MusikMatterz
Italian tenor Salvatore Licitra dies

Italian tenor Salvatore Licitra dies

The Italian tenor Salvatore Licitra was pronounced clinically dead this morning, Monday 5 September, at the Garibaldi hospital in Catania, Sicily. Licitra had suffered an accident on his Vespa scooter on Saturday 27 August. Licitra, who was not wearing a helmet, was seriously injured to the chest and head when...
Spotify officially launches in the US

Spotify officially launches in the US

Spotify has officially launched in the US. The company announced today that the streaming music service finally is available in the world’s largest music market. The US service does not differ much from what is offered in Europe and prices are as anticipated: $9.99 for the premium streaming plan and $4.99...
Spotify to power Facebook Music?

Spotify to power Facebook Music?

It has been rumoured for a long time that Facebook and Spotify were planning an integrated music service that would extend beyond the current facility in Spotify where, using Facebook Connect, users can connect to friends on Facebook and share playlists and songs from the Spotify music library. The project...
Calleja: The Maltese Tenor

Calleja: The Maltese Tenor

“I just want to sing as beautifully as possible” Joseph Calleja’s third recital disc for Decca Classics, The Maltese Tenor, was launched in Germany on 20 May 2011, followed by Italy on the 24th. It has been nearly six years since Calleja recorded his last recital album, The Golden Voice...
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Tenor Licitra injured in road accident

Tenor Licitra injured in road accident

UPDATE: Licitra was pronounced clinically dead on 5 September 2011. The Swizz-Italian tenor Salvatore Licitra (43) is in intensive care at the Garibaldi hospital in Catania, Sicilia, after having suffered an accident last night travelling to Modica (Ragusa), where the acclaimed tenor were to pick up a prize on 3 September. The Italian paper La...
Calleja visits the BBC breakfast show

Calleja visits the BBC breakfast show

Following the anticipated Requiem of Verdi at the Royal Albert Hall, London, on Sunday 24 July, Joseph Calleja visited the BBC breakfast show Monday morning, where he sang “O sole mio” a cappella. Monday was also the launch in the UK of Calleja’s new album for Decca, “The Maltese tenor.” Calleja was introduced as “one...
Amy Winehouse found dead in her home

Amy Winehouse found dead in her home

The polemic British pop singer was found dead in her London apartment Saturday. The police has so far not given any cause of death. Winehouse struggled with drugs and alcohol throughout her life and recently cancelled her European tour after a botched performance in Belgrade, Serbia. Winehouse returned to London to recover, but was found dead...
WE7: Peter Gabriel's online music effort

WE7: Peter Gabriel’s online music effort

The UK music service WE7 launched in the UK April 2007 as a download site, then shifted focus in November 2008 to streaming music. In February 2010 WE7 embraced the freemium business model by offering an advert-free service for a monthly subscription. The service claims over 3 million users and 6.8 million tracks for streaming in the...
Calleja's Malta yearly

Calleja’s Malta yearly

Joseph Calleja takes the stage tomorrow Saturday 9 July with Italian pop icon Lucio Dalla and the New Zealand classical cross-over artist Hayley Westenra. Since the first summer concert at the Fort Manoel in Valletta July 2006, the concert series has become an annual, much anticipated event and a staple in the Maltese cultural summer calendar. It is the...
Timberlake is bringing MySpace back

Timberlake is bringing MySpace back

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation sold the former popular social website MySpace late June for the meager sum of 35 million USD, 65 million less than they initially were looking for. The highest bidder was the online advertising specialists SpecificMedia, who has partnered with singer and actor Justin Timberlake to bring the social network...
Import your playlists with Groovylist

Import your playlists with Groovylist

You are perhaps using last.fm, Spotify or iTunes to stream your music? Now you can import your playlists to Grooveshark, the freemium on demand US streaming music service, using the nifty, little application Groovylists. Groovylists takes your playlist from Spotify, last.fm or exported iTunes XML playlists and adds them to Grooveshark. The service is the...
Joseph Calleja: From Malta to Scunthorpe

Joseph Calleja: From Malta to Scunthorpe

Joseph Calleja visited the BBC studios in London and the Andrew Marr show on 26 June, where he performed live on air. The Maltese tenor sang the aria “E lucevan le stelle” from Puccini’s opera “Tosca.” Calleja described Puccini as his desert island composer because of the human soul in the composer, saying Puccini knew...
Spotify secures 100 Million USD in funding

Spotify secures 100 Million USD in funding

The US launch of music service Spotify could be imminent as the company secures 100 million US dollars in funding. Reports have it the that the London-based Swedish startup has been negotiating for six months to conclude the round. Funds come from the private investment firm Digital Sky Technologies, one of the major shareholders in Facebook,...
SoundCloud reaches 5 million users

SoundCloud reaches 5 million users

Launched in 2008, the social audio platform SoundCloud founded by the Swedes Alexander Jung and Eric Wahlforss just reached 5 million users. The news were made known in the SoundCloud blog on 15 June, where an infographic was posted showing the explosive growth of the cloud service. According to Jung, 4 million of the users have signed...
Spotify in the US

Spotify in the US

Spotify signs a deal with Universal The popular technology blog All Things Digital was the first to report Friday that the popular Swedish music subscription service had signed an American distribution deal with Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music label. With deals already signed with EMI Music Group and Sony, Spotify is closer to launching...

Stream your music with DropTunes

Users of the online storage service DropBox can now stream any music files stored in their account via an additional service called DropTunes. DropTunes is an application that sits on top of DropBox, and a user only have to log in with his DropBox credentials to start using the service. DropTunes creates a /Public/DropTunes folder...