Google Quietly Launches A Web-Based iTunes Competitor
Google just announced that it bought Simplify Media, a startup that offers software that lets you share your iTunes music across platforms, including the web.The software lets you share your photos and music using programs like iTunes, iPhoto and Windows Media player. According to the startup’s site Simplify Media “connects people directly with their content, without the hassles of synching or uploading all their files. Simplify users can also share their personal media with family and close friends in a private, secure group.
- Google Buys Simplify Media To Power Music Syncing For New iTunes Competitor
Hip-Hop’s New Business Model: Major-Label Rappers Stay ‘Independent’
With his independently released mixtape So Far Gone, Drake went from digital dynamo (2,000 downloads in ten minutes) to Grammy nominee all before he signed on any dotted lines. Or maybe not: While a major-label bidding war supposedly raged, rumor had it that he was already signed to Young Money/Universal. Either way, the excitement around his quick, seemingly unassisted rise translated into true stardom. And today, a number of up-and-coming rappers, eager to re-create his magic, are at pains to represent themselves as boot-strapping independent artists — even when they’ve got freshly inked major-label deals.
- Hip-Hop’s New Business Model: Major-Label Rappers Stay ‘Independent’ — Vulture