yoga on a peaceful beach

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Mobile Music Therapy: Humm.ly App Will Chill You Out

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This app might be first ever to use professional music therapy, integrated with music and health data, to help your moods and be more mindful
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Oct 24, 2017 - 1:17 pm

Music and wellness are a natural fit. For example, studies have shown that 30 minutes a day at work spent listening to desired music on-demand boosts cognition among I.T. workers. The Humm.ly wellness app, for iOS at iTunes, was designed to integrate many insights like that from consulting music therapists as well as from founder Joanna Yu's previous years in music.

Working in affiliation with American Music Therapy Association certified professionals, Yu brings strong music production chops from her native China and data smarts from her U.S. college degree in applied mathematics. Now studying to be a music therapist herself, Yu expects Humm.ly will help her larger task as an advocate for wellness.

Choosing music to adjust mood for an increased sense of wellbeing seems likely to grow on the scientific and medical side of digital engagement, while on the consumer side, streaming music services increasingly supply a universal jukebox in daily life. Humm.ly could be balanced at just the right point.

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Apple

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Apple Services' Growth Has Music Breaking Its Own Records

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Apple Music and iTunes content, software and services rake in $8.5 billion quarterly revenue, up more than a third from last year
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Nov 3, 2017 - 4:02 pm

On Nov. 7 Apple announced its July through Sept. quarterly results, ending its 2017 fiscal year on a high note.

Thanks to Apple services, including iTunes, Apple Music and other software, the company raked in a record $8.5 billion in revenue in this category over the last quarter, up 34 percent from the same time last year.

Some of this success can be attributed to Apple Music's paid subscriber base. Conversions from free to paid are better than ever. In September Apple Music confirmed its paid subscriber base of 30 million, and that has grown by 75 percent from the previous year. In addition, Apple Music's original content such as James Corden's "Carpool Karaoke" series and "Planet Of The Apps," among other top performers, has been cited by Billboard as a potential driver of subscriptions.

With TV know-hows Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht onboard to manage a reported $1 billion original content budget, it looks like Apple will continue its original programming efforts moving forward. The question is whether new content is rolled out via Apple Music or another video platform.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said, "We're happy to report a very strong finish to a great fiscal 2017, with record fourth quarter revenue, year-over-year growth for all our product categories, and our best quarter ever for services."

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Jann Wenner photographed in 2006

Jann Wenner
 

Photo: Michael Loccisano/FilmMagic

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Penske Media Acquires 'Rolling Stone' Magazine Majority Stake

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The 50-year rock culture classic, reporting on music and important news, sells majority stake to Penske Media Corporation
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Dec 21, 2017 - 12:12 pm

Following music and culture in the U.S. has often included reading Rolling Stone magazine over the past 50 years, thanks to the publishing success of Jann Wenner. So it came as a surprise last September when Wenner announced he would sell the magazine. Now, it has been announced Penske Media Corporation has acquired 51 percent of the magazine for an estimated $100 million. Wenner will remain on as editorial director.

Jay Penske, who also owns entertainment business magazine Variety, and PMC look forward to being a big part of what happens next.

"Our interest in Rolling Stone is driven by its people, its cultural significance and the globally recognized brand that has no peer in its areas of influence," Penske said. "We believe that Penske Media is uniquely qualified to partner with the Wenners to ensure the brand continues to ascend for decades across multiple media platforms."

The remaining 49 percent of Rolling Stone parent Wenner Media remains held by Singapore's BandLab.

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Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey

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The Secret Behind Mariah Carey's Timeless Hit "All I Want For Christmas Is You"

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A musicologist explains how "All I Want For Christmas Is You" owes its lasting popularity to the way the chords dance, teasing the return to G Major
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Dec 20, 2017 - 4:36 pm

As of Dec. 18 the Mariah Carey Christmas classic "All I Want For Christmas Is You" landed on the red-hot Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. Quartz spoke with "Switched on Pop" podcast host and musicologist Nate Sloan and his co-host Charlie Harding about what could drive this powerful rise, year after year. Sloan says it is suspense of the harmonic kind.

Because the song "All I Want For Christmas Is You" is written in the key of G Major, return to that "tonic" home base feels like a soothing resolution, Sloan described. Harding simplified the teasing of false cadences that seem like they will resolve but then don't, pointing out, "There are so many points in that chord progression where you think it's going to go back to where it started and instead she keeps dancing around it." This captures the essence of the suspense Sloan identified as the secret of Mariah Carey's Christmas tonic.

Whatever the reason, more than two decades after its release in 1994 the song is still becoming more popular. As long as Carey's upward trajectory continues, she seems destined to someday pass Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" for the top Christmas spot in total sales. But don't expect that day to come too soon, as Carey has 14 million sales so far, but Crosby has in excess of 50 million.

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Donna Summer at the 25th GRAMMY Awards in 1983

Donna Summer

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"Jersey Boys" Director Readies Donna Summer Musical For Broadway

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"Hot Stuff" will arrive in spring as the director of "Jersey Boys" brings "Summer: The Donna Summer Musical" to Broadway
Philip Merrill
GRAMMYs
Dec 20, 2017 - 1:00 pm

After Donna Summer lit up the disco era in the late '70s, winning a GRAMMY for "Last Dance," her graceful voice continued to thrill and ultimately win five GRAMMYs. Now a Broadway-bound biographical musical — "Summer: The Donna Summer Musical" — is wrapping up its La Jolla Playhouse, California warm-up and heading to Broadway in spring 2018.

La Jolla Playhouse Director Emeritus Des McAnuff and his choreographer from the 2006 musical "Jersey Boys" have crafted a biographical storyline with three different actresses playing Summer, while the narrative frame remains centered on her final concert as a dramatic hub. The production's final performance in La Jolla is Dec. 24 and the show features about 20 of Summer's greatest songs.

As announced Dec. 19, the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York has been booked with a scheduled April 23, 2018, opening for the musical, with previews beginning on March 28.

It should be a pleasure to see the range of what's to come with "Summer" in spring.

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