The Longish Goodbye: Highlights From AllThingsD Staffers Johnson, Del Rey and Cha

I don’t know why you say hello, we say goodbye.

Viral Video: Country Music 2013 — Trucks, Girls in Trucks, Drinking in Trucks With Girls

Also drinking in trucks by riverbanks with girls.

As AllThingsD Draws to a Close, Here Are Some Staff Highlights — Part One: Kafka, Hesseldahl, Gannes

How can you miss us if we won’t go away?

Music-Discovery Service ExFM Pulls the Plug

A startup that had buzz four years ago says that it’s going dark, more or less, next month.
cloud music

No One Buys Music on the Web Anymore. Except When They Buy a Million Beyonce Albums in Five Days.

Beyonce and Apple defy gravity, and a year-long trend. What Does It All Mean?

News Byte

Not the Singles Lady — Apple Says Beyoncé Album Breaks Record

Apple said the new self-titled album from music superstar Beyoncé had sold 828,773 copies since it was released exclusively by the iTunes Store three days ago. The company said that made it the fastest-selling album ever on the music-selling site. U.S. album sales totaled 617,213 for a work that included 14 new songs and 17 videos.

Spotify’s Daniel Ek on Competition, Controversy and Crossing Over Into the Mainstream

“We’ve proved that you can actually make this a business,” says the streaming music service’s CEO. Next step: Making it a really big business, while fighting off new competition.

Plantronics Says It Can Be a Wearable Computing Company, Too

Interested in wearables? Do let it go to your head, the company’s CTO says.

YouTube’s Music Subscription Service Won’t Show Up This Year

Google already launched one paid music service this year. The next one will have to wait till 2014.

Here’s the Music Lou Reed Liked