Report claims Beatles music set to come to streaming services on Christmas Eve

Fans of legendary rock group might be in for a treat. According to sources who spoke with Billboard, Beatles’ discography is set to land on “most, if not all” streaming services by Dec. 24^th.  Fans might be able to hear “Hey Jude” by Thursday. There were rumours before that there will be a six-month “exclusive” for a known streaming service but that died out. However, this past January former Universal Music Group digital executive Rob Wells was said to restart discussions on the matter and papers were reportedly signed by mid-September. Major streaming services won’t comment about their involvement in the report. If their catalogue does show up in streaming services, we can only speculate what records the Fab Four will break.

Source: Billboard

Apple Music support rolling out to Sonos users signed up to beta program today

Owners of Sonos speaker systems who are also Apple Music subscribers (and who signed up for the beta earlier this month) will start receiving the long awaited ability to stream Apple Music via Wi-Fi directly to their speakers. The feature, for those who have it, will be available in the Sonos Controller App and is slated for wider release earlier next year. 

Source: 9to5Mac

Spotify rumoured to be considering Premium-only music content

One of Spotify’s main selling points has to be the ability to listen to the latest tracks for free, even if you did have to listen to ads every couple of songs. But that might change in the future. Spotify is rumoured to be having certain songs or albums made available to paying Premium subscribers amidst reports that they are being pressured by major labels like Sony Warner, and Universal ahead of its October 1^st renewal deadline. It’s said that the CEOs of Sony and Universal are against the ad-based tiers as they think it devalues their catalogs and generate less revenue.

One possibility that could happen is a popular album will be available for listening for the free users for a limited amount of time or they can only listen to a couple of songs from the album. According to reports, the transition might happen early next year, giving Spotify time to work out its deals and update its apps. Now, if you’re a free subscriber and this will happen, will this be enough to make you consider moving to the Premium tier?

Source: Digital Music News | Via: Apple Insider

Google feels sting of Apple's Beats acquisition, buys Songza

Not one to sit around and wait what Apple and Beats have in store for streaming music fans, Google's gone off and pulled the trigger on Songza. The music streaming and reccomendation service uses playlists created by 'music experts'  such as DJ's and music critics and tries to suit playlists to user's moods. Songza charges a US $ 0.99 weekly fee for ad free version of its service.

A post on Songza's blog states, "Today, we’re thrilled to announce that we’re becoming part of Google. We can’t think of a better company to join in our quest to provide the perfect soundtrack for everything you do. No immediate changes to Songza are planned, other than making it faster, smarter, and even more fun to use." It will be interesting to see what plans Google has of monetizing Songza as well as how they will position it against other popular streaming music services and its own Google Play Music service.

Source: Songza