Apple gives devs early access to iTunes Match

According to CNet, Apple has started giving developers a chance to kick the tires its upcoming iTunes Match service, which will allow both streaming and downloading.

iTunes Match is the service that scans a user's library to find music that they may have ripped from a CD, but did not purchase from Apple, and cross references it with Apple's own library. If it finds a match, it provides a user with a license of the full-quality track, as long as they're a paid subscriber.

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BlackBerry Launches Its $5 Music Service

The BlackBerry Music service has launched. As previously reported, it’s 50 songs, tethered to your phone, for $5 a month. Peter Kafka reports for All Things D.

Most important is that BBM Music subscribers can “share” songs with friends who also use the service. Which means that your pool of available songs could expand well beyond the 50 associated with your account.

Other details: You can only change up to 25 of the songs in your collection each month. And while music sources I talked to thought an international rollout wouldn’t kick in until next year, Research In Motion says it will be available in many territories later this year. For now, the beta is limited to the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

Read full article and RIM press release.

BlackBerry Music: $5 a Month, 50 Songs

All Things D has the details on BBM Music.

Five dollars a month. Fifty songs you can share with your friends. But only on your BlackBerry, and their BlackBerries.

That’s the basic pitch behind BBM Music, the new subscription service Research In Motion plans to roll out soon.

As previously reported, the BlackBerry-maker is in late-stage talks with the big music labels; music industry sources believe RIM is aiming for a beta launch in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom in early September. A RIM rep declined to comment.

Other details:

-- A full-fledged rollout is planned for the first three territories later this fall.

-- Subscribers won’t be able to export their music to PCs or other hardware, with the exception of RIM’s much-maligned PlayBook tablet.

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BBM Music: RIM's Music Service for Phones

Research In Motion Ltd. is developing a service that would let subscribers access music on its smartphones, according to people familiar with the matter. All Things D reports.

The music service is designed to work with RIM’s BlackBerry Messenger, the company’s proprietary instant-message system, according to people who have discussed it with RIM executives. These people said that BBM Music, as the service is to be known, could launch as soon as next week.

[via The Wall Street Journal]

Google just launched a new music discovery site called Magnifier

Google has today launched a new site geared towards helping Google Music users discover new music. [via TheNextWeb]

The site, called Magnifier,will feature music, videos, live performances, interviews and free songs that users of Google Music beta can add to their collection.

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Music Publishing Group Drops Appeal of YouTube Copyright Infringement Case

Google Inc. settled copyright- infringement claims brought by music publishers over the unauthorized use of music videos on the company’s YouTube website. Bloomberg reports.

The settlement allows music publishers to form licensing agreements with YouTube and receive royalties, the National Music Publishers Association said today in a statement announcing it was dropping its appeal of a lower-court ruling that rejected the group’s claims.

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YouTube Gives Music Publishers Ads on Fan-Made Videos

Thanks to a new deal between YouTube and the National Music Publishers Association, as well as its subsidiary Harry Fox Agency, music publishers and songwriters will start garnering money when their tunes are used in fan-made videos.

[via Mashable]

Africans Act 4 Africa - activists and musicians rally for food aid

Sara Mitaru, a Kenyan singer-songwriter, is rallying artists across the continent to raise money for the East Africa famine – and to put pressure on African governments to chip in as well. The Christian Science Monitor reports.

Africans Act 4 Africa, launched yesterday aims to put pressure on African governments to fund relief for a crisis on their own turf. The group’s organizers hope to raise awareness through social media and media coverage, prompting leaders to step up to help the 12 million Kenyans, Somalis, and Ethiopians urgently needing food aid.

Sara Mitaru, the organizer and a well-known Kenyan singer-songwriter, called, texted, Tweeted, and Facebooked her network of fellow musicians in countries as far apart as South Africa and Nigeria, calling for their participation.

Read more.

Björk releases first "app album"

Icelandic musician Björk has just come out with what she refers to as the world's first "app album" consisting of an iPad and iPhone app featuring ten songs, each of which has an accompanying interactive app of its own.

Comprising a suite of original music and interactive, educational artworks and musical artifacts, the Biophilia app is released as ten in-app experiences that are accessed as you fly through a three-dimensional galaxy that accompanies the album’s them.

[via TUAW]

Spotify’s U.S. Score So Far

The streaming music service has already signed up 1.4 million U.S. users for its free trial, according to a source familiar with the company’s operations.

And Spotify now has 175,000 paying U.S. subscribers, less than a month after it finally opened its doors in America, says the same source.

[via All Thing D]

Mubarak's 'Not Guilty' turned into a ringtone

From ABC News:

For Egyptians who want the glee of seeing former President Hosni Mubarak lying in a hospital bed in his courtroom cage to last a bit longer, they can now carry it with them on their cell phones.

Ringtones of the few low, growly words the deposed leader spoke at the start of his trial on Wednesday are now available for download courtesy of a website that has posted three different versions.

The first is the judge calling on Mubarak by his full name -- Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak -- followed by Mubarak responding, "I am here, your honor."

Another has Mubarak's response to the charges of corruption and complicity in the murder of around 850 protesters during the 18-day revolution that led to his downfall:

"I categorically deny all the charges."

The newspaper Al Ahram reports that the ringtones have become popular among Egyptians.

Read full article.

Related:

-- Ring tones--the new protest songs

-- It is my voice on poll tape (and ringtone), admits embattled Arroyo

-- From ring tones to car horns? Only in the Philippines

-- Filipinos clamour for scandalous mobile ringtone

-- Ringtones express widespread disgust over (Ms Arroyo's) obvious poll fraud

-- Wiretapped Voice Latest Ringtone Craze

Other examples of ringtones used for political purposes:

-- Riot Tones

-- India. Patriotic Ringtones and Prime Minister Voice mail used in campaign

-- USA. Political ringtones from Ringtone JukeBox

-- USA. Jabbertones's political voice tones

-- USA. Presidential Voice Tones

Copyright law overhaul 'will allow fans to copy music to iPods'

Individuals will be able to legally copy music and DVDS they own on to digital devices such as iPods and computers, under sweeping changes Britain's "archaic" copyright laws.

[via The Telegraph]

How to set ringtones for Gmail labels on your Android phone

With the latest version of Gmail (2.3.5), now available in the Android Market, you can set distinct ringtones for each Gmail label you use. Here's how in 5 steps, courtesy of CNet.

App Scans Printed Music Notes, Plays Them In Real-Time

TechCrunch writes about Japan-based musical instrument maker Kawai which has developed a camera app that scans music notes printed on paper and plays them back in real-time. Dubbed Gakufu Camera [JP], the app is said to be the first of its kind.

Kawai claims the app also works with handwritten notes, those printed in different colors and under weak lighting.

Gakufu Camera also offers a few other bells and whistles, for example a function that allows you to store the notes you scanned first and play the melody afterwards.

Read more.