But MOG founder David Hyman (pictured left) argues he’s (a) worked out profitable deals with the major labels and (b) new technology, like in-car web radio, makes services like MOG more attractive to consumers. You can hear more of Hyman’s thoughts at RAIN Summit West 2011, where he’ll be a part of our panel on “The Future of Music.” Find out more here. APP ADDS SOCIAL GAMING ELEMENTS TO JUKEBOX Roqbot, a new smartphone app that just won the SXSW Accelerator contest, lets patrons control music playback in public venues. The service lets users vote for different songs on their iPhone or Android device, adding social gaming elements to the run-of-the-mill jukebox experience.
For example, to request a song in the app you need a credit, which you can just buy or earn through certain actions like allowing the app to post content to Facebook or Twitter. Wired has much more coverage here. LOGITECH SQUEEZEBOX, GRACE DIGITAL LAUNCH ANDROID REMOTE APPSOwners of Logitech’s Squeezebox wireless music system or Grace Digital radios can control playback via new free Android apps. The Squeezebox app displays song metadata and album art, while Grace Digital’s app provides easy access to over 50,000 online radio stations. Read more from Logitech here and Grace Digital here.share: del.icio.us.  Reddit  Digg  Yahoo  Wink  Windows  Google  Newsvine 
CommentCommenting is closed for this article.  Other stories RAIN has upgraded (and moved)! RAIN 9/13: RAIN Summit Chicago takes place today! RAIN 9/12: First Summit in RAIN's hometown takes place tomorrow RAIN 9/9: Summer holidays, "doldrums" impact July Webcast Metrics, but audience up over last year RAIN 9/8: Clear Channel launches new customizable iHeartRadio beta; RAIN goes hands-on RAIN 9/7: Meet more speakers you'll hear at RAIN Summit Chicago in less than a week RAIN 9/6: Clear Channel taps The Echo Nest to take on Pandora RAIN 9/2: RAIN reviews Spotify's radio-like product Artist Radio RAIN 9/1: UK online radio aggregator Radioplayer campaigns b'dcasters to create "all radio" ratings RAIN 8/31: Execs from Merlin, Triton Digital, jacAPPS and more to appear at RAIN Summit Chicago |
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