Neil Young restores catalog on music streaming services

After one year or so of swearing off music streaming services due to audio quality issues, fock/rock musician Neil Young finds his music catalog back in the likes of Spotify, Apple Music, and Deezer. His music has been on Tidal due to the streaming service offering a “HiFi” tier in its service for those who want lossless quality tunes.

Young had been concentrating on its Pono brand, which included the PonoPlayer and PonoMusic download service. Both focusing on offering maximum audio quality. However, PonoMusic has been offline since July following the acquisition of its platform provider Omnifone. Perhaps, the drop in income has made Young reconsider his position. If you’re a fan and on these services, this is good news for you.

Source: AppleInsider

Frank Ocean drops new album as an Apple Music-exclusive for the next two weeks

Fans of Frank Ocean have been waiting for this day to come. Now, if you’re an Apple Music user, you’ll get a chance to listen to Blond there. The album is spelled out as Blonde on Apple’s music streaming service and it’ll be an exclusive on Apple Music and iTunes for two weeks. The 17-track album features Ocean’s collaboration with some big names in music including Beyoncé, Pharrell, Kanye West, Tyler The Creator, James Blake, Andre 3000, Jamie xx, and Rick Rubin, to name a few.

The album was formerly known as Boys Don’t Cry and was set for an August 5^th release but when a The New York Times report detailed the release, Ocean and his team pushed back the release because they supposedly lost the element of surprise with the leak. It might be a better deal for the fans, though, because aside from Blond, Ocean also released a visual album called Endless and a new music video for Nikes, which is the first track off of Blond.

Source: The Verge

Netflix renews second season of Beat Bugs

This adorable feel-good Netflix Original animated series, Beat Bugs, that aims to bring kids and families together over the love for the music of The Beatles will premiere August 3. Writer and Director Josh Wakely has confirmed yesterday at the Netflix Television Critics Association panel discussion that it has already been renewed for a second season and premiering worldwide November 18. The announcement also mentioned seven more aritsts have signed on to participate in the series.

Aloe Blacc, Robbie Williams, Frances and The Lumineers will join the Beat Bugs family this August, adding to an already celebrated set of singing talent that will help introduce the beloved catalogue of Beatles classics to a new generation. Covers by Rod Stewart, Jennifer Hudson and Tori Kelly will be featured in Season 2 this November.

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Apple Music on Android fixes music playback and playlist bugs

The latest update for Apple Music on Android brings some much needed bug fixes. Version 0.9.11 resolves a playback issue that could result in songs skipping over the first two seconds of the music. Another fix introduced in the update remedies issues with albums appearing in an “unexpected order” when added to a playlist.

If you’ve been meaning to try Apple Music on Android, your device needs to run on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean or higher. The app is free for download on Google Play but you’ll need to be a subscriber to use the streaming service. It costs per month $9.99 for individual use or $14.99 for families and you get a 90-day free trial run.

Source: Cult of Mac