What we're listening to this week. Stephen Fretwell 'Magpie'

Let us introduce you to someone you've probably never heard of - Stephen Fretwell (and neither had we, until someone here played it this week). But always good to hear something new. And this is stunning.

From Scunthorpe in England (someone has to be), he released his debut 'Magpie' in 2004 (recorded at Abbey Road) and since then, seems to have supported everyone on tour (notably 'Elbow') as well as a couple of more Albums. 

But this is one of those singer/songwriters who just doesn't seem to have broken through - yet should have, with an Album like this. Not unlike Ed Sheeran in some ways, but deeper (if ye know what we mean - less 'poppy').

The track 'Emily' seems to have got him most notice, but 'Play' is undoubtedly one of the best songs we've heard. Ever. Followed by 'Brother' and 'New York'. 

Worth getting the Album for those 4 tracks alone.
Try 'Play' here - you'll love it, trust us.

And then try 'New York' live, here.

IMusic? Stunningly Magnificent.

And this Ladies and Gentlemen, is about as stunning as you get.

Apple IMusic simply has just turned the music business on its head to the benefit of listeners. 

It is superb.

Does it allow you to listen to any Album? Yes it does
Can you add to that to your music collection (my music) as if you own it? You can, unlimited
Can you buy the Album directly through Itunes? Yep although we're not sure why you would
Can you "follow" artists as in a Social Media way? Sure
Can you form playlists or listen to curated playlists by artists? Indeed, like the one Joni Mitchell just made
Is it easy and beautiful to navigate? It is, although like a new Fax machine, takes a day to get around it
Is there anything wrong with it? Not a bit

All for under 10 euro a month with a free 3 month trial which presumably, is designed to attract in those Spotify or Pandora users whom, quite frankly, it's hard to see why they'd move back.

If you have an Apple product it's there by now and you should simply sign up. 

That's objective recommendation too, because we have nothing to do with Apple but just thought it was something very cool.

What it will do is of course, lose revenue to Apple (and the artists) from downloads and replace that revenue with streaming subscriptions. Which probably, will mean less for everyone in the business. 

Although, the user benefits with every possible Album for a low cost.

On the other hand, it also democratises music, allowing you access to free new Albums that you'd never had bought you thought, but can now listen to and might stream. So it's great for new bands.

But it's a Wow. Really. Did you get that? A total, complete WOW.

Apple's new Music Service. Coming, today.

Apple's new music streaming service is on the way and it's going to change ITunes.

Called 'Apple Music' it will compete with the likes of Spotify, Deezer and Pandora and will be all encompassing (radio and downloading including) probably costing about 10 USD a month and be pre-installed in the next generation of iphones (giving it instant market distribution).

Plus Apple's extraordinary cash reserves, will give it the marketing edge on competitors simply by outspending them (Spotify has 15 million subscribers - the market is circa 40 million subscribers currently).

Unlike Spotify, Apple Music will not have a free tier so either you're in or you're not but they're likely to bundle some free months are part of a signing up offer.

Streaming may of course, hamper the declining download market which in turn, will impact on the general music business. But Streaming has shown significant growth - it's what consumers want vis-a-vis downloading.

All coming in an announcement today.
But it's a big change for the way in which Apple are attacking music.
And a big change for artists too.

Digital Radio rolls out globally. iTunes Radio has real potential to own this.

Without a doubt, the next wave is going to be Digital Radio.

We have music streaming services on monthly subscription and we have music downloads, now we'll have sophisticated digital radio with more than 250 DJ curated stations to listen to - for free.

And Apple will own it.

They launched the service in September (same day as IOS7 so it got little PR) across all devices including Apple TV, but only in the USA, for now. Already they're announcing plans to roll it out across Europe. UK, NZ, Australia and Canada were announced only yesterday.

It features in the Itunes store and thereby, immediately putting it in front of an audience of millions. 11 million listeners tried it in the first 5 days after launch.....

What it does in part, is to build pre-made stations around your music choices. So if you hear a particularly song you like, it will tell you the stations that have just played it. Therefore, they might be your kind of stations.

Or you might just want stations that play your favourite genre - Country, Jazz - it will bring you those. The more you listen, the more personalised your station becomes as you decide to make choices - for example, 'never play that song again' - and it won't. The more you listen, the more itunes knows the stations you love and the more it can play the music you love.

So you create your own station in effect, or a pre-made one created based on music you listen to or the music you buy. But there are text and audio ads built into the music and hence it's free although you can remove Ads by upgrading through a subscription. It already has Ad deals in place with P&G, McDonalds, Pepsi and Nissan to start.

It looks too like there's no streaming limits so in some ways it's head-to-head with 13 year old Pandora (Apple are beating them in their quick roll-out and music rights buy-outs) and Spotify, although different. 

Pandora may suffer and reports are that Pandora customers are switching over. However, Bloggers are critical of Apple for simply "copying Pandora". Something Steve Jobs was so critical of other brands doing to Apple.

Of course too, by listening to ITunes Radio, if you hear a song or artist you like, you can buy it there and then.

So it's encouraging music sales by giving listeners what are, free samples. Clever.

And without any doubt, Apple have the distribution, the brand, the financial clout to own Digital Radio globally. Which will have implications for traditional, local stations especially in a young, 14-26 demographic. Those radio stations will need to wake-up to this challenge and they can, by having one big advantage - local content.

Certainly in Ireland, Radio Media owners tend to be smart, bright people but the sudden impact of an Itunes Radio launch will require a response. Now's the time to formulate that because it's coming.

Be 100% sure of that.

And along comes another, brilliant, simple, world class idea. Bluetooth Earphones.

Just when you thought everything was invented, along comes another great, simple idea.

Bluetooth earbuds.

Now I do know of wireless headphones like we all bought in the 90's for late night TV watching. And I do know of bluetooth earpieces for Iphones favoured by Taxi drivers. But bluetooth ear buds, as in the tiny earpieces we all have, I hadn't seen as wireless.

So no more chords to plug into your iphone, instead they're wireless over bluetooth. The ear buds just connect to a little device which links to your phone etc. So forget tangles, they're a thing of the past.

Elroy (I admit, a most peculiar brand name) is looking to raise funding on Kickstarter (crowd funding) and I think it's a real winner. Not only does it replace the mess of tangled chords but when you remove an earpiece (as in, someone says "hello" on the street), it pauses the music until you put it back in.

If you get a call, inserting the ear piece answers it and so on. Clever?

Really.

The mounts are also magnetic so when you're done, they simply stick to a box which you carry. 

Elroy were looking to raise 30k usd on Kickstarter and already they've past that mark. I'm not surprised.

This will be the way of headphones in the future (did I just say that?).
Well, I mean, it's a sure winner.