app

Streaming music service Rhapsody has launched a new "companion app," focused on artist touring and selling concert tickets.

The new app combines the company's on-demand music streaming service with an easy way for listeners to find live events and purchase tickets.

Rhapsody president Jon Irwin keynoted RAIN Summit West in Las Vegas in April. He spoke of the importance of connecting artists and listeners in meaningful ways, and going beyond simply delivering music in the effort to create "the Ultimate Stream."

This is Rhapsody's second "companion app," after the Songmatch app that identifies music (like Shazam) and can automatically add it to Rhapsody playlists. The new Rhapsody Concerts app was released for iOS today, with Android to follow.

Our recap of Irwin's RAIN Summit West keynote speech is here, and you can hear complete audio here. CNet reports on the new Rhapsody Concerts app here.

Earbits has come out with a new Android mobile app that combines your music collection with music from independent artists (which Earbits gets royalty-free) it thinks you'll like.

The company explains that the new app "intelligently blends users’ songs into its 350 channels of commercial-free music... Consumers can play Earbits curated channels or songs on their mobile devices, switching seamlessly between their music and Earbits' catalog."

Hypebot reports that in exchange for the free use of artists' music, "Earbits supports artists' promotional efforts by gathering emails, rewarding listeners [with what they call "Groovies"] for social engagement such as Facebook shares and providing artists with as much data as possible." Earbits allows artists to pay in exchange for further promotional emphasis.

Read more in Hypebot here.

Radionomy is the Belgian-based platform for enthusiasts to create and stream their own online radio stations. Radionomy has just launched its new app for Windows 8 or Windows RT.

Station managers and listeners can access their accounts via the app, and the interface enables new and helpful ways of discovering listening options.

"We are very proud of what our team has done," said Radionomy VP/Business Development Thierry Ascarez. "The help from Microsoft was priceless and we thank them again for welcoming us into their program." Ascarez will take part in the "International Trends in Online Audio" panel at RAIN Summit West in Las Vegas on April 7.

Radionomy is one of the largest user-generated online radio networks in the world with more than 7,000 internet radio stations and more than 45 million listening hours each month. The company officially launched in the U.S. in September, and has offices in Brusells, Paris, and San Francisco.

The new app is available in the Windows Store here.

Thought this looked cool: an Android mobile app called Magic Radio that creates custom streams of music that combines 7Digital's 13 million-song library with the listener's local collection and playlists.

The app, made by a company called Double Twist, uses music intelligence from The Echo Nest to create the streams, which can be further customized by the user. Note that when music from the listener's local collection is part of the stream, there's savings in both data usage/bandwidth, and royalty obligation (since the user already possesses a copy of the music, it isn't being "publicly performed.")

The service is $4/month, and Double Twist is offering a free 7-day trial. There's a video demo here. Read more in Hypebot here.

Live365 has launched a new mobile app called Studio365, which allows station programmers to manage their radio stations from their mobile device.

Broadcasters can record "Shout Outs" (short, recorded announcements) directly from their phone, and set them to play on their station via the mobile app. The app also gives broadcasters the capability to "go live" on the microphone, again right from the device. Programmers can also manage station ID and pre-roll messages, update station profiles, review listening stats, and monitor stations.

Live365 says the new Studio365 mobile app is the first of many new products they'll release this year. Read more here.

U.S. wireless carrier Sprint announced that select new Android and Windows phones will enable FM radio listening by way of the NextRadio tuner app.

To be clear: the phones will receive on-air, FM broadcast content (as opposed to streaming via the data network).

The NextRadio app, developed by Emmis Digital and announced in November, will enable "backchannel" data that will allow broadcasters to supply additional information ("now playing data," images to accompany ads, for instance). This data link will also allow communication in the other direction (for the listener to interact with programming).

Unrelated to the FM radio news, Sprint also announced a streaming app bundle called "Entertain Me" for the "Sprint Zone" on Android phones. "Enterain Me" will include apps for iHeartRadio, Slacker, Spotify, and Sprint Music Plus (downloads and ringtones) -- as well as other entertainment options.