DJs recognised as “skilled workers” under UK’s post-Brexit visa rulesDJs are officially classified as “skilled workers” under the UK’s post-Brexit visa regulations, a new study has found.
According to The Guardian, analysis of Home Office data from 2021-2024 reveals that DJs were among several professions — alongside cabin crew, fitness instructors, and veterinary nurses — granted skilled workers visas since 2021.

READ MORE: “There’s no such thing as ‘Album of the Year’ – someone made that up”: Jacob Collier doesn’t mind that he didn’t win a Grammy for his album, Djesse Vol. 4

Researcher Robert McNeil from the University of Oxford told The Guardian that many of the vocations in the list are “challenging and require particular skills” even if they “might not be the sort of things that are front of mind for most people when they imagine roles that are critical for UK employers to recruit from overseas.”
In a new blog post, McNeil explains that “middle-skilled jobs” were on the list because the Home Office had lowered the criteria required to apply for a skilled worker visa after the UK had left the EU.
“When people think about such middle-skilled jobs, roles like plumbers, bricklayers or engineering technicians spring to mind. But defining what is actually middle-skilled is not straightforward,” he states. “Some of the results are surprising.”
That said, foreign DJs seeking work in the UK still face significant hurdles. According to Home Office sources cited by The Guardian, applicants must secure sponsorship from an employer and meet a minimum salary requirement of £38,700 per year. For those under 26 and undergoing higher education, this threshold is slightly lower at £31,000.
Per Mixmag, successful applicants of the skilled worker visa can remain in the UK for five years, though DJs can also apply for a Creative Worker visa concession, which will allow them to work in the country for up to three months.
Meanwhile, “Permit Free Festivals” like The Warehouse Project, Creamfields, and Wireless can sponsor international artists for up to six months. The UK also offers a Creative Worker visa, which allows artists to stay for up to 12 months with a certificate of sponsorship.
In related news, a new report from The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) found that electronic music added an estimated £2.4 billion to the UK economy last year.
2024 also saw record-breaking ticket sales for electronic music events, raising £163 million alone (recorded by Skiddle).
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Qrion: “My process is to first sit down in a chair and think about a specific moment – a memory, sound, or smell”Momiji Tsukada prefers melodies to words. Better known to her fans as Qrion, the Japanese-born and US-based DJ, producer, and songwriter has built a keen fan base of 400,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, toured across the globe, and played high-profile shows at Colorado’s Red Rocks and EDC Las Vegas. Yet, to hear her tell it, shyness is still a big part of everyday life. “I’m really not good at communicating in the world,” says Tsukada. “Music is the way I express what I think and feel.”
Clearly, her songs are resonating with people. Since the release of her first single, Another Sea, in 2012, Tsukada has followed up with a string of EPs and a debut album that made it into Billboard’s 20 Best Dance Albums of 2021. She was selected as Spotify Japan’s EQUAL Artist, DJ Mag’s ‘Future Star’, and even made it onto Forbes Japan’s ‘30 Under 30’ list.

READ MORE: Ela Minus: “I never wanted to be signed to a label; I never wanted to play big festivals”

Over the last few years, however, we’ve heard a bit less from Tsukada – but for good reason. The intensive process of creating 2021’s I Hope It Lasts Forever left the artist exhausted and in need of a reset. Now, Qrion is back with a deeply personal, and determinedly hopeful new album, We Are Always Under The Same Sky.
Released on Tsukada’s go-to independent label, London’s beloved Anjunadeep imprint, she says the anticipation to get the record into the hands of fans has been building up over the last few months. “I finished it last October,” she enthuses. “It was supposed to be released earlier, but it got pushed back a little bit. We waited, waited, and waited, and I was getting anxious that maybe the hype was getting too high. Now I see the reaction from the people on the [dance]floor, and I’m really happy.”
A thread linking all of Tsukada’s work is her focus on memory – capturing the feeling of a specific place, time, season, or feeling through music. Her new album is no exception: the record’s ten tracks draw deeply on Tsukada’s lived experiences, expressed through uplifting melodies, emotive lyrics, and animator and designer Zee Yorke’s vibrant album art, which Tsukada says is intended to be a “sketch of her childhood.”
Image: Press
One theme Tsukada’s music returns to more than any other is Sapporo. Located in the far north of Japan, and famous for its beer, ramen, and annual snow festival, the area is fondly chronicled on tracks like Ice Palace, and Miyanosawa – the town where Tsukada spent her childhood. “I grew up there for 20 years, and I’ve been in the US for 10 years,” says Tsukada. “I guess I’m more American now, but still the memory is super important – Sapporo is the place where my journey started.”
When asked what first set her feet on the path to globe-trotting producer and DJ, a key source of influence emerges – her parents. Growing up, Tsukada’s mother worked evenings running a Sake bar in town while her father worked as a pianist performing in bands and in hotel lounges. From a young age, she says, they both encouraged her to push back against the rigid norms and expectations of Japanese society, and to find her own way.
“Japan’s culture values being the same, or being cohesive,” Tsukada says. “I do agree with that, and it’s very beautiful, but my parents would always say ‘You should wear different colours because it’s more unique.’ I didn’t understand the meaning at first, and I would actually get called out by my classmates because I really liked blue colours and girls are supposed to like pink.
“There was a moment when I had to give a speech in front of my classmates,” continues Tsukada. “And I said there was no such thing as ‘pink is for women, blue is for boys’. I still vividly remember the moment.”
Image: Press
After gifting her with a rebellious streak, Tsukada’s parents set another crucial example – they were both musical. She recalls her mother playing classical piano in the family home when she was growing up, while her father played freestyle jazz. “One time I was copying his freestyle playing, trying to make an original song on piano at home,” Tsukada recalls. “He was listening from the other room and he came up to me and said ‘What was the song? It was good.’ That was the moment I thought, ‘Oh, maybe I can create my own music.’”
It was her father who first introduced her to GarageBand and encouraged her to begin making her own tracks. His passing, when Tsukada was in her late teens, was devastating – and something she was still struggling to process while making her 2021 debut album, I Hope It Lasts Forever. In contrast to that album’s bittersweet nostalgia, We Are Always Under The Same Sky looks backward with warmth, energy, and a sense of new beginnings.
“When I worked on the last album I was dealing with substance abuse,” Tsukada admits. “So, I put all those sad feelings into the melody. Now that I’ve finally recovered, I’m able to put happiness into the music.”
Despite her early grounding in piano, Tsukada says that her new songs started not at the keyboard, but during a moment of quiet contemplation: “My process is to first sit down in a chair and think about a specific moment – a memory, sound, or smell – and then I try to express that as a melody. So, obviously Goa comes from when I was in Goa, India – that idea is in the melody.”
Image: Press
Once she has the beginnings of a melody, she moves over to Cubase. “That was the first music software I got for myself when I was 17,” she recalls fondly. “I saved money from a part-time job and bought Cubase because my favourite Japanese artist was using it and he’d done an advertisement. I didn’t know Ableton Live or Logic Pro existed back then – nowadays I’m very comfortable using it.”
When it comes to crafting sounds, Tuskada says she prefers to work in-the-box. “I had a phase where I kept buying analogue synthesisers,” she recalls. “But I realised that software plugins are easier for me because there’s just more flexibility. I do sometimes use hardware drum machines, but mainly I’m playing my melodies on a MIDI keyboard and using VSTs.”
Tsukada says her go-to soft-synth whilst working on We Are Always Under The Same Sky was u-he’s venerable Diva, coupled with EchoBoy from Soundtoys. “They’re great for making textures and I love filling the blank space with ambient noise,” she says, referencing the album’s beautiful closer, Sad Song, which also features South Korean producer and vocalist, DIDI HAN.
Tsukada brought a number of different collaborators on board for the new album, including Pinkpirate, Josie Man, and Blake.08. The album as a whole offers an exciting snapshot of the diversity of talent surging into EDM as the scene becomes less male and less western-centric. However, according to Tsukada, none of that was planned; it was simply a matter of what the music needed. “It just sort of happened,” she says. “I really like male vocals, but, because my music is very chill and has a lot of texture, I feel that female vocals – the high notes – these work much more.”

Despite collaborating with plenty of artists over the years, Tsukada says her natural instinct is still to write in isolation. “Working alone is definitely more comfortable for me,” she admits. “I’m really shy when I meet a person for the first time and I get really anxious. But the song Lean Into Light was actually finished in a studio in London together with Pinkpirate. She was a really chill person and we did a little bit of arranging together during the session to finish it off.”
As she gets ready to embark on a tour of North America, and looks ahead to future dates in India and Asia, Tsukada says she has turned the page on a new chapter in her career and in her songwriting. Where once her songs dealt with loss, frustrations, and struggles, now, she draws upon the joy of “stories, emotions, travels, and meeting new people.”
One thing that hasn’t changed is the role that music plays in Tsukada’s life. It’s still her art form, her anchor, and her preferred way of communicating with the world: “I always think about what I will be doing in five or ten years. I don’t know if my style will change and people won’t like it, or if my style will become more mainstream and maybe people will love it. I’m not sure, but I know I want to believe in my passion and keep doing what I love – making music and sharing it with people.”
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Elektron Digitone II: A polyphonic powerhouse synth that goes far beyond FM$999, elektron.se
With the Digitakt II having sold out its first batch within a few weeks, it was only a matter of time before the developer would unveil upgrades to other instruments in its range. Being the first Elektron unit of its kind, the original Digitakt drum computer and sampler will forever represent a key chapter in its developer’s history, so it’s natural for version II upgrades to have begun there. But now comes a sequel for the Digitone – Elektron’s characterful and powerful take on FM synthesis.

READ MORE: We dare you to try and reach Elektron Digitakt II’s limitations

As a reminder, the Digitakt II represented such a vast leap forward from the original Digitakt that Elektron could plausibly have separated the two with another version in between. The Digitakt had 1GB of internal storage; the Digitakt II, 20GB. The Digitakt accommodated 128 samples per project; the Digitakt II,1024. The list goes on. No wonder the Digitakt was Reverb’s best-selling piece of electronic gear in 2024. Will the Digitone II expand the functionality of its own predecessor to a similarly far-flung level?
In short, yes. New synth engines, new filter types, more tracks, increased modulation potential, more effects: you name it and it’s probably been upgraded or expanded. Similar to the Digitakt II, the Digitone II’s physical alterations are — for the most part — fairly subtle, but they hint at big upgrades under the hood. And in case you were wondering, yes, its internal memory upgrade is similarly massive; with a RAM memory capable of storing up to 128 projects and a preset library capable of storing a whopping 2048 presets we posit you’re unlikely to run out of space any time soon.

What’s new on the Elektron Digitone II?
A dedicated FX button has appeared beneath the Digitone’s eight encoders, and the SYN 1 and SYN 2 buttons have been condensed into a single SYN selection button, given the inclusion of more synth engines. As with the Digitakt II, a dedicated keyboard button has appeared on the left of the panel, along with a dedicated Song button. And once again, the OLED screen has done away with its previous model’s yellow graphics in favour of (the arguably clearer) white.
Most conspicuous on the Digitone II is the absence of the original’s four coloured Track buttons on the panel’s lower right-hand side (now replaced with Arpeggiator, Note edit and Transpose buttons), and now all Trig buttons are black, unlike the original’s piano keyboard-like theme of white and black rows.
It would seem these latter two changes signal a concerted decision to deepen the Digitone II’s sequencing power. The reason the Digitone’s four Track buttons have gone is because that number of available individual sequencer tracks has now quadrupled to a formidable 16— meaning tracks are now selected with the 16 Trig buttons. If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the same selection process as on the latest Digitakt, and that’s hardly a coincidence.
Image: Press
Atop this, the Digitone’s 8-voice polyphony is now doubled to a sequencer-loving 16, and any track can now be used as a MIDI sequencer, capable of triggering up to sixteen notes per step along with sixteen assignable MIDI control change messages. Whew!
My MusicTech review of the Digitakt II noted the now-ubiquitous influence of the so-called ‘Elektron workflow’, which is very much present and correct in the Digitone II. Those familiar will recognise things like the oft-lauded parameter lock (where each trigger can have its own unique parameter settings), and different recording modes (Grid Recording mode, Live Recording mode and Step Recording mode). But all that hasn’t stopped a few other functions further endowing the Digitone II’s transport options and general playability. The overall sequence length doubles that of the Digitone, allowing 128 steps.
There’s also a Euclidean sequencer; a sequencer that places a set number of events as evenly as possible over a set number of steps— the odder the better— for generating unpredictable syncopated patterns that evolve on the fly. I find the interface quick and intuitive, making great use of the eight encoders to allow for playful, simultaneous adjustment of things like pulse generation, track rotation and step count. A brilliant addition and a welcome deviation from a workflow that can easily threaten to become overly gridded. Add to this functions like Trig Probability and you can create sequences that could extend for hours— and beyond— without ever repeating.
Image: Press
What does the Digitone II sound like?
All of this, of course, is before we focus on how the Digitone II actually sounds. We mentioned that Elektron have taken pains to substantiate this model as a sequencer, but if there’s one thing the Digitone Keys taught us it’s that the Digitone was a more-than-worthy, manually-playable synth voice in its own right. The Digitone II only expands on this, and all things considered, would be an excellent instrument even if it had no sequencer at all. Perhaps, we wonder, a Digitone Keys II is also on the horizon.
The Digitone’s already-formidable FM synth engine is happily ported over to the Digitone II as FM Tone, only now it’s joined by three entirely new engines. There’s WaveTone: a classically-inspired two-oscillator synth engine with some versatile wave shaping possibilities, as well as some expansive noise design potential. Next is Swarmer, a massive-sounding super-wave synth based around a singular oscillator with six additional detuned oscillators.
Earlier I mentioned some conspicuous commonalities with aspects of the Digitakt II— these only increase with the inclusion of FM Drum, an FM engine tailored to synthesise drum and percussion sounds, which it does excellently, faintly reminiscent of the Teenage Engineering OP-1’s D-Box. This said, FM Drum is no slouch with melodic tones, only its parameters are geared specifically to folding, pinging and sweeping FM tones and noise. Its four pages of parameters feel a little menu-heavy, as can other aspects of the Digitone II’s workflow, but fair to say things are generally laid out so that whether you prefer to dive deep or stay in the shallows, it’s more than possible to achieve satisfying and creative results.
These engines combine with a similarly expanded filter section, now offering adjustable base-width, multi-mode, comb filters, four-pole low-pass, EQ, or ‘Legacy’ low- and high-pass filter types. Then there’s the per-track delay, reverb, chorus, bit reduction, sample reduction and overdrive, and finally a useful master overdrive and bus compressor.
Image: Press
Is the Digitone II a good buy?
As with the Digitakt II, the Digitone II’s functions are legion. And, also as with the Digitakt II, it hikes the price to an eyebrow-raising $999. Is that really worth it? Yes, not only do we deem this good value for money proportionate to the magnitude of this synth, but it also pushes the Digitone dynasty away from pure FM synthesis and into a completely different category of instrument. Where once upon a time we would have been comparing it to the likes of Korg’s cheaper 6-operator, 32-voice Opsix FM synth, here it makes more sense to place it next to the likes of Polyend’s three-engine Synth; whose comparable but slimmer functionality renders its own $549 price tag more or less proportionate to the Digitone II’s.
However, we’re still waiting for the Overbridge control software to graduate from the beta phase, and the absence of a USB-C port in favour of USB-B is curious, not least from a future-proofing perspective.
Nevertheless, the Digitone II is a phenomenally powerful machine that oozes with potential and once again challenges anyone to reach its limitations. In all honesty, this is no less than what we’ve come to expect from Elektron by now, and who’s complaining?

Key features

16 audio tracks ready for synth or MIDI
16-voice polyphony
4 synth machines to play with: WaveTone, Swarmer, FM Tone, FM Drum
Storage for up to 2048 presets
6 filter types
3 assignable LFOs per track
Effects: delay, reverb, chorus, bit reduction, sample reduction, and overdrive per track
Note editor
128-step sequencer
Euclidean sequence generator
4 Trig modes
Song Mode to create, edit and play full compositions

The post Elektron Digitone II: A polyphonic powerhouse synth that goes far beyond FM appeared first on MusicTech.

THD Labs’ new Tangerine METERZ system THD Labs' latest launch allows users of vintage consoles to replace their meters with LCD units capable of handling a range of modern metering standards.

Bittersweet Symphonies: AllMusic's Love Songs for the LovelornAnother Valentine's Day is upon us, and our hearts go out to the wistful and wishing among us. Our editors pulled together some of their personal favorite swoon-worthy songs and albums to give the day that extra bit of bittersweet hum.

VC industry reacts to Trump nominating a16z’s Brian Quintenz for regulatory roleBrian Quintenz, who leads policy for Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto team, announced on Wednesday that he’s being tapped to head the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), according to his X post. And many in the VC industry appear to be thrilled about it. The CFTC regulates the trading of commodity futures, options, and swaps, otherwise known […]
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Will Embodied AI Make Prosthetics More Humane?Building a robotic arm and hand that matches human dexterity is tougher than it looks. We can create aesthetically pleasing ones, very functional ones, but the perfect mix of both? Still a work in progress. Just ask [Sarah de Lagarde], who in 2022 literally lost an arm and a leg in a life-changing accident. In this BBC interview, she shares her experiences openly – highlighting both the promise and the limits of today’s prosthetics.
The problem is that our hands aren’t just grabby bits. They’re intricate systems of nerves, tendons, and ridiculously precise motor control. Even the best AI-powered prosthetics rely on crude muscle signals, while dexterous robots struggle with the simplest things — like tying shoelaces or flipping a pancake without launching it into orbit.
That doesn’t mean progress isn’t happening. Researchers are training robotic fingers with real-world data, moving from ‘oops’ to actual precision. Embodied AI, i.e. machines that learn by physically interacting with their environment, is bridging the gap. Soft robotics with AI-driven feedback loops mimic how our fingers instinctively adjust grip pressure. If haptics are your point of interest, we have posted about it before.
The future isn’t just robots copying our movements, it’s about them understanding touch. Instead of machine learning, we might want to shift focus to human learning. If AI cracks that, we’re one step closer.
Original photo by Marco Bianchetti on Unsplash
 

How to make disco music: An in-depth guide with Jafunk
Learn how to make disco music alongside expert producer and DJ Jafunk, who overviews key instruments, music theory concepts, plugins, and more.

ByteDance has been building an AI music beast… with a little help from The Beatles and Michael JacksonByteDance is fascinated with building music AI technologies...
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Songwriters: Are you Getting Paid All the Mechanical Royalties You Should be? Navigating the world of digital music royalties can be tricky, but understanding how they work is essential for songwriters. The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) plays a key role in ensuring songwriters are paid the digital mechanical royalties (also known as streaming royalties) they deserve. Here’s a breakdown of what The MLC is and why it’s so important for you.What is The MLC?  The MLC is a nonprofit organization that is transforming the way songwriters, publishers, and other rightsholders are paid for their music that is streamed and downloaded on digital platforms like Apple Music and Spotify in the United States. Every month, The MLC collects streaming data and royalties from these platforms, matches the payments to the creators who earned them, and distributes the mechanical royalties to songwriters, publishers, and administrators.The MLC is dedicated to ensuring that songwriters, composers, lyricists, and music publishers receive their digital mechanical royalties accurately and on time. To date, The MLC has distributed over $2.5 billion in royalties and serves more than 50,000 members.Who Should Join The MLC?If you are entitled to receive digital audio mechanical royalties in the U.S. — whether you’re a self-administered songwriter, composer, lyricist, music publisher, or administrator — you need to become a member of The MLC. But what does it mean to be a self-administered songwriter? Let’s explain.A self-administered songwriter is someone who acts as their own music publisher for the works they’ve created.Here’s the breakdown:Fully Self-Administered Songwriters: These creators handle all aspects of registration, licensing, and collecting royalties for their works on their own.

Partially Self-Administered Songwriters: These creators manage some of their works themselves but have partnered with a publisher or administrator for the remaining works, that they have entered into a legal agreement with. By joining The MLC, you ensure that you receive all the mechanical royalties you’re owed. Best of all, membership is absolutely FREE. Need More Information?The MLC understands that navigating the process of collecting various types of royalties can be complex, especially if you don’t have a publisher or administrator. The MLC is here to help with a step-by-step guide for songwriters, composers, and lyricists to ensure you’re receiving all of your publishing royalties. Click here for our to-do list!  For more details on how to join The MLC, click here. You can gain additional answers and insights about The MLC by visiting the FAQ page.   The post Songwriters: Are you Getting Paid All the Mechanical Royalties You Should be?  first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Harvard Business Review explores Taylor Swift’s ‘Strategic Genius’A new book from Harvard Business Review Press will dive deep into how Taylor Swift built her global global empire. "There’s Nothing Like This" explores Taylor Swift’s 'strategic genius', the strategies behind her record-breaking success, and how others can learn from her journey.
The post Harvard Business Review explores Taylor Swift’s ‘Strategic Genius’ appeared first on Hypebot.

Sampleson rePEDAL - A.I. Guitar Pedal Makerhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0eTNIB2i2s rePEDAL is an experimental machine learning project from Sampleson, currently in beta. It generates a new, random overdrive pedal every... Read More

So…When did Apple Music become a hero of streaming services, and Spotify a supervillain?On Sunday night, a reported 113 million global viewers watched Kendrick Lamar’s half-time spectacle at the Super Bowl LIX, as the Philadelphia Eagles triumphed over the Kansas City Chiefs. And how did the annual musical show-stopper begin? With a graphic of Apple’s bright red Apple Music branding consuming the exterior of the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. You can watch the performance — and its bold branding — on the official NFL YouTube channel, in a video titled Kendrick Lamar’s Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show. It’s currently sitting at a cool 41 million views.
Seemingly few eyebrows were raised about the $3.5 trillion-dollar company being the Robin to Kendrick’s Batman that night. Would we have seen a similar non-reaction if Spotify fronted the purported $50 million to sponsor the Big Game with such brash commercialisation? Doubtful.

READ MORE: As AI fakes proliferate, we need to draw a clear distinction between human-made music and AI-generated content

Spotify has become the music supervillain in the past few years. The streaming giant comes under constant scrutiny for its infamously low royalties payout (as low as $0.003), despite CEO Daniel Ek defending its $10 billion payouts to the music industry; Ek himself is slammed by fans, artists and music professionals for his hot takes, eye-bulging shares cashouts and huge investments into arms manufacturers; Spotify users were even disappointed by the alleged use of generative AI to roll out its beloved Spotify Wrapped feature, citing inaccurate facts and poor graphic design. And that’s without the lawsuits and the UK government’s calls for Spotify to be reformed.
Spotify is, however, the most-used streaming service on the planet. It reported a total of 640 million users in 2024, while Apple Music is way behind at 93 million, as last reported by Statista in 2023.
Apple Music, meanwhile, appears to be viewed one of the good guys among the streaming giants (Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Tidal and Amazon Music). Apple Inc is, of course, critiqued regularly for some of its business practices and product blunders. But the only real negative press that Apple Music gets as a streaming service is about the UX of its app, with reviewers and users bemoaning its clunky navigation. That’s a pretty minor gripe when looking at Spotify’s troubles.
Image: Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Tim Cook’s Cupertino tech behemoth often wins brownie points for its coverage of new music and engagement with music culture via its in-app radio station Apple Music 1. Frankly, its radio- and podcast-style content is outstanding, with unparalleled artist access to superstars including Billie Eilish and FINNEAS, Taylor Swift, and, yes, definitely Kendrick Lamar.
Following Lamar’s sweep at the Grammys, Apple Music conducted The Official Kendrick Lamar Interview on 6 Feb 2025. It was published on Apple Music’s YouTube, where it has 680,000 views at the time of writing, and was plastered across the Home Screen of the Apple Music app. Apple also celebrated Lamar with a bespoke editorial feature on Apple News, a “special Fitness+ Artist spotlight” and a radio segment by Apple Music Radio host Ebro Darden titled Kendrick Lamar: Hip-Hop’s MVP.
Yes, that’s all a little overkill. We could speculate all the reasons that Apple is buying into Lamar so aggressively right now (literally buying? That part’s not clear…), but the point here is that Apple’s regular high-profile devotion to artists is partly what gives the streaming service such a positive image. Billie Eilish was crowned Apple Music’s Artist Of The Year in 2024 and partnered with the brand on her 2021 album, Happier Than Ever for an exclusive listening experience. The infamous 100 Best Albums list gave flowers to some of music’s most revered artists and albums, and the platform was the frontrunner in adopting and promoting spatial audio with Dolby Atmos, which prompted many classic tracks to get a rerelease (although did receive some criticism of its own). For producers using Apple’s DAW, Logic Pro, there’ll likely be an appreciation towards Apple which could extend to Apple Music. Elton John even has his own radio show on Apple Music, along with many other iconic artists. Certainly this level of artist synergy and integration made Apple Music a natural fit for the halftime show’s primary sponsor, a slot the company took over from Pepsi in 2022.
It’s still far from a perfect platform, though. As producer Benn Jordan pointed out in January, Apple Music’s royalties are around double that of Spotify and YouTube Music at $0.0061 but aren’t exactly industry-leading — Tidal and Amazon Music (and Peloton) are winning in that arena. And, while all of Apple Music’s editorial coverage likely stems from a passion amongst its employees, it’s ultimately all in place to promote the service and Apple’s product catalogue rather than the artist. The Super Bowl show was, naturally, concluded with a limited-time offer to join Apple Music. As always, it’s all marketing.

That’s likely how Apple comes out on top. It’s been the master brand of marketing since Steve Jobs began stepping out onto the stage to announce iPods, iPhones and iMacs in his ‘Stevenote’ presentations. Today, Apple’s virtual Events are circled on the calendars of every tech and music publication, and music plays a key role here, too, often giving lesser-known artists a nod in the Event’s backing track.
Spotify doesn’t appear as interested in being a music platform — it prefers to be a streaming platform. There was a Spotify x FanDuel Super Bowl party with Blink-182, Megan Thee Stallion and Anderson. Paak performing, one of many music-centric events that took place around New Orleans during Super Bowl weekend. But, over on the Spotify app, But, over on the app, it uses an AI DJ to curate your music, rather than commission actual DJs to record mixes, and there’s potential for us to see even more AI-created music on Spotify following the comments of co-president Gustav Söderström. The push on podcasting content — notably that $250 million Joe Rogan Experience deal — seemed to alienate some musicians and fans from the audio streaming platform.
But does Apple Music’s integration with the wider music scene translate to better financial support for musicians? Well, maybe for the bigger artists. Apple says it pays an average of $0.01 per play, contrary to Benn Jordan’s point, but is likely based on the stream share model it employs. This means, hypothetically, if Kendrick Lamar gets 5 per cent of the total streams on Apple Music this month, he’s entitled to 5 per cent of all royalties from the platform. Will Kendrick get more plays as a result of Apple Music’s coverage and sponsorship? You can count on it — particularly given that, as announced by Roc Nation, the NFL and Apple Music on Tuesday, Lamar’s performance was the most watched Super Bowl halftime show performance of all time, with 133.5 million viewers (Even Spotify wins from this success, with the platform announcing that Lamar’s catalogue saw a 430% streaming bump in the days after the game).
Acknowledging its streaming model in a 2021 article, Apple said: “Like other [streaming platforms], we have looked at alternative royalty models. Our analysis has shown that they would result in a limited redistribution of royalties with a varied impact on artists. Per play, rates would cease to be the same for every play of a song. But more importantly, the changes would not increase what all creators earn from streaming. Instead, these changes would shift royalties towards a small number of labels while providing less transparency to creators everywhere.”
The truth is, as many artists will tell you, there isn’t a ‘good guy’ among the streaming giants right now. The only heroes, really, are the fans that buy digital and physical copies of artist’s music, go to their shows, and (in our modern world) subscribe to their direct-to-fan platforms.
Still, Apple Music seems well-positioned. Elton John, Lauryn Hill, Kacey Musgraves and more thanked Apple Music when their albums were ranked in the brand’s 100 Best Albums awards in 2024. How often do you hear musicians thanking Spotify?
Read more music technology news.
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“There’s no such thing as ‘Album of the Year’ – someone made that up”: Jacob Collier doesn’t mind that he didn’t win a Grammy for his album, Djesse Vol. 4This year, Jacob Collier added a seventh Grammy to his trophy shelf, bagging the award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella, for Bridge over Troubled Water. His latest record, Djesse Vol. 4, was also up for Album of the Year – despite the fact it never even charted.
It’s Collier’s second time being nominated for Album of the Year, with 2021’s Djesse Vol. 3 also gaining recognition from the Academy. That record also didn’t make its way onto any charts. “I heard the other day that I’m the first artist in history to be twice nominated for Album of the Year without ever having charted,” he reveals on the A Bit of Optimism Podcast. “None of my albums have ever been on any chart.”

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That’s right – none of Collier’s records have ever charted. While Collier’s Djesse Vol. 4 lost out out to Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, the musical madman considers his un-chartable sound to be a more prestigious badge of honour. “I’m personally deeply proud of this,” he grins. “It’s kind of a cool stat!”

When digging into 2024’s Djesse Vol. 4, it’s a smorgasbord of eclectic sounds. Opening track 100,000 Voices paints the picture perfectly: glistening soundscapes and ethereal choral majesty gradually morph into scratchy, tormented doom metal wails and howls. Throughout, Collier navigates his way between woozy pop, folk-y musing and pulsing synthetic dance beats.
However, Collier’s not going to try and adjust his musical approach to appease the masses. Elsewhere in the interview, he explains how the concept of ‘Album of the Year’ doesn’t make sense to him. “I mean, there’s no such thing as Album of the Year,” he says. “This is made up. Someone made that up. I’m deeply honoured to be included in the number alongside such luminaries. I’m not taking it too serious.”
“None of us really know what we’re doing, we’re just playing around,” he admits. “I don’t sit around thinking, you know, ‘I’m bloody brilliant’, so much as just, ‘What an interesting time to be Jacob,’ and, ‘What an interesting time to be making music’. Because I’ve made a very unconventional album that is deeply irreverent in many ways. And for it to be counted… it’s just kind of a thrill.”
While he might have missed out on Album of the Year, he still has seven Grammys to his name. During an INSIDE studio tour last year, Collier revealed that he uses said awards for recording purposes. “These Grammys here are not just useful for my ego, they’re also useful as agogo bells,” he said.

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