Apple’s Power Moves & Zane Lowe
The battle over streaming dominance is getting heated, and Apple appears to be making some major power moves. It all started when Apple launched iTunes Radio in 2013 to compete with growing streaming services. After some initial setbacks, Apple then bought Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine’s Beats Electronics for a whopping $3 billion last May with plans to incorporate Beats into the larger Cupertino family. With iTunes’ 800+ million registered users and over 1 billion iOS devices sold around the world, Apple’s alleged proposal to pre-install the Beats’ streaming service on Apple products gives CEO Tim Cook a leg up on Pandora (valued at $3.2 billion) and Spotify (valued at $5.7 billion).
Black Sheep Will Be Back Next Week!
Hey all,
I wanted to apologize for how quiet the blog has been lately. My band released our first album last month, and I’ve been drowning in the logistics of organizing our release party for this weekend. So, I’ve been putting the blog on the back-burner. That said, I’ve kept my ears open and haven’t stopped hunting in the meantime. I’ve got a lot of great music in the bank that I’m really stoked to share with you soon, and a new interview on the way! So post up for a short while, because we’ll be back next week and hit the ground running again.
Much love,
Gio & Black Sheep Music
Coachella 2015 Lineup Released
All the rumors and speculation can finally be put to rest — the eclectic 2015 lineup is out. Whispers of Drake had been circling the web over the past few months, and they proved true. Steely Dan will instill us all with a strange sense of nostalgia we genetically received from our parents, Jack White will unapologetically tear his slide guitar to shreds, David Guetta will press the play button on his laptop, and AC/DC will limp around stage, with or without psychopathic drummer Phil Rudd, playing the tunes that made them legends while promoting a new album that, for better or for worse, sounds exactly like all their others.
News: SoundCloud Introducing Ads
Well, we saw this one coming. This morning, CEO and founder Alex Ljung announced the launch of On SoundCloud, a new advertisement platform that will slowly bring audio and graphical ads to SoundCloud tracks and profiles. Yeah, I know–but we’ll get through this together. Although SoundCloud is keeping the program in the US for now, Ljung talked of plans to eventually introduce a subscription premium for users to get rid of the ads. But, thank god, they will only play on SoundCloud’s native website and apps, which means that bloggers like Black Sheep can keep giving you free music uninterrupted. I know that by now you’ve already let loose a few expletives (trust me, right there with you), but before you destroy anything around you in anger, hear me out. I’ll include a few personal SoundCloud favorites along the way.
Black Sheep Music Blog 