Apple Music launches its ‘best offer ever’ – a six-month trial for $2.99The timing of the promotion comes as Apple Music promotes Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show performance on Sunday (February 9)
Source

Spotify slams the NMPA’s takedown action over alleged unlicensed songs in podcasts: ‘This is a press stunt.’Spotify confirms that is investigating the takedown requests
Source

What Is the Hour? It’s XVII o’ ClockWhen live-action role playing, or LARPing, one must keep fully in tune with the intended era. That means no digital watches, and certainly no pulling out your fantastic rectangle from the future to find out if you’re late picking up the kid.
So what do you do when you’re LARPing at 2 PM, but you gotta be back at the soccer practice field by 5 PM? Well, you fashion a period-appropriate timepiece like [mclien]’s 17 o’ Clock. Visually, it’s about as close to a pocket sundial as you can get. It’s deliberately non-connected, and its only function is to tell the time.
But how? If you visually divide the watch across the top and bottom, you get two sets of Roman numerals. The top half handles the hour, and the bottom half the minute. [mclien] started designing this in 2018 and picked it back up in the second half of 2024.
Back to the non-connected part. The only permanently-powered part of the project is a high-precision real-time clock (RTC). The rest uses a power latching circuit, which turns on the Adafruit Trinket M0 to show the time using a NeoPixel ring. Be sure to check out the awesome project logs with fantastic pictures throughout.
Looking for a smarter pocket watch? It’s time you built one yourself. And speaking of pocket sundials…

FKFX Audio LovPassFilter 2 Plugin is FREE for BPB readers until February 12
In this BPB exclusive offer, you can download FKFX Audio’s LovPassFilter 2.0 filter delay plugin for free until February 12, 2025.  LovPassFilter 2.0 is a macOS (AU, VST, VST3) and Windows (VST, VST3) release. To claim your free copy of LovPassFilter 2, hit the “Get The Plugin” button on the product page and sign up [...]
View post: FKFX Audio LovPassFilter 2 Plugin is FREE for BPB readers until February 12

Vicious Antelope Mini Pads - Arturia Mini V4 and Analog Lab V PresetsMini Pads - Arturia Mini V4 and Analog Lab V Presets The Mini Pads preset pack for Arturia Mini V4 and Analog Lab V offers 50 rich, analog-inspired pad sounds. Some presets are enhanced... Read More

Spotify confirms 2024 was its first full year of profitability – amid ongoing industry debate surrounding artist payoutsSpotify has recorded its first full year of profitability in its Q4 earnings report from 2024.
The streaming platform ended the year “stronger than ever” by outperforming across key metrics, according to the report. Its first full year of profitability was first predicted in its Q3 data, which was released back in November last year.

READ MORE: Universal Music Group and Spotify ink new multi-year deal that will “advance music monetisation” and “accelerate product innovation”

Despite growing criticism of Spotify and its artist payouts – along with the streaming model as a whole – the platform says its monthly active users grew by 12 percent year-on-year to 675 million in 2024, and its subscribers increased by 11 percent year-on-year to 263 million.
Across the board, total revenue for Spotify was up 16 percent year-on-year to €4.2 billion last year, and its operating income rose to €477 million. 2024 marked Spotify’s 10th annual Wrapped, for which it also saw record-high user engagement up 10 percent year-on-year across 184 markets and 53 languages. Listeners have also now created more than eight billion playlists via the platform.
“I am very excited about 2025 and feel really good about where we are as both a product and as a business,” comments Daniel Ek, Spotify Founder & CEO. “We will continue to place bets that will drive long term impact, increasing our speed while maintaining the levels of efficiency we achieved last year. It’s this combination that will enable us to build the best and most valuable user experience, grow sustainably and deliver creativity to the world.”
The Q4 finding follow on from a new report published at the end of January by Spotify’s VP and Head of Music, David Kaefer, in which he said that Spotify paid out $10 billion to the music industry in 2024, and has paid out nearly $60 billion since its inception.
Kaefer also noted that ten years ago in 2014, around 10,000 artists generated at least $10,000 on Spotify, while as of 2024, “well over” 10,000 artists generated over $100,000 per year on the platform. He said, “The system we built together is working, and where we are now is only the beginning”.
But while these figures look promising, and indeed reflect the fact that, more artists are able to earn more money on Spotify, many commenters note that the platform’s low royalty payouts make earning a living as a smaller artist very difficult.
Icelandic artist Björk recently called Spotify “the worst thing that has happened to musicians”, saying low payouts are increasing the demand for artists to embark on gruelling tours to make ends meet. “Streaming culture has changed an entire society and an entire generation of artists,” she said.
Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante also recently chimed in, saying “Spotify is where music goes to die”, and adding: “You’d probably make more money selling lemonade on the corner.”
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek also drew the ire of the music creator community last year when he compared low royalty payouts to professional sports, saying: “Football is played by millions of people – but there’s a very small number that can live off playing full time”.
You can find out more and view Spotify’s Q4 earnings report via its For The Record newsroom.
The post Spotify confirms 2024 was its first full year of profitability – amid ongoing industry debate surrounding artist payouts appeared first on MusicTech.

82% of Musicians Can’t Afford to TourHitting the road used to be a rite of passage for artists and how most earned a living. But now the majority of musicians can’t afford to tour. With rising costs and fewer paying venues, only the biggest names are making money while everyone else is struggling or staying home.
The post 82% of Musicians Can’t Afford to Tour appeared first on Hypebot.

The RD-78 – Behringer’s recreation of the “granddaddy to all drum machines”, the Roland CR-78 – has finally arrivedThe RD-78 – Behringer‘s hotly-anticipated emulation of Roland’s classic CR-78 drum machine – has finally arrived.
The brand first teased a CR-78 emulation all the way back in 2022, when it shared images of a PCB (printed circuit board) to its Facebook page. It shared the images alongside a clue of “in the air tonight”, alluding to Phil Collins’ use of the machine on his famed 1981 hit of the same name. Behringer later confirmed that the RD-78 was “up and running” in January 2024, with another post on social media.

RD-78 is now up and running! We are in the last stages of pre-production and are working closely with our beta testers…
Posted by Behringer on Saturday, January 27, 2024

READ MORE: Behringer BX1 synth is inspired by the classic Yamaha CS-80 and DX1, with more teases at NAMM 2025

The RD-78 recaptures the famed analogue tones of the original CR-78 drum machine, according to Behringer, bringing “the magic of the ’70s and ’80s back to life” in a compact, desktop format. It has true analogue circuitry for warmth and depth, plus added features to help users craft more complex beats.
It has 15 Drum Sounds with a newly added clap, 34 Rhythm Presets (including fills, rolls, and breaks), plus a 16-Step Sequencer. There are also individual volume and mute controls on board for each voice, plus enhanced connectivity options and ports for footswitches to control transport and trigger fills if desired.
Check it out in the demo below:

“In the world of drum machines, the 808 is most definitely going to be on top of everyone’s list,” says Behringer. “The distinctive 808 sound including the iconic ‘clap’ has been the backbone of many RnB, Hip-Hop and Techno tracks. But every icon must have a progenitor, right? Enter the CR-78.
“The grandaddy to all drum machines, had 34 built in rhythm patterns like rock, swing, waltz and shuffle plus individual drum sounds like kick, snare, cowbell, hi-hat and more. The CR-78 was one of the first to use a microprocessor and the first programmable drum machine that allowed users to save their own drum patterns. Artists like Phil Collins, Gary Numan and Peter Gabriel were just some of those who saw the potential in the CR-78 and made countless hits with its help.”
Not a company to rest on its laurels, the launch of the CR-78 shortly follows the arrival of its Chorus Symphony pedal, which recreates the original Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble from 1976. The original pedal encapsulated the chorus from the iconic JC-120 Jazz Chorus amplifier from Roland, Boss’s parent company, and offers the same “thick, syrupy and multidimensional” tone that was loved by artists such as John Frusciante, Brian May, Joe Satriani, and Andy Summers.
The RD-78 is available now, priced at $199. Find out more over at Behringer.
The post The RD-78 – Behringer’s recreation of the “granddaddy to all drum machines”, the Roland CR-78 – has finally arrived appeared first on MusicTech.

Spotify Q4 hits records, will ‘double down on music’ in 2025Spotify Q4 2024 earnings were announced Tuesday, ending its first year of profitability strong across most key metrics. During the earnings call, CEO Daniel Ek promised to "double down on music" after years of expansion in other audio and video categories and to accelerate new product releases.
The post Spotify Q4 hits records, will ‘double down on music’ in 2025 appeared first on Hypebot.

MeldaProduction PowerWoodwindsPowerWoodwinds The Orchestral Woodwind Powerhouse Power Woodwinds is an MSoundFactory instrument featuring a complete woodwind ensemble explicitly tailored for the versatile demands of... Read More

Native Instruments says bringing Maschine 3 to Maschine+ is a “top priority”Native Instruments will bring its Maschine 3 software to its Maschine+ hardware controller this spring, it has been confirmed.
In a new community blog post, NI’s Chris La Pietra – Product Lead for Maschine, Kontrol, and NKS Hardware Partnerships – has revealed that the launch is currently a “top priority” for the brand, and has shared some of the other features it is currently working on releasing this year.

READ MORE: Native Instruments Komplete 15 is still the essential mega bundle

First of all, NI says it will launch an update for its Maschine 3 software – Maschine 3.1 – within Q1 this year, though it has provided no official date for this as of yet. The update will follow on from the introduction of its parallel plug-in scanning for faster scanning and startup times, as well as its User Chords feature, which allowed users to capture and perform custom chords directly from Maschine MK3 and Maschine+ in controller mode.

NI will also carry out bug fixes to tackle frustrations with the current version of Maschine 2 on Maschine+. The update will include a kernel upgrade, the possibility to change sampling rate and buffer size for extended compatibility with USB class compliant audio interfaces, and bring several effects from its desktop portfolio. It will enter beta within the next week, eventually launching officially at some point in Q1.
As part of its mission to bring Maschine 3 to Maschine+ in Q2, NI is also exploring Stem Separation for standalone mode, “though its technical complexity means it may not be available in the upcoming release”. Additionally, it is also adding Kontakt 8 support and alongside the highly requested bounce-to-audio feature, Maschine+ users will also gain access to more CPU-intensive instruments: “The bounce-to-audio workflow will allow you to free up CPU resources, making it easier to work with high-quality sounds,” says NI. “We’re excited to hear what you’ll do with the new features.”
If you want to try the new Maschine features early, you can sign up to Native Instruments’ Beta programme. Check back on MusicTech for more updates on new Maschine releases as we get them.
The post Native Instruments says bringing Maschine 3 to Maschine+ is a “top priority” appeared first on MusicTech.

Gainlab Audio launch The Lieutenant With their new monitor controller, Gainlab Audio have taken the clever step of building in a trio of power outputs that can be manually or automatically sequenced from its desktop remote. 

As AI fakes proliferate, we need to draw a clear distinction between human-made music and AI-generated contentEver wondered what’s in your morning cereal? Easy – just turn the packaging over and, by law, you’ll see the maker’s clear list of ingredients. Flick on a morning playlist, however, and there’s no immediate way to tell if the song you’re listening to is real or AI-generated.
AI content is filling up streaming platforms. Some mimic the voices of living artists, some the voices of the deceased, and some are batch-generated and posted under the name of entirely fictional artists. All of it draws revenue away from working musicians.
A recent study by MusicMagpie, estimates that, on YouTube alone, there are already well over 1.5 million AI cover tracks. After analysing the 1,500 top-performing AI tracks, they found that Blackpink, Justin Bieber, and Kanye West were out in front as the most AI-plagiarised artists, racking up over 33 million views between them.

READ MORE: How will young people learn music and production in a post-AI music industry?

The study estimates that the music industry has lost over £10 million in revenue to AI-generated content, but this is likely just the tip of the iceberg. Consider that one North Carolina musician, with a relatively small-scale operation, was allegedly able to generate hundreds of thousands of fake tracks, rack up billions of plays, and syphon off millions of dollars from streaming platforms. The true scale of revenue loss already occurring is likely far higher than we know.
Artists and labels are understandably upset by all this, with many voicing their support for the No AI Fraud Act in the US, and thousands more signing an open letter to protest the dodgy business practices that make much of this possible. Crucially, music fans are unhappy about the situation as well.
AuthorityHacker surveyed 1,200 music consumers and got some striking results: 93% said they did not value AI-generated music as highly as music produced by humans. And, while over 60% said they would consider listening to AI music, some 56% also said they would not willingly pay for songs generated using AI. Perhaps most striking: 89% of those surveyed want clear labelling for AI-produced music.
Image: Kemal Yildirim via Getty Images
Are these numbers surprising? Not really. Think of the perceptual difference between champagne and sparkling wine; can most drinkers actually taste the difference between a high-priced bottle of bubbly and a cheap one? No. But people want to know what region their wine came from and are perfectly willing to pay more for the real deal. That stamp of authenticity is enforced by government action that ensures winemakers are protected from counterfeiters. So, where is the protection for music makers?
We will soon arrive at a place where AI-generated music can match the catchy-ness, complexity, and audio fidelity of what human creators can do. Before we reach this parity, governments and industry must work together to put clear labelling rules in place and empower music consumers to make an informed choice regarding what kind of music they want to patronise.
Mandatory labelling for vocal deepfakes and wholly generated content is the obvious first choice, but an argument can be made that we shouldn’t stop there. Record labels, and even some artists, might baulk at the prospect of having to disclose whether a song was produced using AI mixing and mastering tools, but professionals at all levels of the industry – not just those at the top – deserve some protection from AI counterfeiting their work.
Music is not a luxury, it is woven into our society. Take the UK for example: for generations, its music scene has been hugely influential and a major commercial force, with UK artists routinely among the top-selling worldwide. To let that legacy drown in a sea of AI sludge would amount to cultural manslaughter.
Sure, the idea of top-shelf, organic, sustainably sourced music may seem slightly ridiculous – but a brief glance at the booming vinyl market provides plenty of evidence that people will pay more for something they believe has real value. Given a clear choice between human and machine-made music, there is every reason to suspect that the listening public will go for the flesh-and-blood option.
The post As AI fakes proliferate, we need to draw a clear distinction between human-made music and AI-generated content appeared first on MusicTech.

“At $99, this endearing plugin could easily become a firm favourite”: Wavea Flite review$99 for Creator version / free player version available, wavea.co 
Upon opening Wavea’s Flite plugin in your DAW, you will lay eyes on a pink and purple amorphous arm, the backdrop to Flite’s beautiful and minimalist plugin design. But is there more here than eye candy?
The answer comes quickly; beneath the slick exterior, Flite is a powerful hybrid multi-sampler and synth with a lot to give.

READ MORE: My Forever Studio: Sharooz wants the synths software can’t recreate

Flite quickly delivers a swath of delicious sounds. Running underneath the title bar is a shelf of eight macros with useful controls that reflect the chosen preset — a promising start for finding inspiration. Lying beyond these macros is an elegantly designed sound engine that is expansive in features and encourages further creative experimentation.
The preset library has all the bases covered with polished, creative and diverse sounds in all the expected categories; pads, keys, bass, loops and so on. There are plenty of options that will instantly satisfy producers who want to get straight into playing this instrument. The impeccable quality of these sounds is courtesy of Flite’s creator, Sharooz Raoofi, who sampled his own collection of vintage synthesizers for the library. Think Yamaha CS-80, Roland Juno-106, Jupiter-8, TB-303, TR-808 and 909, SH-101 and Oberheim OB-8, just for starters.

Sifting through presets is a delight in Flite. Digging into the library, there is everything from thick, layered and enveloping sounds such as ‘Detuned Piano’ and ‘Jazz House Stab’ to lush, atmospheric pads like ‘Calash’. Extending into sound design and film, you have classic Hans Zimmer synths for sci-fi scores with ‘Duphonic Kaos’, or you can mess with ‘Gremlins’ for sequenced glitches and warbles in the experimental electronics department.
Unfortunately, navigating presets is rudimentary. You can filter by sound type, but can’t search for presets by name. So get ready for a lot of scrolling.
It’s difficult to get annoyed about this since the 200-plus included presets are free in Flite’s open-access tier. While the free version gives you access to 2.5GB of samples, it limits you to using a reduced range of macros to shape the sound and won’t let you save custom presets.
Expanded sampler. Image: MusicTech
The Creator version, on the other hand, takes the preset library as a start and gives you a tantalizing number of ways to edit, craft and experiment with designing a sound all of your own—all for a compelling price of $99.
If you’re one to crank the dials of a new synth to test its limits, you’ll be happy to find that switching to Create mode displays the full extent of Flite’s creative sound engineering. There are four samplers, a three-oscillator synth engine, a note and modulation sequencer, envelopes, LFOs, noise, filters and built-in effects.
Flite has a decent enough effects section, including delay, flanger, lo-fi, reverb and vintage chorus — but it’s the Granular engine that really stands out. Adding even a small amount of granulation pries open a sound to increase texture and depth. Pads start to shift and evolve, bass samples start to warble and produce tension, and sequences can be enhanced with an unusual rhythmic chatter. So, if you’re seeking to push your sound in a slightly different direction, the Granular engine is a great place to start.
Macro overview. Image: MusicTech
Modules are displayed in a neat array, with quick-access settings available up front, which keeps everything in the main view manageable and easy to navigate. Flite has been wrapped in a well-designed user interface which makes its powerful engine accessible from the get-go.
With a calm colour palette and beveled edges, an intuitive interface and easy workflow, it’s clear that Wavea has paid a lot of attention to designing an instrument that feels fun to play. For those new to samplers and synths, it makes for an approachable entry point. More advanced users won’t be disappointed either.
With four identical samplers, layering samples and combining them with the synth engine — with its FM, virtual analogue and wavetable oscillators — offers plenty of room for crafting custom sounds. Flite also supports even finer degrees of tinkering. In the Macro Overview you can customise macros and stack up to four parameters on one dial, Meanwhile, when using the Modulation Overview you can have up to eight modulation destinations.
Modulation overview. Image: MusicTech
Annoyingly, it’s not possible to drag a modulation destination to an alternative slot on the matrix. Instead, you have to delete the destination and re-add it to a different slot by navigating a small dropdown menu, and then readjusting your settings once again.
Another place to experiment is the expanded Sampler view, where you can drag sounds into the Sampler matrix, mixing and matching as many as you like across the keyboard range. It also supports velocity layers, with up to 26 samples for each note. You can also save multisampled instruments as monoliths which can be instantly recalled.
Support for user-imported samples hugely expands the sonic capabilities of Flite to something far beyond a mere preset machine. Loading a preset, opening an unused Sampler and dropping in any old sample was a simple process but it led me to some surprisingly evocative results, perfect for sound design. From there, building up an entirely new instrument was both straightforward and thoroughly rewarding.
Play interface. Image: MusicTech
Flite is a plugin with big ambitions and it largely delivers on them. Aesthetic design meets functionality in equal measures and the results not only sound great – they inspire you to go beyond the instrument’s well-crafted presets to take all manner of creative leaps. At the same time, a high degree of surface-level accessibility and under-the-hood power makes this plugin suitable for both newcomers and experts.
For a cool $99, Flite is great value for money and this endearing plugin could easily become a firm favourite in your kit.
Considering that this plugin is the maiden flight from Wavea, you might expect it to be a little rough around the edges. Instead, Flite is warm, inviting and packed full of fun.

Key features

AU/VST plugin (MacOS 10.13/Windows 10 or higher)
200+ presets
2.5GB library of vintage synth samples from Sharooz Raoofi
4 customisable samplers
3-oscillator FM/virtual analogue/wavetable synth engine
8 macros
4 assignable parameters per macro
6 built-in effects (delay, flanger, lo-fi, reverb, vintage chorus, Granular engine)
Note and modulation sequencers
8-destination modulation matrix
Toggle between Create and Play interfaces

The post “At $99, this endearing plugin could easily become a firm favourite”: Wavea Flite review appeared first on MusicTech.

Melbourne Instruments announce Roto-Control The latest addition to the Melbourne Instruments line-up isn’t another synth, but rather a MIDI controller that allows their innovative motorised pot system to take control of third-party hardware and software.