Tag: music streaming

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Mobile Syrup

Apple Music’s $4.99 Voice Plan is almost here

Apple Music’s $4.99 Voice Plan, which was unveiled by the Cupertino, California-based company during its fall Unleashed event, is reportedly ready to be rolled out, according to The Verge.

The affordable plan, which lets you access Apple Music using your voice and Siri, has been spotted in iOS 15.2 beta release notes by MacStories editor-in-chief Federico Viticci, who shared a screenshot of the notes on Twitter.

At the time of unveiling, Apple said the plan would roll out “this fall,” however, it was delayed and is now being released with a software update, similar to how Apple rolled out SharePlay with iOS 15.1 after the feature failed to launch with iOS 15.

This new subscription works with all Apple devices that can use Siri, making it especially beneficial for people who just have a HomePod or HomePod mini.

The release notes also suggest that “new safety features for children and parents in Messages” would also soon see the light of day. The feature will most likely build on existing parental controls.

Image credit: Apple

Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Spotify Wrapped 2021 is out to recap your favourite songs of the year

Welcome to December. To mark the fast-approaching end of the year, Spotify has released its annual ‘Wrapped’ playlists and accompanying statistics.

This includes a personalized list within your Spotify app and several global lists that showcase music trends from around the world. I’m able to view my Wrapped list on my smartphone, but not on the desktop version of Spotify. The popular feature will likely roll out to desktop in the coming days.

Personal lists

To help spice up the personal lists this year, Spotify has added a section that soundtracks your year like a movie and another that shows you a picture of your audio aura. Further into this story, you of course, can see your most played songs, top artists, and other interesting stats.

Each stat also plays out as an interactive vertical card that can shared easily on TikTok, Instagram and other social media platforms.

If you want to dive deeper into Spotify’s Wrapped playlists, tap where it says ‘Your 2020 in review’ on the Home page to reveal more playlists and the ability to create a blended playlist with both you and your friend’s top songs.

Global stats

The number one artist globally was Bad Bunny, followed by Taylor Swift. BTS came in third, and two Canadians, Drake and Justin Bieber, came in fourth and fifth, respectively.

The top song was unsurprisingly Olivia Rodrigio’s Drivers License, which Spotify says was streamed over 1 billion times. Her album SOUR was also the top album of the year. You can find the rest of the regular stats here, but what’s more interesting are the company’s random finds. For instance, The top album released more than 20 years ago is Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours followed by Nevermind by Nirvana.

Spotify also mentions that its Music for Plants playlist has grown nearly 1,400 percent during the pandemic, and users have created almost 3 million of their own playlists related to plants or gardening. It’s also worth mentioning that 187,000 sea shanty playlists were auto-generated on Spotify last year.

Source: Spotify

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Mobile Syrup

YouTube Music now offers free background listening in Canada

Canadian YouTube Music users can now listen to tunes in the background.

Google made the announcement last month, but the feature has now officially rolled out here.

With this update, you can continue to listen to YouTube Music while using other apps or when your phone’s screen is off.

This feature is available via YouTube Music’s free tier, meaning ads are supported. Otherwise, YouTube Premium, which includes YouTube Music Premium for ad-free music, is priced at $11.99/month.

In addition to background playback, the free YouTube Music tier does support continuous stations and shuffle and Google’s hands-free Assistant driving mode.

Via: Google Canada

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Mobile Syrup

Google reducing Play Store subscription cut to 15 percent starting January 1

Google will lower the cut it takes from subscriptions on the Google Play Store to 15 percent “starting from day one.”

The change marks a significant shift for the company, which previously charged a 30 percent cut of subscription revenue in the first 12 months before dropping to 15 percent for subscriptions that continue beyond that point. The change will come into effect starting January 1st, 2022.

Additionally, Google said it would change the service fee in the ‘Media Experience program,’ which will see the fee drop as low as 10 percent for ebooks and on-demand music streaming services.

However, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman pointed out on Twitter that the change doesn’t apply to in-app purchases, such as for digital goods sold in games.

While the change is overall good, it’s also worth keeping in mind the likely catalyst. Google positions the change as addressing “developer needs,” but it comes as Google faces down antitrust lawsuits over its Play Store practices.

Just this year alone, lawsuits have accused Google of illegally trying to control Android app distribution, paying developers to keep them on the Play Store and attempting to keep Netflix using in-app purchases by offering the company a special deal. Google also reportedly considered purchasing Epic Games to make the “contagion” of distributing apps outside the Play Store go away. While Google says the change is to help developers, it may also be an effort to avoid scrutiny over its Play Store practices.

It’s also worth noting Apple has been dealing with antitrust allegations over its App Store in recent months as well. The Epic Games vs. Apple lawsuit resulted in Apple being required to allow developers to use other payment processing systems if they wish. A similar ruling in another lawsuit saw Apple allow developers to use email to offer alternate payment methods to customers.

Both Apple and Google previously rolled out new rules that reduced the cut each company took from 30 percent to 15 percent for developers who made less than $1 million USD. The move was criticized both for poor implementation and for being an attempt to stave off regulator scrutiny.

Source: Google

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Mobile Syrup

This is how to block artists on Spotify

DaBaby is a raging homophobe and as someone who used to listen to his music, I sometimes still see it in my recommended music lists on Spotify. I wanted to change that.

While I tried to block the individual songs I encountered, I quickly realized that was impossible. However, what’s even better is that you can completely block an artist with Spotify.

So here’s how to block artists — like DaBaby, for example — with the Android and iOS versions of Spotify:

Open Spotify

Click the ‘Search’ button

Type in the name of the artist you’d like to block (DaBaby)

Tap on the three-dot (horizontal on iPhone, vertical on Android) menu button below the name of the artist

Tap ‘Don’t play this artist’ (on iPhone) or ‘Don’t play this’ (on Android)

These are easy steps regarding how to block artists on Spotify. It’s worth noting that even if you manually tap on a blocked artist’s song, it won’t play, which is perfect. It’s worth noting that I noticed all of the artist’s songs are greyed out on iOS, but this doesn’t happen on Android.

Additionally, if the artist isn’t the main name on the track, it will still play. So, unfortunately, “Levitating” by Dua Lipa featuring DaBaby will still play.

Either way, this is one step closer to getting rid of bigoted music on my Spotify-generated music playlists.