Mamma Mia, Here They go Again - ABBA Discusses Comeback on Apple Music

ABBA surprised many with news of a return this week, accompanied by new music and upcoming shows. The band’s Björn Ulvaeus sat down with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe to discuss the pop legend’s legacy, and why they decided to take a chance on coming back. Two songs from the Swedish super trouper’s upcoming album ‘Legacy’, out in November, are available to preview now.

‘Apple Music Electron’ is a Free, Open Source Alternative

Apple Music Electron is a free, lightweight, open source alternative to iTunes and other Apple Music applications based on Electron 13.1.0. Features include: Custom themes, language detection, customizable CSS, song notifications, auto updater, and your typical media controls like play/pause. There are multiple ways you can install it, and it’s even available on Linux.

Apple Music and Kanye West to Hold Third 'Donda' Listening Party

Kanye West fans have been clamoring for the artist to finally release his upcoming album, Donda. Unfortunately, the release date keeps changing. Maybe the album will drop next week, during or after the just-announced third listening party on Apple Music. The event is slated for Thursday, August 26 at 10pm EDT, from Soldier Field in Chicago.

While West has recorded and teased or even announced release dates for multiple unreleased albums over the years, “Donda” has had the most public gestation of them all — and of any album by a major artist in history. Some have speculated that he is setting up a release-date battle with Drake — who has said he’s finally finished his long-awaited “Certified Lover Boy” album — similar to his release-date face-off with 50 Cent in 2007.

 

Apple Music Now Lets Artists Share Milestones

Apple Music now allows artists to share various metrics and milestones with their fans, Macrumors reported. These include highs and all-time best number of  plays, number of Shazams, and whether tracks are feature in ‌curated playlists.

The ‌Apple Music‌ for Artists feature generates automatic milestones for artists of all sizes, which artists can highlight on social media networks. Milestones include new highs and all-time bests across Plays and Shazams, and inclusion in ‌Apple Music‌’s curated playlists. Artists will see images celebrating their milestones on their iOS overview page for ‌Apple Music‌ for Artists, and can tap the share icon to open up the share sheet. Users will also see relevant milestones on the song and country detail pages. Milestones can be shared to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook and Instagram stories. Sharing milestones is a feature that’s limited to artists at the current time and the images can only be accessed through the ‌Apple Music‌ for Artists iOS app.

Apple Music in India Getting Spatial Audio and Lossless

Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos and lossless quality tracks have rolled out for Apple Music users around the world. Shortly, those in India will be getting these features too, iMore reported.

When Apple launched Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio for Apple Music last week, users of the music streaming service in India were disappointed to find that they were not included in the first batch of countries to receive the new features. Now, Apple has confirmed that, thankfully, that wait won’t be for too long. The company has confirmed on the Apple Music website in the country that both Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio are “coming soon” to users in India. While this usually means that a launch is imminent, Apple has not put an exact date on when Apple Music subscribers can expect the features to drop.

Apple Music Celebrates Black Music Month

June is Black Music Month. Apple Music will be celebrating and exploring the contribution Black artists have made with playlists and other content. It also released a new video celebrating “creators and the cross-cultural dialogues that bring the world so much texture, light, and joy.”