Fishman TriplePlay TriplePlay is a revolutionary, high-performance MIDI Guitar Controller and Software that seamlessly connects to any device that accepts USB MIDI, including Mac, PC, and iOS. With TriplePlay,... Read More

Gen Z is drinking less alcohol. That’s bad news for live musicSmall to medium-sized venues across the U.S. are noticing a trend that’s hurting their bottom line: patrons 28 years old and younger are drinking much less alcohol than previous generations.. Continue reading
The post Gen Z is drinking less alcohol. That’s bad news for live music appeared first on Hypebot.

CD Baby has stopped selling CDs. What options are left for indie artists?CD Baby recently announced that they are exiting the CD sales business. What options are still available for indie musicians who still want to sell CDs online? Michael Brandvold and. Continue reading
The post CD Baby has stopped selling CDs. What options are left for indie artists? appeared first on Hypebot.

Acousticsamples VHorns Alto Saxophone The VHorns - Alto Saxophone can be purchased alone and is part of the VHorns Saxophones bundle. VHorns Alto Saxophones comes with its own sample player, the UVI Workstation... Read More

Exploring the Evolution of Music Promotion in the Digital AgeDive into how digital technology has revolutionized music promotion for artists everywhere. by OrSn Hosho of SoundBoxTool.com 1. Introduction In today’s digital age, music promotion has undergone a transformative evolution. Continue reading
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University of Huddersfield - Andrew Scheps Scholarship  The Unniversity of Huddersfield have announced a new PhD scholarship which is open to applicants engaging in research on any subject related to spatial audio music production.

Apple’s Vision Pro is about a better today rather than a shinier tomorrowApple’s long anticipated VR move finally saw daylight in the shape of Vision Pro. What is particularly interesting about the launch and its subsequent coverage is that the conversation is more about what Vision Pro enables rather than what it actually is. Apple has successfully engineered a hardware launch into a services and experiences narrative. All this, without too much at all in the way of actual new services. No mean feat. A sharp contrast with product launches for iPhone and Apple Watch, despite both devices operating within the same services ecosystem. Apple has been able to achieve this because it at least appears to have used Vision Pro to take today’s suite of services and experiences to a new level, much like iPod transformed music consumption and iPhone reinvented our wider digital lives. Claiming the legacy of those previous innovations, Vision Pro is staking its claim as a new way to experience today’s world, with the promise of facilitating an entirely new paradigm thereafter – again, just like those previous devices. 

On the surface, the Vision Pro narrative might feel simply like a riff on Meta’s VR strategy, but the differences are foundational. Meta’s VR move is bold and uncompromising. It is founded on the metaverse: a promise of an entirely new world, so transformational that the company even renamed itself after it. It is an exciting, North Star vision, but it is also a future that is distant and far from front-of-mind for mainstream consumers. Apple ensured it dropped plenty of hints that it too wants in on that brave new world (as illustrated by the VR experience in Disney’s sizzle reel), but the metaverse was limited to a supporting role in the Vision Pro show. The star was today, not tomorrow.

Apple presented how Vision Pro enables consumers to experience today’s digital world in a new environment, whether that be apps, browsing the web, watching movies or playing games. Of course, Apple emphasised how all of those are enhanced by being experienced in an immersive virtual environment, but it was crucially a representation of the familiar in new surroundings. Why? Because Apple has its eyes on the mainstream adoption of a new(ish) product category. Apple’s M.O. is that of an early follower, innovating rather than inventing. Its history is defined by making moves only when a new product category is deemed ready for primetime, letting others bleed out on the bleeding edge of new tech. 

XR (i.e., VR and AR) may not yet be at that primetime point. Currently only 4% of consumers own a VR headset, up just one percentage point from 3% in Q3 2021. But Apple has priced version one of Vision Pro so high ($3,449 – which reflects high component costs and no doubt will help recoup some of those vast R+D costs) that it will effectively constrain uptake to its early adopter elite. So, by the time the more affordable versions two and three come to market, primetime will have arrived. At least that is what Apple is likely planning on.

One element that may represent the linking piece between today and tomorrow was FaceTime. Although there was not a huge amount in terms new features (the slightly unsettling avatars aside), FaceTime has the potential to develop a new purpose and relevance in an XR environment, making the connections with other people more vital, more meaningful. This is, of course, the overlapping segment part of the Ven diagram of Apple’s and Meta’s VR strategies – and it is no coincidence that it is such a big bet for both companies. Communication and connection underpinned many of the modern world’s biggest technology shifts (the internet, smartphones, social media, video calls) and it will likely be the use case that ushers XR into the mainstream. If Apple manages to be at the centre of this, it may end up transforming FaceTime from a useful smartphone app into the foundational architecture of a metaverse-era social network. But it will get there by starting off with a newer version of today.

Native Instruments Is Giving Away Irish Harp For FREE Until July 3
Native Instruments offers the Irish Harp sample library for Kontakt Player as a free download until July 3rd, 2023. It certainly isn’t Christmas, but who can turn down a free present from Native Instruments? If you’ve been looking to complement the LABS bagpipes we showcased recently, then look no further than Irish Harp from Native [...]
View post: Native Instruments Is Giving Away Irish Harp For FREE Until July 3

Latest Soundpaint software sampler announced The latest update to Soundpaint's free software sampling platform introduces improvments to legato functionality, new keyswitching capabilities and a selection of workflow enhancements. 

Aux 2.0: Apple’s SharePlay lets everyone queue up a song in the carGone are the days of turning off your iPhone’s Bluetooth at a red light to allow your friend to wirelessly connect to your car and play some tunes. Say goodbye to passing the USB cable to a passenger so they can have a turn streaming their podcast. New Apple SharePlay features will make fighting for sharing control of in-car entertainment easier for iPhone users.
“Now when the driver’s iPhone is connected to CarPlay, any passenger’s iPhone will automatically suggest joining their session. Just tap to connect,” said Anne Park Shedlosky, director of software program management at Apple, at the company’s 2023 Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) Monday. “From there, it’s easy to play your favorite music, control playback and enjoy the ride together.”
SharePlay is Apple’s new solution to watching a TV show or a movie with someone who’s not in the same room as you. It allows friends and family to watch, play games or listen to music together across Apple devices during a FaceTime call. With simultaneous playback and shared controls, users can see and hear everything at the same time on separate devices.
With SharePlay in the car, instead of FaceTime being the conduit for shared content, it’ll be through CarPlay, the Apple platform that runs on the user’s phone and projects navigation, music apps, messaging, phone calls and voice commands to the vehicle’s display screen.
During WWDC, Apple also announced other updates to SharePlay. Instead of connecting through FaceTime, users can bring devices together to instantly start a shared activity using SharePlay. For example, if you’re going on a run with a friend and want to jog to the beat of the same tunes, you can link up your music. Apps that support SharePlay, like Twitch, will also now allow users to bring their iPhones together to watch the same livestream.
Apple didn’t share much car-related news at its developer conference. By contrast, a month ago at Google’s developer conference, the Big Tech giant pushed further into the automotive foreground with a number of new features and services designed for cars, including video conferencing, gaming and YouTube.
Google said that it expects Android Auto, the Android counterpart to Apple’s CarPlay, to be available in around 200 million vehicles by the end of 2023. The company also said it expects the number of cars with the Android Automotive operating system built-in to double by the end of this year. Already, brands like Chevrolet, Polestar, Renault, Honda and Volvo have Google built-in, allowing them to be integrated directly with Google apps like Assistant, Maps and Play.

Apple challenges Google for a larger slice of your dashboard

Aux 2.0: Apple’s SharePlay lets everyone queue up a song in the car by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch

AIR Music Technology Jura Jura is the classic synth for a modern music production studio. The sound of yesterday, the features of tomorrow. SWEET DREAMS In 1982 something magical happened... Read More

SEC’s Binance suit contains heavy mix of predictable charges, novel revelationsThe world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange has been hit with an SEC suit that many saw coming, but the details will be studied closely.

Legal Beat: Katy Perry Loses Trademark Infringement CaseCan’t someone use their own name to sell merchandise? The answer is: not always.

Pop star Katy Perry has lost a trademark infringement case to an Australian fashion designer with the same name, but spelled “Katie Perry.” Katie Perry sells clothes under her birth name, but uses her married name, Katie Taylor. Taylor sued Katy Perry claiming the pop star sold merchandise which infringed Taylor’s trademark. 

In April of 2023, Australian Justice Brigitte Markovic agreed with Katie Taylor, ruling that clothing sold on Katy Perry’s 2014 Australian tour violated Taylor’s trademark.

The judge ruled that Katy Perry (born Katheryn Hudson) used the Katie Perry name in “good faith,” so she did not owe any money to the designer. However, the pop star’s company will have to pay monetary damages, which will be determined in the near future.

The fashion designer began to sell clothes using her brand name Katie Perry in 2007, and registered an Australian trademark in 2009.  The singer had her first hit record in 2008. The magistrate held that she infringed the fashion designer’s trademark by selling a jacket promoting her album Roar, as well as “Cozy Little Christmas” hoodies, scarves, sweatpants and T-shirts on her Australian tour and on social media.

In 2008, Katy Perry was signed to the EMI record label. They sent Katie Taylor a cease-and-desist letter in 2009 demanding that she stop use of the “similar name” in association with her clothing label. “Imagine my surprise when one of the reactions I received was a letter from lawyers representing the U.S. singer, Katy Perry,” Taylor said on her website after the judge ruled on the case. “They stated that I should immediately stop trading under this name, withdraw all my clothes and sign a document drafted by them to say that from then on I will never trade under that name ever again.”

The cease-and-desist letter did not work. “While the singer eventually gave up trying to prevent my Australian trademark from being registered, once registered, she chose to simply disregard it,” Taylor remarked. “Singer Katy Perry clothing was sold to Australian customers during Katy Perry performance tours over here, and through retail channels, including via websites. The singer has continued to ignore my trademark and one of her companies continues to sell infringing goods unlawfully in Australia.”

Katy Perry’s attempt to cancel the Australian’s trademark was rejected by the Magistrate.

The designer compared the litigation to a “David and Goliath” confrontation.

“Over the past few years, including whilst battling it out in court, I have been bullied and trolled. My friends and family have been trolled,” Taylor stated on her website. “Not only have I fought for myself, but I fought for small businesses in this country, many of them started by women, who can find themselves up against overseas entities who have much more financial power than we do.” 

Witch Pig Guillotine Guillotine chops up segments of audio in sync with the BPM of the track. Up to 32 divisions can be made from one section, which can then be modulated, bitcrushed, distorted, or simply silenced.... Read More

Apple announce new Macs at WWDC Apple have announced the upcoming launch of new a MacBook Air, a refreshed Mac Studio, the long-awaited Apple Silicon-powered Mac Pro and a new M2 Ultra chip.