The Changing Faces of Melanie MartinezThe stage was set for Melanie Martinez at the KIA Forum, L.A., on Wednesday, May 15. Openers Beach Bunny and Men I Trust had warmed a ravenous crowd up to a deafening level. Turf had been laid across the stage, creating a sort of country party-vibe. The lights had gone down and, somehow, the screams had gotten louder. Giant bunnies had marched out like we were in a creepy Easter parade. Martinez appeared at the back on a raised platform. She raised the mic to her lips. And then...

Nothing!

The sound failed her at the vital moment. With the beats to opener "Cry Baby" relentless, the dancers doing their work admirably and seamlessly, the lack of vocals could have killed the momentum so meticulously generated. But Martinez's loyal fans wouldn't let that happen. Oh, hell no. Rather, the crowd took it upon itself to take Martinez's place and sing every lyric full-voiced. What could have been a disastrous intro to the show turned out to be one of its more inspiring moments. These people will carry Martinez on their backs if they have to. And for three quarters of that first song, they did.

This is Martinez's Trilogy tour, as she celebrates all three of her studio albums (2015's debut Cry Baby, 2019's K-12, and last year's Portals. It's incredible that it's been nine years since the debut, and since this writer sat down with her to discuss her post-The Voice career.

"I worked so hard after the show to show that I’m a songwriter and an actual artist, and not just someone on a singing show," she said back then. "At first, that is what people saw me as and it was really hard for me to prove that. I’m happy that my album’s out now because I’ve been working on it for almost two years and really putting together the concept. It’s great to be seen as an artist, because I worked for that."

Nearly a decade later, and it stands as a testament to Martinez's career that many have completely forgotten she was ever on The Voice. It really is a good thing that she didn't win. Here she is in 2024, headlining an all-arena tour, and the three albums that she showcased at the Forum prove that she's played the game her way.

She tackled the three albums in the order that they were released in L.A. Which meant Cry Baby first, and the title track. For "Carousel" she was sat on a giant, fluffy carousel before that exploded. For "Pity Party," inflatable birthday candles appeared before they were unceremoniously extinguished. "Mad Hatter" was a highlight -- rage and melody colliding in spectacular fashion.

That was her vibe for the first two albums -- the darkness of childhood. Taking traditionally sweet memories and amplifying the twisted side. She's the yin to the yang. The broken glass in the ice-cream.

For the sophomore K-12, she was a marionette for "Show & Tell" while "Teacher's Pet" detailed a very illegal and exploitative relationship. And for "High School Sweethearts," giant candies were revealed to feature messages such as "Die Slowly" and "Ur Gross." These lyrics are complex and quite devastating. We can often forget just how tough school can be, and Martinez reminded us, and then some.

The Portals album offered the biggest change of the evening. If the first two saw her progress from early youth to school days, Portals sees her move to another dimension entirely--that which exists between life and the afterlife. Martinez takes on the persona of Cry Baby, a four-eyed fairy-like creature with fins for ears.

This part of the set, like the album, began with the song "Death," which serves the theme--a constant cycle of life and death. This is clearly the headspace that the artist is currently in. Portals sees Martinez enjoying a creative freedom not seen since she first emerged, and the Bjork-esque pixie-ness of these songs is quite dazzling even if they aren't always as instant as those which came before.

"Tunnel Vision" is blessed with a rare intensity, while "Faerie Soirée" is delicate and mildly orchestral. As the set continues to single "Evil," we happily embark on Martinez's journey as we're forced to face our mortality, confront our behavior, examine our expectations.

And all that from a former reality star!

Photo credit - Ashley Osborn / Kia Forum Photos. 

'Crypto King' Aiden Pleterski faces fraud, money laundering chargesPleterski and an associate were arrested months after multiple investor complaints and months of police investigation.

7 API innovators who changed music forever
We cover a few of the countless API innovators who have made landmark contributions to music that you should know about.

Steve Albini and The Problem With Royalty Base Record DealsThe following op/ed comes from UK-based Hunter Giles, who co-founded and leads Infinite Catalog
Source

Sir Lucian Grainge remuneration approved by Universal Music Group shareholders at AGMUniversal Music Group has published the results of its 2024 Annual General Meeting
Source

Big Server Fan Becomes Fume Extractor[Anthony Kouttron] wanted a fume extractor for his personal electronics lab, but he didn’t like the look of the cheap off-the-shelf units that he found. Ultimately, he figured it couldn’t be that hard to build own portable fume extractor instead.
The build is based around a mighty 110-watt centrifugal fan from an IBM server that’s rated at approximately 500 CFM. It’s a hefty unit, and it should be, given that it retails at over $200 on DigiKey. [Anthony] paired this fan with off-the-shelf HEPA and activated carbon filters. These are readily available from a variety of retailers. He didn’t want to DIY that part of the build, as the filter selection is critical to ensuring the unit actually captures the bad stuff in the air. He ended up building a custom power supply for the 12-volt fan, allowing it to run from common drill batteries for practicality’s sake.
Few of us have need for such a beefy fume extractor on the regular. Indeed, many hobbyists choose to ignore the risk from soldering or 3D printing fumes. Still, for those that want a beefy fume extractor they can build themselves, it might be worth looking over [Anthony]’s initial work.
We’ve seen some other great DIY fume extractors before, too. Even those that use drill batteries! If you’ve been cooking up your own solution, don’t hesitate to drop us a line!

X pushes more users to CommunitiesX users will now be able to discover posts from new Communities that are trending directly from an Explore tab within the section.
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Pump It Up Gets Homebrew GBA Port That RocksPump It Up is a popular music video game that hails from South Korea. It’s similar in vibe to Dance Dance Revolution and In The Groove, but it has an extra arrow panel to make life harder. [Rodrigo Alfonso] loved it so much, he ported it to the Game Boy Advance.
The port looks fantastic, with all the fast-moving arrows and lovely sprite-based graphics you could dream of. But more than that, [Rodrigo’s] port is very fully featured. It doesn’t rely on tracked or sampled music, instead using actual GSM audio files for the songs.
It can also accept input from a PS/2 keyboard, and you can even do multiplayer over the GBA’s Wireless Adapter. What’s even cooler is that some of the game’s neat features have been broken out into separate libraries so other developers can use them. If you need a Serial Port library for the GBA, or a way to read the SD card on flash carts, [Rodrigo] has put the code on GitHub.
As you might have guessed, this isn’t the first time [Rodrigo] has pushed the limits on what Nintendo’s 32-bit handheld can do.

‘Success With Music’ FREE online conference is this Friday – Monday!This weekend, May 17 - 20, our friends at Modern Musician are hosting the free virtual Success With Music conference, which will feature some of the top music industry experts in the world......
The post ‘Success With Music’ FREE online conference is this Friday – Monday! appeared first on Hypebot.

Spitfire Audio launches AIR Studios Reverb plugin, emulating the acoustics of the historic London studio space for the first timeSpitfire Audio has launched its AIR Studios Reverb plugin, emulating the acoustics of the iconic AIR Studios. The new offering is the first time permission has been granted for the studio space to be sampled for wider use.
AIR Studios has been used by artists and composers from across the globe including Adele, Coldplay, Joni Mitchell, Hans Zimmer, Radiohead, and many more. It was founded in 1970 by legendary Beatles producer, Sir George Martin, and is also the birthplace of scores for films and TV such as Saltburn, Stranger Things, and Interstellar.

READ MORE: Slate Digital just made its online mastering platform, VIRTU, available to all users

Within the new plugin, users can experiment with configurable hall settings, including Canopy Height, Canopy Material, and Gallery Damping. It also hosts the ability to adjust the virtual source radiation, select and mix between eight different stereo mic signals, and to flip the direction of virtual performers and mic setups to match two key uses of The Hall.
Credit: Spitfire Audio
Typically, microphone setups are usually arranged in one of two ways: Musicians face the control room and galleries with the conductor’s back to the control room, or, musicians will face the organ with the galleries behind them. The latter method is synonymous with the sound of Hans Zimmer.
The plugin is able to recreate either setup and instantly swap between them, and there’s also a large preset library to offer a variety of setups and create a range of different moods.
Spitfire Audio’s co-founder, Paul Thomson, says: “I’ve been recording in AIR Lyndhurst Hall for 17 years. The team are incredibly talented and The Hall is a beautiful acoustic, one of the most musical spaces for recording in the world.
Credit: Spitfire Audio
He later adds, “I feel like I know this room intimately. What our team has created here is astonishing. I can close my eyes and I’m sitting in AIR listening to the sound of the room.”
Technical Director of AIR Studios, Simon Knee, also says: “In the late 1980s Sir George Martin discovered Lyndhurst Hall had one of the world’s most beautiful acoustics. The creation of AIR Studios enabled recording in a space that musicians love to play in and that elevates every performance…
“The AIR Studios Reverb release represents the culmination of Spitfire Audio’s long standing relationship with AIR Studios and their joint dedication to innovation and excellence in music technology.”
Spitfire’s AIR Studios Reverb is available now for £299. Find out more at Spitfire Audio.
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Tiptop Audio announcements at Superbooth 2024 Superbooth 2024 witnessed a raft of new releases from Tiptop Audio, who continue their partnership with Buchla along with four of their own new modules.

Taylor Swift vs. boygenius: Has it gotten too costly to be a music fan?What does it cost to be a fan? How does that cost affect who an artist's fans are and the very nature of fandom? Fintech firm Self Financial studied the cost of being a music fan by looking at the average cost of the most-streamed artists’ concert tickets, merchandise, and albums.....
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My Forever Studio: Sarz’s studio needs a cone of silenceThis week’s guest on MusicTech’s My Forever Studio podcast is Sarz, an award-winning Afrobeats and hip-hop artist and producer with an impressive list of collaborators to date, including WizKid, Skrillex, Gunna, and Skepta and so many more.
During the episode, the Nigerian producer extraordinaire discusses why producer tags on tracks are more important than ever, which Amapiano sound he thinks is “genius”, and how a software mishap early in his career made him the producer he is today.
He also touches on the time he had a big Nigerian artist as a client, but when he revealed he used Fruity Loops – now FL Studio – as his DAW, the artist refused to work with him, claiming he only worked with producers who made their music in Pro Tools.

The My Forever Studio podcast – created in partnership with Audient – sees artists, producers and engineers create their dream fantasy Forever Studio, wherever they want in the universe. However, there are strict rules in the Forever Studio. Our guests are permitted a limited number of items in their creative space, so they must choose carefully. There will be nostalgia. There will be anecdotes. There may be gags. But there will be no bundles!
Last week, we spoke with quietly-beloved British producer Fraser T Smith, who has worked with the likes of Adele, Stormzy, Raye, Craig David and Kasabian. He spoke about his master-of-all-trades mic, a trusty sampler he describes as “home”, and why he can’t bring himself to hoard studio gear.
Subscribe to My Forever Studio on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and check out all episodes so far via MusicTech.
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8 Effective (and legal) Tips to get More Streams on SpotifyAre you looking to increase your Spotify streams? Here are eight effective techniques and practical tips to boost your play counts and grow your audience without breaking the rules.....
The post 8 Effective (and legal) Tips to get More Streams on Spotify appeared first on Hypebot.

“I don’t think my songs could be in any safer hands”: Tame Impala sells complete catalogue to Sony Music PublishingTame Impala, whose real name is Kevin Parker, has sold his complete song catalogue to Sony Music Publishing (SMP).
Parker feels his songs could not be in any safer hands than with Sony, and says that “passing on ownership” of his music is a move he does not “think about very lightly”.

READ MORE: Justice on their “beautiful rejection letter” to remixing Tame Impala song: “We couldn’t do anything to it”

According to Billboard, the deal expands on his long standing relationship with Sony, which has published his work since 2009. It includes the administration of his full catalogue, as well as future works.
It also includes all of his works released under the Tame Impala name so far, as well as his writing credits for other songs. His writing and production work has seen him collaborate with the likes of Travis Scott, Dua Lipa, Mark Ronson, The Weeknd, Lady Gaga and more so far.

In a statement on the deal, Parker says, “The idea of passing on ownership of my songs is one that I don’t think about very lightly, at all. They are the fruit of my blood, sweat and creativity over all the years I’ve been a recording artist and songwriter so far.
“I have a lot of love and trust for the Sony publishing family and have only had great experiences with Damian Trotter and the rest of the gang worldwide. I don’t think my songs could be in any safer hands than Sony’s, and I’m excited for the future and happy I can keep working with them on whatever the future brings.”
Jon Platt, chairman and CEO of SMP adds, “I have always admired Kevin Parker and I believe he is one of the most versatile songwriters of our time.
“Kevin has built a catalogue of songs with incredible range and enduring power, and he has always stayed true to his vision. It is a privilege to represent his music, and we are committed to broadening his legacy of success.”
The post “I don’t think my songs could be in any safer hands”: Tame Impala sells complete catalogue to Sony Music Publishing appeared first on MusicTech.