Best books for music producers in 2025, from synth exploration to creative techniquesThirsty for new creative ideas in your music-making? A little extra knowledge, a fresh perspective, or simply a spark of inspiration can make all the difference.
Sure, the web is packed with freely available resources from YouTube videos to deep-dive production forums. But, sometimes, the best way is the old way — and nothing beats sitting down with a great book.

READ MORE: Brian Eno taught me these 10 lessons in his music-making workshop

With that in mind, we’ve rounded up the best music production books available in 2025, giving you a chance to step away from the screen and onto the page. Within these tomes you’ll find practical techniques, expert insights, and plenty of creative philosophy to fuel your sonic explorations. So grab yourself a cuppa and some reading specs, and let’s get started!
Best books for music producers in 2025 at a glance:

Push Turn Move – Kim Bjørn
Patch & Tweak – Kim Bjørn
The Creative Act: A Way of Being – Rick Rubin
Making Music: 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers – Dennis DeSantis
Dilla Time – Dan Charnas
How Music Works – David Byrne
How Music Works – John Powell
Welsh’s Synthesizer Cookbook – Fred Welsh
The Secrets of Dance Music Production – Attack Magazine
The Music Producer’s Handbook – Bobby Owsinki
Synthesizer Evolution – Oli Freke
Performing Electronic Music Live – Kirsten Hermes
Live Audio: The Art of Mixing a Show – Dave Swallow

Push Turn Move – Kim Bjørn
For synth lovers and gearheads, Push Turn Move is a delight. Packed with stunning photography and detailed explorations of interface designs, it explores the evolution of electronic instruments through interviews and content from pioneers like Jean-Michel Jarre, Dorit Chrysler, and Jesper Kouthoofd of Teenage Engineering fame.
More than just a coffee table book, inside you’ll find valuable insight into how musicians interact with their tools and how that shapes the decisions they make. If you’re fascinated by the intersection of music, design, and technology, this one’s a must-have.
Find out more about Push Turn Move by Kim Bjørn on Amazon here. 
Image: Press
Patch & Tweak – Kim Bjørn
The ultimate guide to modular synthesis, Patch & Tweak demystifies the world of Eurorack and beyond. Whether you’re a beginner getting to grips with the basics or a diehard modular fanatic searching for inspiration, this title covers everything from signal flow to creative patching techniques.
This is the second title from Kim Bjørn on our list — and if you love this one, the rest of the BJOOKS catalogue offers many more lovingly crafted explorations of music technology.
Find out more about Patch & Tweak by Kim Bjørn on Amazon here. 
Image: Bjooks
The Creative Act: A Way of Being – Rick Rubin
Penned by one of modern music’s most influential producers, Rick Rubin’s debut book The Creative Act arrived in 2023. One part reflection on his decades-spanning, genre-defying career, and one part crash course in creative philosophy, this best seller is packed with wisdom.
Exploring concepts like mindfulness, curiosity, and intuition, Rubin offers thought-provoking insights that transcend music, shaping how we approach creativity itself. Whether you’re a musician, writer, or artist, this book is sure to inspire fresh ways of creating.
Find out more about The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin on Amazon here.
Rick Rubin, 2011. Image: Chelsea Lauren/WireImage via Getty Images
Making Music: 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers – Dennis DeSantis
Making Music is a goldmine of practical advice for overcoming creative roadblocks, courtesy of Ableton’s head of documentation, Dennis DeSantis. Rather than focusing on technical know-how, this book explores the artistic side of music production, offering 74 strategies to spark ideas and push past writer’s block — a bit like if Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies were expanded into a full-length title.
Each section is neatly divided into the three main stages of music production: starting, progressing, and finishing a track. Whether you’re struggling with arrangement, melody, or simply completing one of those many projects lost to the depths of your hard drive, this book provides the tools to keep you moving forward no matter the software you use.
Find out more about Making Music: 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers by Dennis DeSantis on Amazon here. 
Image: Press
Dilla Time – Dan Charnas
A mixture of biography and musicology, Dilla Time unpacks the genius of J Dilla and his revolutionary approach to rhythm. Throughout the book, Charnas breaks down how Dilla’s signature swing reshaped hip-hop, R&B, and beyond, exploring both his life and the intricacies of his beats.
Combining history, music theory, and cultural analysis to show just how deep his influence runs, this book is an essential read on one of modern music’s most groundbreaking figures.
Find out more about Dilla Time by Dan Charnas on Amazon here. 
J Dilla, 2000. Image: Gregory Bojorquez/Getty Images
How Music Works – David Byrne
In How Music Works, Talking Heads frontman David Byrne takes a broad and philosophical look at music — how it’s shaped by culture, technology, and even the spaces we hear it in.
Blending memoir with deep musical insight, he explores everything from recording techniques to the economics of the modern industry, offering a fascinating perspective on why music sounds the way it does through a mixture of personal stories and big-picture thinking.
Find out more about How Music Works by David Byrne on Amazon here. 
David Byrne performing with an electric guitar in 2018. Image: Jim Bennett/FilmMagic via Getty Images
How Music Works – John Powell
Ever wondered why certain chords sound good together, how our brains interpret rhythm, or what makes a melody memorable? Not to be confused with David Byrne’s book of the same name, John Powell’s How Music Works instead delves into the science of sound.
Both a physicist and composer, Powell takes a lighthearted approach to unpacking the mechanics of music, explaining complex concepts without feeling dry or overly technical. If you want to understand music on a more physical level, this is an easy and enjoyable read.
Find out more about How Music Works by John Powell on Amazon here. 
Welsh’s Synthesizer Cookbook – Fred Welsh
If you’ve ever frequented an online synth forum, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Welsh’s Synthesizer Cookbook. A go-to resource for understanding sound design from the ground up, it’s easy to see why it’s developed somewhat of a cult status among gearheads.
Breaking synthesis down into simple, replicable steps, the book includes a detailed guide to programming classic sounds, complete with charts and diagrams, as well as how to reverse engineer what you’re hearing so you can recreate patches from your favourite tracks.
Find out more about Welsh’s Synthesizer Cookbook by Fred Welsh on Amazon here.
The Secrets of Dance Music Production – Attack Magazine
Compiled by the editors of Attack Magazine, The Secrets of Dance Music Production is a masterclass in exactly what it says on the tin. Dubbed as the “definitive guide to making electronic dance music”, it’s filled with practical, no-nonsense advice, detailed walkthroughs, and industry insights for modern producers.
Filled with handy visuals and step-by-step breakdowns, it’s as easy to digest as it is useful. If you’re looking for a manual for creating house, techno, or bass music, this might just be the closest thing there is.
Find out more about The Secrets of Dance Music Production by Attack Magazine on Amazon here.  
Image: Press
The Music Producer’s Handbook – Bobby Owsinski
Known for his exhaustive guides to various facets of the audio world, Bobby Owsinski shines a light on everything from recording techniques to artist management in The Music Producer’s Handbook.
Packed with practical advice and real-world examples, the book provides insights into the brick-by-brick process of producing a record — whether that’s arrangement, workflow, coaxing the best performance from your singer, or even the politics of dealing with clients.
Find out more about The Music Producer’s Handbook by Bobby Owsinski on Amazon here.
Synthesizer Evolution – Oli Freke
A love letter to the history of synths, Oli Freke’s Synthesizer Evolution is an illustrated guide to decades of electronic instruments.
Covering everything from early analogue behemoths to modern digital powerhouses, it’s packed with facts, specs, and charming hand-drawn diagrams that serve as both a reference and a celebration of synth culture throughout the ages.
Find out more about Synthesizer Evolution by Oli Freke on Amazon here. 
Image: Press
Performing Electronic Music Live – Kirsten Hermes
Fancy the challenge of taking your productions from the studio to the stage? Kirsten Hermes’ detailed how-to manual, Performing Electronic Music Live, will set you up for success. From creating your live rig and designing custom hardware, to on-the-fly synthesis and sound manipulation, this book explores the nuts and bolts of building an engaging live show.
In addition, Hermes — who holds a PhD in sound perception — also explores other hurdles artists face within live music, whether that’s the complicated psychology of performance or the logistics of planning and promoting your own show.
Find out more about Performing Electronic Music Live by Kirsten Hermes on Amazon here. 
Live Audio: The Art of Mixing a Show – Dave Swallow
A hands-on guide to sound engineering, Live Audio walks readers through the process of mixing gigs from setup to execution. Throughout, Swallow breaks down everything from EQ and dynamics to venue acoustics and troubleshooting issues on the fly — everything you need to know about mixing music in often unpredictable environments.
Offering a mix of technical expertise and real-world examples, this book is a must-have for anyone working in live sound, be that at clubs, festivals, or on tour. It’s just as valuable a read for performers too, where understanding what goes on behind the scenes can boost your confidence before a crowd.
Find out more about Live Audio: The Art of Mixing a Show by Dave Swallow on Amazon here.
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Clive From Accounts: “Having lots of gear can be paralysing; being limited forces you to push those boundaries”Clive From Accounts AKA Richard Day is not a producer to put in a box. He prides himself on being able to tap into myriad genres and styles from around the world, while still honing in on his love of 90s hip hop and house, something that is evident through his new record, The Very Best of Clive From Accounts.

READ MORE: DESTIINO: “I think it’s outdated now to mix on a desk; DAWs work well if you know how to use them”

Born in London, the self-described “stationary cupboard loiterer” offers synth-heavy releases which are famously meticulous yet detailed, offering very precise music-making that he’s previously admitted can drive him slightly insane. The new album follows the ‘Alan EP’, a record composed almost entirely from Alan Partridge samples. If that doesn’t demonstrate someone’s ability to make something out of nothing, it’s hard to know what will.
He talks to MusicTech about some of the gear that shaped this latest release, where he sources his samples, as well as whether it’s really possible to recreate the sound of records from the 70s.

Congrats on the release of your new album The Very Best of Clive from Accounts! Two of your new singles incorporate music from around the world, with Konsumu Suru which is inspired by Japanese music and culture and Heavier bringing in Afro Beats. How do you approach making new and diverse styles?
The whole album is quite varied in style really, but it wasn’t a conscious thing, as I’m just used to listening to a lot of different genres so that’s what tends to interest and excite me. I don’t come from a strictly house background, but much more from 90s drum n bass and hip hop which then led me to deep dive into the older records they sampled. The love for house came later, so I approach making it in a slightly different way – basically not knowing what I’m doing!
In terms of producing I only have one rule which is never to start with a template or stick to a formula. That way the music can go anywhere and each track becomes its own little universe.
The flip side to working in this way is you’re going to make a lot more “mistakes” but that’s what getting better is all about. Throw yourself in the deep end and make as many mistakes as possible.

Your music offers a retro early 00s feel with your use of old synths and tape. Why is this sound so sought after in contemporary electronic music? How does it add to your music?
I’m mainly trying to sound like something from the 70’s meets the mid 90’s. That’s where my heart really lies. In those beautifully imperfect synth, tape, and gritty sampler textures.
Saturation gives lots of flavour but what I really like about analogue synths and tape, is that you could listen to a repeated note for ten minutes straight but all the micro-changes in pitch and timbre make it feel alive and compelling. You can get quite a few plugins that emulate these effects and I’m definitely not an analogue purist. Whatever gets you there. I used to use a Revox PR99 reel to reel but it broke down almost weekly and there’s only about three people left in the country that service them. Anything you can do to add movement and life to digital recordings is helpful.
Clive From Accounts’ studio. Image: Press
Tell us a bit about your studio.
I’ve been making music a while so I have gone through quite a few different setups. From sitting on my bedroom floor with a Boss SP303, to a studio in an old kitchen (the kitchio) with my Akai MPC 2000xl balancing over a sink, to a rented place in Tottenham that was basically a triangle shape – I don’t recommend that!
Right now I’m very lucky to have built a standalone studio in my garden in Finsbury Park, North London. We live in a two bedroom place, so when our baby came along we needed to rethink things. Building it from scratch meant I could properly think about acoustics from the ground up. The room dimensions plus the enormous DIY bass traps make it sound pretty balanced. I’ve used correction software in the past but here I’ve just tried to learn how the room sounds.
For monitoring I use PMC two 5s, plus the sub, a mono mixcube, Focal Clear headphones and I recently picked up a pair of Adam D3V which are actually really impressive for the price and a nice contrast to the others.
Image: Press
What’s your latest gear or plugin purchase?
I quite recently got my hands on a Dinsync RE-303. That thing is a beauty. I’ve built a 303 clone in the past but this is just next level. The main circuits are exactly the same, using vintage parts and it has that perfect rubbery squelch but with added midi. Pricey but definitely worth it.
The 303 lines on Save Me and Clive By Night are from that.
Dinsync RE-303. Image: Press
What’s the best free plugin you own?
I love Little AlterBoy by Soundtoys which was free back in the day. I use the formant shifting a lot, you can hear that on Riko Dan’s vocals in the breakdown section of my track Heavier.
If we’re counting Ableton stock plugins then Drift is a great little instrument – I used that for the mains chords in Konsumu Suru.
What’s been the biggest investment in your career/studio?
Other than the studio building costs, my Studer 169 desk is one of the biggest investments I’ve made over the years.
Combined with a patchbay I have it set up so all my synths and DIs are routed through but can easily be swapped out with channels from the DAW. My tech, Margo, made an individual balanced outs box so I can record each channel directly back into the computer if needed. That means I can do a mini analogue mix using the nice EQs and subtle transformer saturation but still have everything separated in Ableton. I tend to use the main outputs for tracking though as they have extra character and the rest of my chain (Silver Bullet mk2, Pultecs, WesAudio Dione & Rhea) follows from there. I like to colour things as much as possible going in.
Not just great for tone it’s brilliant for routing. I have a Tascam cassette Porta Two and Nagra IV reel to reel ready to be fed from the inserts. My Space Echo and Memory Man are on the sends and then the pre-fader listening headphone-out drives stereo spring reverb tanks which are recorded through DIs on my Prism Titan interface. That’s a good tip actually as most headphone amps & DIs will do it – cheap, instant spring heaven.
Studer 169. Image: Press
Samples feature heavily in your music, such as in the track Save Me. Where do you source your samples from? Is it all about digging through records, or are libraries like Splice and Landr more acceptable now?
I used to dig for weird records all the time in record and charity shops but nowadays I’m more trawling the internet for obscure stuff.
For the track Save Me I actually used Tracklib for the first time. After some painful experiences trying to clear things in the past it’s a relief to know the tracks are ready to use. The vocals are from Mississippi gospel/soul band, Staples Jr Singers. The only worry is someone’s used it before but that’s always true of sampling.
I don’t look down on Splice, it can be useful especially as they get in more diverse sounds but I don’t really use it for Clive.

What do samples bring to your sound that you can’t otherwise capture?
There’s a beauty to so many of those old 70s records that for whatever reason is very difficult to replicate now. The character of the old mics, tape and instruments but also the soul and performances.
I try to treat sampling like I’m making a collage and all those beautiful old textures from all those different moments in time add a richness and depth that’s hard to recreate.
How do you see your sound and studio evolving in the next two years?
I’ll definitely still be in this studio but maybe with less gear who knows. Sometimes having lots of gear can be daunting and a bit paralysing. Being limited forces you to push those boundaries and find creative workarounds. Having said that, I’ve sold a ton of synths in my time and I still miss every single one. I recently sold my Jupiter 6 and Pulsar-23 which were used quite a bit on the album and I think about them daily!
Soundtoys’ Little AlterBoy. Image: Press
Do you have a dream piece of gear?
There are so many synths I lust over but the ultimate would have to be the Oberheim Four (or eight!) Voice. It’s four SEMs (two oscillator, multimode filter mono synths) sandwiched together for polyphonic or monstrous unison patches.
One just sold for £20,000 so it’s never going to happen but you can dream! I tried to make a copy once using 4 x Roland se-02s. It worked but was a bit of a faff with the tiny knobs. I used that for the bassline on my track Pearls.
I love everything Tom Oberheim has created, and one of my favourite synths I own is the Oberheim Xpander. It’s such a unique beast, super ambitious for 1984 – it’s like having a fully digitally controllable, modular analogue synth but polyphonic and dripping in vintage character. You can hear it all over my album, particularly the track Spectrum.
A rack in Clive From Accounts’ studio. Image: Press
What’s a music production myth you think needs debunking?
That you need fancy equipment or studios to make good music. Not in the slightest. That might sound silly after all the answers above but it’s true. Give me a phone and I’ll happily make you tunes all day. Ideas and passion are by the far the most important things. Just get stuck in and find a way to make it work.
Who gave you the biggest lesson in your career? Can you tell us about how it impacted you?
This isn’t a lesson learnt directly but from studying Matthew Herbert and all the music concrete and electro-acoustic pioneers that came before him I learnt that you can pretty much make anything with anything. There’s a video of him as Wishmountain at the big chill in 1996 and he’s making amazing stuff using just guitar looper pedals and toasters and packets of crisps etc. He massively inspired me to make my Alan EP which is made from only sampling episodes of I’m Alan Partridge. He inspires me in everything I do.
The post Clive From Accounts: “Having lots of gear can be paralysing; being limited forces you to push those boundaries” appeared first on MusicTech.

Vienna Symphonic Library (VSL) Synchron Special WoodwindsMeticulously sampled in the pristine ambience of Stage A of Vienna Synchron Stage, they all feature Vienna's new Flow View for an intuitive and effortless playing experience. All included instruments... Read More

NASA astronauts return from long Space Station stay prompted by Boeing problemsSunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore have returned to Earth after a nine-month stay on the International Space Station — a trip that lasted far longer than originally planned thanks to leaks and thruster problems on the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they used to get there. Williams and Wilmore splashed down in the Gulf of […]
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ETH price prospects dim as Ethereum DEX volumes drop 34% in a weekEther (ETH) price fell below $2,200 on March 9 and has struggled to recover since. The altcoin is down 14% in March and the decline has hurt investor sentiment, especially as the broader crypto market only dropped 4% in the same period. Adding to the bearish sentiment, traders are also worried about further ETH price corrections after a 34% weekly drop in decentralized exchange (DEX) activity on the Ethereum network.Blockchains ranked by 7-day DEX volumes, USD. Source: DefiLlamaDEX volumes on Ethereum dropped 34% in the last seven days, a trend that also affected its layer-2 solutions like Base, Arbitrum, and Polygon. The market slump hit some Ethereum competitors, too, with Solana’s DEX activity down 29% and SUI’s down 17%. On the other hand, BNB Chain saw a 27% weekly volume increase, while Canto surged an impressive 445%.Ethereum's negative volume trends include an 85% drop for Maverick Protocol and a 46% decline for DODO compared to the previous week. More notably, fees on PancakeSwap—the top DEX on BNB Chain—surpassed those on Uniswap. While Ethereum remains the leader in DEX volumes, falling fees are reducing demand for ETH.Top protocols ranked by 7-day fees, USD. Source: DefiLlamaPancakeSwap, which operates exclusively on BNB Chain, generated $22.3 million in fees over seven days, surpassing Uniswap, which runs on Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, Polygon, and Optimism. Other signs of Ethereum’s fee weakness include Lido trailing Solana’s Jupiter and AAVE, the leading Ethereum-based lending protocol, generating less in fees than Meteora, a Solana-based automated market maker and liquidity provider. Ethereum leads in total value locked, but the gap is narrowingOn the positive side, Ethereum remains the dominant leader in total value locked (TVL) at $47.2 billion, but a 9% weekly decline has significantly narrowed the gap with competitors. Furthermore, its layer-2 ecosystem showed increasing signs of weakness over the seven days leading up to March 18.Top blockchains ranked by total value locked, USD. Source: DefiLlamaSolana’s TVL dropped 3%, while BNB Chain saw a 6% increase in deposits compared to the prior week. Negative highlights for Ethereum’s TVL include an 11% decline in Stargate Finance over seven days, a 9% drop in deposits on Maker, and a 6% decline on Spark.Ethereum’s weakening onchain metrics aligned with reduced demand for leveraged longs in ETH futures, as their premium over spot markets fell below the 5% neutral threshold, signaling weaker confidence from traders.Ether 2-month futures annualized premium. Source: laevitas.chThe current 3% annualized ETH futures premium is the lowest in over a year, highlighting weak demand from bullish traders. Meanwhile, spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have recorded $293 million in net outflows since March 5, signaling waning institutional interest.After Pectra upgrade, ETH needs a competitive edge and sustainable adoption' Ethereum is also facing growing competition from Solana in the memecoin sector, particularly after the launch of the Official Trump (TRUMP) token. Simultaneously, Tron and Solana have captured a combined $75 billion in stablecoins by leveraging lower transaction fees. Adding to the pressure, Hyperliquid perpetual futures introduced its own blockchain, further challenging Ethereum’s market position.Related: Hyperliquid opened doors to ‘democratized’ crypto whale hunting: AnalystAll of this unfolded amid heated debates among investors and developers over whether Ethereum layer-2 solutions are disproportionately benefiting from extremely low rollup fees. Essentially, the decline in the DEX market share reflects waning institutional interest, particularly as Ethereum’s native staking yield sits at just 2.3% when adjusted for inflation-driven supply growth.For Ether to regain momentum, it must demonstrate a clear competitive edge. The upcoming ‘Pectra’ upgrade needs to provide a viable path for sustainable user adoption; otherwise, the odds remain stacked against ETH outperforming its rivals.This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Tencent Music has integrated DeepSeek into its streaming service (and 3 other things we learned on the company’s latest earnings call)China's largest operator of music streaming services says live music is becoming increasingly important to listeners
Source

A Foot Pedal To Supplement Your KeyboardIt’s 2025, and you’re still probably pressing modifier keys on your keyboard like a… regular person. But it doesn’t have to be this way! You could use foot pedals instead, as [Jan Herman] demonstrates.
Now, if you’re a diehard embedded engineer, you might be contemplating your favorite USB HID interface chip and how best to whip up a custom PCB for the job. But it doesn’t have to be that complicated! Instead, [Jan] goes for an old school hack—he simply ripped the guts out of an cheap USB keyboard. From there, he wired up a few of the matrix pads to 3.5 mm jack connectors, and put the whole lot in a little metal project box. Then, he hooked up a few foot pedal switches with 3.5 mm plugs to complete the project.
[Jan] has it set up so he can plug foot pedals in to whichever keys he needs at a given moment. For example, he can plug a foot pedal in to act as SPACE, ESC, CTRL, ENTER, SHIFT, ALT, or left or right arrow. It’s a neat way to make the project quickly reconfigurable for different productivity tasks. Plus, you can see what each pedal does at a glance, just based on how it’s plugged in.
It’s not an advanced hack, but it’s a satisfying one. We’ve seen some other great builds in this space before, too. If you’re cooking up your own keyboard productivity hacks, don’t hesitate to let us know!

Switching DAWs: FL Studio producer tries Studio One Pro 7 for a week
Expert producer Isaac Duarte shares his experience around switching DAWs for a week, transitioning from FL Studio to Studio One Pro 7.

Klevgrand’s Richter Tectonic Compressor is Now FREE for a Limited Time
Production Expert and Klevgrand are currently offering Klevgrand’s Richter Tectonic Compressor (normally $70) for free. Richter is a macOS and Windows release for AAX, AU, VST, and VST3.  Production Expert announced the giveaway in a post dated March 15, 2025. The company didn’t list an end date for the giveaway, but as the plugin is [...]
View post: Klevgrand’s Richter Tectonic Compressor is Now FREE for a Limited Time

Fender Introduces New Models and Finish Options for the “Brand New Again” American Vintage II SeriesToday, Fender introduces more finish options for existing models and the new 1965 Stratocaster and Limited Edition American Vintage II 1951 Telecaster®.  The Fender® American Vintage II series is built with period-accurate bodies, necks, and hardware, premium finishes, and meticulously voiced, year-specific pickups. Each instrument captures the essence of authentic Fender craftsmanship and tone. American Vintage II 1965 Stratocaster®: In the middle of one of music’s most electrifying decades, the Stratocaster in 1965 was an instrument on its way to becoming rock’s greatest electric guitar. A perfect example of a Strat in a transition year, the 1965 Stratocaster® features a 1965 “C”-shaped maple neck, this time with a round-laminated rosewood fingerboard and larger pearl dot inlays. Other authentic features include an 11-hole three-ply white pickguard, the incredibly cool transition logo with larger lettering, and a set of amazing “gray bottom” Pure Vintage 1965 pickups.

Limited Edition American Vintage II 1951 Telecaster® in Prototype White: Just one year after launching the Broadcaster®, Fender received a cease-and-desist telegram from the Fred Gretsch Mfg. Co. and was faced with renaming its flagship electric guitar. Taking inspiration from the booming growth and expansive reach of television, the first blackguard Telecaster rolled off the line in 1951. The American Vintage II 1951 Telecaster features an ash body. The substantial '51 "U"-shaped hard rock maple neck plays like a dream with a 7.25" radius fingerboard and vintage tall frets. Characteristic of production in 1951, 12th fret face-dot spacing is narrow and the sole Phillips-head fastener on the guitar is at the truss rod nut. The triple brass saddle bridge, single-line "Fender Deluxe" tuners and Pure Vintage '51 Telecaster pickups deliver classic twang and authentic Fender style. Now available in a very limited Prototype White finish!Fender sits down with English singer-songwriter and guitarist James Bay to commemorate today's releases. Get a front-row seat with the acclaimed musician as he plays the new American Vintage II Stratocaster in Candy Apple Red and shares why a Strat has been his go-to from the beginning.The post Fender Introduces New Models and Finish Options for the “Brand New Again” American Vintage II Series first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

A model for a new streaming industryThe music industry is approaching a pivot point. On the one hand, things look positive: we have UMG’s Streaming 2.0, artist centric licensing, the impending launch of supremium and expanded rights revenue hitting $4.0 billion. But on the other we have streaming growth slowing to 6.2% growth in 2024, Artists Direct revenue growing three and half times slower than the number of artists and independent labels beginning to voice concern over the lost royalties that may result from artist centric. The real challenge facing the music industry is that both of these views of the world are true. In short, if you are big, you can see a path to getting bigger and if you are small you can see a path to getting smaller. This is Bifurcation Theory a concept MIDiA introduced a year ago. 2025 is going to be the year that the bifurcation rubber hits the road. And in doing so, it creates a major (pun intended) opportunity for all those that are not majors.

The long tail is being demonetised

Artist Centric might, just might, result in ‘”many” independent artists and labels [seeing] their royalties increase’ but what is inarguable is that many artists and labels will earn less. This is inarguable because the very essence of the model is that songs with less than 1,000 streams in the prior 12 months will not get paid royalties. To be absolutely clear, what this means is that a body of labels and artists will see their music demonetised on streaming. To be clear, demonetising the long tail is not something new, it is widely employed by the big social platforms, who set earning thresholds for their creators (e.g. you need 1,000 subscribers to share ad revenue on YouTube). But it is something new for the music business.

The groundswell of discontent is coming

When you add this to the long term challenges of feeding insatiable appetite of the algorithms with endless releases and social posts, a growing body of artists and labels are going to asking why they should bother. That this has not happened yet is probably because the majority of artists hit by this were smaller, non-label artists who were already used to small royalties and probably do not have the industry awareness to understand what is at play. The same cannot be said of smaller independent labels, who absolutely do understand the dynamics of royalty mechanisms and will already be doing the arithmetic on how the new system will impact their revenues. Distributors will be doing a similar analysis of the labels and artists they distribute. 2025 will be the year in which we see a groundswell of discontent as these industry constituents start to comprehend what is coming.

A solution…

So much for the problems, what about solutions? Now is the time to build a place for the long tail. A place where the smaller players do not have to compete on unequal terms with the bigger ones. Asymmetric models are not designed for the small players to win. That is the entire point. But simply creating an indie Spotify will not be enough. The pro rate royalty pot model was never designed for a massive long tail and porting it over somewhere else will bring the same superstar dynamics, just with smaller superstars. So, here’s a model for an independent alternative to streaming:

Curation: A highly curated place for smaller labels and artists with human curation at the fore

Play credits: A credits based system, whereby people can subscribe for a certain number of credits and top up if they want, with each credit equalling one play (thereby guaranteeing a fixed per stream rate rather than a wish and a prayer that the royalty pot does not get divided too many ways this month

Discretionary pricing: Whereby labels and artists can determine (on a track-by-track basis) how many credits each track requires. Despite us having been educated so by streaming, not all music is worth the same. Labels and artists  might decide they want some of their songs to be zero credits, some to be 1 and others 10. It is a model that works well in other areas such as stock photography libraries

Curated freemium: Instead of simply a free tier, and in addition to zero credit streams, the free, ad and brand supported ‘front door’ would be an Apple Music Radio-like set of live streaming radio stations. All with clickable ‘now playing’ track details and some with, you know, actual human DJs

Not just music, but about the music too: Artist interviews, album reviews etc. Taking the bets of What Bandcamp and Apple Music do

Alternative remuneration: Artist subscriptions, tipping, social commerce, Shopfiy-like artist stores, virtual items. Not each and every one of these will fit every artist and label, so these would be opt-in extras

This might sound like pie in the sky thinking, but the simple fact is much of this is already been done, some of it in the music business (e.g. Apple Music Radio for curation and interviews, Bandcamp for reviews) and some outside it (Audible and Getty Images for credits). And we actually laid out a lot of detail for a similar model in our Bifurcation report last year.

However, there is one really difficult thing needed to make this really work: artists and labels would have to remove some or all of their music from mainstream DSPs, even if this is only done on a windowing basis. But if you are a smaller label or artist facing the prospect of demonetisation then really, how much is there to lose other than the vanity metrics of stream counts? Is this way easier for an analyst to write as a blog than for a label or artist to actually do? Of course. But the alternative for many will be to play the role of the slow boiled frog.

But what is great about this approach is that it benefits both sides. The long tail gets a place where it is both welcome and stands a fair and reasonable chance of monetisation. Meanwhile, the big labels and artists have more space (and therefore monetisation) for themselves on traditional streaming.

This will not be some huge Spotify killer. It will be a Bandcamp move for the 2020s. A place for alternative-minded super fans who do not want to spend their entire time lost in the algorithm’s mainstream maelstrom. Music is not all the same, it has never been. It is time to stop pretending that it is.

Fast Company names 10 Most Innovative Music Companies 2025Fast Company has released its annual list of the 10 most innovative music companies for 2025. Not one of the major streamers or record labels made the list.
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“We will be indefinitely suspending production”: Moog’s Subsequent 25 has been discontinuedAfter five years, the Moog Subsequent 25 has run its course. Initially unveiled at NAMM 2020 as an affordable take on the Subsequent 37, the Subsequent 25 will now no longer be in production. Production of the Subsequent 37 will continue as normal.
The discontinuation became effective on 13 March. “We will be indefinitely suspending production of Subsequent 25 and offering the remaining available units through our global dealer network,” the company announced on its website.

READ MORE: Serum 2 is finally here: new features, pricing and everything else you need to know

While the Subsequent 25 captured the essence of the 37 in a design similar to 2013’s Sub Phatty, it also offered a slew of improvements. The newer model offered double the headroom and a re-tuned Multidrive circuit for dirtier tones. Moog also worked to reshape the synth’s gain staging with its Ladder Filter, which allowed for greater harmonic saturation, compression and richer low ends.

While no new synths will be created, Moog isn’t leaving current Subsequent 25 owners out in the cold. The company will still offer parts and repairs for the discontinues model. “We remain dedicated to supporting all owners of the Subsequent 25 and will continue to provide repairs, maintenance, and parts to ensure your instrument operates at its best for years to come,” Moog promises.
Though we’re waving off the Sub 25, this may be a sign of the Moog moguls conjuring up a new take on the Sub 37.
It’s also a sign of the Sub 37 prevailing as a timeless piece of gear. To this day, synth-heads continue to discover and love the Sub 37. YouTuber Yaahn Hunter Jr named the Sub 37 as the “epitome” of his style just four months back.

We even crowned the Sub 37 as our Gear of the Year Best Hardware Instrument in 2016, and it’s continued to be a favourite.
“With a machine like the 37, you interact to your heart’s content, just dialling, connecting unusual sources and destinations and, more importantly than anything, learning,” reviewer Andy Jones said at the time.
“This beast oozes quality at every turn, following solid analogue formulae at one instance and then bizarre twisting snake sonics the next,” he praised. “Beware, you will lose a day or two of your life just playing. And make sure you record everything, as you will come up with wonderful music.”
The Sub 25 is still available for purchase, though stocks are limited.

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Groover expands Artist Services and ToolkitMusic promotion platform Groover expands artists services with the goal of empowering musicians and DJs by providing them with the tools they need to gain visibility and meaningful opportunities in the music industry.
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UJAM announce Vox Humana plug-in All proceeds from the sales of UJAM's new Vox Humana plug-in will be donated in support of the Bob Moog Foundation’s educational and preservation initiatives.