So natural to use. (Photo: Verge/PayPal)

PayPal is dropping processing charges for users of its mobile payment platform in an attempt to better take on Square and Groupon. [Verge]

Google is expected to debut a competitor to Spotify later today. Which one of you asked for this? [New York Times]

This is happening: "Boost VC is launching a fund of at least $300,000, called the Boost Bitcoin Fund to invest in Bitcoin startups." [Forbes]

Airware, a company that creates the insides of unmanned drones, is now freshly funded. Andreessen Horowitz just pumped a $10.7 million Series A funding into it. [TechCrunch]

A Blackberry BBM app is coming to iPhone and Android phones this summer if you still remember your pins. [BGR]

(Photo: Flickr)

Grooveshark CEO Sam Tarantino has a case of the Mondays, only this one's lasted every single day for over a year. Between 2011 and 2012, both Google and Apple pulled Grooveshark, a music streaming service, from their respective app stores. Then Spotify launched with star-studded support and millions in funding and Pandora, another Grooveshark competitor, successfully IPO'd. Oh, and this was all before the lawsuit. By the end of 2012, Universal Music Group had filed against Grooveshark and its employees for allegedly uploading copyrighted music.

Mr. Tarantino calls it the "year of getting punched in the face 10,000 times." Seems about right.

Since having to lay off a significant number of employees, the startup has relocated to a tiny office above a midtown dive bar and also operates another in Gainesville, Florida, which is not exactly known for its burgeoning tech scene. “I am literally broke," Mr. Tarantino told Mashable.

Now Mr. Tarantino is looking to reinvigorate the down and out streaming service with a new feature called "Broadcast." Launching today, Broadcast allows anyone to play DJ by putting together a tracklist of songs and recording interludes. Mashable notes that transitioning to more of a radio-type model could open the door for licensing deals with big music companies.

Meanwhile, Mr. Tarantino says he's looking to lower his rent, so give him a holler if you have a cheap spare bedroom.

Photo: Spotify

Spotify Finds Its Voice If you didn't know that music is great, Spotify's new commercial is going to make sure you know it. The online music distributor's first foray into TV advertisements premiered Monday during NBC's The Voice, featuring a person enjoying the best crowd surf ever accompanied by a monologue on the general awesomeness of music. Two other commercials are currently up on the company's YouTube page as well.  Spotify, in the future, just do what Apple does; find a catchy pop song, throw in some dancing silhouettes, and no voiceovers.

Congressman Receives Crowdfunding Award Proving that some of the best people in startups aren't all tech nerds, Congressman Patrick McHenry (R -NC) received this year's Crowdfunding Visionary Award at the annual Crowdfunding Conference and Bootcamp. McHenry recieved the award for creating equity startup exemption provisions he sponsored in the JOBS Act and helping it win approval in Congress. At this rate, "Congressman Zuck" is starting to have a terrifying ring to it.

Pillbox App Adds New Features MediSafe Project today unveiled a new avenue for doctors to help their patients with their prescriptions. Alongside the prescription app, doctors will now be able to remind patients about taking their medications and other changes in their prescriptions via a new website, the Prescription Page. The site, which was "inspired by a real-life physician’s prescription for the app" is part of MediSafe's expansion plans for this year, which also includes updating the iOS version of its app to go alongside its current Android version.

Taxi Companies Still Hate E-Hailing In the most unnecessary story of the day, the Taxicab, Limousine and Paratransit Association (TLPA) released a media brief which informs us about the "danger" of "rogue" transportation apps and also rates an array of transportation apps based on which ones the association trusts. As we've covered before, taxi and limo companies haven't taken too kindly to these E-hailing apps, so this propaganda piece media brief comes as no surprise to these app companies, especially Uber, which was one of four apps to recieve a "red light" rating alongside SideCar, Lyft, and Tickengo.

The Future Is Here, We Have Robot Parties! It may be Passover and Easter this week, but a much more important holiday to celebrate is coming up soon. National Robotics Week begins April 8, and Huge and Honeybee Robotics is throwing a party to celebrate on Tuesday, April 9 at 7:00 PM at their headquarters in Brooklyn. Robot developers will be running presentations, live demonstrations and discussions all night, and pizza and beer will be served. If you can't wait for our robot overlords to take over Terminator-style, you can RSVP for the event here.

Eventbrite Breaks 100 million Event aggregator and ticket distributor Eventbrite broke the 100 million ticket marker today seven years after its founding. To celebrate crossing the threshold, the site released a new video, which "champions the millions of event-goers who are using Eventbrite to find and attend events." Chances are Eventbrite is also probably championing the millions of dollars they're making.

$30 million buys a lot of shirts with whimsical patterns. (Photo: Wikipedia)

As if recently released prisoners didn't have enough trouble readjusting to life on the outside, now they have to learn all sorts of new digital skills, too. [WNYC]

Spotify is reportedly launching its own video streaming service, with plans for original content. [Business Insider]

Yahoo just bought the news app Summly for a reported $30 million, making its 17-year-old creator a very, very wealthy young man. Try not to spend it all in one place, kid! [AllThingsD]

China's getting its very own Snapchat clone. [Tech in Asia]

Speaking of China: Tencent's QQ (the largest IM service in China, with 780 million MAU) has just released a version designed for Facebook. It comes with built-in chat translation features. [QQ]

This is a guest post from Gary Sharma (aka “The Guy with the Red Tie”), founder and CEO of GarysGuide and proud owner of a whole bunch of black suits, white shirts and, at last count, over 40 red ties. You can reach him at gary [at] garysguide.com.

So last week I did this blog post highlighting The 16 SXSW Parties You Really, Really Don’t Want to Miss. And I got a ton of email from you guys & gals saying a) “Thank you, you’re a life saver!” and b) “We want more, more, MOARRR!”

For the hardcore partier, I’ve put together the ULTIMATE Guide to all the SXSW Parties (a whopping 300+ and counting!). Print this out before your trip and you’re golden, my friend. And as you can see, there’re a ton of events that don’t even require a SXSW badge. 

For the rest of you, here are 16 More SXSW Parties that have the Gary Stamp of Approval. You’re welcome, my little tech monsters! Now go forth and RSVP away. Oh and next week when you're walking around in downtown Austin, if you notice a guy with a big 'fro in a black suit, white shirt and a Red Tie (with ads all over it), come over and say hello!

Btw, I have 2 FREE Passes to the much anticipated Rovio (Angry Birds) Pool Party! :) Its on Mar 11 @ Ashton Austin. The Mighty Eagle will be there (of course). There will be music and BBQ! I hear Rovio may be showcasing something new. Each Pass is good for 1 person + 1 guest. Interested? Apply Here.

I've also been told that there will be #BrilliantBrew Coffee Trucks from-the-future driving around, housing GE's Barista Bots that will print portraits of coffee drinkers into the foam of their latte using face-detection software! Craazzzy huh? You can find them parked on the corner of Trinity & 3rd (Mar 8), outside the Made in NY event (Mar 9), 101 Red River (Mar 10) and 301 E Cesar Chavez (Mar 11).

If you've ever wondered whether you have what it takes to become a performer on Cirque du Soleil (sure, why not), then check out their party on the 15th where their talent scouts will be present. Also, Livefyre's SXSW NewsHub will be curating tweets & photos in real-time from the hottest panels and parties.

And now--drumroll please--16 *MORE* SXSW Parties that you really, really, reeeaally don’t wanna miss… ;)

Mobi + Verizon SXSW Kickoff Party
Lots of food and refreshments, including authentic Austin BBQ, as well as live music with a scenic view!
Thursday (Mar 07), 4 p.m. @ One American Center, 600 Congress Ave, Ste 1600

Sake Bomb Party!
Sake Shot Bar, Ty Ku Premium Sake Tastings, Free Kenichi Appetizers, Beer & Cocktails and Live D.J.
Friday (Mar 08), 10 p.m. @ Kenichi, 419 Colorado St

Happy Hour at the Hackers Hostel, Presented by WeHostels
Happy Hour of handcrafted cocktails and a live jazz band!
Saturday (Mar 09), 5 p.m. @ Firehouse Hostel & Lounge, 605 Brazos St, Ste 100

Awesomest Journalism Party. Ever. III.
Featuring awesome Texas food, awesome Texas beer and an awesome photobooth from SnapFiesta
Saturday (Mar 09), 5 p.m. @ The Palm Door, 401 Sabine St

ff Massive Party
Come meet ff Venture's portfolio companies, founders, & execs. Featuring: live music & an open bar.
Saturday (Mar 09), 6 p.m. @ Empire Automotive, 604 E 7th St

TechStars Conquers SXSW 2013
DJs Fubari (TechStars' own Ari Newman), [Whoop Whoop/Cabin Fever], Part Time Chiller [CHNL - LA], and John Wander [CHNL, Roam Music LA] will be dropping beats all night long!
Saturday (Mar 09), 8 p.m. @ Cedar St Courtyard, 208 West 4th St

House Party!
Featuring DJ Sets by Viceroy with Sean Glass. Sponsored by Dos Equis and Patron XO Cafe. In partnership with Thrillist, Wired, Track, Cameo and small Girls PR!
Saturday (Mar 09), 9 p.m. @ CTC House & Garden, 1102 E Cesar Chavez St

Pop! In & Party with PayPal
Performances by Man Man, The Octopus Project and Belaire. Plus an epic Superhero surprise!
Saturday (Mar 09), 9 p.m. @ Mohawk, 912 Red River St

MRY SXSW Launch Party
2 DJ's, including LA Riots, Food by one of Austin's best, East Side King, Fire Troupe, Ice Louge, Go-Go Dancers, and a few more surprises!
Saturday (Mar 09), 9:30 p.m. @ The Belmont, 305 West 6th St

Gannett Media Lounge #GANNETTLOUNGE
Houndstooth Coffee, Peached Tortilla Breakfast Tacos, Salt Lick BBQ Lunch
Sunday (Mar 10), 9 a.m. @ Hangar Lounge, 318 Colorado St

Livefyre Presents: SXSW13 Fyrebash
3 live acts - Vacationer, (Brooklyn-based) Body Language and The Hood Internet. Open Bar.
Sunday (Mar 10), 8 p.m. @ TenOak, 409 Colorado St

The Crowdtap VIP Party III - The Legendary Cant Miss Party of SXSWi
With White Panda, Radical Something, Little Daylight, VJ Culture and NYC's top DJ Vikas. Open bar and year two of the Battle of Austin's Best Food Trucks!
Sunday (Mar 10), 8:30 p.m. @ Haven, 409 Colorado St

Spotify House
Daily live performances, artist DJ sets, local food truck flavors, ping-pong, photobooth, giveaways and more!
Monday (Mar 11), 12 p.m. @ Spotify House, 1010 E Cesar Chavez

The Barbarian Group + Vimeo present No Way Back
3 stages featuring no less than 15 illustrious band performances, over the top DJ sets + mind melting visuals!
Monday (Mar 11), 6 p.m. @ Mohawk, 912 Red River St

Geeks from Gangnam
Seven startups from Korea will be there. Live musical performances by popular Korean bands Galaxy Express and Goonam. Free drinks and delicious appetizers!
Monday (Mar 11), 6:30 p.m. @ Moonshine Bar & Grill, 303 Red River St

GroupMe Major Rager 3D
Performances by RAC, Tim Sweeney & Viceroy.
Monday (Mar 11), 8 p.m. @ Cedar Street Courtyard, 208 W 4th St

BONUS #1
#Secret_Wine_Party with Gary Vaynerchuk (Wine Library, Vayner Media and Author of Thank You Economy)
I can’t say when. I can’t say where. But if you follow @garyvee, All shall be clear!

BONUS #2
Conduit Corner will be playing host to a bunch of happy hours (There'll be drinks, backrubs, munchies & much more)! With Internet Week NY & StartOut (Mar 8), Tracx (Mar 9), SF Music Tech (Mar 10), Warner Brothers (Mar 12), BandPage (Mar 13) and Sweet Relief (Mar 13).
Friday (Mar 8) to Wednesday (Mar 13) @ Conduit Corner, E 7th St and N Congress Avenue

BONUS #3
#FEED Flavorpill Sanctuary Pwd By Windows 8
Yoga, cycling, bootcamp, massage, juice w/ CRUNCH, CYC Fitness, BLUEPRINT, KIND Breakfast.
Friday (Mar 9) to Tuesday (Mar 12), 9 a.m. @ AMOA Arthouse @ Jones Center, 700 Congress Ave

BONUS #4
Cats Live Here Happy Hour
And if you like watching cat videos online (and srsly who doesn't), you're gonna like this one.
Animal Planet & the Walker Art Center bring you cat-themed cocktails, live music
 and a first look at the upcoming season of "My Cat From Hell." Plus, catch a sneak peek of the all-new "Henri" video!

Don’t forget – What Happens At SXSW… Is Gonna Be All Over Twitter ;)

This guy. (Photo: Screenrant)

Not only is Starbucks accepting payments via Square, the coffee conglomerate is now also selling the Square credit card reader for $10 at its retail locations. [New York Times]

Spotify has suspended its music download service in the U.K. Users can still stream music, but are sent to an unhelpful FAQ page when they attempt to purchase it. [Pocket-Lint]

Kim Dotcom says the U.S. "planted" evidence, encouraging him to keep copyrighted files on the Megaupload servers but then punishing him when he did so. [Ars Technica]

That indie Steve Jobs film, that will star Ashton Kutcher and be an inevitable flop that we will still watch anyway, is slated for release in April. Who wants to go with us? [Wall Street Journal]

The New York state comptroller is suing microchip company Qualcomm for data about its political expenditures with the hopes it can bring more transparency to corporate political spending. [New York Times]

(Photo: Instagram)

"Rage Against Rules," declares a bolded headline in The New York Post today, which collected stats from App Data to paint a portrait of a flailing Instagram. The Post claims that following the terms of service debacle, which supposedly had both normals and celebrities fleeing the app, Instagram's total active users has plunged 25 percent.

The app reportedly peaked at 16.4 million daily active users the week of Dec. 17, but has decreased to 12.4 million as of Dec. 27.

“[We are] pretty sure the decline in Instagram users was due to the terms of service announcement," a spokesperson for AppData told the Post.

However, as Quartz reminds everyone, AppData only collects information on a subset of Instagram users: those who have connected their Facebook account. Thus, "The claim that Instagram has lost a quarter of its users isn’t supported by this data." What's more despite the well-documented outrage, it seems unlikely that a dip in daily active users, even those who connect through Facebook, is due to Instagram's terms of service fumble. The TOS change was on the 17th and the decline shown by AppData doesn't happen until Christmas.

Couldn't it be that, due to the holidays, people are actually spending time with their families, disconnecting from their devices and trying to, like, enjoy relaxing without documenting every single moment? From the looks of our own Instagram feed, it certainly is moving at a slower pace than usual, barring the occasional snap of smiling families and freshly unwrapped presents.

In fact, Instagram isn't alone in bleeding daily active users this week. The Next Web reports that many Facebook-connected apps have seen drops in users this week, including Spotify (9.9 percent down), Farmville (15.5 percent down) and Pinterest (27.5 percent down).

Perhaps we all need to take another sip of that spiked eggnog and be thankful people are still capable of disconnecting from the Facebook apps that dominate our lives every other week of the year.

Copacetic! (Photo: Spotify)

Today, at a press conference that culminated in a Frank Ocean performance and an unexpected onstage love-in by Sean Parker and Lars Ulrich, Spotify debuted a number of new features, revolving around discovery.

CEO Daniel Ek entered to "Rock the Casbah," the Clash bouncing off the exposed brick walls. Despite it not even being noon, several attendees already had beers in their hands.

"At Spotify, we think of ourselves as punks, the type that are against the establishment," Mr. Ek informed the crowd. "We're really punks because we're restless and we really hate it when people tell us this is just the way it is."

Lest you assume that means Spotify wants to undermine the poor, beleaguered music biz any further, Mr. Ek rattled off a few stats. The company pays out 70 percent of all the money it takes in to rights holders, and they've thus far paid out half a billion dollars. The amount paid out, he added, has doubled over the last nine months.

The company now has more than 5 million paying customers, and 20 million active users. One million of those paid subscribers are in the U.S. "We're growing, but we're growing in a way that benefits the whole system," he said.

The batch of updates introduced today is meant to help users discover new tunes, rather than just listening to whatever pops into their head at the moment. Open Spotify, and you'll now land on a "Discover" screen. Suggestions aren't just based on whatever you recently listened to, either, Mr. Ek said. For example: Spotify would know that Kris Kross topped the charts in Sweden when he was a kid, and so "Jump" might pop up.

See something you like? Add it to another new feature, your "Collection." No more playlists that're just albums, in other words.

Also added: A new "follow" section, so you can subscribe to "anyone in the music graph" whose tastes interest you, whether that be your hipper-than-thou neighbor down the hall or your BFF. Mr. Eck demonstrated by following Shakira and Barack Obama. Any playlist they share, you can share with your social networks (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr) or just with your Spotify followers.

This sounds like a pretty attractive proposition for artists and the labels who're trying to their names out there. Another new feature that's likely to have record execs perking up their ears: Artists will be able to deliver new music straight to their followers. As soon as a single drops, they get a ping. That'll make it easier to begin the long climb to the top of the pops.

Then we got another surprise: The Metallica catalog is now available on Spotify. To mark the occasion, out came Napster founder Sean Parker, followed by Lars Ulrich, of the famously Napster-hating Metallica. They hugged.

So what convinced The Man Who Killed Napster to sign onto Spotify, a company backed by Mr. Parker? Turns out now that he's got tweens, Mr. Ulrich is beginning to understand there's an entire generation raised on streaming media. And hey, the product was easy to use.

The pair made a big deal of how they're now pals, and really they had more in common the whole time than they realized. Metallica, a band that'd gone to a lot of trouble to protect its music, felt the control being ripped away, and that just turned the whole dynamic into a street fight. "If you fuck with us, we'll fuck with you," Mr. Ulrich explained his reasoning.

For a moment, Sean Parker looked a little tense, sitting there in his cardigan. Lars Ulrich might be basically a rich, middle-aged dad at this point, but he still looks like he'd hit you over the head with a beer bottle under the right circumstances.

Then Frank Ocean came out and performed "Pyramids." Guys: We know the music business is your business, but maybe cool it a little on the celebrity shock and awe. Remember how that worked out for Airtime?

Basically the artists probably got zero dollars from this.  (screengrab)

Earlier today, the Verge reported that Spotify, the music player that ratted you out to Facebook that one time you listened to Kenny G holiday hits, is rolling out a beta version of a browser-based web app. The feature was in high demand and should give the company a boost against competitors like Rdio.

At least one artist, however, has a few questions about how this whole streaming music business is supposed to work in the long run.

At Pitchfork, musician Damon Krukowski argues that while arecord companies have been famously quick to screw over their artists, these days the game has changed "from individualized swindles to systemic ones." In short, streaming services are in the business of paying very little for music. Here's what that looks like for the artists, using a few numbers from Mr. Krukowski's recent royalty check:

Galaxie 500's "Tugboat", for example, was played 7,800 times on Pandora that quarter, for which its three songwriters were paid a collective total of 21 cents, or seven cents each. Spotify pays better: For the 5,960 times "Tugboat" was played there, Galaxie 500's songwriters went collectively into triple digits: $1.05 (35 cents each).

That won't even buy a cup of deli coffee. And here we all felt like we were doing right by the artists by switching over from illegal downloading!

That's the status quo. And yet, Pandora is currently making a big push for reduced royalties. Just yesterday, more than a hundred musicians (from Jimmy Buffet to Ludacris) released an open letter that leads with good cop, insisting, "We are big fans of Pandora," but segueing into a complaint: “Why is the company asking Congress once again to step in and gut the royalties that thousands of musicians rely upon? That’s not fair and that’s now how partners work together."

But creative accounting isn't anything new. Mr. Krukowski's piece gets interesting when he asks why--given their dicey histories, profitability-wise--these companies are even in business at all. He takes a dim view:

The answer is capital, which is what Pandora and Spotify have and what they generate. These aren't record companies-- they don't make records, or anything else; apparently not even income. They exist to attract speculative capital. And for those who have a claim to ownership of that capital, they are earning millions-- in 2012, Pandora's executives sold $63 million of personal stock in the company.

It could be that once Spotify and Pandora finally achieve tech-company nirvana--better known as monetizable scale--suddenly their balance sheets will right themselves. But Mr. Krukowski's charge has the ring of truth, for all too many venture-backed startups. For all Facebook's talk about connection, the company's surest achievement seems to have been making the fortunes of everyone involved. He has a point. The only speculative equivalent for musicians is Kickstarter. And even then, many backers would rather bet big on iPhone accessories and mason jar cocktail shakers.

The Times has more details on the new funding round, which is said to value Spotify at about $3 billion:

Of the $100 million, half is from Goldman Sachs, and Coke is contributing about 10 percent. Another new investor, Fidelity Investments, is also said to be chipping in about 15 percent of the financing round, with the remaining quarter coming from Spotify’s existing investors, according to another person briefed on the deal. Both people spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal was private.

Spotify, wich was founded in Sweden in 2006, raised $100 million from DST, Kleiner Perkins and Accel last year.

While word that Coke might be among the new investors in Spotify was reported last month, the soda maker's interest in streaming music surfaced as early as this spring, when it said it was working with developers on a Spotify app.