My Vibe works by harnessing an advanced AI algorithm that analyzes over a thousand variables about a user’s behavior and the content. The result is a potentially endless stream of curated tracks, artists, and genres that align perfectly with a user’s preferences, mood, and historical song choices. The new feature can identify when a track is skipped or not completed and continually refines the listening experience in real time.

Roman Shimansky, Yango’s MENA Region Business Director, explained the benefits of the new feature: “My Vibe excels at sparking a range of emotions, providing that delightful surprise when you encounter a track for the first time and instantly know you’ll love it. With My Vibe, there’s no need to toggle between your favorite tunes and new tracks or waste time choosing playlists. Everything you need is accessible with just one touch”.

Also Read: Best Music Streaming Services In The Middle East

My Vibe uses neural models to understand the evolving musical interests of its users. The sophisticated tool studies track, analyzing their spectrograms, frequency ranges, rhythm, vocal tone, and much more. With all that information in place, the algorithm then searches for tracks with similar parameters, suggesting them to listeners based on likes, dislikes, and even other users with similar tastes.

Since being released in the MENA region in February, the Yango Play app has proved popular across the region. The service boasts music for every mood and genre imaginable and streams the latest Arabic and Khaleeji hits in expertly curated playlists, helping users discover rising local talent across genres.

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According to a recent press release, combining the two home-grown brands will “offer consumers unprecedented digital aggregation of the best and latest in premium movies, TV shows, music, podcasts, and more while providing a rich and seamless user experience”.

When the collaboration is completed, Anghami will become one of the region’s largest streaming platforms, augmenting its already massive catalog of 100 million songs with 18,000 hours of video from OSN+, including content from HBO, NBC Universal, Paramount, and leading MENA studios.

Elie Habib, co-founder of Anghami and soon-to-be CEO of the combined venture, commented: “Joining forces with OSN+ is a leap in Anghami’s journey to reinvent entertainment in the Arab world. We’re combining technology, music, and video to build a comprehensive media ecosystem. It’s a chance to deepen our connection with our users and create something they will love”.

Joe Kawkabani, CEO of the OSN Group, added: “This is a major milestone in OSN’s journey as we continue to scale up our streaming business. Combining OSN+ content with Anghami’s technology enables us to deliver the best of entertainment all in one place for our customers, ensuring we are continuously evolving our offering to meet their needs. As two home-grown entities with an unmatched understanding of the local market, we are confident that this new offering will change the face of the regional streaming landscape”.

Also Read: Top 10 Best Freelance Platforms In The Middle East

The OSN Group has pledged to invest in Anghami at $3.65 per share — nearly four times the average price for the past month. The full transaction is expected to close in Q1 2024, at which point OSN will own a majority stake in Anghami.

The post Anghami & OSN+ Announce Landmark Investment Deal appeared first on Tech Magazine.

The concept is simple: With a few screen taps or mouse clicks, a mix is generated that blends together a group of friends’ favorite music and includes fun insights into the musical compatibility and guilty pleasures of group members.

Aside from the intuitive interface, the clever thing about Shaker is that it allows users to connect with up to 14 friends using a simple invite link — even if they use a different platform like Spotify and don’t want to download the Deezer app. The Shaker algorithm then starts work by generating a mix of 70 songs tailored to the group’s unique preferences. If they’re unhappy with the selection, they can easily refresh a mix or curate a playlist from scratch.

Also Read: Best Music Streaming Services In The Middle East

“Shaker is designed to create a feeling of connection, encourage people to experience music more freely, erase the boundaries between friends, and create a space where you can discover new songs to fall in love with,“ explained Alexandra Leloup, VP Product at Deezer, “To achieve this, it was key to not only include tailored playlists based on the musical tastes of users and their friends but to make sure everyone can join in no matter which streaming platform they use”.

Shaker aims to help users say goodbye to hours spent curating playlists for their parties, road trips, and sports sessions, creating the perfect fusion of music tastes to connect friends like never before.

The post Deezer’s Shaker Connects Friends Across Music Apps appeared first on Tech Magazine.

“We have transformed Deezer over the past two years, and today marks a key milestone as we introduce our new identity and logo while showcasing how our product is evolving into a platform where people can experience and live the music in a way that cannot be found anywhere else,” explained Jeronimo Folgueira, CEO, Deezer. “Love for music and helping people be and belong through music have always been at the heart of Deezer, and it is time for us to embark on this new journey where we reinforce that commitment to fans, artists, and partners”.

The company’s new visual profile and unique purple heart logo are said to represent the brand’s new direction. Meanwhile, Deezer is also introducing an improved user experience and design to its app, helping to inspire and empower music fans through more personalized suggestions.

“Refreshing our visual identity gives us an opportunity to tell our story in a more emotional way, connecting with music fans, artists, and strategic partners through visual cues that let people know that with Deezer, they can live the music to the fullest,” said Deezer CMO Maria Garrido. “It’s a necessary step in our evolution as a brand and as a company, ushering in a new era and empowering everyone to be and belong through music”.

Also Read: Tribit FlyBuds C1 Earbuds Review: The Ultimate Bang For Your Buck

Although Deezer was once one of the originators of streaming music, the platform has lagged behind the likes of Spotify for some time. This year, Deezer is making a comeback, with a new Android Auto app and a recent partnership with telco Orange in France.

The company has also jumped on the AI bandwagon, with a new music discovery feature called Deezer Flow that can identify moods and genres and suggest new artists and tracks.

The new brand was revealed on November 7th at the celebratory Drop event at La Gaîté Lyrique in Paris.

The post Deezer Announces A New Brand Identity And Logo appeared first on Tech Magazine.

Top 5 Most Popular Music Streaming Services In The Middle East

The music streaming industry in the Middle East and Africa region is set to grow from $1.5 billion in 2019 to $3.2 billion by 2027, and the five music streaming services described below collectively share the biggest slice of the lucrative pie.

#1- Anghami

Number of active users: 19.5 million

Last year, Anghami cemented its role as the largest music streaming service in the Middle East when it revealed that the number of its active users had reached 19.5 million. Out of those, 1.3 million are paying subscribers. No wonder Anghami is often called the “Spotify of the Middle East.”

The music streaming service was launched in 2011 in Lebanon as the first legal music streaming platform in the Middle East, and it now provides the largest catalog of licensed music. Besides Arabic labels like Platinum Records and Melody, Anghami is also home to some of the largest international labels, such as Warner Music Group, Sony, and Universal.

Anghami is a freemium service, which means that users can listen to millions of songs for free and upgrade to the Anghami Plus plan ($4.99 per month or $44.99 per year) only when they decide to elevate their music-listening experience by unlocking the ability to listen offline, view lyrics, and much more.

#2- Spotify

Number of active users: 456 million

Spotify is the king of the music streaming world, and the Middle East is part of its dominion. At the time of writing this article, Spotify’s vast content catalog includes over 80 million tracks, most of which are available to Middle Eastern listeners.

Discovering new regional content on Spotify is easy thanks to professionally curated playlists like Today’s Top Arabic Hits, Arabic EDM, and Oriental Chill Vibes. Besides them, there are countless of user-created playlists that can fit just about any mood.

Just like Anghami, Spotify is a freemium music streaming service with premium plans for individuals ($9.99 a month), couples ($12.99 a month), families ($15.99 a month), and students ($4.99 a month).

#3- Apple Music

Number of active users: 88 million

Launched in 2015, Apple Music is a great choice for those Middle Eastern listeners who are already invested in the Apple ecosystem. You can purchase it on a monthly or annual basis as a standalone service or as part of the Apple One collection of services (starts at $12.95 a month).

In October 2022, Apple celebrated 100 million songs in the Apple Music library, which is an admirable number considering that the service is four years younger than Spotify.

Apple Music has been praised for helping its users discover great songs by highlighting new, interesting releases, sharing playlists curated by the Apple Music team, and providing tailored recommendations based on each user’s preferences. The subscription service also includes three live 24-hour radio stations (Apple Music 1, Apple Music Hits, and Apple Music Country), so it’s always easy to find something play-worthy.

#4- Deezer

Number of active users: 16 million

France is home to good wine, picturesque vacation spots, world-famous cuisine, and also Deezer, a music streaming service that operates in over 180 countries around the world, including those located in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Backed by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, Deezer is known for its great sound quality, support for user-uploaded MP3s, accurate recommendations, and very active community of users who are actively shaping the service, making it better and better.

The free Deezer plan is powered by ads and provides access to over 73 million songs. Those who would like to enjoy unlimited, offline, ad-free music can upgrade to Deezer Premium ($11.90 a month) or Deezer Family ($19.48 a month).

#5- YouTube Music

Number of active users: 80 million

In September 2022, YouTube announced that it had launched its music streaming service in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and five other markets. YouTube Music is available as a standalone subscription ($9.99 a month), and the service is also included in the YouTube Premium plan ($11.99 a month).

According to some estimations, YouTube Music has around 100 million tracks in its catalog, including albums, singles, videos, remixes, and live performances. Paying users can take advantage of ad-free playback, audio-only background playback, and the ability to download songs for offline playback.

YouTube Music has been criticized for having a disorganized user interface and lacking some popular music that’s readily available on competing services, but both of these issues will likely be resolved in the future.

Other Popular Music Streaming Services In The Middle East

Aside from the above-described heavyweights of the music streaming industry, there are several other platforms listeners in the Middle East should consider. These platforms stand out by offering unique features, approaches, or content.

Tidal

Tidal launched in the United Arab Emirates in February 2022, offering its collection of over 90 million songs and playlists. What sets this music streaming service apart from competitors is its focus on high-fidelity sound.

If you consider yourself to be an audiophile (or at least someone who can tell the difference between a low-bitrate and high-bitrate file), then you’ll appreciate the ability to stream in their original quality or lossless FLAC. Tidal also supports innovative immersive sound formats like Dolby Atmos or 360 Reality Audio.

SoundCloud

SoundCloud is a music streaming service that allows users from around the world to effortlessly upload their audio tracks and reach large audiences of listeners eager to discover talented artists before they make it big.

The service is based in Germany, and it’s estimated that its servers store more than 200 million tracks, so you’re guaranteed to never run out of music to listen to. In addition to listening, SoundCloud encourages its users to like, comment, and generally become active members of its vibrant community of music lovers.

Gaana

Over 3.4 million Indian expats are estimated to be living in the UAE alone, so it’s great that India’s largest commercial music streaming service, Gaana, is available worldwide. The service has more than 200 million monthly users, and it provides access to around 30 million songs.

Gaana is the most affordable music streaming service described in this article, priced at just $1.20 per month within India and $3.99 per month outside India. Unfortunately, there’s no free tier because Gaana is a subscription-only service.

Conclusion

The music streaming industry in the Middle East is thriving and projected to reach new heights in the coming years. Listeners in the region have many different platforms to choose from regardless of if they want to enjoy the greatest global hits or Middle Eastern classics. In this article, we’ve described the top 5 best music streaming services currently available while throwing in several extra recommendations for you to consider. If you’ve found what you’ve been looking for, you can kick back, put on some tunes, and let the music take you on a journey of discovery and relaxation.

The post Best Music Streaming Services In The Middle East appeared first on Tech Magazine.

There are a ton of great music streaming services out there: Spotify, Anghami, Deezer, TIDAL, the list goes on. If you’re considering moving from one service to another but the only thing holding you back is those playlists you worked so hard on building, then here are 3 useful websites that will help make that transition a breeze.

Tune My Music

Tune My Music is the first service we recommend to people who want to transfer playlists between different music streaming services because it lets you move up to 1,500 tracks free of charge. Tune My Music supports many popular streaming apps, including Spotify, TIDAL, Apple Music, Anghami, Deezer, YouTube, and others.

In addition to transferring playlists between streaming apps, Tune My Music can synchronize two playlists, backup your entire music library to a file, let friends who use other music services enjoy your favorite songs, and more.

Free Your Music

Free Your Music, formerly STAMP, is a multiplatform playlist migration solution that runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android. While not free, all basic features, including unlimited transfers and cloud backups, can be unlocked for a lifetime for just $9.89.

Regardless of which platform you use, transferring playlists with Free Your Music is always straightforward. You simply need to select your source and destination, select playlists for a transfer, and begin the transfer process. Free Your Music has been downloaded over 600,000 times so far, helping its users move nearly 700 million songs.

Soundiiz

Out of our three playlist transfer services, Soundiiz boasts support for most streaming platforms. At the time of writing this article, 45 different platforms are supported, including Spotify, Anghami, Apple Music, Deezer, SoundCloud, Yandex Music, 8Tracks, Discogs, Emby, Movistar, and plenty more obscure ones.

With the free plan, you can connect all your favorite music platforms and convert your playlists one by one. The premium plan, which costs $3 per month when billed annually, adds music management capabilities and the ability to keep two playlists synchronized across different music streaming services.

The post How To Transfer Playlists Between Different Music Streaming Services appeared first on Tech Magazine.

What Is Anghami?

Anghami (“my tunes” in Arabic) is a music streaming service offering a broad catalog of local and international music to listeners in the MENA region.

The service was founded in 2012 by Eddy Maroun (the current CEO) and Elie Habib. The co-founders came up with the idea to create a MENA-specific streaming service on a ski trip in 2010. Unable to access their iTunes accounts, they were left with only one option on how to listen to their favorite artists: music piracy and illegal P2P file-sharing services.

According to Habib, music piracy is still Anghami’s biggest competition in the region, which is why the service goes to great lengths to justify legal music streaming as a worthy alternative.

Music Catalog

Anghami offers the largest music catalog of licensed content in the MENA region, comprising of more than 30 million songs. It has partnerships with local labels such as Melody, Mazzika, and Platinum Records, in addition to EMI, Sony, Universal, and other international labels.

From its launch until 2018, Anghami had a partnership with Rotana, the Arab World’s largest record label. The partnership ended when a competing music streaming service, Deezer, signed an exclusive digital distribution agreement with Rotana.

The loss of Rotana reaffirmed Anghami’s focus on indie artists, who can upload content directly to the music streaming service through a dedicated artist dashboard. In association with its strategic partners, Anghami also produces its own content under the label Anghami Originals. The co-founders claim that their goal is to provide an alternative to artists who either don’t want to or were unable to sign a deal with a label.

In addition to the songs found in Anghami’s large music catalog, users can also upload their own music and play it on all devices. This feature is available only to Anghami Plus subscribers, and all songs need to be converted into .mp3 before uploading.

The Anghami Experience

To get started with Anghami, you first need to log in with your Facebook or Google account, or you can create an Anghami account using your email address. From there, you can download the Anghami mobile app (available for iOS and Android devices), install Anghami for Windows, or listen directly from your web browser.

The desktop app provides the most feature-packed listening experience because it lets you upload your own music, play, pause, skip and control the volume from your keyboard, and activate a compact mini-player for a simpler view and better control over your music.

When you launch Anghami, the first thing you’ll see is the Home tab, with hand-picked playlists, new releases, popular music videos, and charts. To start listening, all you need to do is select any content that catches your eye and click the Play button.

You can control the playback using familiar control buttons located at the bottom of the app. When listening to certain songs, you can display lyrics or play the official music video with the click of a button.

Anghami provides several ways for you to discover new music. When playing a song, you can click the Play more like this button to instantly add more songs that Anghami considers to be similar to the one you’re playing to your playback queue. Similar artists are also featured at the bottom of each artist’s profile page.

When you don’t have any specific artist or song in mind and just want to brighten your day with some music, you can switch to the Personal DJ tab and play music based on your current mood, activity, or preferred genre. There are playlists for chilling, cooking, driving, focus, social gatherings, sleep, traveling, workouts, and much more.

Also worth mentioning is the Podcasts tab, which provides a fun way of learning about topics that interest you. The included podcasts come from MENA-based content creators, and many are not available outside the region.

Price Structure

Even though Anghami likes to present itself as a free music streaming service, it puts a lot of pressure on free users to purchase a premium subscription.

Free users can’t download music for offline listening, Scrub/Replay/Rewind in the player, skip as many times as they like, view lyrics for the currently playing song, or enjoy their music without ads and interruptions.

During the Anghami review, we weren’t even able to play a song without a pop-up window getting in the way and advertising 1 month of Anghami Plus for free. Judging by online reviews, there are many other users who have experienced the same issue.

With the free plan barely allowing us to listen to a whole song without interruptions, we took Anghami on its offer and signed up for Anghami Plus. We paid for the subscription using a credit card, but many other payment methods are supported as well, including Google Play, iTunes, PayPal, CashU, OneCard, Promocode, and over 30 direct carrier billing options.

The monthly price of Anghami Plus differs from country to country. For example, the monthly subscription in Egypt is $2.50, but European customers are billed $4.99 a month for the same service. Discounts are available to students, families, and customers of certain mobile operators.

Verdict

Based on our comprehensive Anghami review, the music streaming service shows that there’s still room for local services even in the global era. Despite increasing competition for local and international players alike, it maintains its position as the king of music streaming in the MENA region. As long as you avoid the free plan and purchase one of several available subscription plans, you’ll be able to enjoy your favorite artists and discover artists you’ve never heard of without any limitations.

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Did you enjoy our Anghami review? Let us know in the comments below!

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