Sonos lays off 200 employees: “There’s no way around the fact that this is a terrible outcome”Sonos is letting go of 200 of its employees with plans to reorganise “into flatter, smaller, and more focused teams”.
The news has been confirmed by the wireless audio brand’s interim CEO, Tom Conrad, in a message shared with employees and posted publicly on its website. The layoffs continue a period of struggle for Sonos, which laid off 100 employees last August and faced backlash over the launch of its bug-ridden app, leading to a public apology.

READ MORE: Are Sonos’ Ace headphones better than AirPods Max? It’s a close call

Those made redundant have been told by Sonos to expect an email describing their transition and severance package along with the option to schedule a 1:1 meeting. In his message (posted on 5 February), Conrad says that letting go of so many positions within the company has been a “very difficult decision” and is a “terrible outcome”.
He further states, “I know that everyone here cares deeply about Sonos and the experiences we build for our customers – and I know that you want us to get back on track after a tough year. You’ve also told me that we’re struggling to make all the progress we want.
“One thing I’ve observed first hand is that we’ve become mired in too many layers that have made collaboration and decision-making harder than it needs to be. So across the company today we are reorganising into flatter, smaller, and more focused teams.”
Conrad also adds that reorganising its Product organisation into functional groups for Hardware, Software, Design, Quality and Operations, and away from dedicated business units devoted to individual product categories is one of its “most significant” changes.
“With this simpler organisation in place, cross-functional project teams will come together to improve our core experience and deliver new products,” he explains. “Being smaller and more focused will require us to do a much better job of prioritising our work – lately we’ve let too many projects run under a cloud of half-commitment. We’re going to fix this too.”
Despite the bad news, Sonos still has plans to release new products over the coming year. Its Arc Ultra sound bar also received a positive reception at its release in late 2024.
Find out more or view its full product range over at Sonos.
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DMX, Ashanti, Ja-Rule and Kanye producer Irv Gotti dies aged 54Irv Gotti, the renowned music producer and co-founder of Murder Inc. Records, has died at the age of 54, The Hollywood Reporter confirms. No official cause of death has been revealed.
Born Irving Domingo Lorenzo Jr. in Queens, New York, Gotti’s death follows a period of health struggles. Earlier in 2024, the hip-hop mogul experienced what his representatives described as a “minor stroke” but had reportedly recovered after making significant dietary adjustments.
Co-founding Murder Inc. Records – a Def Jam subsidiary – in 1998 alongside his brother Chris, Gotti played a pivotal role in shaping the sound of early 2000s hip-hop and R&B. The label, named after a notorious crime syndicate, was instrumental in launching the careers of multi-platinum artists like Ja Rule and Ashanti.
Ja Rule, the label’s flagship artist, made his debut with the 1999 album Venni Vetti Vecci, which featured his first top 40 Billboard Hot 100 hit Holla Holla. This album, certified Platinum in the US, helped establish both Ja Rule and Murder Inc. as major forces in the industry.
Gotti’s influence extended far beyond his own label. He began his career as a DJ and producer, earning production credits on Jay-Z’s 1996 debut album Reasonable Doubt with the track Can I Live.
His success also opened the door for collaborations with stars like Jennifer Lopez (I’m Real and the Ain’t It Funny remix), as well as Eve and Alicia Keys (Gangsta Lovin). In 2003, he earned a Grammy for Best Contemporary R&B Album for his executive production of Ashanti’s self-titled debut album.
Despite their success, both Murder Inc. and the Gotti brothers faced their share of controversies over the years. In the early 2000s, Irv and Chris were investigated – with Murder Inc.’s offices raided – for alleged money laundering connections to American drug lord, Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff.
This legal battle, while ultimately resolved in their favour, had a profound impact on the label’s operations and public image.
Tributes from around the world have poured in following news of Gotti’s passing. Def Jam, the label where Gotti got his start, described the producer as “a force that reshaped the soundscape of hip-hop and R&B”.
“His contributions at Def Jam, as both an A&R executive and in partnership with Murder Inc., helped pave the way for the next generation of artists and producers,” the statement read. “His creative genius and unwavering dedication to the culture birthed countless hits, defining an era of music that continues to resonate with fans worldwide. Our thoughts are with his family, friends, and all those who were touched by his work.”

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Ye (formerly known as Kanye West), who worked with Gotti on the 2019 track Brothers, also acknowledged the loss by posting the news along with a white dove emoji on Instagram.

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Read more tributes below.

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A post shared by Jesse Collins (@jessecollinsent)

Rest In Peace Irving “Irv Gotti” LorenzoThank You for your contributions and all the inspiration you gave. pic.twitter.com/cfTH8fY7cF
— Rob Markman (@RobMarkman) February 6, 2025

Ja Rule, Ashanti, Vita & Charli Baltimore – Down 4 U
Irv Gotti really built that house.
pic.twitter.com/aat5ZcxFTi
— ❂ Yübbîę Umoh ❂ (@Yubbie007) February 6, 2025

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DESTIINO: “I think it’s outdated now to mix on a desk; DAWs work well if you know how to use them”Debuting as the electronic dance producer, Yuskek, multi-talented musician Pierre-Alexandre Busson knows how to captivate audiences with different projects. Now under a different pseudonym, DESTIINO, Busson is turning to heavier synth and drum machine-focused mixes, offering a darker string to his bow with club-inspired tracks released under Parisian label Lumière Noire, founded by Chloe Thevenin.
With the next DESTIINO record, ii, out in March, the French producer and instrumentalist takes MusicTech through his treasured setup. He reveals the prized synths that he claims he could never get rid of, to the workflow that has allowed him to develop his own record label, Partyfine. He breaks down how he composes for film, which has taken him to the Cannes Film Festival, and how he’s learned to collaborate after almost 25 years in the industry.

READ MORE: CHLOÉ: “Every piece of gear, every collaboration, and every mistake is an opportunity”

Your new album, ii is out this year — how has your approach to big projects shifted since the release of your 2021 DESTIINO album?
It’s not changed at all! The only difference is that I have time now to focus on the projects that excite me without much “industry” pressure. I make film music, I’m into photography, and I also produce for other people and run my labels, so if things come together that allow me to make an album, it’s because I really want it.
Imagery by DESTIINO (Yuksek)
As well as DESTIINO  you’ve also been releasing music as Yuksek since 2005. Why the new alias? Does there need to be such a separation when experimenting with different styles?
Yes and no. DESTIINO is definitely different from Yuksek, and under this name, I mainly created dance tracks with a more pop approach — especially in the structure of the music. Things I’d release under that name focus on vocals, collaborations with friends, and I’d also use non-electronic instruments.
On the other hand, DESTIINO is 100 per cent focused on synths and drum machines, and is most of the time destructured. I also enjoy using a build-up of crazy patterns that come together in a random way.
Image: Press
In your 24-year career, you’ve also produced and collaborated with some pop stars and heroes in music. How easy is it to adapt to different workflows and demands?
Adapting to different workflows is like my engine; it’s my passion. I’ve been making music since I was six, and professionally for the last 20-plus years. So the key now is excitement, and getting to wake up every morning with motivation for a new project that challenges me, gives me that excitement to make music.
Also, meeting new collaborators is crucial to maintain energy. That’s why all the parts of my career are equally important.
Tell us a bit about your studio.
I built this new studio two years ago with Red House, a super-talented French company. It’s based in Reims, France, and is full of analogue keyboards, drum machines, a few effects, and a lot of speakers. I usually work alone here but sometimes friends pass by to say hello and come in for a session.
I love inspiring places, and this studio is in the basement of a beautiful 19th-century house, with a big garden where I’m allowed to walk with my dog. That’s important — eight-hour sessions can be long for those lovely little animals!
Have you found any useful plugins lately?
To be honest, I don’t use many plugins. I’ve been using Logic Pro since I started using DAWs, and, in my opinion, the Logic plugins, especially for dynamics and EQs, are super-efficient and easy to use.
The effects, however, are not so good so I use the Soundtoys Suite for delays and some more weird effects. I also really like using the PSP Vintage Warmer for compression, and I love some of the MeldaProduction plugins.
Image: Press
What’s the best free plugin you own?
It has to be the Melda suite. The flanger is excellent and the voice treatment really adds to my mixes.
Your sound is full of textural combinations and sonic experimentations. Is there a piece of equipment that helps you achieve this and helps spark the more avant-garde side of your creativity?
I have been collecting and using synthesizers for 25 years now, and each of them has a special trick that I love. Recently, a friend of mine built me a clone of the EMS synthesizer, and it’s really inspiring — but every new piece of equipment is inspiring! Whether it’s a cheap or expensive little thing, you always discover something new.
Are there any pieces of gear or techniques that you’re yet to try?
I’m not into full modular synthesizers — I think it would kill my time. It may be inspiring, but I see it as almost an AI-generated random process, as the machine makes accidents that create something, but it’s not for me. My limit is the ARP2600.
What’s been the biggest investment in your career/studio?
Finding a good place to build the studio, and doing it in the best way possible that suits my needs, alongside my favourite instruments.
The place is the key to any good studio to ensure you’re feeling comfortable. I don’t like to work at home but some artists like it. There is no rule as to where it should feel like the right place.
Image: Press
Do you have a dream piece of gear?
It’s not exactly a dream because I already own them, but the Roland TR-808 and ARP2600 are the two pieces I will never let go of, even If I need to sell everything. They are the two pieces of gear that cannot be replaced by any virtual synth or clone.
What’s a music production myth you think needs debunking?
I think many people will hate me for saying this, but I’ve been mixing my work in Logic for a while now, and I use mixing desks as preamps for instruments, not as mixers. I think it’s outdated now to mix on a desk, it’s not flexible. I like to listen and change my mixes in the studio, at home, on the MacBook speakers, in my car, and so I need the full picture. Plus, the quality of the DAW works well if you know how to use it.
What’s the biggest piece of advice you’d give as a musician?
I used to have negative feelings towards people who were successful, especially if I considered them an imposter; it made me feel very jealous and angry. However, after a few years, I realised that the key is just to do your own thing, and focus on what gives you joy and peace.
I’ve made sure that I always work with kind, talented human beings. I’ve made a sweet label and have a lovely agent and managing environment. I always try to keep the same excitement that I felt when I first touched a synth and a guitar. It’s these things that keep the joy.
DESTIINO ii will be out in 2025 on Lumière Noire.
The post DESTIINO: “I think it’s outdated now to mix on a desk; DAWs work well if you know how to use them” appeared first on MusicTech.

Toontrack announce Fusion EZX The latest expansion pack for Toontrack’s ever-popular virtual drum platforms has arrived, delivering a set of four seven-tom kits that cover a range of classic and modern fusion styles.

Drop Nineteens' Greg Ackell Discusses Returning to Music and Their New Old AlbumBoston-based shoegaze pioneers Drop Nineteens have released their long-shelved demo album 1991. Greg Ackell spoke with AllMusic to discuss revisiting the original recordings, the band's return, and his thoughts on the music scene today.

Scout Motors sued over plan to sell EVs direct to consumersScout Motors’ plan to eschew traditional dealerships and sell EVs directly to consumers is running into legal trouble. A group of Volkswagen and Audi dealers filed a lawsuit this week against Scout Motors, the EV that spun out of Volkswagen. The lawsuit, which was first reported by Automotive News, seeks to block Scout’s direct-to-consumer sales […]
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GATEWAY STUDIOS & PRODUCTION SERVICES BOOKINGS LARGEST TOURING STUDIO IN THE U.S.Gateway Studios & Production Services (GSPS) will open its cutting-edge rehearsal and production studio complex in May 2025. Situated on a sprawling 32-acre campus in Chesterfield, MO, within the Greater St. Louis area, this state-of-the-art facility redefines production and rehearsal spaces for touring professionals and the entertainment industry at large. GSPS is now accepting bookings for the most advanced rehearsal destination in the nation.Experience an in-depth 3D tour of Gateway Studios, showcasing its highly developed design and innovative features by visiting gsps.com/studios."This facility is designed to set a new standard for production and rehearsal spaces, both in size and innovation," says Trey Kerr, CEO of Gateway Studios & Production Services. "Our goal has always been to create a world-class environment where artists and their teams can prepare to bring their visions to life. Centrally located in the heart of the country, we offer unmatched access and flexibility for artists that strive to deliver unforgettable performances."For bookings and more information, visit: gsps.com/studiosThe post GATEWAY STUDIOS & PRODUCTION SERVICES BOOKINGS LARGEST TOURING STUDIO IN THE U.S. first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Is Bitcoin price going to crash again?Bitcoin is following its March 2024 price action pattern, suggesting that a revisit to the $90,000 level is possible.

Audio cable types: A complete guide (with pictures)
Learn about common audio cable types spanning TS, TRS, XLR, MIDI, USB, and more, and how you can use them effectively when making music.

Good-Looking HAT Does Retro Displays RightMick Jagger famously said that you cain’t always get what you want. But this is Hackaday, and we make what we want or can’t get. Case in point: [Andrew Tudoroi] is drawn to retro LEDs and wanted one of Pimoroni’s micro-LED boards pretty badly, but couldn’t get his hands on one. You know how this ends — with [Andrew] designing his first PCB.
The Pitanga hat is equally inspired by additional fruit that [Andrew] had lying around in the form of an 8devices Rambutan board. (Trust us, it’s a fruit.) With some research, he discovered the HT16K33 LED driver, which checked all the boxen.
The first version worked, but needed what looks like a couple of bodge wires. No shame in that! For the next revision, [Andrew] added buttons and decided to make it into a Raspberry Pi HAT.
This HAT is essentially a simple display with a basic input device, and a beauty at that. You can see all the various cool displays that [Andrew] tried both here and in the project log. Although he included pads for an ARM M0 microcontroller, he never did populate it. Maybe in the future.
Of course, this project was not without its challenges. For one thing, there was power compatibility to wrestle with. The Pi can sometimes work with I²C devices at 5 V, but this isn’t ideal long-term. So [Andrew] put the LED driver on the 3.3 V I²C bus. Despite the data sheet calling for 4.5 to 5.5 V, the setup worked fine. But for better reliability, [Andrew] threw a dedicated I²C logic level converter chip into the mix.
Don’t forget, you can run a noble amassment of HATs with the PiSquare.

TikTok’s parent company quietly launched a music licensing platform called EasyOdeByteDance appears to have a service in the works that could shake up the global music licensing market.
Source

FLOSS Weekly Episode 819: Session, It’s all Abot the MetadataThis week, Jonathan Bennett talks Session and cryptocurrency skepticism with Kee Jefferys! Why fork Signal? How does Session manage to decentralize? And why the cryptocurrency angle? Listen to find out!

https://getsession.org/
https://github.com/oxen-io/

Did you know you can watch the live recording of the show right on our YouTube Channel? Have someone you’d like us to interview? Let us know, or contact the guest and have them contact us! Take a look at the schedule here.

Direct Download in DRM-free MP3.
If you’d rather read along, here’s the transcript for this week’s episode.
Places to follow the FLOSS Weekly Podcast:

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Theme music: “Newer Wave” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

K-Pop in crisis? Around 93m albums were sold in South Korea in 2024 – 23m fewer than in 2023New data shows that, even as K-Pop gets bigger in the US, album sales declines in its home country in 2024
Source

Is this the perfect card game for music producers?Ever find yourself hitting a creative wall in the studio? Flipspark Elements might be the solution. It’s a card game perfect for any producer in a creative rut – or anyone keen to experiment with new production ideas.
Every deck comes with 64 cards divided into four suits (Element, Instrument, Pattern, and Effects), with each card providing a creative prompt. Element cards represent the key components of a track, like the bridge, bass, or chords, while Instrument cards refer to your sound source. Pattern cards might suggest a melody idea, and Effects cards will knock out engineering ideas like delay, distortion or reverb.

READ MORE: Spotify confirms 2024 was its first full year of profitability – amid ongoing industry debate surrounding artist payouts

There are no set rules to the game – meaning you could grab a handful of cards and attempt to make a track that with every suggestion, or just select a pair of cards. Whatever your approach, the idea is to challenge and inspire you to try out new approaches in the studio.
Flipspark Elements isn’t only intended to inspire solo creatives. It could even be used in parallel with a collaborator, or treated as a competition; two producers could battle it out to make the best tune, abiding by the guidelines of a selection of cards.

The game is currently available as a digital download, costing just $9. The set also comes with some blank cards, so you can create your own prompt cards to throw into the mix.
Flipspark also has an Inspire card game available, which is more in line with Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt’s 1975 classic, Oblique Strategies. Rather than specific production and mixing prompts, it’s a lot more writing and ideas focused, prompting users to ask “what if?” There are also some ‘consider; cards thrown in, to get artists to ponder things like their project’s themes.
The company has even released a Kids Contrast kit, if you want to teach your kids about EQ alongside their ABCs. It’s a set of high contrast photos of things like audio cables, vinyls and cassette tapes, intended to get children familiar with music equipment from an early age. Certainly more useful than photo cards depicting farm animals if you want your child to become a virtuoso.
Flipspark Elements is on sale for $9, while the Inspire and Kids Contrast packs are both available for free.
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Howard Benson: “The producer credit is different than it was 20 years ago, because so many people take it now”Howard Benson has been a producer for nearly 40 years. In that time, he’s produced records for a dynamic selection of artists, from emo rockers My Chemical Romance to his Grammy-winning work on popstar Kelly Clarkson’s 2011 record, Stronger. However, over the last two decades, he’s noticed a shift in respect for record producers.
Speaking to SPIN, Benson notes that, nowadays, record production is misunderstood. He insists people have “no idea” what he truly does. “The producer credit is a really different credit than it was even 20 years ago because so many people take it now,” he says.  “It’s an easy credit for bands to give away because they just go, ‘Aw fuck it, make them a producer.’”

READ MORE: Bandcamp to donate 100% of proceeds to MusiCares in support of Los Angeles wildfire relief during special event this February

Due to the credit being dished out so readily, Benson says it’s diluted the true meaning of the title. “You’re not really doing the producer’s job just because you came up with a guitar part or something like that,” he says. “But sometimes you can’t fight that battle because the bands just want what they want.”
He also explains how splitting the producer credits can also put a heavy dent in how much the real producer actually earns. For this reason, Benson insists you have to be firm about how much you’re earning.  “And at some point, it just becomes about the money,” he says. “You just go, ‘You know what, if you’re going to take my producer credit, you’re going to have to pay me this much to take that credit from me or split the credit with me.’”
For those confused about what a producer actually does, Benson explains that a record producer is in the business of “feeling” above all else. “I don’t care how ‘good’ [a track] sounds,” he insists. “My job as a producer is to sell feelings.”
“If I [hear a track and] really hate it, it’s probably good,” he explains. “If I really love it, it’s probably good. But, if I feel absolutely nothing, then the production sucks.”
He notes his work with All-American Rejects for their 2005 record, Move Along. “I had to stop [for a while],” he recalls. “I have a friend who was going through a lot of trouble at that time in his life… The lyrics are about getting through the day, step by step, trying to move along. And I just went like, ‘Oh my God, I just can’t believe how tough his life is right now.’ And I went, ‘This is going to be a hit.’”
Beyond feeling, Benson’s job also comes with a side of babysitting. “You’re just trying to keep the band from imploding,” he says. “I’ve done some bands that literally fight the entire time they’re in the studio. Every producer I meet who’s really good has a good sense of musicality, engineering, and psychology, all three things.”
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