Spotify Launches Global Streaming Chart. But Not in Canada.

Spotify is probably the world's best-known streaming music service.  It's in many, many countries--but still not in Canada.

Still, it's worth monitoring what the company is doing.  Take, for example, their launch of a weekly chart based on what users in given countries are listening to.  From Engadget:

Taking a page out of Billboard's playbook, Spotify is using its listener data to determine the most popular music in a particular country. Available on the website or as embeddable widgets, the weekly updated charts will reveal which tracks are most listened to for the Spotify 50. The Social 50 list will contain the tracks most often actively shared by the service's users, including via Facebook and Twitter. Another new addition is the ability to see play counts for an artist's top tracks, tracking global plays since October 2008. 

Sounds cool, right?  Too bad that Canadians are still being shut out.  The Next Web has more, too.

Want Super Hearing? Just Print Yourself a Bionic Ear

We're only just starting to realize the potential of 3D printers.  But who saw this one coming?  From Mashable:

Scientists at Princeton University have designed a bionic ear that can hear better than human ears. And get this: It was printed using an off-the-shelf 3D printer.

We've heard of 3D printers someday building human organs before, but what's noteworthy about this project is this printed ear intertwines embedded electronics. These Princeton researchers basically 3D-printed cells and nanoparticles, and then combined a small coil antenna with cartilage to create this "bionic" ear, according to the university.

The result was a fully-functional organ that can hear radio frequencies a million times higher than our human ears, lead researcher Michael McAlpine toldMashable.

Read on.

Two New Approaches to Radio

Radio is the oldest of all the electronic mass media and is slowly evolving with 21st century technology. Here are two examples of how things are changing.

NPR's "Responsive Design"

US public radio recently unveiled its new "mobile first" digital strategy.  From the RAIN newsletter:

The redesign now offers full versions of each story (instead of abridged content) along with easier links to audio, photos and video.

"It’s easier for us to build a coherent, full experience at the small screen level and let it grow up to the big screen rather than try to create something on a big screen and then figure out what things to take away to make it work on a small screen," said Mark Stencel, NPR digital news editor.

If you want to know more, go here.

The BBC's "Perceptiive Radio"

Check out this report from GizMag:

Perceptive Radio uses local data and onboard sensors to adjust itself and even alter the script of a radio play in real time to reflect local conditions. The goal is to make listening to the radio more like attending live theater.

Developed by BBC R&D’s Future Media North Lab in collaboration with Mudlark, the Perceptive Radio may look like an old fashioned portable wireless set, but it conceals some real computing power. Perhaps the fact that it resembles something that George Orwell might have owned is apt because what it does sounds a bit Orwellian – it can sense what's going on around it and rewrite a radio play as you listen to it. However, its purpose is really to provide a glimpse at what broadcasting might one day look like and add a new dimension to the listener’s experience.

Cool, huh?  Continue reading.

The Story of the First Canadian Band to Broadcast a Gig on the Internet

But answer me this:  who was the first Canadian band to perform a netcast?

A couple of weeks ago at the KOI CON music business conference in Kitchener, I ran into Ian Graham and he told me his story:

The date was October 3rd, 1996 when Eye Rhyme did the first "Live to Internet" broadcast by a Canadian indie band. It was to promote the release of our second CD Soul.

At that time, I could see how the internet was going to revolutionize band promotion and the audience's they could reach with a simple website. But I wanted to test the limits and push the possibilities of doing a live performance to anyone with a computer and internet access.

Click to read more ...

How and Why You Need to Get Your Music onto Google Play Music All Access

"Google Play Music All Access."  Doesn't really trip off the tongue, does it?  Yet this will be a force in the music business.  This means that if you're an artist, you should really look at getting your music onto the service.  The Music Goat takes it from there.

If you are a musicians with original music, it might be a good idea to get your music on Google Play Music All Access whether you believe in the streaming model or not. Here’s why (and how).

Probably the biggest reason is that there are are a bazillion people using Android Phones. You can bet that Google is going to do there best to let everyone of them know about it.

Also, unlike Spotify or MOG, Google Play Music All Access is linking to a store where people can buy your music. Who knows how many streamers will go another step further to buy it but its worth a shot. I am waiting to see if that makes a difference or not but a sale here and a sale there is better than nothing right?

Continue reading.