Developer platform Echo Nest has signed a partnership with Dada Entertainment’s Play.me service. The deal means that people creating music services using Echo Nest’s tools will now be able to offer music from the Play.me catalog without having to sign separate licensing deals with rightsholders.

Read more about the partnership here:

• Billboard
• Wired
• Music Ally

Beginning Monday, March 29^th Play.me will be giving its users the power of choice!   To fulfill this goal, Play.me will include a brand new Web Access plan that will cost a mere $4.99 per month. For new users, this plan begins with a free 7-day trial and includes unlimited, ad-free access to Play.me’s entire catalog of streaming music, plus 5 MP3 downloads upon sign up.  Web Access members will also gain one week of streaming on their mobiles, allowing them to listen to their favorite songs from virtually anywhere. It’s the perfect plan for music fans that need basic access to on demand music entertainment at home or in the office.    

Play.me’s Free Pass and All Access memberships will continue to be offered but will be updated to exclude monthly downloads. However, bonus downloads will be granted upon sign up for both memberships with an option to purchase more MP3s at a convenient low price.    

A quick breakdown of the new revamped offers:

Free Pass

• 5 Hours of Ad-Supported Streaming each Week
• Standard Quality Sound 
• 1 Bonus MP3 Download at Signup

Web Access

• Unlimited Ad-Free Streaming
• High Quality Sound (up to 320KB)
• 5 Bonus MP3 Downloads at Signup
• Option to purchase more MP3s
• New Users Start with a No Obligation 7-day Trial

Full Access (Web & Mobile)

• Unlimited Ad-Free Streaming on Web and Mobile
• High Quality Sound (up to 320KB)
• 20 Bonus MP3 Downloads at Signup
• Option to purchase more MP3s
• Stream Music Virtually Anywhere
• New Users Start with a No Obligation 7-day Trial

We hope you enjoy these new membership options that will be available come Monday.  Tell your friends and let us know what you think.

Keep on streaming in the free world!

-The Play.me team

Hi everyone! 

Play.me is happy to announce some cool new updates to our service and music discovery tools.  Below are some of the improvements and new functionalities that we have recently implemented.  Check ‘em out when you get a moment and enjoy the new features!

Improved Search Functionality

• We added a contextual drop-down that provides immediate search results as you type

Updated Listening Queue which includes Radio

• Any Radio Station users create will now be included in the Listening Queue so users can view and skip through tracks giving them the ultimate control.

New! Search Summary Tab

• This is the new Search Results page which breaks out results by Artist/Song/Album

Explicit Content

• Back by popular demand, users will now have the privilege of listening to songs with explicit lyrics. 

Thanks for reading and try out the new functionalities when you get a chance!

Cheers,

The Play.me team

Greetings Play.me members!

We’ve made an update to our re-download functionality which we’d like to share with you.

As you may know, Play.me allows a 72 hour re-download courtesy. This means, if you do experience a failed download, you have 72 hours to re-download the MP3 without reducing the amount of your remaining downloads.

Here’s how to do it:
+ Log in to your account
+ Click the “Download” link found on the top of the page (located to the right of your e-mail address)
+ Select “Your Downloads”

On this page, you will see information regarding the song, artist and date of download. On the far right of the page, you will see a “Download” column.

If you see a Green Button in the download column, you can re-download the MP3 from the page without reducing your MP3 balance. The Green download button = you are still within the 72 hour download period.

If you see a Grey Button in the download column, you can re-download the MP3 from the page, but your MP3 balance will be reduced. The Grey download button = the 72 hour period has passed.

We hope that the improvements to the “Your Downloads” page makes it easier and more convenient for you to manage your downloads.

Still need help? Please contact our care team via our Form. Please be sure to include the e-mail address associated with your Play.me account.

Thanks!

The Play.me Staff

Hello fans and followers!  Play.me has recently added some cool new features to the site and we’d like to take a moment to share the good gospel.

First off, we want to thank our fellow users and supporters for giving us such great feedback during the launch of our service.  With your helpful comments and suggestions, we were able to go back to the drawing board to implement changes and improve our usability.  So many thanks to all that have contributed in giving us feedback - and feel free to continue! 

As for the new product features,  we are happy to announce the following: A contextual Tips box for those that are new to our service and need a few pointers,  a Timer above the Player that monitors the amount of streaming you have available (which will help manage your listening), and an integration of the NEWS content into the site that won’t require another window to be opened. You’ll also notice that many of the artist spaces have been personalized with shiny new  images.   So, lots of cool things you should check out if you haven’t already, and much more to come!

Enjoy,

The Play.me Staff

 New!  Personalized Artist Spaces and Integrated NEWS editorial

Since the launch of Play.me, we have made a Free Pass option available to users who want to try out our service free of charge. Free Pass users are granted with 10 hours of free, on demand music streaming of any song in our catalog, plus complimentary downloads.   The idea is to let users test drive our music service with no strings attached.  However, paying for our free user base has become quite costly for us, which is why we’ve decided to integrate advertising into the Free Pass.  This way our users can continue to reap the benefits of a free music experience, while we monetize off of the ads.  At last, we can have our cake and eat it too!

In the coming days, you will see the advertisements launch.   Similar to other music sites, the ads will appear in an audio visual format, and will run 15-30 seconds in length.  The ads will play after every few songs and as usual, the Free Pass will continue to give users free and legal access to Play.me’s catalog of 3 million plus tracks. 

 As always, users can upgrade at anytime to Play.me’s premium All Access Pass which is completely ad-free.   We highly recommend this membership to those who want a complete, seamless, and uninterrupted music experience.

Hello, dedicated Play.me fans! 

Now that we all have a Play.me account (right?), we’d like to take a moment to introduce our unique music discovery tool:  On Demand Radio. Unlike most of the radio players out there, Play.me’s On Demand Radio gives you the freedom to listen to the music you want, when you want in addition to recommending artists you might like. 

How it works:  once you’re logged into your Play.me account, click RADIO in the menu options to your left.   You’ll see two different radio interfaces in this view – one of them being Radio by Genre, which allows you to discover music by decade and genre, and the other being Radio by Artist, for those who want to listen to something specific to their tastes.  These cool new radio features allows users to discover and enjoy music in a unique way.  Give it a try sometime and let us know what you think!

Ciao everyone!  Here is another nice write up about our service, posted on the popular Androidguys.com tech blog.   The article focuses on our streaming app that we released for the Android mobile phone and highlights the fact that we beat Spotify to the punch bowl by being the first in the US to release a playlist caching app for mobiles.  High fives to the AndroidGuys for making it known!  And, of course, to Team Play.me for making it happen : )

Read on… Play.me Announces Music ‘Caching’ Android App for US

Good day everyone!

Last week, we publicly announced the launch of our newborn music service, Play.me. We received some really nice write-ups.  Oneof the many news stories that we’d like to share was posted in GeekSugar, a popular blogging network for tech savvy females.  The article focuses on the Play.me App for the Android mobile phone user and spotlights the very cool caching feature that we were the first to release in the US market – a huge accomplishment that we hope you enjoy!

The GeekSugar article can be found at:  http://bit.ly/73ltDO

Today is a momentous occasion as Play.me has officially launched!  Read our press release below which was serviced to the media this morning.

Play.me – Your Complete Music Destination Unveiled

New Music Service Offers Unlimited, Uninterrupted Streaming On Demand Develops First ‘Caching’ Android App in the US Market Allowing Users to Listen to Playlists Without a Mobile Signal

NEW YORK, Jan. 6 /PRNewswire/ — Play.me — the newest music platform where users can stream ad-free music on demand from virtually anywhere at any time — has officially launched. Play.me’s browser-based service gives users instant access to over 2.5 million songs to create playlists and customize radio stations to share and stream through social networks like Facebook and Twitter.
Play.me enables music fans to quickly find and play all the songs they love from a comprehensive, continually updated catalog and find new artists with Play.me’s discovery tools, including similar artist suggestions, new releases, and dynamic commercial-free radio stations which can be instantly created based on genre, artist, and decade.

For the music listener on-the-go, Play.me’s pioneering Android app — the first of its kind in the US market — allows users to temporarily save playlists directly to their phone. This new feature enables users without a signal to enjoy uninterrupted listening while “off the grid,” such as on a plane or in a subway tunnel where there is no cell phone reception or Wi-Fi access.

Play.me offers consumers both a premium monthly subscription service ($9.99) and a free trial version with limited streaming capabilities and complimentary downloads.

Play.me has licensing deals with major music companies including Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Music, IODA, The Orchard and Beggars Group. In addition, Play.me is actively working to add more content providers, and is in the latter stages of negotiations with the other major labels. From mainstream hits to buzz-worthy indies and everything in between, Play.me provides over 10 million minutes of non-stop music.

“We believe that our easy-to-use navigation and extensive catalog — combined with the trial and paid offerings — makes Play.me the ultimate destination for music enthusiasts to hear and discover music the way they want, when they want,” said Massimiliano Pellegrini (Chairman, Play.me Inc.).

“We are pleased to make our unparalleled roster of music available through the Play.me platform. We think well-built, easy-to-use services that provide a compelling consumer experience to fans have a huge opportunity to meet consumer demand for legitimate digital solutions,” said Michael Paull, Executive Vice President, Global Digital Business, Sony Music Entertainment.

In the coming weeks, Play.me will launch new features, including the release of its mobile application for iPhone and Blackberry; and Play.me News (news.playme.com) featuring artist interviews, special promotions, and the latest music news. For more information, please visit: www.playme.com, lab.playme.com for our developer program, or blog.playme.com for the latest updates and company news.

see also: http://bit.ly/55fOV3