Tag: music

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Mobile Syrup

Google’s AI generated music is unsurprisingly great

Google has shared a new AI research project called MusicLM that uses AI to make music, and it’s the latest AI to make artists scared for their jobs.

You can’t use this tool publically like ChatGDP, but Google has shared a ton of samples attached to a research document. These range from small ten-second snippets to full-length five-minute songs.

This tool takes simple text inputs or a person humming and turns that into beautiful music. You can even use a sequence of text prompts to write a song that changes over time. After listening to a couple, the AI doesn’t recreate human music perfectly since it can’t do voices well, but the beats are always interesting and melodic, to say the least. I’d also expect Google to make this much better at human singing soon.

MusicLM really shines by recreating soft beats like melodic techno and relaxing jazz. There are five-minute samples of each genre near the top of the research paper’s sample zone, and they are worth a listen.

There’s no word when or how Google will release this fully, but as we extend further into the AI world, it seems like no creative pursuits are safe.

Source: Google Research

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Mobile Syrup

Here’s how to get Spotify Wrapped 2022

Spotify users can rejoice now that Wrapped 2022 is live, offering insight into what each user listened to. Beyond that, Spotify has also shared several stats regarding Canada’s most streamed tracks and albums.

To check your Wrapped list, update your Spotify app to at least ‘version 8.78.8.’

Unsurprisingly, Toronto native Drake was the most streamed artist in Canada in 2022, but Harry Styles’ As it was took the top spot as the most streamed song in the country (and the world). His latest project was also the number one most-streamed album, likely due to the extraordinary amount of streams for As it was. 

Globally the most streamed artist is Bad Bunny, followed by Taylor Swift, Drake, The Weeknd and BTS.

All of these stats follow pretty closely in the footsteps of last year but notably, the song Heat Waves, by Glass Animals, won the top slot in the ‘Most shared lyrics’ category.

Regarding podcasts, the always classy Joe Rogan experience took the top spot with Call Her Daddy, and Anything goes with Emma Chamberlin filling out the podium.

If you’re an Apple Music subscriber, you can view your year-end recap here.

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Mobile Syrup

Apple Music’s yearly Replay gets a notable redesign

Apple Music has launched its yearly recap of the tracks you’ve listened to over the past year, Replay.

This year, Apple has opted to redesign the experience to be far sleeker, though it’s not quite as impressive as Spotify’s annual Wrapped.

First off, there’s now an Instagram ‘Stories’ like highlight reel, allowing you to view how many minutes you’ve listened to music this year, along with your favourite artists, songs, albums and playlists (the overall experience is very similar to Spotify’s Wrapped). Further, along with checking out your Replay stats through the Apple Music app, you can also view them on desktop. Interestingly, Replay also includes the top 100 listeners for specific artists.

The platform’s year-end also includes the most Shazamed songs of the year as part of its year-end top artists and tracks list.

It’s unclear when Spotify’s Wrapped will launch, but given Replay has already arrived, we’ll likely see it soon. YouTube Music recently launched its personalized end-of-year list.

Source: Apple

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Mobile Syrup

Where to stream Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium in Canada

Elton John will make his final North American performance on Sunday, November 20th at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles.

As part of his ongoing worldwide farewell tour, the six-time Grammy winner is also opening up the grand finale to those at home. Enter Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium, a special live broadcast of his North American swan song.

Those interested in tuning in can do so via Disney+. The service costs $11.99/month or $119.99/year.

The three-hour show will begin at 7:55pm PT/10:55pm ET with a pre-show red carpet event, “Countdown to Elton Live,” featuring interviews with John and his Canadian husband, David Furnish. The main event, meanwhile, will see Dua Lipa, Kiki Dee and Brandi Carlile take the stage with John.

The Dodger Stadium performance is part of John’s “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” farewell tour, which began in September 2018 with 300-plus planned stops. Following a number of COVID-related delays, the tour is slated to conclude in July 2023. John’s final Canadian shows took place in Toronto and Vancouver in September and October, respectively.

Image credit: Shutterstock

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Mobile Syrup

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack now available to stream

The Blank Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack is now available on Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, iTunes Store, Apple Music and Deezer.

The soundtrack features music from Rihanna, her new song Lift Me Up, and performances from Snow Tha Product, Burna Boy, E40 and more.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, launches on November 11th in theatres across Canada. The film stars Angela Bassett, Dominque Thorne, Letitia Wright, Tenoch Huerta and more.

Source: @theblackpanther

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Mobile Syrup

What’s your go-to music streaming app?

This week, news broke that Spotify might release a Platinum subscription tier offering called HiFi audio.

However, this higher premium tier might cost $20 per month, offering similar pricing to Tidal. On the other hand, Apple Music includes HiFi streaming at a much lower price. With this in mind, I decided to try Apple’s streaming music service but found that I’m not a fan of its user interface or playlists.

Last year, MobileSyrup’s Brad Bennett created a video focused on the different music streaming platforms available in Canada and outlined the pros and cons of each service (see above).

Personally, I still find Spotify’s design great, I trust its recommendations algorithm and its pre-made playlists are usually spot-on.

With all of this in mind, we’d like to know what music streaming platform you prefer. Do you subscribe to Apple Music or Spotify? Maybe you love Tidal or Deezer? Let us know in the comments below.

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Mobile Syrup

Spotify might launch HiFi quality tier next month

It looks like Spotify might finally bring HiFi streaming quality to subscribers. HiFi music is already available on Apple Music, Deezer and Tidal, but currently, the streaming music platform doesn’t offer music quality beyond 320kbit/s.

Spotify’s confirmed a HiFi subscription is coming back in 2021, but the lossless quality setting hasn’t yet hit the music streaming platform. Now, a Reddit user (nearlymind) has spotted the feature ahead of what is likely its official launch.

When the Redditor cancelled their Spotify Premium subscription to switch to Apple Music, the platform sent them a survey that asked them if they would consider paying for Spotify Platinum in the next 30 days. If this survey is correct, Spotify Platinum, which is assumed to include lossless quality music, might roll out in November.

Spotify new Platinum plan could feature HiFi streaming support, Studio Sound, headphone tuner utility, audio insights, Library Pro, Playlist Pro and Limited ad-supported Spotify podcasts.

It’s currently unclear what Playlist Pro would entail, but it could be similar to Apple Music’s Smart Playlist feature, which automatically adds songs to a playlist that fits specific criteria. On the other hand, Library Pro could let users edit metadata for songs, artists, albums and more.

Spotify Platinum will cost $19.99 USD (about $27.52 CAD), according to the Redditor’s post, which puts the cost in-line with Tidal. However, Apple Music offers HiFi as part of its base-level $9.99 pricing, so it’s possible we’ll see a restructuring of Spotify’s pricing tiers.

Source: What HiFi

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Mobile Syrup

Apple Music celebrates 100 million songs available on the service

Apple has announced that its Apple Music streaming service has reached 100 million songs.

Apple Music officially launched on June 30th, 2015. Since then, Apple has continuously added new tracks by artists from around the world. Seven years later, Apple Music subscribers have a virtually endless supply of music to listen to. To celebrate, Apple is looking back at the evolution of its musical ambitions.

21 years ago, Apple launched iTunes, largely supported by the company’s iPod. At the time, it was novel to store 1,000 tracks on the device. Whether it was an assortment of albums, playlists, or beloved songs, Apple redefined how to interact with our favourite tracks and listen to them while on the go.

As Apple points out, Apple Music is available in 167 countries and regions worldwide. In Canada, a subscription is available for as little as $4.99/month. Apple Music is now home to established artists as well as up-and-comers. Each day, Apple claims more than 20,000 artists are delivering songs to the platform.

As part of its 100 million song celebration, Apple Music notes the importance of discoverability. “At Apple Music, human curation has always been the core to everything we do, both in ways you can see, like our editorial playlists; and ways you can’t, like the human touch that drives our recommendation algorithms,” writes the tech giant.

Apple is not only providing curation with the help of algorithms but also through its ‘Apple Music Today’ series. To assist with discoverability, each day Apple Music selects a new song to highlight and dives into its history.

In recent news, Apple Music is replacing Pepsi as the official Super Bowl Halftime Show sponsor. Super Bowl LVII is set to host Rihanna as the headlining performer in February.

Image credit: Apple

Source: Apple

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Mobile Syrup

How to find the songs you’ve Shazamed with Siri

If you own an iPhone, you likely already know that you can ask Siri “What song is playing” and the voice assistant will provide you with an answer using the power of the music discovery app Shazam.

However, short of screenshotting every Siri/Shazam request, there are several more accessible ways to do this. If you have an Android phone, check out this story to learn how you can discover music in the real world.

The simplest way is to have Shazam on your iPhone. Boom — open the app, check your history, and you’re good to groove.

However, since Shazam is already built into Siri, you’re probably asking yourself, “is there a way to use it without the app?” There is, and it requires minimal setup.

Open your iPhone’s Setting app and navigate to the ‘Control Centre’ section near the top. Then tap on the green plus icon beside the ‘Music Recognition.’ This moves the Shazam toggle into Control Centre so you can quickly access it without having to trigger Siri.

On top of that, you can tap and hold on the new ‘S’ icon, which shows you a list of your recently searched songs.

Source: Apple

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Mobile Syrup

Ed Sheeran teams up with The Pokémon Company on ‘Celestial’ song

Ed Sheeran has partnered with The Pokémon Company to release a new song inspired by the massively popular monster-catching franchise.

On Twitter, the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter confirmed that a new Pokémon-themed single, “Celestial,” will drop on September 29th. When Sheeran collaborated with The Pokémon Company last year on a special Pokémon Go performance, it was focused on existing, non-Pokémon-related songs. “Celestial,” however, directly leans into Sheeran’s love of the series.

He briefly teased “Celestial” earlier this week in a social media video offering a glimpse at his large Pokémon plushie collection. He also got a Squirtle tattoo in celebration of the song. As one Twitter user pointed out, Sheeran has even been publicly professing his love for Pokémon since at least 2011 when he described Pokémon Black as “wicked.”

It’s unclear exactly how Pokémon will factor into the song, but Sheeran did share a doodle of himself with a Pikachu on his shoulder in his tweet. Presumably, the music video will feature Pokémon visuals and other inspired flourishes, which is what we saw in previous Pokémon collab songs from the likes of Katy Perry and Post Malone.

Outside of Sheeran’s upcoming single, The Pokémon Company is gearing up for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, which will launch on the Nintendo Switch on November 18th, 2022.

Image credit: @edsheeran

Source: @edsheeran