Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Music
  3. Features

Music Features

A woman wearing the silver Apple AirPods Max.

Hands-on review: Apple’s head-tracking for music is one weird trip

What happens when you add head-tracking to the already immersive audio experience of Dolby Atmos Music? We put Apple's tech to the test.
MIT Knitted Keyboard II

MIT Media Lab’s new knitted keyboard showcases the power of smart textiles

A woman wearing the silver Apple AirPods Max.

Why the best device for Apple’s lossless music will be an Android phone

song identifying ai

New A.I. can identify the song you’re listening to by reading your brain waves

how cds prepared us for the future compactdiscs illustration 201009

38 years ago, CDs rewrote our relationship with music and primed us for 2020

Tidal Owners: Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Daft Punk

Five years on, Jay-Z’s Tidal is still fighting to make waves

kcontact 2020 shows way forward for virtual events izone kcon stage

I went to a gigantic virtual K-pop convention, and I saw the future

jbl live 650btnc bose quietcomfort 35 ii bowers and wilkins px noise canceling headphones amazon deals 2 768x768

Fire up your brain with DT’s ultimate work-from-home playlist

apple music 20 million now has paying subscribers half that of spotify main

How the 2010s changed music (and listening to it) forever

apple music

Apple Music is winning the stateside streaming war. Here’s how it beat Spotify

glitch mob the blade 2.0

The Glitch Mob spent a year making a VR experience as otherwordly as their music

lany coldplay spotify soundcloud streaming interview keith nelson jr digital trneds

Who needs a studio or label? LANY hit it big singing into a blanket

two feet headshot

Two Feet recorded a song, put it on Soundcloud, and woke up famous

Two Feet is an alternative rock artist who hit it big when his breakthrough song scored 4 million streams on Soundcloud in a matter of hours. The 25 year old discusses how it felt to have his life change in a day, why musicians don't need to go music school, and Spotify's monopoly.
Red-Bull Many Ameri

Founder of Red Bull Radio talks streaming service morality and the future of radio

Many Ameri, founder of 24/7 online radio station, Red Bull Radio, speaks on Red Bull's stance on Apple Music and Spotify's removal of artists from playlists, why long-form content still matters in an age of short attention spans, and how the future of radio is podcasts.
Best Vinyl Setups

Is laser-cut ‘HD Vinyl’ the Holy Grail for audiophiles, or just a gimmick?

Austrian music distributor Guenter Loibl wants to revolutionize the way vinyl records are made, using a precise industrial laser in the pressing process with an aim to offer increased fidelity and play time. We asked the experts: Can HD Vinyl deliver on such lofty promises, or do records already sound as good as they ever will?
Spotify Rap Caviar playlist displayed on an iPhone.

Streaming music is clearly the future. Here’s why that sucks

Spotify and streaming services like Apple Music are taking over. But are we losing something valuable as we shift to on-demand music? Here’s why streaming isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
adrian younge luke cage season 2 interview  linear labs 7

Adrian Younge makes music for everything from orchestras to Netflix’s ‘Luke Cage’

In speaking with musician Adrian Younge, you instantly realize his DNA is probably made up of musical notes. He proudly eschews modern digital recording techniques in favor of more time-consuming analog ones. Along with Ali Shaheed Muhammad, he created the rapturous score for the Netflix series Luke Cage.
andrew torres of universal music enterprises

Urban Legends wants to bring Migos and millennials into vinyl

Andre Torres, VP of urban catalog at Universal Music Enterprises, explained how Universal Music's new imprint Urban Legends plans to bring vinyl appreciation to the generations raised on streams and downloads.
moodelizer dynamic playback music carl michael herlofsson interview feat

Why just listen when you can play? How Moodelizer makes music malleable

Dynamic Playback is a new music format technology from Moodelizer that lets listeners manipulate songs in real time, like switching from a pop version of a song to a remixed techno version. But there's more in store for the tech.
Spotify CEO launches IPO in front of logo.

Is Spotify too big to fail? It just went public, so we’ll find out soon

Despite a massively popular business, increasing revenues, and hefty valuation, all signs point to Spotify’s direct listing decision being a way out for early investors.
Iheartradio building

Is tech finally killing radio? Don’t let iHeart’s bleeding fool you

With the two biggest radio conglomerates in America declaring bankruptcy in the past five months, it’s easy to assume the format’s days are numbered. The real story of radio’s past, present, and future is much more interesting.
Pandora

The way you listen to music is in jeopardy. Here’s how Pandora plans to survive

Pandora's Elizabeth Moody spoke with Digital Trends about the changes that need to be made in the music industry in order for streaming services like Spotify and Pandora to become profitable.
rae sremmurd sremmlife 3 reebok interview

Outkast set a high bar for hip-hop. Duo Rae Sremmurd wants to clear it

Rae Sremmurd explains how the group's upcoming three-disc album, Sremmlife 3, is something legends like Outkast have never done and what we can expect from their first Reebok shoe.
tory lanez memories drake spotify interview smoke red getty

For singer Tory Lanez’ totally freestyled new album, memories are everything

Platinum-selling R&B artist Tory Lanez talked with Digital Trends about why you shouldn't store memories on social media, an upcoming collaboration with Drake, and more.
raphael saadiq black panther oscar interview by derrel todd

Raphael Saadiq talks about his new album, Oscar nomination, and ‘Black Panther’

Accomplished musician Raphael Saadiq spoke about how he'd change the score for the Black Panther film, and when we can expect his first album in seven years.
artificial intelligence taryn southern album interview amper  2

Taryn Southern’s new album is produced entirely by AI

Popular YouTube creator, singer Taryn Southern used AI programs from Google, IBM, Amper, and AIVA to produce the music for her new album.
SiriusXM Howard Stern

How SiriusXM is dominating in the Spotify era

SiriusXM boasts less than half the subscribers as the most popular on-demand music streaming service, but SiriusXM is booming while Spotify continues to lose money. What’s going on here?
history-of-compact-disc-cd

The Life and Times of the Late, Great CD

Best Buy’s decision to stop selling CDs altogether by July marks the end of an era. In memoriam, we’ve created this timeline marking the CD’s rise and fall.
1313482 autosave v1 2 cardo 4

Producer Cardo on making Drake’s new No. 1 hit, Kendrick Lamar’s “evil genius”

Producer Cardo explains to Digital Trends how he went from making music on Playstations to producing hit records with Drake and Kendrick Lamar using programs anyone can download for free.
1306066 autosave v1 3 syd

How Syd Bennett launched an R&B career with old MacBooks and a microphone

Digital Trends spoke with Syd Bennett, lead singer of R&B group The Internet, about the do-it-yourself recording process she's used to become a star.
james mercer the shins pointing

Embracing the ’80s and flipping the script with The Shins frontman James Mercer

The Shins completely reworked all eleven songs on their 2017 album, Heartworms, for The Worm’s Heart, and band mastermind James Mercer thinks the Flipped versions are better overall.
starsailor press

Naked but never nihilistic, Starsailor charts a course for indie soul

Starsailor’s fifth album, All This Life, connects all the right sonic dots, ensuring each of its 11 songs convey all the honest emotions soulful singers must share in order to reach their audience.
Spotify Rap Caviar playlist displayed on an iPhone.

Meet the playlist curators who mint new music stars, one pick at a time

Digital Trends spoke to major players in the music industry to find out how Apple Music and Spotify playlists are making stars and hits.
nick heyward

How new wave legend Nick Heyward transformed his musical doodles into songs

Stalwart singer/songwriter Nick Heyward discusses how he turned his “musical doodles” into full songs, and why editing is crucial to the creative process.

Music News

Music Guides

Music Reviews

Music Videos