Neil Young to pull out from streaming services because of ‘bad quality’

Canadian singer-songwriter/high-fidelity music advocate/Pono Player creator, Neil Young, doesn’t want anything to do with streaming services. He’s announced that he plans to pull out of the likes of Apple Music, Spotify, and Tidal. His reason: the sound quality is so bad that’s it’s doing a disservice to his fans. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t griping about the payment structure of these services either.

According to Young, “Streaming has ended for me. I hope this is ok for my fans. It’s not because of the money, although my share (like all the other artists) was dramatically reduced by bad deals made without my consent. It’s about sound quality. I don’t need my music to be devalued by the worst quality in the history of broadcasting or any other form of distribution. I don’t feel right allowing this to be sold to my fans. It’s bad for my music.”

Source: Pitchfork | Via: Cult of Mac

Prince pulls music from streaming sites Spotify and Rdio

Prince has had this love-hate relationship with the Internet and its services. He seems to empathize and agree with Taylor Swift’s criticism of freemium streaming services. So, what does he do? He pulls his music catalogue from the likes of Spotify and Rdio. If you want to hear his music online, right now you can see it on Tidal, SoundCloud, Deezer, and Google Play. There’s no word yet if Google plans to pull out his catalogue. We’re not sure if he’s coming to Apple Music. But for now, you’ll have a limited number of services to gain access to his funk-heavy tunes.

Source: MacWorld

Update on Saturday, July 4, 2015 at 7:04PM by Nicole Batac

Prince still has his catalogue on Deezer. Original article has been edited to reflect changes.

Drake, Pharrell, Elton John, Jaden Smith, etc. to get shows on Beats 1

With the Beats 1 Radio service debut looming over our heads, it seems DJ Zane Lowe called in a few high profile friends to help out. A bunch of celebrities will be hosting their own music shows with genres spanning the classics to something the millennials in your life would love. A few of the guest hosts include Drake, Elton John, Pharrell, Jaden Smith, Disclosure, St. Vincent, and Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age. And yes, Dr. Dre also gets his own show.  

Source: Cult of Mac 

Sony Music CEO confirms Apple’s new music streaming service ahead of WWDC

It seems to be Apple is cooking up their new music streaming service, at least according to Sony Music CEO Doug Morris. He confirmed rumours about this service just ahead of WWDC keynote tomorrow. Morris made the announcement while speaking at the Midem music industry conference in Cannes, France and while he didn’t talk about the specifics, it definitely points to a high probability that a music related announcement is coming.

Morris believes that Apple’s entry into the music streaming game might boost the business for the company and its competitors. “My guess is that Apple will promote this like crazy and I think that will have a halo effect on the streaming business,” he said. 

Source: VentureBeat | Via: MacWorld