Spotify tries out ‘driving mode’ for its Android app

Tinkering with your phone while driving is a dangerous thing to do. And that extends to trying to do things like switch playlists on your Spotify app. And it seems the music streaming service is doing something about it—or at least they’re testing something out. Some Android users seem to have gained access to a new driving mode feature that’ll keep your eyes and hands on the wheel while you use the app. As seen in the screenshots shared by Reddit user Chris54721, it features larger buttons, verbal song announcements, and voice control support. There seems to be a new car icon, too, which is obviously meant to toggle the feature. Spotify won’t comment about the feature and said they “test new products all the time and have no news to share.”

Source: Engadget

Kanye West wants to terminate deal with Tidal

Jason Persse/Flickr

It looks like the rift between Kanye West and JAY-Z is growing wider. A source close to Kanye West confirmed that their party has terminated Tidal’s exclusivity rights to his music based on the streaming service’s alleged failure to honor its financial obligations. According to a report that appeared on TMZ, Tidal owes him “more than $3 million” after his album The Life of Pablo allegedly “resulted in 1.5 million new subscribers to Tidal, for which he was supposed to get a bonus but the company hasn’t paid.” He was supposedly not compensated for his music videos either.

For Tidal’s part, they say West hasn’t delivered the videos that were required by his contract and that he is still beholden to his agreement. There don’t seem to be any lawsuits yet but we won’t be surprised if we hear something soon. It isn’t a secret that Tidal is having struggles with attracting and retaining paid subscribers, especially compared against the likes of Spotify and Apple Music. Losing exclusivity rights to a big star like West will hurt. Let’s see how this all plays out. If you want to read more about the strain in West and JAY-Z’s relationship, this Engadget piece calling out the entire thing as a break about “ego and not money.”

Source: Billboard

Quick tip: You can see songs that have been pulled from Spotify

Here’s a quick tip you Spotify users might or might not know. By default the music streaming service hides the songs that have been pulled from its service. But if you want to check if a particular song is out of its roster, you can head to settings, which is located at the cog wheel on the upper right corner of Your Library section and just select Show unplayable songs/Show unavailable songs in playlists. If you’re on the desktop client, head to Edit > Preferences and then scroll down to Display Options. From there, you can see grayed out song titles. It won’t show any information if the song is coming back or why it left in the first place. But if you want to see which songs you might want to download so you can have them in your collection, this is a good thing to turn on.

Source: The Verge

Report claims Tesla wants to build its own streaming music service

Rumour has it Tesla is currently in talks with music labels to build its own streaming music service in its cars. Why are they doing this? Because they can. According to music industry sources, the company is talking to labels to help create this music service that will be bundled with the cars. There are supposedly going to be multiple tiers of the service, starting off with a Pandora-like web radio offering.

Why they won’t just integrate existing services, we can’t say. A Tesla spokesperson told Recode, “We believe it’s important to have an exceptional in-car experience so our customers can listen to the music they want from whatever source they choose. Our goal is to simply achieve maximum happiness for our customers.