Spotify mounted a defense of its free tier Tuesday, saying music with no upfront cost is good for both artists and fans. Troy Carter, an executive who acts as Spotify’s liaison with the music industry, compared paid and free listening to how musicians sell high-priced front-row tickets as well as cheap nose-bleed seats to their …
Read More »
AT&T wants to give you a cheaper alternative to cable TV. The answer: Its new DirecTV Now online video service will cost only $35 a month. The price of the service, expected to launch next month, will include the cost of streaming plus 100 channels of programming, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said on Tuesday at the WSJ.D live conference in …
Read More »
Daily fantasy sports sites are now legal in New York, but FanDuel and DraftKings still aren’t in the clear. Fantasy sports betting was legalized in the state in August following a shutdown earlier in the year. However, the two sites have still been also under investigation by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman for allegations of fraudulent advertising practices sparked …
Read More »
Do these cartoon breasts offend you? Apparently, they offended Facebook. Swedish cancer awareness site Cancerfonden published an open letter (translated) to the social media company, asking that Facebook reinstate its awareness video, “Breast School” after the company took it down. Instead of the offending circles, above, which the site used to explain how women should check for worrisome lumps and …
Read More »
Apple went “Blonde.” Tidal served “Lemonade.” And now Amazon has entered “The Chase.” Amazon Music Unlimited, a subscription music service launched last week by the e-commerce giant, is the first of its kind to stream music by Garth Brooks, one of the best-selling recording artists of all time. Exclusives like the one announced Wednesday with Brooks are a core strategy …
Read More »
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler wants consumers to know he has their backs as he makes a final push to get new rules in place to protect online privacy and open competition in the cable set-top box market. In a commentary published Wednesday on CNET, Wheeler ticked off several consumer-friendly policies and rules his agency has adopted since he took office …
Read More »
It might be hard to remember, but Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is still running a business. Over the past few weeks, the internet pioneer has been in the headlines for just about anything except its products. Instead, Mayer and her team have drawn scrutiny after suffering what could be the biggest hack and theft of personal account info in history, …
Read More »
Vudu is picking up where Hulu left off, sort of. Vudu, Walmart’s online store for buying and renting digital movies, launched on Tuesday a limited selection that viewers can stream free with advertising, no payment necessary. Called “Vudu Movies on Us,” it has about a thousand titles from Vudu’s total library of 100,000. Vudu will play several 30-second commercials before …
Read More »
Google is helping usher in a new way for companies to tout their brand names in the digital realm. On September 29, the search giant began publishing a new website that uses the .google, rather than the standard .com, as its domain name. The new site, blog.google, consolidates 19 previously separate Google blogs. Google’s website is at the fore of …
Read More »
Shazam is introducing music-video channels to its song-identification app, its latest bolt-on feature aimed at keeping people inside its app longer. The channels stream curated videos, in partnership with a company called Vadio, which powers music-video players for media and tech companies. Early in the app economy almost a decade ago, Shazam emerged as a breakthrough concept that capitalized on …
Read More »
