Songtradr partners with Twitch to bring licensed music from Pretzel to Twitch streamersSongtradr acquired Pretzel in 2021
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Ford’s Q2 earnings show a thriving trucks, commercial business with EVs playing catch upFord generated $45 billion in revenue in the second quarter, a 12% pop from the same period last year largely fueled by sales of gas-powered trucks like the new Ranger, SUVs and commercial vans. Its EV business, meanwhile, has a long way to go.
Notably, the automaker raised its full-year guidance for 2023 to between $11 billion and $12 billion in adjusted earnings. The company also expects adjusted free cash flow of between $6.5 billion and $7 billion. Ford had previously set a guidance for adjusted earnings to between $9 billion and $11 billion.
Ford noted that while uncertain economic environment and inflationary pressures still exist, it raised the guidance because of an improved supply chain, higher industry volumes, upside from the all-new Super Duty and lower commodity costs. Rival GM also raised its guidance for the year by $1 billion to between $12 billion and $14 billion, before interest and taxes.
It’s not rosy everywhere. Ford now expects its EV business to lose $4.5 billion in 2023.
Ford’s results, which beat Wall Street expectations, and its raised guidance helped push shares higher by more than 3% in after-market trading, before settling.
Ford’s second-quarter results show a company still reliant on sales of its popular gas and hybrid vehicle as well as an expanding commercial business. Ford also appears to be gaining a little ground in the world of EVs.
Ford is a little over a year into a reorganization that split the company into three business units: Ford Blue for gas and hybrid vehicles, Ford Model e for connected EVs and Ford Pro for its commercial products. The company now breaks its earnings into these three units.
CEO Jim Farley has previously said 2023 would be a pivotal year for the automaker with the reorganization giving the 118-year-old Michigan company the speed of a startup that will ultimately turn its EV segment into a profit center.
EVs: still a money loser
Ford’s EV business is still far from that goal.
The segment reported revenue of $1.8 billion, a 39% increase from the same year-ago quarter. However, it also reported loss of $1.08 billion in adjusted earnings, which was steeper than analysts expected. The company also previously reported a 2.8% drop in EV sales in the second quarter after pausing production at the Mexico factory that assembles the Ford Mustang Mach e.
And those losses will continue. Ford forecast the EV segment will lose $4.5 billion largely reflecting the present pricing environment, disciplined investment in new products and capacity and other costs, CFO John Lawler said during a call with analysts.
“The near-term pace of EV adoption will be a little slower than expected, which is going to benefit early movers like Ford,” Farley said in a statement. “EV customers are brand loyal and we’re winning lots of them with our high-volume, first-generation products; we’re making smart investments in capabilities and capacity around the world; and, while others are trying to catch up, we have clean-sheet, next-generation products in advanced development that will blow people away.”
Ford said that it expects its EV business to reach a 600,000 run rate in 2024, which is a year delay from its original forecast. Ultimately, the company is targeting a 2 million run rate. Ford originally targeted 2026 to hit that figure, but didn’t provide a date in its most recent earnings report.
The company is sticking with its goal for the EV business to have 8% margin run rate by the end of 2026. “We’re not walking away from that,” Lawler said. 
The numbers
Ford generated $45 billion in revenue in the second quarter of 2023, up 12% from the $40.2 billion in revenue it reported in the same period last year.
Ford’s net income (on a GAAP basis) was $1.9 billion for the second quarter. On an adjusted earnings before interest and taxes basis, Ford earned $3.8 billion in the second quarter (about 8.4% of revenue), essentially flat compared to the same period last year.
Operating cash flow for the second quarter jumped to $5 billion and adjusted free cash flow was $2.9 billion. Ford closed out the quarter with nearly $30 billion in cash on hand.
Commercial wins
The big winner was Ford’s commercial, or Ford Pro, business segment, which reported revenue a 22% quarter-over-quarter increase in revenue to $15.6 billion. The segment had $2.4 billion in adjusted earnings, double its profitability from a year ago.
That revenue jump isn’t just do to sales of trucks, although the new Super Duty Work Truck did help. Sales of services and software also contributed to the bottom line. Ford Pro accounts for more than 80% of the company’s nearly 550,000 paid software and services subscribers, to date, including solutions for fleet management, telematics and EV charging, according to the automaker.

Jennifer Adan Signs with Reel Muzik WerksPlatinum song-writer, Jennifer Adan, has signed both an administrative and a songwriting deal with a full-service independent music publisher specializing in music for Film & TV and international rights management company, Reel Muzik Werks. In addition to joining their creative team as a songwriter, she has also signed an administration deal with Reel Muzik Werks for her previously existing catalog. 

Reel Muzik Werks, Teri Nelson Carpenter states, "We are so excited to be working with her and can’t wait to see what she does in the future!" 

"I am so excited to be a part of the Reel Muzik Werk family," expressed Jennifer Adan. "I am so thrilled to have such a great team behind me. " 

About Jennifer Adan:The music journey for Jennifer Adan began in San Mateo, California, when she was ten years old. During a fifth-grade history class, Jennifer secretly wrote her first song unaware that it could lead to a career. At age fifteen, she revealed her talent by playing her parents a song she had written for their 25th wedding anniversary. In addition, she let them know she had 100 more songs.

reelmuzikwerks.com/

LR - Reel Muzik Werks-Teri Nelson Carpenter and Jennifer Adan

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Get A FREE Impulse Response Pack From OwnHammer
OwnHammer offers the Rock-Box-H30L-2011A impulse response pack as a FREE download for a limited time. Ah, free guitar stuff is my absolute favorite. After I’ve spent all my money on lord knows how many dual humbucker guitars, there is at least the occasional guitar freebie to act as a salve upon my self-inflicted wounds. This [...]
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AI meets multiplayer creation: Using Create to kickstart a collaborative jam in Endlesss
The Endlesss team show how you can kickstart your creative process with Create, develop the idea with collaborators, and then bring everything into the DAW to build a track.

Spotify study confirms importance of superlisteners + How to reach themSpotify has published new data insights about how super listeners, aka superfans, drive streams, buy more merch, and help power artists’ careers through long-term fandom and strategies to reach them. . Continue reading
The post Spotify study confirms importance of superlisteners + How to reach them appeared first on Hypebot.

Soundiron's new Quadral 3 soft synth The latest version of Soundiron’s versatile Kontakt-based synthesis engine promises to be an ideal solution for film and game composers who need to work quickly whilst maintaining their creative spark. 

You just booked a show; now what?Micahel Brandvold and Jay Gilbert dive into the essential things every musician needs to do after they book a show or tour. MichaelBrandvoldMarketing · 574 Checklist of Everything You Need. Continue reading
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“The perfect blend of design culture, creative culture and engineering”: New Beats headphones collaboration with Samuel RossBeats has released new Studio Pro headphones in collaboration with fashion designer Samuel Ross and his design venture SR_A.
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The new headphones look the part but the brand assures it’s not a case of style over substance. They have fully-adaptive noise cancellation and transparency modes, and bespoke spatial audio with dynamic head tracking.
There’s 40 hours of battery life, too, and engineered leather and premium metal sliders. The headphones’ custom acoustic platform and 40mm drivers are designed for almost-zero distortion and improved clarity, and there are optimised sound profiles to suit listening to music, watching movies, playing games, or having conversations.
You can choose from four different colourways: black, deep brown, navy, and sandstone.
Image: Beats
In a press release, Ross said, “When Beats approached me to bring a new design language to the Studio Pro, my goal was to retain the integrity of the design while creating a more sophisticated look and feel that compliments all of the technological advancements. The result is the perfect blend of design culture, creative culture and engineering coming together”.
It’s not the first time the A-COLD-WALL* founder has worked with Beats, either. In 2021, he worked with the brand to revamp its Studio3 Wireless headphones.
Samuel Ross / Image: Beats
And, in June this year, he became Beats’ first principal design consultant. The move was part of Beats’ strategy to target younger consumers. Chris Thorne, CMO at Beats, said products must “have the right design, the colours right, the messaging and positioning. That’s something that Samuel is so good with for the brand.”
Thorne continued, talking about Ross’ previous work with Beats, “It went so well and designers enjoy working with him so much, they were almost asking for more”.
You can find the new headphones at Apple, where they’ll be available soon at a price of £349.99.
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A beginner’s guide to YouTube ShortsYouTube Shorts is growing and has proven successful for music marketing, partly because of its integration with the full YouTube ecosystem. by RORY DONAHUE of The Daily Rind Blog YouTube. Continue reading
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RZA’s signed E-Mu SP-1200 sampler sells for $70,000 in auctionThe E-Mu SP-1200 sampler that RZA used in 1991, and signed this year, has been sold for almost $70,000 in a Sotheby’s auction.
READ MORE: The E-mu SP-1200: How one sampler ushered in a revolution
The hip-hop legend used the equipment to create some of Wu-Tang Clan‘s 1993 debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). Judging by the worn nature of the SP-1200, RZA used it for quite some time after the album was released, too. The listing does not mention whether the sampler is in full working order – but it does bear the RZA signature, at least.
Sotheby’s expected the sampler to sell for between $50,000 and $80,000, and eventually went for $69,850 yesterday (26 July).
Image: Sotheby’s
The E-Mu SP-1200 was first released in 1987, combining a drum machine and sampler into one. Per Sotheby’s, it was a “fundamental tool in unleashing the Wu-Tang’s inimitable sound”. It described the machine as one of the “greatest contributions” to both hip-hop and American music more generally.
“This is the first SP-1200 that I ever owned,” RZA said of the SP-1200. He confirmed that it was used in the production of a number of classic Wu-Tang releases, too, saying, “There’s DNA in this.”

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Also at the auction, the custom-made ring 2Pac wore at the last public appearance he made before his death sold for over $1 million, which far exceeded the estimated sale price of $300,000.
Both sales were part of Sotheby’s third annual hip-hop sale, which this year coincides with the genre’s 50th anniversary. But they were just two of almost 120 sales. Also up for grabs were a pair of Nike Dunks, Afrika Islam’s SP-1200 machine, and a curated collection of 394 sealed cassette tapes showcasing two decades of hip-hop.
And Wu-Tang fans were able to get their hands on more gear besides the drum machine. Up for grabs were nine cassettes of early Wu-Tang demos and RZA’s handwritten liner notes for the Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) album sleeve.
Read more music tech news. 
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London’s XOYO launching new Birmingham club in SeptemberXOYO is branching out of London with a new club in Birmingham opening in September 2023.
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This week, there have been a number of cryptic posters around the West Midlands city, reading “All we wanna do is dance” alongside a QR code. Scan the QR code, and you’re taken to a brand new XOYO Birmingham website.
On the website, there’s a countdown clock with 50 days remaining as of 27 July. So, it looks as though it’s going to open on 15 September – a Friday night.
And XOYO Birmingham has its own Instagram page, too. Its bio reads, “Coming Autumn 2023. New sister venue to XOYO London”.

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The page has shared some photos, too, adding that the venue will “embody the spirit of Birmingham itself” and will “embrace incredible homegrown talent in the Midlands”. So, while it’s not yet been revealed who’s going to be performing there, there could be some exciting local talent.
It continues, “Created by and for the people of Birmingham, this space will serve as a vibrant hub where creativity, music, and community converge.
“Celebrating international stars, while shining a spotlight on our city’s homegrown talent and an atmosphere of inclusivity. A dancefloor that welcomes everyone.”
It’s set to be another addition to Birmingham nightlife, alongside venues like LAB11, Snobs, Tunnel Club, and The Mill.
XOYO, in Shoreditch, opened in 2010, and has played host to a range of big names over the years. It’s led residencies from the likes of Goldie, Flava D, Andy C and Interplanetary Criminal, while DJ Randall has a residency throughout August.
Learn more about the upcoming venue launch at xoyobirmingham.co.uk.
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