Crypto Biz: Binance slashes costs, Ripple ready for US banks and crypto VCs returnThis week’s Crypto Biz looks at Binance’s ongoing efforts to curb declining profits, Ripple’s expectation that U.S. banks may soon adopt XRP and the first signs of venture capital returning to crypto.

ChatGPT comes to Android next week, but you can sign up todayTwo months after launching for iOS, ChatGPT is available to “pre-order” for Android users who want to take the ubiquitous chatbot on the go. If it’s anywhere as popular as the iPhone version, expect to see some big numbers over the next few weeks.
Of course any mobile user can access ChatGPT or other OpenAI tools via the web interface, but the superior experience of a dedicated app has proven extremely compelling, to put it lightly. iPhone users downloaded it half a million times in the first week, impressing everyone until Threads came along and blew it out of the water.
The ChatGPT app on Android looks to be more or less identical to the iOS one in functionality, meaning it gets most if not all of the web-based version’s features. You should be able to sync your conversations and preferences across devices, too — so if you’re iPhone at home and Android at work, no worries.
Of course it won’t be completely identical, since the two mobile operating systems differ in many ways. For instance, the June additions of Siri and Shortcuts to the app on iOS clearly won’t be making the transition, but it’s likely Android users will get something similar.
On Twitter, OpenAI said that the Android app would be “rolling out to users next week,” presumably in the U.S. first. No plans were mentioned for other countries, but it’s likely that they’ll follow after a few weeks or months. It was in a dozen more countries one week after its original release.
You can sign up to be notified when the app goes live by hitting “pre-register” on the Play Store.

ChatGPT: Everything you need to know about the AI-powered chatbot

Spotify to finally raise flagship Premium price in the US next week, reports Wall Street JournalMore price rises coming in multiple global territories from Daniel Ek's company, says WSJ
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PRS Announces Special John McLaughlin GuitarPRS Guitars has announced a Limited-Edition Private Stock John McLaughlin Signature model. Only 200 of these instruments will be made in 2023.

The PRS Private Stock John McLaughlin is a classic instrument that has been meticulously spec’d by Paul Reed Smith to honor John McLaughlin. All of the woods were specially chosen by Smith for their tone, figure, and weight. The specs are fairly straightforward: maple top, mahogany back, hormigo neck (a tone wood used on marimbas for sound-producing tines) with an African blackwood fretboard, 22 frets, 25” scale length, Pattern neck, PRS’s patented Gen III tremolo, and PRS Phase III tuners.

Some of the more particular details on this model are in the finish, pickups, and electronics. The guitar is finished in high-gloss nitro with an unfinished neck with clear grain filler for a smooth, natural playing feel. The TCI pickups feature American Alnico and are paired with volume and tone controls with a 3-way toggle pickup switch and two mini-toggle EQ switches. The mini-toggles act as tuned high-pass filters when engaged (in the up position), removing shelved low-end and allowing the high frequencies through for more clarity and musical highs.

“Playing music is a way of being. Playing an instrument requires you to move out of the normal level of consciousness. If you’re thinking, you’re not playing. If you’re playing, you’re not thinking. If you have problems with your instrument, you’re not going to move out of the thinking zone and into your own world. This is why I love my guitar. For me, it’s perfect.” – John McLaughlin

“Being John’s guitar maker is an honor I fought decades for, and to now be able to give him a signature model is a special moment for me and hopefully the industry,” said Paul Reed Smith. “These guitars were designed to both feel like magic when you pick them up but also disappear in your hands so you can just focus on playing. John is capable of playing at extraordinary speed and with this instrument, you hear every note. Finding that balance as a guitar maker and coaxing every bit of sound out of the guitar was the key.”

Paul Reed Smith and Paul Miles have signed each Private Stock John McLaughlin model on the back of the headstock. As an added detail, John McLaughlin has autographed the backplate of each instrument.

For complete specifications and a video from John McLaughlin, please visit www.prsguitars.com.

About PRS Guitars:

PRS Guitars is a leading manufacturer of high-quality instruments in Stevensville, Maryland and has provided some of the world’s most renowned musicians with instruments since 1985. The PRS team of highly skilled craftspeople design and build a wide variety of musical instruments and gear for worldwide distribution, including electric, acoustic, and bass guitars as well as boutique-style guitar amplifiers and effects pedals. The PRS SE Series complements the Maryland-made PRS line by offering highly approachable and more affordable electric, acoustic, and bass guitars. Carlos Santana, Mark Tremonti, John Mayer, Jimmy Herring, Myles Kennedy, Zach Myers, Mark Holcomb, Tim Pierce, Orianthi, David Grissom, Mark Lettieri, and Rhonda Smith are among the artists currently playing PRS instruments and/or amplifiers.

PRS Guitars Info: www.prsguitars.com

Latest Mixed on Focal playlist released Designed for those auditioning models from Focal's range of loudspeakers, the Mixed on Focal playlists feature a wide range of tracks mixed by professional engineers using the company's monitors. 

Beastie Boys announce 25th-anniversary reissue of Hello, Nasty albumBeastie Boys have announced the 25th-anniversary re-issue of their pivotal album, Hello, Nasty.

READ MORE: SP-1200 sampler RZA used on Enter The Wu-Tang is up for sale, starting at $35,000

The iconic New York hip-hop trio are commemorating the 25th anniversary of their 1998 album Hello, Nasty with a special vinyl reissue. The deluxe quadruple-vinyl edition, initially released in 2009, will be re-issued to hit the shelves on 8 September.
This box set includes two discs with a total of 21 remixes (including one by Fatboy Slim), B-sides, and live versions, in addition to the original 22-track album. Each vinyl is pressed on high-quality 180g vinyl and packaged within a book-style quad-jacket.
Last year, Beastie Boys celebrated another milestone, the 30th anniversary of their third studio album Check Your Head with limited-edition box sets and colour-vinyl reissues.
Fans can check out the full tracklist on Beastie Boys’ web store and get a sneak peek of the 4xLP box set via an Instagram post below:

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Beastie Boys aren’t the only group celebrating over two decades in the game. The Chemical Brothers are marking 30 years making music with the release of the duo’s 10th studio album, For That Beautiful Feeling, in September.
Talking of retro hip-hop memories, a Sotheby’s auction is currently underway containing nearly 120 hip-hop-related artefacts. These include a ring designed by Tupac, the SP-1200 sampler RZA used on Enter The Wu-Tang, and RZA’S original three-page handwritten liner notes for the Enter the Wu-Tang record.
Also included in the collection is Afrika Islam’s SP-1200, the very machine that recorded Ice-T’s iconic albums Rhyme Pays, Power, O.G. Original Gangster, and Colours. Additionally, Afrika Islam’s two Technics 1200 turntables, showcased during his DJ performances at The Roxy are also available to buy.
Check out the collection and pre-order it at beastieboys.com.
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From TikTok and Warner’s licensing deal to Jungkook’s global streaming success… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-UpThis week's biggest stories...
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Turns out the Seinfeld theme was “Frankenstein-engineered from multiple sampled bass guitars”The Seinfeld theme is one of the most recognisable bass lines in history – and as a result many have questioned how it came to be.
Used in the long-running US sitcom to underscore Jerry’s opening monologue – and also used in between scene transitions – the bass line has puzzle many for years as to its origins. Suggestions have included a preset from an ’80s synth, the Yamaha DX7, the Korg M1 and the 360 Systems MIDI Bass.
However, an innocent comment on social media has ended up paving the way for revealing the answer once and for all. When an Instagram user suggested that he thought it was the 360 Systems MIDI Bass that was used, he got a response from Seinfeld soundtracker Jonathan Wolff.

“I never owned any product from 360 Systems,” he confirmed. In fact, none of the suggestions were correct – it turns out that the Seinfeld bass sounds were “Frankenstein-engineered from multiple sampled bass guitars using sample edits, compression, EQ, phase manipulation and gain staging.”
“I selected a narrow frequency (filtered obviously through a separate bus), reverse-phased it and (slightly flanged, delayed, and detuned to avoid cancellation) added it off-center back into the mix,” Wolff continued, after adding a ‘nerd warning’. “Full stereo, it looked weird on a scope but had little audible effect. However, when summed mono, it created a sharp nasal edge to the bass.”
However, videos exist of Wolff appearing to play the sound of a Kurzweil synth. “I triggered the notes using a keyboard controller, which (to nice folks viewing interview videos of me working) is sometimes confused with the actual source,” Wolff explains. “No synth for you.”

Wolff had previously revealed that the slap bass links changed episode to episode to fit with the beats of the monologue. The sound itself, he explained, has also evolved over time.
“It got to the point that the peeps in my office would leave me little sampled bass sounds when they had a minute and got weird sounds out of it,” Wolff told Mel Magazine in 2021. “I’d often incorporate them into Seinfeld cues, so in that way, it stayed fresh, while evolving to become a little more aggressive, more nasal, more weird.”
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Musician Jackie Venson calls out predatory behavior by venues, promotersBy many measures, independent musician Jackie Venson is having a great year. But shifts in booking, venue, and merch policies are threatening the one source of income she and most. Continue reading
The post Musician Jackie Venson calls out predatory behavior by venues, promoters appeared first on Hypebot.

Why TikTok launching a music streaming service matters so muchWe’ve heard whispers in the industry of TikTok launching its own music streaming service for a while now. Finally, they’ve just rolled out the first iterations of it in select. Continue reading
The post Why TikTok launching a music streaming service matters so much appeared first on Hypebot.

8 Tips to help you successfully pre-promote your next releaseMaking the music is only half the battle, now that it’s time for promoting you may have a lot to learn when it comes to getting the word out about. Continue reading
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Fatboy Slim’s Broadway musical, Here Lies Love, “turns the theatre into a dance floor”First, we had Damon Albarn scoring an opera. Now, we have Fatboy Slim providing music for a disco-themed Broadway musical. Here Lies Love, scored in collaboration with David Byrne, made its debut in New York on Thursday.

READ MORE: Show Off Your Studio: Jay Robinson gives Fatboy Slim’s Rockafeller Skank the TB-03 treatment

The immersive musical, set in a neon-clad nightclub, follows the life of Imelda Marcos, the ex-first lady of the Philippines. The story focuses on the People Power Revolution that led to the removal of her and her husband, dictator Ferdinand Marcos, from power in 1986.
Developed and directed by Alex Timbers, with choreography by Annie-B Parson, Here Lies Love was first written in the mid-2000s. Byrne and Fatboy Slim, real name Norman Cook, then released a concept album soundtracking the story in 2010.
Since then, the show evolved into a complete theatre production, with successful runs taking place at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in 2012, New York’s Public Theater in 2013, London’s National Theater in 2014, and the Seattle Repertory Theater in 2017. This is the first time the musical has been taken to Broadway. Byrne and Cook posed about the show on Instagram, which you can see below:

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The show has been a hit among critics. In a four-star review of the show by The Guardian, theatre review Lauren Mechling describes the production as a ”roof-raising musical presented as interactive disco”, writing: “the audience was all too ready to dance off against a modern-day Marie Antoinette.”
When not scoring Broadway musicals with David Byrne, Fatboy Slim is performing expectedly fun stage shows, like the one we witnessed at Glastonbury 2023. However, in a not-so-expected revelation, the Rockafeller Skank star recently told a podcast host about the time he learned to play the violin with Labour leader, Kier Starmer.
The musical runs until September. Find out more information about Here Lies Love and book tickets via herelieslovebroadway.com.
The post Fatboy Slim’s Broadway musical, Here Lies Love, “turns the theatre into a dance floor” appeared first on MusicTech.

Watch: Alan Meyerson - Mixing The Movies In our latest feature video, producer and mix engineer Alan Meyerson talks us through his career, from...

PreSonus Studio One 6.2 update now available As well as introducing a range of editing, arranging and mixing improvements to their popular DAW, PreSonus have also announced that PreSonus Sphere, their all-in-one subscription package, has been renamed to Studio One+.