Photo via @crunchgear
I’m watching the Apple keynote live on USTREAM.tv and I wasn’t fully expecting that they’d be unveiling a new social network for music built right into iTunes. It’s called Ping, and it’s built into iTunes 10, which is available starting today at apple.com/iTunes. Also, as part of the iTunes Store, you’ll see Ping on your iPhones and iPod Touches. The part that caught my eye was the fact that they’ll be artist tour dates built right into the interface. It doesn’t seem like the new version is up yet but we’ll be digging right into this to find out more. Based on the presentation, there are over 17,000 tour dates in their artist database and it’s going to be easy to say “I’m going” and just post on what concerts you’re attending for all your friends to see. Can’t wait to test the implementation.
Chris Martin just took the stage for a live performance, too. More on this as it comes in…
Update: Live Nation and Ticketmaster will be powering the tour dates. Tons of links on the subject here…
Live Nation and iTunes just announced a partnership to sell live digital downloads from concerts at various Live Nation venues. Eliot from Wired’s Epicenter blog has a bit more info on the new offerings, which also include concert video as well as audio:
The new section represents another breakthrough in the promising area of live digital music, which has been hampered by complicated rights issues even as other forms of music proliferate legally online…Live Nation recorded the shows at over 80 of its venues, “which have been transformed into next-generation ‘wired’ live recording studios” according to the announcement. Live Nation will sell these recordings exclusively through iTunes….iTunes Live Music (iTunes link) also lists Apple’s more extensive live archive, including recordings by Sonic Youth, Regina Spektor, Pete Yorn, The Rapture, Kings of Leon, Gnarls Barkley, The New Pornographers and others…It also includes concert videos. Apple had already racked up video exclusives of shows by It Might Get Loud, The Killers, Kings of Leon and other bands, selling them in iTunes a week before they were available on DVD.
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I don’t know about you but I was totally surprised to wake up this morning and find out that Phish had released a new studio track to iTunes called “Time Turns Elastic,” the first release from the sessions with Steve Lillywhite. I immediately purchased it and listened to it just once, and I generally liked what I heard. I felt like I was hearing the band for the first time again.
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