Competition to be the primary box delivering digital entertainment into the living room continues to hot up. Yesterday saw Microsoft confirm the unveiling date for its next-generation Xbox console: 21 May. In a blog post by Microsoft spokesperson Major Nelson, it was clear that games are just part of the plans. “We’ll mark the beginning of a new generation of games, TV and entertainment,” he wrote. And music, of course, with the Xbox Music service surely part of the mix. Meanwhile, Business Week has ignited rumours of an Amazon-branded set-top box to launch this Autumn “dedicated to streaming video over the Internet and into its customers’ living rooms”. The piece moots Kindle TV as a name, building on Amazon’s e-reader and tablet brand, although that’s pure speculation. Here, again, there’s a sister digital music service likely to be integrated. In both cases – as for the next-gen PlayStation and Apple TV devices – the combination of hardware and music service will give independent music services like Spotify and Deezer something to think about, as they plot their own ways into the living room.
Tools: platforms to help you reach new audiences
Tools :: We Are Giant
With “fan communities” being on every artist’s team’s mind, we’re fans of the fact that…