No Platinum Albums in United States
There will be no Platinum certified albums in the United States this year, the first time since certification had been established in 1976.
Apparently even Disney’s “Frozen” soundtrack didn’t surpass the one million sales mark in the States, selling only just over 750,000 copies this year because of the popularity of music downloads.
Canada’s Gold and Platinum certification was altered to address this issue in 2008.
Prior to May 2008 Canadian album releases were given Platinum Status when they reached 100,000 sales. But this was reduced to 80,000.
Update : Taylor Swift managed to surpass a million sales with “1989
HBO To Offer Stand Alone Streaming
Americans will soon be able to subscribe to HBO without subscribing to cable, satellite or IPTV services according to The Wall Street Journal.
The chief executive of HBO informed Time Warner investors today that this service will be made available next year and I suspect many other networks will follow suit. But Canadians will of course be forced to wait for these services as the CRTC decides the future of television.
I certainly hope HBO will choose to bypass the Canadian oligopoly and offer services directly to individuals over the internet like Netflix.
Spotify Is Up And Running
Spotify is now available to Canadians.
This advertisement supported service enables its members to stream music to their devices, including Android and iOS powered tablets and cell phones.
An advertisement free service is available for $9.99 CAD + tax per month, payable via credit card or Paypal. Gift cards for the service will likely make their way into the major retailers shortly.
Competition for Bose ?
The creators of The Core compact wireless bluetooth speaker are 15 days away from the end of their campaign and have already surpassed their $48,000 goal at Indiegogo by almost US330,000.
This device is 6 inches wide and deep, 4 inches tall, and can operate either plugged to a wall outlet or on a battery for 12 hours.
Spotify Coming Soon
Spotify is now taking requests for invites from Canadians.
This Swedish advertisement funded music streaming service will be available on most devices and platforms shortly in Canada.
U2 Removal Tool
Just thought you iTunes users would like to know that a removal tool was released for the latest U2 album : Click here to use the tool.
I’m a U2 fan so I will probably keep it.