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The Killers Bassist to Take Break From Touring

The Killers
Jason Tate

The Killers have announced that their bassist, Mark Stoermer, will be taking a break from touring with the band for the foreseeable future.

Mark has decided to take a break from The Killers touring—but don’t be surprised if you see him on stage from time to time. Everyone supports Mark’s decision to take a break to pursue other educational goals and releasing a solo album. The four of us continue to work on our fifth studio album together, and we’re all excited about the new songs we’re writing.

Zealyn – “Overwhelmed” (feat. Aaron Marsh) (Song Premiere)

Zealyn
Jason Tate

Zealyn worked with producer Aaron Marsh (Copeland) on her upcoming EP, Limbic System, and today I’m excited to debut the track from it that also features Aaron on vocals. The song is called “Overwhelmed” and can be streamed below. Speaking about working on with Aaron on the song and tying their voices together, Zealyn says:

Having Aaron Marsh produce the EP was already incredible enough, but when the idea was brought up to have him featured on a song, I couldn’t believe it. His voice/songwriting is brilliant and so inspiring. It’s an honor to share a song with him! “Overwhelmed” directly sums up how the past six months have felt for me, and I believe everyone can relate to what I’m singing about. It’s about almost breaking under pressure and coming so close to giving up on everything you’ve worked towards.

Read More “Zealyn – “Overwhelmed” (feat. Aaron Marsh) (Song Premiere)”

Spotify Lost Lots of Money but Grew Revenue

Jason Tate

Peter Kafka, writing for Re/Code, on how Spotify lost a lot of money last year, but revenue grew:

Filings show that Spotify, based in Sweden and the U.K., generated revenue of $2.12 billion last year, up about 80 percent from the $1.18 billion it brought in the prior year (all prices in the story converted from euros to dollars at the exchange rate from December 31, 2015). Losses, meanwhile, hit $188.7 million — but that number was only up 6.7 percent from the previous year’s total of $176.9 million.

It looks like their paid subscribers hit 28 million.

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Twitter Changing Up 140 Character Rules

Twitter
Jason Tate

Twitter has announced some changes to how they’re going to be handling tweets, media, and @-replies on the service.

[Y]ou can already do a lot in a Tweet, but we want you to be able to do even more. In the coming months we’ll make changes to simplify Tweets including what counts toward your 140 characters, so for instance, @names in replies and media attachments (like photos, GIFs, videos, and polls) will no longer “use up” valuable characters.

Snapchat Looking for $20 Billion Valuation

Snapchat
Jason Tate

Snapchat is currently raising more money at around a $20 billion valuation.

TechCrunch has learned from multiple sources that Snapchat is raising yet more financing at around a $20 billion valuation. Sources with knowledge of the deal say the social media giant is in the process of a round of about $200 million.

I didn’t really get Snapchat until I started to use it more. There’s something freeing about the app that separates it from the other social apps I use. I think knowing that things you post aren’t forcing themselves into your followers’ feeds (freeing you from being worried about spamming them), and knowing it’ll disappear within a day (freeing you from feeling embarrassed something is up forever), and being able to post quick random videos, makes the app oddly more sticky than I would have expected.

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Behind the Pebble Core

Kickstarter
Jason Tate

Steven Levy, writing for Blackchannel, on the new device from Pebble called the “Pebble Core.” It’s basically a little keychain sized device that can stream music from Spotify.

Today, Pebble is launching Kickstarter campaigns for three products. Only two of them are smart watches. It’s the third product that will garner the most attention. It’s a Pebble that’s not a watch. It is optimized for a single task: taking a run. It’s a white plastic and black rubber block, a little thicker than a mahjong tile, with an orange clasp that grasps a keyring. It plays music, has GPS and other sensors that can track activity, and a 3G cellular modem that allows it to work even if your phone isn’t on you.

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