Morning Music Notes – 50,000,000,000 Useless Things
Google Launches All Access Music Streaming Service
Google has officially launched their online music streaming service, All Access, named after the kind of treatment I can’t afford at strip clubs. The service will launch initially in the US, and will cost $7.99 a month for early adopters ($9.99 regularly / after June 30). There is a free option, but only for one month, AND you need to provide your billing information. Not cool, Google.
The service will run through Google Play, giving it the awkward name of Google Play Music All Access. Since Google is an information hoarder, they might have a leg up in the music curation process. Music libraries can be suggested based on the mountains of data Google has on its users, such as past history, Google+ circles and +1s, and other information it has mined from your head.
Is Spotify scared? Maybe a little, and granted I haven’t used the service yet, but it does not seem like a game changer just yet.
Eric Avery Leaves Nine Inch Nails
To all the people that think Trent Reznor = Nine Inch Nails, and that Nine Inch Nails = Trent Reznor, they would be surprised to hear that bassist Eric Avery has left Nine Inch Nails. Avery wrote on Facebook, “its with very mixed emotions i tell you all that im pulling out of NIN. i know. its been a tough call and i don’t know if its the right one. but i really want to focus on my musical life here in la, on film work in particular. as the tour dates kept growing… i just got overwhelmed. i just got home from a year of heavy travel with garbage, the idea of leaving town for another year and a half, and with all the intensity that nails demands… fortunately my friend Trent understands all this and appreciated my pulling the plug now instead of deep into 2013 and 14. go get em gentlemen.”
NIN are about to kick off a tour on July 26 in Japan, before playing Lollapalooza and other festivals.
Apple’s App Store Hits 50 Billion Downloads
The number is so large, it’s almost incomprehensible. Apple’s App Store has just hit 50,000,000,000 downloads (via Digital Trends). It took less than five years to reach this target. Downloader number 50 billion got a $10,000 App Store gift card, while the next fifty downloaders got a $500 gift card, too. Those cards might’ve convinced me to shake my “free app only” policy. The 25 billionth download was in March 2012, showing the growth rate of app downloads.
Listen! Earthquake Weather – This December
Some straight up indie rock that would’ve fit in well in the 90s. And since I lived through the 90s and didn’t hate all of the music, you get a tune from Earthquake Weather (which is also the name of a Beck song – 90s influence perhaps?). Check out the track This December below.
