King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard lets you “name your price” for their music on Bandcamp after Spotify exitAfter pulling their music from Spotify earlier this year, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have made their catalogue available on Bandcamp – and fans can pay whatever they want for it.
The Australian rock band’s decision to quit Spotify this July came in protest of CEO Daniel Ek’s involvement in AI military drone technology. Their departure meant the vast majority of their music had disappeared from online streaming platforms.

READ MORE: With DMs, Spotify takes its next step towards becoming a fully-fledged social media platform

“I don’t really consider myself an activist, and I don’t feel comfortable soapboxing. But this feels like a decision staying true to ourselves, and doing what we think is right for our music, having our music in places that we feel all right about,” said frontman Stu Mackenzie in an interview with the LA Times last month.
Now, their albums have returned online via Bandcamp, this time with a “name your price” option instead of the previous $10 minimum.
While Bandcamp’s standard pricing is set at $9 per album or $1.50 per track, artists are allowed to set prices “in a way that reflects your goals, your audience, and the value of your work”. In this case, King Gizzard has opted to let listeners decide.
And the results speak for themselves: King Gizzard’s catalogue currently dominates the entire Top 25 of Bandcamp’s best-selling albums section. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming through Bandcamp’s free app.
The band are far from alone in leaving Spotify over Ek’s ties to Helsing. Acts such as Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Hotline TNT, the Mynabirds, Kadhja Bonet, and WU LYF have all pulled their music from the platform in recent months.
“We don’t want our music killing people,” San Francisco art-rock band Deerhoof explained earlier this year. “We don’t want our success being tied to AI battle tech.”
They added that leaving the platform was a “pretty easy” decision given that “Spotify only pays a pittance anyway,” though they stressed they “don’t judge those who can’t make the same move in the short term” if the platform remains a key income source.
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Save the Music Brings Music Education To Schools in NeedThis week, Ari is joined by Henry Donahue of Save the Music Foundation, bringing music education access to millions of students.

PRS Guitars Brings Back the Mira as an S2 594On Tuesday, PRS Guitars announced the return of the Mira model to the Maryland factory line, now with the 24.594” scale length. "This new iteration, available in both gloss and satin finishes, will be a regular offering in the S2 Series," they said in a statement. "The 22-fret S2 Mira 594 covers a wide range of styles, including rock, blues, garage, and punk. Pairing its all-mahogany construction with PRS 58/15 LT vintage-voiced pickups results in warm, focused midrange. The humbuckers are paired with two mini-toggle switches to individually tap the pickups, delivering both authentic humbucking and chimey single-coil sounds."“The Mira has had an interesting history over the course of the last 17 years, but I don’t think it found its true voice until now,” said PRS Guitars Director of Sales, Jim Cullen. “The S2 Mira 594 combines our 24.594” scale length with a Pattern Thin neck shape and a very simple and straight forward feature set that provides an incredibly lively, simple-to-use tool to create music. I hope you are as inspired as we are with the newest evolution of this classic model.”"The S2 Mira 594 is available in: Antique White, Black, Dark Cherry Sunburst, Platinum Metallic, Vintage Cherry, and debut color Black Rainbow Holoflake.""The S2 Mira 594 Satin features the PRS 'sinky' satin nitro finish, and is available in: Matcha Green, Mavis Mint Metallic, Metallic Midnight, Dark Cherry Sunburst, Red Apple Metallic, and debut color Cloud Burst.""The Mira was first introduced in 2007 as an all-mahogany pickguard guitar with moon inlays, 24 frets, 25" scale length, a stoptail bridge, and a single mini-toggle. It has appeared across all of the Series and in various configurations, including the popular Mira X. In 2013, the Mira was moved from Core and was one of three models to launch the S2 Series. It was last offered as an S2 in 2018, becoming part of the SE Series from 2020-2023.""PRS Guitars continues its schedule of launching new products each month in 2025. Stay tuned to see new gear and 40th Anniversary limited-edition guitars throughout the year. For all of the latest news, click www.prsguitars.com/40 and follow @prsguitars on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X, and YouTube."The post PRS Guitars Brings Back the Mira as an S2 594 first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Eric Trump scaling back role at crypto firm ALT5 SigmaThe initial deal between ALT5 and World Liberty Financial included Eric Trump being on the company’s board of directors.

Why SpaceX made a $17B bet on the direct-to-cell marketExplaining SpaceX's aggressive move to dominate satellite-to-phone connectivity.

The Orchard launches physical distribution network, OPEN, following merger between Germany’s SPV Distribution and MembranIt's understood that The Orchard and Napalm will now co-own OPEN
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O Brother, What Art Thou?Dedicated word processors are not something we see much of anymore. They were in a weird space: computerized, but not really what you could call a computer, even in those days. More like a fancy typewriter, with a screen and floppy disks. Brother made some very nice ones, and [Chad Boughton] got his hands on one for a modernization project.
The word processor in question, a Brother WP-2200, was chosen primarily because of its beautiful widescreen, yellow-phosphor CRT display. Yes, you read that correctly — yellow phosphor, not amber. Widescreen CRTs are rare enough, but that’s just different. As built, the WP-2200 had a luggable form-factor, with a floppy drive, mechanical keyboard, and dot-matrix printer in the back.
Thanks to [Chad]’s upgrade, most of that doesn’t work anymore. Not yet, anyway. The original logic controller of this word processor was… rather limited. As generations have hackers have discovered, you just can’t do very much with these. [Chad] thus decided to tear it all out, and replace it with an ESP-32, since the ESP32-VGA library is a thing. Of course this CRT is not a VGA display, but it was just a matter of tracing the pinout and guesstimating sane values for h-sync, v-sync and the like. (Details are not given in the video.)
Right now, the excellent mechanical keyboard (mostly) works, thanks to a Teensy reading the keyboard matrix off the original cable. The teensy sends characters via UART to the ESP32 and it can indeed display them upon the screen. That’s half of what this thing could do, back in the 1980s, and a very good start. Considering [Chad] now has magnitudes more compute power available than the engineers at Brother ever did (probably more compute power than the workstation used to program the WP2200, now that we think of it) we’re excited to see where this goes. By the spitballing at the end of the video, this device will end its life as much more than a word processor.To see what he’s got working so far, jump to 5:30 in the video. Once the project is a bit more mature, [Chad] assures us he’ll be releasing both code and documentation in written form.
We’ve seen [Chad]’s work before, most recently his slim-fit CD player, but he has been hacking for a long time.We covered his Super Mario PLC hack back in 2014.

IK Multimedia gives its iLoud Precision monitor line a MKII upgradeIK Multimedia has unveiled the second generation of its iLoud Precision monitor range. The upgraded iLoud Precision MKII studio monitors have modified the hardware for a richer performance, as well as being compatible with IK’s improved acoustic correction software, ARC X, for greater sonic transparency.
Much like the original iLoud Precision line, the MKII also comes in three distinct models. The iLoud Precision 5 MKII is comprised of a 5″ Woofer, boasting 135W RMS, while the slightly larger iLoud Precision 6 MKII is fitted with a 6.5″ Woofer working at 150W RMS.
There’s also the option to get a pair of 5″ Woofers working at 175W RMS if you get the Loud Precision MTM MKII.

READ MORE: Fake artists, real opportunities: Hoaxes and scams are holding back the potential of AI music

All three models are also kitted out with a 1.5″ tweeter, which has been upgraded since the previous run of iLoud Prevision monitors. According to IK, the tweeter’s new construction is ultra-lightweight and reinforced with graphene to reduce distortion and ensure even more sonic accuracy.
In terms of frequency, the monitors’ response rate lies within ±1 dB accuracy from 45Hz to 30kHz, while it also extends down to 37Hz at -4dB. It’s a range that should offer a “full-spectrum of clarity”, especially when dealing with low-ends.
New fixing mounts are also built-in to the monitors, allowing you to integrate them into your studio with ease. There’s also the option to buy separate metal brackets to mount your speakers precisely, setting your desired angles for optimal listening experience.
While the iLoud Precision line has its own auto-calibration, the monitors are able to capture a heightened level of clarity thanks to IK’s ARC X acoustic correction technology. Building on the success of ARC 4, ARC X allows users to generate 3D model of their studio, analysing the space from three unique perspectives and using the information to correct any potential acoustic issues. It’s technology that IK brand as “remarkably natural”.
While ARC X isn’t a free software, owners of ARC X the iLoud Precision, iLoud Micro Monitor Pro, iLoud MTM MKII, ARC Studio, and ARC 4 are entitled to a free upgrade.
In terms of pricing, the iLoud Precision 5 MKII will set you back $799.99. The slightly larger iLoud Precision 6 MKII costs $899.99, while the pair of iLoud Precision MTM MKII monitors costs $999.99. There’s also the option of getting yourself a dedicated iLoud Precision Remote Control for $99.99.
Head to IK for more information.
The post IK Multimedia gives its iLoud Precision monitor line a MKII upgrade appeared first on MusicTech.

Watts Audio The Sultan AmpThe Sultan Amp is a virtual amp simulator for use in a DAW. Inspired by the tones of Mark Knopfler, John Mayer, Jimi Hendrix, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, it features a classic compressor, subtle reverb, two channels, and a traditional tone stack, delivering vintage character in a straightforward interface. Compressor: captures clarity and punch. Reverb: subtle, smooth ambience. Two channels: warm cleans to blues crunch. Tone stack: bass, mid, treble controls. Impulse response: Celestion-style IR reflecting Twin Reverb warmth. Presets: 7 curated starting points for quick results. Formats/OS: VST3, AU (64-bit). macOS (Apple Silicon & Intel) and Windows (64-bit). Read More

How To Use Live Performances to Build A Music Industry NetworkNetworking doesn't have to be so scary! For artists, the concert venue might just be the best environment to put your best foot forward and build connections. Learn how to use use live performances to build a music industry network.
The post How To Use Live Performances to Build A Music Industry Network appeared first on Hypebot.

Karra, bifurcation and YouTube’s gainA couple of weeks ago, electronic music artist Karra posted a video on YouTube about why she took her album down from streaming (one that she spent $100,000 making) and is now going to focus her efforts on YouTube (“an incredible platform for [her] artistry”) as well as selling content to music creators. The details in here will be familiar to most and many of them (fraud, bots, demonetisation, fractional royalties, slow payments, lack of support) are widely recognised as ‘industry glitches’. But when they are all stitched together, they can become an insurmountable challenge for independent creators. Big labels and publishers have the organisational scale to swat these glitches away like flies, but for creators doing everything on their own, it can make the system feel rigged against them. Karra’s solution was to opt out of the streaming economy entirely. Is she an outlier, or a sign of Bifurcation gathering pace?

Karra’s story is one of an artist trying to do what a label artist would do (co-writers, mixing and mastering, photoshoots, videos etc) but on her own. The result was a wholly professional release but because she lacked the operational resources of a record label, all of the glitches (canvass not uploading, social not monetising, music taking down for suspected fraudulent activity, fraudsters posting to her streaming profile, dodgy merch companies not paying etc) simply became too much. The kicker though was that her streaming royalties added up to little more than one percent of her outlay. Sure, if the album had been more successful or if she had spent less making it, that equation might have changed but this was an album with over a million streams, so not nothing. The kicker however, is that her YouTube video telling the story generated more revenue in one week than the album did on streaming in one year. 

There may not be many artists who depend upon streaming royalties to pay their bills, instead using it to fuel their core income streams (live, merch etc). But when the investment and effort vs rewards equation is so imbalanced, it is not surprising that a growing number of creators are now looking elsewhere. Among the non-DSP artists MIDiA has been tracking, YouTube keeps coming up as the place they turn to. Creating ‘content’ on YouTube is not of course for all artists, but now, neither is streaming. The reality of today’s music business may be fragmentation and complexity but this also means that artists now have more paths they can follow. 

The flipside of the complexity and fragmentation is that this strengthens the case for record labels. The depth and breadth of expertise needed to navigate today’s music business simply cannot be recreated by an independent creator’s own team. The likely implication is that successful independent creators have a choice between staying independent but specialising on one or two platforms, or working with a label to work across all of them.

An interesting additional element to the case for YouTube is that it enables artists to tell their story. As we enter the AI era, story telling has never been more important for artists to differentiate from something generated by a text prompt. As Mary Spender puts it, YouTube can play the role of ‘proof of work’. If / when AI music swamps streaming, not only will artists face royalty dilution and attention competition, they will have no meaningful way of communicating their ‘human-ness’ there. Unlike, of course, YouTube.

Streaming’s problems are a combination of self-inflicted injuries, industry dysfunction and unscrupulous third-party behaviour. Fixes are needed from both within and without. While larger rightsholders might look at this and think that these are little more than glitches for their businesses, if streaming fails, they fail. For all its creator-level faults, streaming works well at the rightsholder level. Rightsholders revenues are now dominated by streaming. As we first outlined in Bifurcation Theory in early 2024, streaming’s problems are opportunities for the expanding, non-DSP side of the music business. With a growing body of newer, younger creators prioritising YouTube and social over streaming, it will only be a matter of time before this starts translating into a clear culture-shift. Expect that to happen even faster if Gen AI starts to dominate functional playlists on streaming. YouTube will be waiting with open arms.

Keep an eye out for MIDiA’s forthcoming ‘Future of Streaming’ report that uses conversations with streaming’s leaders to present a bold vision for the industry’s future.

AlphaTheta launches new “flagship” DJ player, the CDJ-3000X – here’s what’s newAlphaTheta has launched its next-generation flagship DJ player, the CDJ-3000X.
An evolution of the CDJ-3000 – which landed in 2020 under Pioneer DJ (Pioneer is, of course, part of the AlphaTheta Corporation) – The CDJ-3000X brings a host of new features and quality-of-life improvements, including improved online music access, updated connectivity and numerous hardware upgrades.

READ MORE: AlphaTheta CDJ-3000X review: Bigger, sharper, smoother, and cloud-ready — but you’ll need very deep pockets

Heading up the selection of new features on the CDJ-3000X is its expanded media support, including built-in Wi-Fi – which removes the previous need for a LAN cable – an NFC touchpoint allowing easier-than-ever access to online media, and, via the Wi-Fi, access to online music via cloud storage or streaming services like TIDAL and Beatport.
Worth noting, though, that you’ll need a subscription to rekordbox Creative or Professional to use CloudDirectPlay.
Hardware improvements include a larger 10.1” touchscreen – up from the CDJ-3000’s 9” screen – enabling DJs to see up to 16 tracks onscreen at once, a more precise jog wheel, and more robust play and cue buttons, with AlphaTheta promising “over 500,000 additional presses compared to the previous model”.

There’s also a new USB-C port, which expands compatibility with USB storage devices.
AlphaTheta also promises enhanced audio quality via high-performance DAC (digital-to-analogue conversion), as well as a redeveloped power supply, and improved channel separation and frequency response.
The CDJ-3000X also brings the ability to edit playlists directly on the unit, and supports Universal DJ Library – an evolution of rekordbox’s DJ Library Plus – meaning you can play music exported via USB from rekordbox, djay Pro and Traktor Pro 4.
Since its launch, DJs, content creators and producers have been weighing in with their thoughts on the CDJ-3000X, and whether it’s a significant step forward for DJ gear.
In our own review, we commended the addition of Cloud-based functionality as well as improved hardware, particularly the larger, crisper touchscreen.
Meanwhile, Mojaxx of DJcityTV implores DJs to “temper your expectations” and see the CDJ-3000X as more of an “incremental upgrade” than a fully-fledged evolution of the CDJ blueprint.

Elsewhere, YouTube channel Digital DJ Tips called the CDJ-3000X the “future of DJing”, but noted, as did we, a persisting lack of stems functionality.

Price-wise, the CDJ-3000X clocks in at €2,799/£2,399/$2,999. For more information, head to AlphaTheta.
The post AlphaTheta launches new “flagship” DJ player, the CDJ-3000X – here’s what’s new appeared first on MusicTech.

4 Ways Artists Can Use YouTube Analytics to Grow Their ReachYouTube's guide for using analytics to help creators grow their channels offers artists some interesting tips and insights. Let's take a look!
The post 4 Ways Artists Can Use YouTube Analytics to Grow Their Reach appeared first on Hypebot.

IK launch iLoud Precision MkII studio monitors  IK Multimedia have unveiled the iLoud Precision MkII, the next generation of their studio monitor range, featuring the company’s new ARC X acoustic correction system.

KG Series is a new collection of 12 FREE plugins for Windows by KageMusicKorea
KageMusicKorea, an independent record label and audio developer based in Seoul, South Korea, has released the KG Series, a free collection of 12 audio plugins designed to provide affordable (or rather, free) creative tools for music producers. The KG Series is aimed at breaking down the financial barriers one might associate with music production. Of [...]
View post: KG Series is a new collection of 12 FREE plugins for Windows by KageMusicKorea