Coke and Spotify’s latest music app, Placelist, is getting a real-world boost with new branding designs for Coke’s slim 250ml cans in the UK. The new design features Placelists’s new website as well as an interactive “Blip” component that lets you access music tracks through Blippar’s augmented reality advertising.

Placelist’s soft launch allows users to access music using Spotify and Facebook’s Places. In addition to some European cities, look for it at ““FIFA World Cup, to Coke Studio in India, Pakistan and the Middle East & the Rock’n Coke festival in Turkey.”

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Apple is finally entering the internet radio service and there’s Led Zeppelin included. Why is this significant? Well, as of now, iTunes is the only streaming radio service to secure the rights to Led Zeppelin tunes and they’ve also managed to include major recording labels like Warner, Universal, and Sony. Remember when Google introduced its music streaming service and I lamented about not being able to find Vampire Weekend’s latest album? Well, the iTune Radio demo at WWDC actually featured a song from the new album! I’m smitten. Read more

Double Music Player was probably invented out of frustration of having to share the only player among multiple listeners. Who doesn’t want the pleasure of never being forced to listen to bad music? Just get your own ear bud and assume that your small bubble of private music will keep you forever alone.

It did occur to me that perhaps I am alone in thinking that sharing and compromise makes for great relationships. Imagine being on a road trip with family or friends and everyone just dancing and humming to their own private music paradise – it’s kind of a weird scenario. Sure, it’s bound to stop the bickering, fighting, and screaming during family trips but where’s the fun in listening to great music if you can’t make those around you listen to the same amazing songs? You can trade them like candy – I’ll listen to one Taylor Swift song if you let me play one Joanna Newsom.

Via Gizmodo

Publicis Conseil launched its all-digital banking service, Hello Bank!, with a little help from B-Reel and 60 performers of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. The video is an actual live performance of “March of the Toreadors” from “Carmen” conducted by Libor Pesek on April 30, 2013.
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Conch shells are nature’s amplifiers that also happen to hold an ocean inside its dry spirals. If you put an iPhone into its crevices, will it sound like your dream beach vacation or a $75 rip-off? If you have some tool skills and a lot of DIY energy, you can probably make this analog amplifier. If not, head over to WAAM Industries to turn your digital tunes into some summery sounds.

Via Geekology

Now that Twitter Music has slowly slipped away from the collective consciousness, Google is introducing its own radio and music discovery program. It’s call All Access and it costs $9.99 per month. At first glimpse it seems revolutionary and comprehensive.

Google’s radio allows you to do what most other radio services don’t – easily change the order of songs, easily remove songs, and add songs to personal libraries. There’s a lot of customization built in, but the most important key to digital radio isn’t necessarily the usability of the service, but the quality of the music itself. All Access is launching today so I did a quick search for my favorite new album, Vampire Weekend’s Modern Vampires of the City and it wasn’t available. Sure, I have it in my personal library, but what’s the use of paying for a music service that doesn’t have the music I want to pay for? Read more

Making and listening to music on digital devices can feel like typing out a long essay – but what if all that changes? Imagine strumming the cords of a harp by waving your fingers. That’s the future of music interface. Yes, it is less tactile than playing a real instrument, but its motion sensitive experience comes closer to actual instruments than a keyboard and mouse or even gestures on iPhones.
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Twitter’s music discovery app is finally here so you can join the likes of Moby or Jason Mraz in singing (or tweeting) its praises.

The mobile and web app is similar to the Hype Machine:

Today, we’re releasing Twitter #music, a new service that will change the way people find music, based on Twitter. It uses Twitter activity, including Tweets and engagement, to detect and surface the most popular tracks and emerging artists. It also brings artists’ music-related Twitter activity front and center: go to their profiles to see which music artists they follow and listen to songs by those artists. And, of course, you can tweet songs right from the app.

Users on iTunes can only hear song previews so log in to Spotify and Rdio to hear full songs. Read more

Sometimes a little bit of distortion is all you need to turn your music player the sultry sounds you didn’t know you were craving – at least that’s what I’ve determined after being mesmerized by the creations of Christopher Locke. The sculpture artist turns old, derelict brass instruments and motorcycle sprockets into wireless amplifiers for iPhones and iPads.

Each  analog tele-phonographer is hand-made and amplifies sounds with a different acoustic property without using additional power.

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Twitter is orchestrating a major launch of its newest venture with help from celebrities and a fairly quiet webpage. Twitter is expected to use technology from its latest acquisition, music start-up We Are Hunted, to drive its standalone platform.

Many websites are reporting that the app would launch today, but it appears that the media giant will wait until this weekend to make an announcement during the music festival Coachella. Meanwhile, Twitter has enlisted the aid of pop culture icon Ryan Seacrest to spread the good word:

lovin the app…shows what artists are trending, also has up and coming artists… spinning u now @frankturner

— Ryan Seacrest (@RyanSeacrest) April 11, 2013