Apple might have bigger plans for next week than initially thought. The new iMac, iPad Pro, and Apple TV 4K are all set to start shipping to early preorder customers on or around May 21st, but now it seems there could be two surprise announcements: a hi-fi streaming tier of Apple Music, and maybe even AirPods 3.
The Apple Music part seems extremely likely when you factor in a report from 9to5Google . Digging into the latest Apple Music for Android beta app, they discovered direct references to high-resolution audio that didn't exist previously
Lossless audio files preserve every detail of the original file. Turning this on will consume significantly more data.
Lossless audio files will use significantly more space on your device. 10 GB of space could store approximately: – 3000 songs at high quality – 1000 songs with lossless – 200 songs with hi-res lossless
Lossless streaming will consume significantly more data. A 3-minute song will be approximately: – 1.5 MB with high efficiency- 6 MB with high quality at 256 kbps- 36 MB with lossless at 24-bit/48 kHz- 145 MB with hi-res lossless at 24-bit/192 kHzSupport varies and depends on song availability, network conditions, and connected speaker or headphone capability.
So it sounds like Apple has every intention of matching what Tidal, Amazon Music HD, and services like Qobuz currently deliver. It's also worth noting that there've been recent references to Dolby Atmos spatial audio in Apple Music on iOS, according to 9to5Mac .
There's money to be made, and the ingredients are all there: Apple now sells premium headphones in the AirPods Max, and wireless carriers continue to talk up the promise and speeds of their growing 5G networks. I can't imagine 5G will be required for lossless Apple Music streaming, but it's a nice flex of the technology right in the middle of the iPhone 12 cycle.
There have already been quite a few leaks that revealed details about Apple's next iteration of AirPods , but the real question has been around release timing. Yesterday, a report from a site called AppleTrack suggested that the new AirPods could be announced alongside this new lossless tier of Apple Music. I don't quite follow the logic, myself; no one really thinks of regular AirPods as the right choice for audiophile listening, but maybe Apple just wants new hardware of some sort to launch in tandem with the new service.
Taken on its own, the AirPods rumor seems "sketchy" as 9to5Mac said. But the sudden discoveries about lossless audio in Apple Music for Android seem to add some fuel to the fire.
Mile of Music in Appleton poised to make its return after year off
Organizers of the sprawling original music festival haven't yet officially announced a 2021 in-person event.
However, in a Friday message, organizers asked fans to save the dates of Aug. 5-8 for "Mile 8" of the sprawling original music festival, which has historically drawn over 90,000 people over four days to downtown Appleton.
Still, the event is not entirely set in stone yet. While organizers are encouraged by the rate of vaccinations and other COVID data in the community, Dave Willems, the festival's co-founder and executive producer, said they're trying to be as safe as possible.
"We're beyond excited that all indications point to a special Mile 8 this August, though we are still working on the details of the size and scope of the event," Willems said.
The official announcement — including festival specifics like the venues and health and safety protocol and precautions — will come at the end of May, after organizers have completed discussions with health and city officials, as well as host venues throughout downtown, Willems said.
Willems told the city Board of Health on Wednesday that there are still a lot of moving parts to work out, like whether they'll require face masks, how to best limit capacities at indoor venues of various sizes and how to handle rain while preventing large crowds to gather indoors.
And perhaps the biggest challenge they face, Willems said, is figuring out how they can afford the increased expenses that come with hosting a free music festival in the midst of a subsiding global pandemic.
"We've been on hold for more than a year, and the fact that whether we can even stage a festival has been such an unknown," Willems said, "and that we haven't been able to recruit sponsors and other community support puts us well behind the eight-ball."
Despite those challenges, Willems is confident their "seasoned execution team" can make the festival happen logistically, and that Mile of Music's "dedicated legion of music fans and community supporters" will help them come up with the funding they need.
Sarah Schroeder-Matzkin Wows Audiences with Her Powerful New Music Video
The videos for both "Betrayal" and "Look Too the Stars," Schroeder-Matzkin's track for the movie soundtrack of Not Alone , were selected for the International Music Video Awards 2021. Some of Schroeder-Matzkin's other notable awards for music and acting include:
Sarah Schroeder - Matzkin and Steven Matzkin collaboratively wrote Betrayal and Look Too the Stars, produced by Chico Bennett
Find the "Betrayal" and "Look Too the Stars" music videos now on YouTube. Follow Sarah @SarahSchroederMatzkin.
Cheap Trick to headline Long Play Music Fest in Loves Park Fourth of July weekend
LOVES PARK, Ill. (WIFR) - A four-day music festival called "Long Play Music Fest" will be held at Rivets Stadium in Loves Park from Thursday, July 1 through Sunday, July 4.
Cheap Trick Lead Guitarist Rick Nielsen, City of Loves Park Mayor Greg Jury, and other community leaders made the announcement on Friday morning. Long Play Music Fest will feature two stages and over twenty bands, fireworks, a carnival, and local food vendors and artisans.
General admission tickets start at $19.99. The carnival will be held outside the stadium, and unlimited carnival ride passes will be available for $30 per day or $50 for the entire weekend.
"I was born and raised in the Rockford region, and Fourth of July weekend is the perfect time for my team to produce a music festival right here in my hometown" StarEvents CEO John Barry said. "I dreamed up StarEvents in the fall of 1996 and have been creating, producing, and managing festivals ever since. Now, more than ever, communities are seeking professionally managed events and festivals that offer safe and fun entertainment. We appreciate support from the City of Loves Park, The Parks Chamber of Commerce, and the Winnebago County Health Department, and we're excited to host the first of many festivals and concerts at Rivets Stadium in Loves Park."
Elijah Pine '21: Outstanding Senior in Music Education | Pacific University
No in-person classes or activities Monday, Feb. 15; online classes continue. Use extreme caution outdoors. More details.
Elijah Pine '21 was named Pacific University's Outstanding Senior in Music Education. He earned his bachelor's degree with a triple major in music education , music with a performance emphasis , and Spanish . He is from Umatilla, Ore.
Pine fell in love with Pacific when he visited from eastern Oregon as a high school student. He was awarded a scholarship for his performance at a high school music festival and received other scholarships as well. "I wanted to go to an older college with charm," he said.
He was a sprinter on the Pacific University track team. He also was president of the Pacific University Spanish Club a member of Phi Kappa Rho, the Music Club, the music ambassadors, the Symphonic Band and the Pacific Philharmonic Orchestra.
Fellow seniors Charlie Kerns '21 and Jaclyn Marchioro '21 also were recognized as Outstanding Seniors in Music Education.
Springfield high schoolers take a walk through the decades with music hall murals | WKBN.com
NEW MIDDLETOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – At Springfield High School, a transformation is underway in the music hallway.
This wing was added eight years ago but the students always thought it was boring. So, they came up with a plan to spice it up with some murals.
Now, when you walk down the hallway, you take a walk through the decades, starting with Beethoven to Elvis to Beyonce and several in-between.
“We had the idea to do music through history, so we’re starting off with classical music with Beethoven and we’re slowly going through the ’20s with Louie Armstrong, then Elvis and all the way up to the 2000s with Beyonce,” said student artist Hailey Wiscott.
Song Guo Zheng, who had been working most recently at Ohio State University, will also have to pay $3.4 million in restitution to the National Institutes of Health and nearly $414,000 to the college under the sentence imposed Friday.
The state-owned university says it has severed ties with all 16 of its fraternities and sororities, both local and national.
In what is shaping up to be the worst water crisis in generations, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said it will not release water this season into the main canal that feeds the bulk of the massive Klamath Reclamation Project, marking a first for the 114-year-old irrigation system. The agency announced last month that hundreds of irrigators would get dramatically less water than usual, but a worsening drought picture means water will be completely shut off instead.
Katy Perry's new music video stars her BFF Pikachu - The Verge
Katy Perry's latest video features an electric rat. The pop star released her new video for the single "Electric," which is a surprisingly charming coming-of-age story about growing up with Pikachu as a best friend. It features a young Perry and her Pichu struggling early on in her career, while the current version of the star and Pikachu watch on, A Christmas Carol -style. (In a curious twist, the video was directed by Carlos López Estrada, who also wrote and directed Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon .)
It may sound like a strange crossover, but it's all part of Pokémon's music-focused 25th anniversary celebration . Previously, Post Malone released a baffling cover of Hootie and the Blowfish's 1992 hit "Only Wanna Be With You," which was followed by a surreal virtual concert. You can watch the full thing below to see a Gyarados jump over Post while he sings.
Universal Music's Spotify Stock Could Be Worth $2B | Billboard
Universal Music Group still owned 6.487 million shares of Spotify -- or 3.37% of outstanding shares -- on Dec. 31, according to detailed financial results the company disclosed Wednesday in anticipation to being publicly traded by the end of September.
On Dec. 31, 2020, Spotify closed at $314.66 per share but has fallen since and on Friday (May 14) it closed at $223.59. Since UMG put the average share purchase price of 6.58 euros ($8.10) on April 13, 2018, the day Spotify shares began trading), if it sold the shares at the Dec. 31 closing price, UMG would have realized $2.04 billion, or a profit of $1.99 billion after subtracting out the combined share purchase price of $52.54 million.
If it still holds the shares, their current value is $1.45 billion -- which would yield a profit of nearly $1.4 billion if sold at Friday's share price.
UMG and the other major labels, Sony Music and Warner Music Group, each took equity as part of their licensing deals that allowed Spotify to launch in the U.S. in 2011. As of Dec. 31, UMG maintained a larger equity stake in Spotify than any of its competitors. Sony Music sold half its 5.707% stake for $768 million following Spotify's IPO in April 2018, leaving it 5.082 million shares a 2.85% stake at the time -- a percentage that would have been diluted since then. (Based on Warner Music, meanwhile, confirmed in August 2018 that it sold its full 4% stake for $504 million.
In March 2018 UMG committed to giving its artist a share of its Spotify profit -- probably equivalent to whatever percentage royalty they are paying specific artists. Later that year, Taylor Swift revealed her new contract with the label included a condition that ensured "any sale of [UMGs] Spotify shares result in a distribution of money to their artists, non-recoupable." Sony and Warner both paid artists a portion of their profits.
Spotify isn't the only streaming service Universal has an ownership stake in, though. The company's filings also revealed that it owned nearly 12.25 million shares of Tencent Music Entertainment as of Dec. 31, or 0.74% of outstanding shares.
While UMG didn't disclose what share purchase price it paid for Tencent shares, on Dec. 31 those shares closed at $19.24. If UMG sold at that price, it would have realized $235.6 million. If UMG still holds those shares and sold at Friday's 15.21 close price, the company would realize $186.3 million.
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