The product teams for YouTube Music and Google Play Music are being combined into a single unit, The Verge reports, in a hint that Google plans to fuse the two music services into a single app.
For the moment, the apps will continue to operate independently, but an eventual combination (if it occurs) would solidify Google's music offering to consumers.
Right now, YouTube Music and Google Play Music are separate but complementary apps:
YouTube Music is a streaming app recreates the listening experience on YouTube into a standalone audio-only app. It’s built around playlists, personalized stations and a near endless catalog of songs. Another (and perhaps more specific) way to think about YouTube Music is as the music component of YouTube Red minus the price and perks of a paid subscription.
Google Play Music is both a music streaming service and a cloud-based music locker where users can upload and store songs from their personal catalogs. It has a streaming catalog of over 30 million songs and lets users save up to 50,000 songs from their own collection on the app. It’s tied into the Google Play app store, where users buy and download their desired songs.
YouTube Red, meanwhile, is the company’s paid subscription service. At $9.99 a month, it gives users ad-free access to YouTube music and video, and the ability to play content offline and in the background while the screen is off or when running another app. A subscription to YouTube Red gives users full access to both YouTube Music and Google Play Music.
But this the latest sign that YouTube Music and Google Play Music are better off as one. Google already combined the business development teams from both apps last year. Driven by an urge to simplify its relationship with the music industry, the move streamlined Google’s negotiations with music copyright holders — publishers, labels, and artists — by consolidating Google’s music partnerships to a single point of contact.
And combining the apps’ product teams is another indication that running Google Play Music and YouTube Music separately doesn’t make business sense. Initially, YouTube Music was seen as a way to sell more songs and memberships on Google Play Music, but perhaps these apps aren’t as differentiated and complementary as Google had envisioned.
Merging YouTube Music and Google Play Store could benefit Google in several ways:
Competition. Combining the best of YouTube Music and Google Play Store into one app likely lead to a more competitive service. It would eliminate having to switch between the two apps (as well as any consumer confusion about how these apps are different in the first place). Staying competitive is key in a music space that’s becoming increasingly crowded.
Subscriptions. Similar to the point above, combining the two apps would provide a more cohesive and compelling free offering underneath YouTube Red, which would act as a stronger conduit to then funnel users into paying Red members. YouTube needs to convert 4% of its one billion monthly user base to match Spotify’s number of paid subscribers.
Acquisitions. Simplifying the organizational structure of Google’s music services clears the course for Google to go and make acquisitions in this space because it would make any future product integrations — particularly big ones — much easier to do. Earlier this year, Google was rumored to be “very interested” in buying SoundCloud for $500 million.
Spotify is launching three of its own music-themed podcasts
Music streaming service Spotify is continuing its original programming push with three new podcasts, all of which are music-themed and the first of which premieres today. Spotify has carried podcasts since the spring of 2015, according to The Hollywood Reporter, though the latest slate of exclusives solidifies its mission.
The new shows include: Showstopper, premiering today and produced alongside Slate’s Panoply Studiospodcast network about memorable music moments on TV; Unpacked, in which Broad City music supervisor Matt FX will interview music festival goers across the U.S. beginning on March 14; and The Chris Lighty Story (working title), which will explore the life and career of the late music exec. The Lighty series is being produced by Gimlet Media and Loudspeaker Network, and will premiere in April.
Spotify, which said it had 40 million paying subscribers in September, has also announced plans for original video content, including a slate of 12 original series last May — all of which are also about music. Landmark, for instance, will tell the story behind important moments in music history, while Rush Hour, courtesy of Russell Simmons’ All Def Digital, will feature two hip-hop acts who must conceive and perform a musical collaboration.
Spotify said in a blog post that more original podcasts will be unveiled later this year.
The trio of new shows follows a report in Digiday earlier this month noting that Spotify was in talks with podcast production companies including Gimlet, How Stuff Works, and Pineapple Street Media about picking up original shows.
Nearly 200 episodes of in-depth discussions with musicians and music industry entrepreneurs who’ve taken an unusual approach to building their careers.
Dave offers pro instruction for artists who want to make a living OUTSIDE the club circuit, focusing on daytime gig opportunities and carving out a niche that appeals to organizations with funding for educational entertainment.
U.K. Labels and Google Partner on Anti-Piracy Measure: Removing Links
Search engines Google and Bing will step up their efforts to demote and restrict access to copyright infringing websites, following the agreement of a voluntary code of practice between rights holders and tech companies in the U.K.
Hailed as a world first initiative, the code will see the removal of links to unlicensed material and is intended to reduce the prominence of infringing content in search rankings, thereby promoting licensed music sites and services.
Effective immediate, the agreement follows a series of Government-chaired roundtables and has been signed by labels trade body the BPI, the Motion Picture Association and the Alliance for Intellectual Property, as well as search engines Google and Microsoft-owned Bing.
"Successful and dynamic online innovation requires an ecosystem that works for everyone -- users, technology companies, and artists and creators," commented BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor. He said that while the code of practice will not be a "silver bullet" fix "it will mean that illegal sites are demoted more quickly from search results and that fans searching for music are more likely to find a fair site."
"We look forward to working with Google, Microsoft and our partners across the creative industries to build a safer, better online environment for creators and fans," Taylor went on to say.
In line with existing practice, rights holders will still be required to alert search engines to infringing content, but stakeholders hope that increased co-operation between parties will greatly improve the notice and takedown procedure, as well as enable new anti-piracy practices to be adopted. There will also be collaboration to improve auto-complete suggestions, which have historically led users to infringing search results.
According to research by the U.K. government's Intellectual Property Office, 78 million music tracks were accessed illegally between March and May 2016, while 20 percent of internet users participated in some form of illegal music activity online during the same period. The introduction of a code of practice is intended to quell the tide of illegal sites profiting off illegal content.
"Pirate websites are currently much too easy to find via search, so we appreciate the parties' willingness to try to improve that situation," said Stan McCoy, president and managing director, of the Motion Picture Association EMEA.
His words were echoed by Jo Dipple, chief executive of umbrella organization UK Music, who called the voluntary code of practice "the culmination of years of discussions between rights-holders and search engines. This is progress and all parties must work to ensure the code has effect."
Prince On-Demand Streams Surge By Over 6,300% In First Two Days
The purple floodgates have opened. On Sunday, Prince's highly protected catalog -- specifically, the 27 albums controlled by Warner Bros. Records -- became available on all streaming services for the first time since 2015, when Prince pulled his music from all streaming services except Tidal.
And it seems that fans are taking full advantage. Ever since Sunday's announcement -- which came after Warner reached a deal with Prince's estate -- streaming services like Pandora have turned a strong shade of purple. According to Nielsen Music, his catalog saw over 4.7 million on-demand streams on Sunday and Monday (a 6,323% increase)which is more than his catalog has been streamed this entire year prior to wide release.
On Monday, 686,348 people added a Prince station on Pandora, marking a a 39,210% lift week-on-week. (Pandora listeners could still add a Prince station when his music was not available on the platform.) In total, around
839,864 fans have added a station in his name since the announcement was made on Sunday. In comparison, Drake, who's the most popular artist on Pandora, has been averaging right around 28,000 daily artist station adds over the past year.
Prince saw a huge uptick in Pandora artist station adds after his catalog was released to streaming services on Sunday.
Since Sunday, Prince has seen over 3.75 million spins on Pandora. The highest-spinning song so far has been "When Doves Cry," followed by "Little Red Corvette" and "Purple Rain." The highest performing in terms of track station adds, meanwhile, are "Purple Rain," "Let's Go Crazy" and "When Doves Cry." Spotify reported that the most popular songs this week have been "Purple Rain" at No. 1, "Kiss" at No. 2 and "When Doves Cry" at No. 3.
He's also seeing a very impressive ratio of Thumbs Up. On Monday, for example, he saw right under 150,000. Looking at geographic data, it looks like Prince's home state of Minnesota was one of the states thumbing up the most, when comparing thumbs to population. (Looking at raw thumbs up numbers, California, Texas and Florida had the highest numbers.)
Recording artist Bruno Mars performs a tribute to Prince onstage during The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
And it isn't just streaming he's seen a bump in, but social media too. According to data provided by Twitter, there have been 800,000 Tweetsabout Prince since Sunday's announcement. He also saw a big bump thanks to the Grammys, during which he was honored with a tribute by Bruno Mars. The biggest peak on Twitter happened on Sunday at 11:30 p.m. ET, with nearly 2,000 Tweets per minute about Prince. He also saw a week-on-week 77.7% increase in Wikipedia page views.
Last year, Prince earned over $25 million after selling 2.5 million albums. His overall catalog sold more than anyone else that year, according to Nielsen Music.
"We hope it inspires you — whether you’re a developer or musician, or just curious — to imagine how technology can help creative ideas come to life."
I gave it a go, and the results were mixed: Sometimes, it sounded fantastic, like there was a real pianist responding to my music. Other times, it was nonsensical, jarring, or overly simple.
The interface of the AI experiment.Google
But what makes this experiment so interesting — and different to traditional piano-playing computer programs — is how it works, using neural networks. Its creators didn't program specific responses into it — they just gave it a load of music, and from that it taught itself how to respond to different tunes.
"We played the computers tons of examples of melodies. Ove time, it learns these fuzzy relationships between tones and timings, and built its own map based on the examples it's given," Google employee Yotam Mann said in a video. "So in this experiment you play a few notes, they go to the neural net, which basically decides based on those notes and all the examples it's been given some possible responses."
He added: "It picks up on stuff like key and rhythm that you're implying, even though I never explicitly programmed the concepts of key and rhythm."
You can play it directly from your computer, using your keyboard or your mouse. Or if you're more musically inclined, you can plug a proper musical keyboard straight into your computer, and play with the AI that way.
And this isn't just a fun toy for anyone to play with — though it is that as well. It's part of a larger project from Google to try and create art and music using AI. The project is called Magenta, and it's all open source, so anyone interested can download the code and experiment with it for themselves.
GDC 2017: How video game composers can use music to build suspense
First of all thanks to Winifred Phillipsfor this article.
The Game Developers Conference is coming up soon! Last year I presented a talk on music for mobile games (pictured above), and I'm pleased that this year I'll be presenting the talk, "Homefront' to 'God of War': Using Music to Build Suspense" (Wednesday, March 1st at 11am in room 3006 West Hall, Moscone Center, San Francisco). In my talk I'll be focusing on practical applications of techniques for video game composers and game audio folks, using my own experiences as concrete examples for exploration. Along the way, I'll be discussing some very compelling scholarly research on the relationship between suspense, gameplay and musical expression. In preparing my GDC 2017 presentation I did a lot of reading and studying about the nature of suspense in video games, the importance of suspense in gameplay design, and the role that video game music plays in regulating and elevating suspense. There will be lots of ground to cover in my presentation! That being said, the targeted focus of my presentation precluded me from incorporating some very interesting extra research into the importance of suspense in a more general sense... why human beings need suspense, and what purpose it serves in our lives. I also couldn't find the space to include everything I'd encountered regarding suspense as an element in the gaming experience. It occurred to me that some of this could be very useful to us in our work as game makers, so I'd like to share some of these extra ideas in this article.
First, let's start with the basics.
What is suspense?
If we are to understand what suspense is, we first have to acknowledge the role of two other emotions: hope and fear. They are diametrically opposed, but essential to the existence of a suspenseful state. In his final treatise, The Passions of the Soul, French philosopher René Descartes wrote, "the mere fact of thinking that a good may be acquired or an evil avoided is sufficient to produce the desire for this to come to pass. But when, over and above this, we consider whether our desire is likely to be satisfied or not, the idea that it is likely arouses hope in us, and the idea that it is unlikely arouses fear."
In a paper written for the journal Text Technology, researchers Aaron Smuts and Jonathan Frome connect the emotions of hope and fear to the concept of suspense. "People feel suspense when they fear a bad outcome, hope for a good outcome, and are uncertain about which outcome will come to pass," writes Smuts and Frome. "In real life, we might feel suspense when walking through an unfamiliar, reputedly dangerous neighborhood at night. We fear that we might be mugged, hope that we will be safe, and are uncertain which will occur."
Things get a bit more interesting as the writers connect these ideas to the structure of video game design. "We have found that the games most effective at creating suspense often put players in situations where they must wait and see what happens, much like a film spectator," they write. "This passive position allows the player an opportunity to speculate about possible outcomes and reflect on the consequences of those outcomes."
So, for the moment let's accept that suspense requires both hope and fear, along with the opportunity to mentally encompass the awesome impact of both emotions and contemplate the possibilities of the situation that inspired them. Now, armed with this viewpoint of what suspense is, let's ask ourselves another basic question: why is suspense important?
Suspense and surprise
In the film industry, suspense is a great tool for keeping an audience engaged and emotionally invested in the outcome of a story. Certainly, video games can also benefit from the motivating power of suspense to keep players riveted to the action. But the role of suspense can go beyond this. In a research study published in the Journal of Political Economy, Jeffrey Ely from Northwestern University along with Alexander Frankel and Emir Kamenica of the University of Chicago drew some original and unexpected conclusions about the role of suspense in human society.
As an example, the researchers observed that in order for a democratic political system to be effective, voters must be informed of the issues in contention during any popular vote. However, individual voters may feel conflicted and uninspired because of a sense of their relative unimportance -- after all, what kind of change can a single vote bring about? Yet, despite this danger of voter ambivalence, many citizens still engage in the political process. "Many voters do in fact follow political news and watch political debates, thus becoming an informed electorate," writes Ely, Frankel and Kamenica. "A potential explanation is that the political process unfolds in a way that generates enjoyable suspense and surprise." The study goes on to advise the use of suspense-style techniques in the dissemination of important information, or to add urgency and motivation to tasks that might otherwise seem bland and un-involving.
In that spirit, an educational course of study was prepared by the Belfast Education and Library Board, the National Science Learning Centre, and the Northern Ireland STEM organization Learn Differently Ltd. Tailored specifically for science, technology, engineering and mathematics teachers, the course showed educators how to "explore a wide range of emotional engagement techniques designed to foster suspense and surprise in the classroom context. Triggering these emotional responses can impact positively on attention, enjoyment, motivation, student-teacher relationship and on cognitive processes such as memory and understanding."
So, we've talked about the powerful and pervasive effects that suspense can exert, both within entertainment media and in society at large. However, as game developers, our ideas about suspense will naturally focus on its functionality within game systems and structures. With this in mind, let's now turn our attention to some specific correlations between suspense and video gaming.
Uncertainty in game design
One of the most important concepts in game design is Flow. It's a famous idea in the field of psychology, and its influence has extended to many other fields as well. I discussed the relationship between video games and Flow in chapter 3 of my book (A Composer's Guide to Game Music). Coined by psychology researcher Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, Flow is an altered state of consciousness in which "people become so involved in what they are doing that the activity becomes spontaneous, almost automatic; they stop being aware of themselves as separate from the actions they are performing." As an expert researcher, Csíkszentmihályi has been studying Flow and its manifestations in various human activities since the 1970s. He wrote the seminal book on the subject, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (pictured left).
We're interested in Csíkszentmihályi's work on Flow because it greatly informs his recent experimental study on the nature of suspense, entitled "Enjoying the possibility of defeat: Outcome uncertainty, suspense, and intrinsic motivation." Co-written for the journal Motivation and Emotion with fellow researchers Abuhamdeh and Jalal, the research article describes an experiment that measured the enjoyment level of gamers while playing video games with varying degrees of challenge. One game was rigged so that players would win easily, while the other had been manipulated so that the challenge was much greater but that study participants would still win (by a much slimmer margin). After playing the two games, study participants were told that there was a little extra time left, and would they like to play one of the games again? The answer to this question revealed an apparent contradiction between the results predicted by Flow theory and some of the motivating influences of suspense. The conundrum plays out like this:
When we reach a state of optimal Flow, we are functioning at a skill level that equals the demands of the task, and as a result we emerge with a sense of self-confidence in our own competency. This feeling, according to Flow theory, is a potent motivating force, luring us to return to the same activity in order to again experience these emotions. This sounds great as a reliable inducement for gamers to prefer games that accentuate their feelings of competence, right? As it turns out, this assumption is wrong.
"The most enjoyable games, and the ones that participants chose to play again, were not those that maximized perceived competence, but those with high outcome uncertainty," the researchers observe. "Participants chose to play games higher in suspense over games which provided them with higher perceptions of competence, suggesting the motive for competence may be trumped by the enjoyment of suspense in some situations."
So, now that we've taken a closer look at the purpose that suspense can serve in game design, how can we deliver a suspenseful experience for gamers?
Mechanics of suspense
"Suspense and tension are hard feelings for games to generate," writes Chris Pruett, CEO of the Robot Invader game development studio. In an article for Game Dev Daily, Pruett describes these emotions as "the apex of engagement: the player is so enthralled with the experience that it causes him physical stress."
Pruett urges designers to "focus the player on narrative context rather than underlying game systems. We want the player to be thinking as if he is his avatar rather than a third party solving a puzzle." In order to accomplish this, Pruett suggests that designers "move the player’s mode of thinking away from “systemic” problem solving (thinking about stats, min/maxing, design patterns, or even tactical strategy) to “contextual” problem solving (“who sent this note?” or “how do I get out of here?”)."
The importance of contextual thinking to suspense in games is echoed by YouTube essayist Mason Miller, creator of the [game array] series of videos on game design. In his video essay, "Resident Evil and the Art of Suspense," Miller explores how the design of 2002's Resident Evil Remake forces players to think less about stats and mechanics, and more about in-character choices and circumstances that promote a greater sense of immersion.
"Uncertainty is at the core of suspense in video games," Miller observes. "Despite whatever perception we may have in our heads, there is very little certainty in Resident Evil... Areas we thought would remain safe for travel suddenly become dangerous, short cuts become inaccessible, and new monsters spawn in vacant hallways. These changes prevent any iron-clad one-size-fits-all strategy from taking place, and instead welcomes contextual in-the-moment thinking. And contextual thinking like that is a necessity for the kind of immersion we require to generate suspense."
In his video essay, Miller discusses the Mental Model(an important concept in the field of psychology), which Miller applies to the world of gaming and describes as "the process in which players instinctively build up collections of what they believe to be true about a game and its systems in their heads." By challenging this collection of perceived truths and this internalized map of the game world that players create for themselves, a game can surprise its players, leading to greater suspense. "By invalidating the very mental models players depend on, the game creates an incredibly tense experience from beginning to end." Miller's video essay is fascinating - you can see the entire video here:
Conclusion
In this article I've shared some of the additional research I'd encountered that didn't make the cut for my GDC 2017 presentation, 'Homefront' to 'God of War': Using Music to Build Suspense (Wednesday, March 1st at 11am in room 3006 West Hall, Moscone Center). The presentation I give at GDC will include lots of practical and concrete techniques and strategies for game music composers and audio folks looking to ratchet up suspense for their players. That being said, the more general research in this article can also provide helpful insight, and I hope you've found it stimulating! I've included all the information about my upcoming talk below. Please feel free to share your thoughts and insights in the comments section at the end of this article!
'Homefront' to 'God of War': Using Music to Build Suspense
This talk presents ideas for creating a high-tension game score. Composer Winifred Phillips will share tips from some of her projects (pictured left). Phillips will discuss tension-enhancing audio techniques from the films of Martin Scorsese and David Lynch. Phillips will also discuss techniques that composers can adopt from the world of sound design, from startling bursts of noise to strategic moments of silence. Dissonances, drones and unnerving sonic effects all contribute, and each technique will be examined via aural examples from Phillips' projects, including 'Homefront: The Revolution' and the original 'God of War'. The discussion will also include an examination of the uses of suspenseful music in virtual reality, and Phillips will share examples of her music from the recently released 'Dragon Front' VR game. Phillips' talk will offer techniques for composers and audio directors looking to enhance player suspense.
Takeaway
Through examples from several successful game titles, Phillips will provide an analysis of music composition strategies that effectively elevate tension. The talk will include concrete examples and practical advice that audience members can apply to their own games.
Intended Audience
This session will provide composers and audio directors with strategies for designing suspenseful game scores. Includes an overview of the role of music in elevating tension (useful general knowledge for designers). This talk will be approachable for all levels (advanced composers may better appreciate the specific composition techniques discussed).
Speaker Biography
Wnifred Phillips is an award-winning game composer. Some of her latest video game credits include the triple-A first person shooter Homefront: The Revolution and the virtual reality game Dragon Front. Other credits include five of the biggest and best franchises in gaming: Assassin's Creed, Total War, God of War, LittleBigPlanet, and The Sims. Phillips has received an Interactive Achievement Award / D.I.C.E. Award from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, three Hollywood Music in Media Awards, six Game Audio Network Guild Awards, five Global Music Awards, an IGN Best Score Award, a GameSpot Best Music Award, a GameZone Score of the Year Award, a GameFocus Award, and three Gracie Awards from the Alliance of Women in Media. In addition, Phillips has been recognized as an expert in music for VR by the Women in Virtual Reality organization. She has released fifteen albums. Her soundtrack album for the Legend of the Guardians video game was the first video game soundtrack album released by WaterTower Music, one of the top labels for film music soundtracks. Phillips is the author of the award-winning bestselling book, A Composer's Guide to Game Music, published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press.
If we are to understand what suspense is, we first have to acknowledge the role of two other emotions: hope and fear. They are diametrically opposed, but essential to the existence of a suspenseful state. In his final treatise, 
the idea that it is likely arouses hope in us, and the idea that it is unlikely arouses fear."
As an example, the researchers observed that in order for a democratic political system to be effective, voters must be informed of the issues in contention during any popular vote. However, individual voters may feel conflicted and uninspired because of a sense of their relative unimportance -- after all, what kind of change can a single vote bring about? Yet, despite this danger of voter ambivalence, many citizens still engage in the political process. "Many voters do in fact follow political news and watch political debates, thus becoming an informed electorate," writes Ely, Frankel and Kamenica. "A potential explanation is that the political process unfolds in a way that generates enjoyable suspense and surprise." The study goes on to advise the use of suspense-style techniques in the dissemination of important information, or to add urgency and motivation to tasks that might otherwise seem bland and un-involving.
In that spirit, 
Coined by psychology researcher 
After playing the two games, study participants were told that there was a little extra time left, and would they like to play one of the games again? The answer to this question revealed an apparent contradiction between the results predicted by Flow theory and some of the motivating influences of suspense. The conundrum plays out like this:
In order to accomplish this, Pruett suggests that designers "move the player’s mode of thinking away from “systemic” problem solving (thinking about 
In his video essay, Miller discusses the 
This talk presents ideas for creating a high-tension game score. Composer Winifred Phillips will share tips from some of her projects (pictured left). Phillips will discuss tension-enhancing audio techniques from the films of Martin Scorsese and David Lynch. Phillips will also discuss techniques that composers can adopt from the world of sound design, from startling bursts of noise to strategic moments of silence. Dissonances, drones and unnerving sonic effects all contribute, and each technique will be examined via aural examples from Phillips' projects, including 'Homefront: The Revolution' and the original 'God of War'. The discussion will also include an examination of the uses of suspenseful music in virtual reality, and Phillips will share examples of her music from the recently released 'Dragon Front' VR game. Phillips' talk will offer techniques for composers and audio directors looking to enhance player suspense.