Like plenty of music fans, Sam Broe jumped at the chance to join Spotify two summers ago, and he hasn’t looked back.

Spotify, which began streaming music in Sweden in 2008, lets users choose from millions of songs over the Internet free or by subscription, and is increasingly seen as representing the future of music consumption. Mr. Broe, a 26-year-old from Brooklyn, said that having all that music at his fingertips helped him trim his monthly music budget from $30 to the $10 fee he pays for Spotify’s premium service. Read more

He went on: “The interesting thing is, about five or six minutes prior to I guess the breaker going, where our radio booth was up on the seventh floor, we were almost at the ceiling of the dome, and Kevin says to me, ‘Man, do you hear that buzzing?’ And I took my headset off and there was this like electrical buzz sound coming from the ceiling. This was after halftime, it was after Beyonce.

“And by the way, Beyonce blew the electric in the Superdome twice, I’m told, during her rehearsals during the week.”

Esiason clarified that he wasn’t positive the outage was caused by Beyonce’s act, which featured impressive lighting and video effects.“So they should have known that this might happen?” asked co-host Craig Carton. “I mean, it was embarrassing.” Read more

With a scarf loosely covering a fancy television hairstyle, Latifa Azizi raised her arms in victory after surviving another elimination round on the hit talent show, “Afghan Star”.

But the victory pales into insignificance when compared with the larger battle 17-year-old Azizi is fighting – to pursue her dream of becoming a famous singer despite the censure of ultra-conservative Afghan society.

“Whether I win or lose, my family can’t go back home, it’s too dangerous,” Azizi, from the relatively liberal northern capital of Mazar-e-Sharif, told Reuters in the show’s dressing room.

Azizi and her family fled Mazar for the Afghan capital, Kabul, soon after she appeared on the show in November. Her community was angry with her appearance, saying it was un-Islamic for a woman to sing and appear on television. The family began to receive death threats. Read more

The long awaited new single Suit & Tie by Justin Timberlake is already fading off the charts. After 10 days it’s almost off the top 10 on iTunes and down to number 13 on amazon.com.

Showbiz 411 reports:

What does this say for “20/20?? A couple of things. First of all, “Suit and Tie” is just about ruined by Jay Z’s rap plopped into the middle of the song for no reason. Jay Z is fine if you like him, but Timberlake fans don’t want him popping up on records willy-nilly. I hope there’s a version of “Suit and Tie” without him, much like Alicia Keys released her own “Empire State of Mind” sans the entrepreneur rapper.
Second, six years may have been too long to stay away. “Suit and Tie” is behaving like a single from a ‘legacy artist’ like the Rolling Stones– and not like a contemporary artist. Timberlake is 31 years old, which is ancient in the world set up by record labels in 2013. The other Justin, who is frightful, is 18. Pop music has become the domain of prepubescents. “Suit and Tie” is already too sophisticated for the dumbed down audience of today. I hope someone’s thought about that. You think of JT as a kid, but Lady Gaga and Adele are six years younger than him.

Her phony warbling made Chuck Schumer look like a fool — but she hasn’t apologized to him for it.

The New York senator angrily admitted yesterday that the pop queen has not called him to say sorry after she turned last week’s inaugural bash into an unexpected Milli Vanilli concert by lip-syncing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

“I have not heard from her before, during or after,” a testy Schumer told The Post after he was asked if Beyoncé had called him to give a musical mea culpa. “She did not talk to me at all. I didn’t say any words to her, period.”

Schumer has been credited with drawing the pop diva and her hubby Jay-Z to the inauguration, where many said they stole the show from the president and first lady walking hand-in-hand on the steps of Capitol Hill.

Schumer was seen beaming with pride just steps behind Beyoncé while she appeared to be belting out the National Anthem.

Obama administration insiders and inauguration planners were in the dark about Beyoncé’s decision to use a prerecorded tape of her singing with the Marine Band during the swearing in. They were later left fuming over the embarrassment, according to reports.

Some on Capitol Hill have even placed the blame on Schumer for the Star-Spangled sham.

“Sen. Schumer promised Beyoncé, but he delivered Milli Vanilli instead,” quipped one Republican congressional aide last week.

Beyoncé is slated to perform next weekend at the Super Bowl halftime show, where she’ll sing “Crazy in Love” before joining Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland for a Destiny’s Child reunion.

It’s unclear if she will dare use a tape again. She was seen rehearsing in New Orleans last week for her next big performance Feb. 3 at theSuperdome.

Sources close to Beyoncé said she “didn’t think there was anything wrong” with lip-syncing the National Anthem, according to reports.

Beyoncé seemed to be hinting at her own feelings on the lip-syncing scandal on Sunday when she posted to Instagram a picture of herself, with her hands raised, wearing a sweatshirt that said, “Can I live?” Read more