Tag: iTunes

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Bono apologizes for infecting your iPhone with U2’s album

U2’s Bono says he’s sorry for Apple automatically downloading his band’s 2014 album Songs of Innocence to every iTunes user’s account.

In an excerpt from his memoir Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story published by The Guardian, the man with no last name says that his “vaunting ambition” was why he approached Apple CEO Tim Cook with the idea.

During a meeting with Cook, Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, and Phil Schiller, current Fellow at Apple and former head of the App Store, Bono explained the Cupertino, California tech giant should pay U2 for the album and then “give it away free, as a gift to people.”

“Wouldn’t that be wonderful?,” the Vertigo singer said. Cook, however, wasn’t convinced and explained that he didn’t feel right about giving away the band’s “art” for free. Regardless, the deal eventually happened, prompting the album to appear on everyone’s iPhone like a rampant virus.

“I take full responsibility. Not Guy O, not Edge, not Adam, not Larry, not Tim Cook, not Eddy Cue. I’d thought if we could just put our music within reach of people, they might choose to reach out toward it. Not quite,” writes Bono in an excerpt from the memoir.

Thanks, Bono, what a wonderful gift. At least we now know how one of the strangest big tech moves of the mid-2010s happened.

Back in 2014, I remember spending the better part of an hour trying to find a way to remove Songs of Innocence from my iTunes library. While I eventually was able to ditch the album, the process was far more complicated than it needed to be.

On the bright side, it doesn’t seem like U2 will appear on your iPhone for free again when the band’s next album drops.

Source: The Guardian Via: Variety

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Musique

Elton John joins iTunes festival

Sir Elton John and Arctic Monkeys have been confirmed to headline the London iTunes festival 2013.

The ‘Rocket Man’ singer and the indie group will join further all-star acts on the line-up including Tom Odell, John Legend, Pixies, Robin Thicke, The Olms and No Ceremony.

Elton, who will be debuting his first new solo album in seven years, said: "I think it’s great that Apple makes these concerts accessible to everyone. For me, it’s a real thrill to play for young audiences – they’ve got so much energy and they all seem to know my songs!"

The 66-year-old singer added he has played a few "memorable gigs" at London’s Roundhouse venue, where the event takes place, with shows every night throughout September.

Robin Thicke – who recently scored a number one single in the UK with ‘Blurred Lines’ – will support John Legend on September 28.

He said: "I’m so excited to be taking part in the iTunes Festival this year. Once again iTunes has gathered some incredible talent and I am honoured to be included."

Alternative rock legends Pixies were also pleased to be added to the line up.

They said: "We’re excited to back on tour in Europe and performing at the iTunes Festival in London."

UK fans can win tickets using the iTunes Festival app and the iTunes Store as well as select media partners.

The first iTunes Festival was held in 2007 and previous line ups have seen performances from artists including Sir Paul McCartney, Amy Winehouse and Crowded House.

For more information visit iTunesfestival.com and follow @itunesfestival

iTunes festival 2013, current line-up:

Sept 2: Sigur Rós

Sept 4: Paramore

Sept 5: Rizzle Kicks

Sept 6: Queens of The Stone Age

Sept 7: Phoenix

Sept 9: Arctic Monkeys

Sept 11: Kings of Leon

Sept 12: Elton John / Tom Odell

Sept 15: Vampire Weekend / The Olms

Sept 16: Jack Johnson / Bahamas

Sept 17: Ludovico Einaudi

Sept 18: Thirty Seconds to Mars

Sept 20: Primal Scream

Sept 23: Jessie J

Sept 25: Pixies / No Ceremony

Sept 28: John Legend / Robin Thicke

Sept 29: Justin Timberlake

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Musique

One Direction to perform at iTunes festival

One Direction will perform at the year’s iTunes Festival.

The boy band – Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik – will headline a show at the Roundhouse in Camden, London, on September 20 and they are thrilled to be part of the annual live music event.

Harry said: "We’re so happy to be playing at the iTunes Festival this year.

"Every year we see some of our favourite bands and artists on the bill so to be part of the line up this year is obviously incredibly exciting and we’re hugely grateful for the opportunity. We can’t wait to see our fans at the festival."

‘OMG’ hitmaker Usher will open the festival on September 1 and said he is "honoured" to have been asked.

He said: "I am thrilled to jump start the iTunes Festival in London this year. I am honoured to set the stage for what’s to come."

Jack White and Norah Jones will also perform at the event which will take place for the entire month of September.

Tickets for the iTunes Festival are free for competition winners only.

Download the free official iTunes Festival app to apply for tickets and see the line-up or go to www.itunesfestival.com.

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Musique

Drake album launches in October

Canadian rapper Drake is set to release his second studio album Take Care on October 24, reports Altsounds.com.

The first single, Headlines, has already risen quickly to top of the iTunes sales chart, selling 139,274 copies within days of its release. The song was produced by Noah ‘40’ Shebib, Drake’s longtime collaborator, and quickly became the number one most added song at American media company Urban Radio.

Last June, Drake unveiled a second single, titled Marvin’s Room, with a darker, more subdued rhythm, expressing the atmosphere of a drunken late night. Since its launch, Marvin’s Room was the subject of several remixes by artists such as JoJo and Chris Brown.

Recently, Drake was honored with the Hal David Starlight Award at the 42nd annual Songwriters Hall of Fame gala and will also receive the Allan Slaight Award during Canada’s Walk of Fame Awards this fall.

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Musique

Pink Floyd wins battle against EMI

English progressive rock band, Pink Floyd, was anything but “comfortably numb” having just won a momentous legal battle against the EMI record company.

In an “us and them” legal fight, the band won the right to choose whether to keep their albums complete in digital form, or release individual songs – thereby honouring the album’s concept as a whole.

The band’s lawyers argued that under a contract signed between both parties in 1999, the record company was required to sell the catalog of material only as complete albums – including digital formats.

With the advent of the digital age, sites like iTunes and Amazon began offering their customers the ability to buy individual songs in digital format as opposed to having to purchase the whole album.

At the moment, the majority of the group’s songs are currently available individually on iTunes, although a number of them are not. The album-only songs are primarily longer tracks from early in the group’s career.

The ruling involves more than $15 million in allegedly unpaid royalties between the group and the troubled label. 

 

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Musique

Swift to prerelease three new songs on iTunes

Taylor Swift’s management team have been keeping themselves busy with the launch of the young singer’s third album, Speak Now. They have already arranged two exclusive agreements surrounding the album, due out in stores on October 25th.

The first exclusive signed with Target, gives the American retail chain exclusive rights to sell the upcoming Deluxe edition of the album.

The second exclusive, just been confirmed with online music giant, Apple iTunes, which will release new songs from the album every week, until its release date October 25.

So, on October 5, you can buy the title track, Speak Now, followed by Back to December on October 12, and finally the song Mean will go on sale October 19. Ironically, Kanye West was also released a song a week, every Friday leading up to Christmas.

The day before each song debut, a 30 second preview and brief interview can be seen on xfinitytv.com.

Last month, Mine, the first single from the album was released on iTunes, and climbed to the top of the iTunes singles chart just six hours after its release.

 

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Musique

New Patrick Watson single

Since the release of Wooden Arms in 2009, most news about Patrick Watson has dealt with shows the group was doing around the world. This time around, Patrick Watson surprises fans with a new single, an exclusive track that iTunes negotiated with the singer-songwriter  and the band that he fronts.

The song Sit Down Beside Me has been on the music site since yesterday (May 25). As with the band’s first two albums, this single was launched in collaboration with Secret City Records. The 4 minute, 32-second song is typical Patrick Watson with the frontman seated  behind the piano and singing in his distinctive voice.

Patrick Watson and his group are currently touring in the American west. They then head overseas where there are some festivals planned in France between July 2-15 and a show in Portugal on July 17, 2010.

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Musique

Paul McCartney points a finger

Paul McCartney thinks it is utterly ridiculous that Beatles music cannot be downloaded in the year 2010. Fans cannot purchase their music from the iTunes Store, Amazon or from any online music store. The only way to buy Beatles music is to pick up a CD or buy a vinyl record online that will be mailed to you.

According to an interview McCartney gave to BBC’s Newsbeat, it is "business hassles" that prevent the Fab Four’s songs and albums from being available online to download. He says EMI management are to blame for the situation.

Paul McCartney says, "To tell you the truth I don’t actually understand how it’s got so crazy. I know iTunes would like to do it, so one day it’s going to happen. It’s been business hassles, not with us, or iTunes. It’s the people in the middle, the record label. There have been all sorts of reasons why they don’t want to do it."

McCartney is not the only artist to disagree with the way EMI does business. Radiohead and Pink Floyd are a few other big names who parted ways with the record label. Queen could be the next jewel in the crown to depart one of the most powerful labels in the world.

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Musique

Black Eyed Peas are #1

Yesterday (February 11), iTunes Store released a list of its 25 best selling songs since the site went live. Two artists stood apart from the rest, Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga. A majority of the songs in the top 10 were released less than 18 months ago.

The Black Eyed Peas claim first and third place with their songs I Gotta Feeling and Boom Boom Pow.

Lady Gaga takes second place with Poker Face and shows up in sixth place with Just Dance. Lady Gaga then reappears in 22nd place with the song Bad Romance. This single was released less than two months ago.

Ke$ha takes tenth position for her song TiK ToK that has dominated the charts for the last two months.

The Top 10 songs sold on iTunes Store since 2003 are:

1. I Gotta Feeling, Black Eyed Peas
2. Poker Face, Lady Gaga
3. Boom Boom Pow, Black Eyed Peas
4. I’m Yours, Jason Mraz
5. Viva la Vida, Coldplay
6. Just Dance, Lady Gaga & Colby O’Donis
7. Low, Flo Rida (avec T-Pain)
8. Love Story, Taylor Swift
9. Bleeding Love, Leona Lewis
10. TiK ToK, Ke$ha

 

Categories
Musique

Ke$ha Making Music History

Canadian Soundscan revealed that Tik Tok by Ke$ha is the past week’s best-selling song in Canada with a record sale of 36 395 downloads, which makes it the most downloaded song in a one-week timespan in Canadian history and the digital music industry.

Ironically, Ke$ha became well known for singing with Flo Rida in the song Right Round, which previously held the record. 

The singer is also making waves in the United States, and reigns with the best-selling song of the week with 610 069 downloads for Tik Tok.

Earlier this week, Ke$ha announced that she would be giving a concert in Montreal on Tuesday, January 19 at the Juste Pour Rire studio on Saint-Laurent Boulevard.