The Rise of Curated Playlists; Jukedeck Hopes AI Can 'Democratise Music'; LiveXLive to Stream Outside Lands

Artists have traditionally commanded attention, serving as the primary inspirations and icons for diverse communities of fan bases around the world. However, with the unrelenting rise of on-demand music streaming, playlists are overtaking albums and artist discographies as the primary form of music consumption.

British AI-music startup Jukedeck has been on the music industry’s radar for three years now, since TechCrunch’s August 2014 report.

Last week Spotify revealed it’s going to promote podcasts on its streaming service, providing yet another example of the fierce competition underway for your ears. Indeed, between music services, audiobooks, and podcasts, the fight for listening time is only heating up.

LiveXLive will be livestreaming select performances from Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival on the LiveXLive platform beginning today (August 11), and ending Sunday, for music fans outside of the United States.

This week seems to be a good one for media streaming companies in Asia.

Groove Music offers roughly the same 40 million tracks as other industry leaders, partial free access, selective streaming and downloads as well as cloud storage integration, all of which means it has the foundation to compete.

Spotify is rolling out a design tweak for its desktop app's menu bar, which gives podcasts and videos more prominence for listeners.

Embattled streaming service Soundcloud could cease to exist without an injection of cash from investors.

Sales of Glen Campbell's music soared after the death of the "Rhinestone Cowboy" singer after a public struggle with Alzheimer's disease.

Why some artists are breaking the industry's Friday-release rule: "It's a little bit less about the chart game, a little bit more about the global reach game."

French Montana's latest single is just the latest in a long line of songs that rode an Instagram dance challenge to the top.