Apple Music and Spotify. They’re the music streaming titans battling it out for supremacy around the world, and so far, Spotify is in the lead. One of the features that make Spotify so popular is its constantly updated playlists. They’re the key new music discovery on the service and its Discover Weekly playlist is one of the biggest. It’s likely the inspiration behind Apple Music’s latest feature, a new chart/playlist called Shazam Discovery Top 50, the first of its kind on Apple Music that uses the company’s Shazam acquisition.
It’s not entirely clear just how the Shazam app and its massive group of users are contributing to the list, which is a global ranking of 50 artists that are “on the move and trending.” This could be the biggest names in music, but we also get the sense it will tend to favor up-and-coming artists. “Shazam’s proprietary algorithms [will offer] a unique predictive view on rising artists and reacting tracks to Apple Music subscribers,” Apple told Variety. The chart will be updated every Tuesday to reflect the latest changes in rank.
“The ranked songs are all at different points in their individual lifecycle and the majority of artists represented are emerging and up-and-coming,” Apple said. “All are experiencing a level of momentum indicative of future potential of hitting the top of Shazam’s Charts, and show any or all of the following patterns: Moving quickly through Shazam’s charts, growing rapidly, steadily and/or geographically.”
The chart is available in the U.S., but international availability may vary. When we checked as of the publication time of this story, the chart could not be accessed in the Canadian Apple Music app, or on iTunes.
This marks the first time Apple has integrated Shazam into Apple Music — at least on a public-facing basis. Acquired by Apple a year ago, Shazam’s music identification service is used 20 million times a day. The Shazam app — for iOS and Android — has been downloaded more than 1 billion times. With that kind of usage, Shazam must possess a data vault that would make even Google envious. Presumably, Apple will continue to leverage insights from Shazam within Apple Music, and possibly its other online services too. In its ongoing battle with Spotify, it will need to use every advantage it can find.
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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