Apple CEO Tim Cook says tariffs to add only $900M in costs in Q3, but future uncertainApple CEO Tim Cook commented on the impact of President Trump’s tariffs during Thursday’s second-quarter earnings call with investors. While the iPhone maker saw only “limited impact” from tariffs in the March quarter, Cook said Apple couldn’t forecast what that would mean for the coming quarter. However, if things remained the same, the company estimates […]

What is dubstep music? History, artists, and subgenres
Learn about the history, pioneers, subgenres, and more of dubstep, one of the most misunderstood and sonically diverse genres in modern music.

Live Nation starts 2025 strong: ‘No pullback’ on fan demandLive Nation starts 2025 strong, reporting a reasonable solid Q1, after markets closed Thursday. The concert giant claims its on track for a record year despite global economic uncertainty.
The post Live Nation starts 2025 strong: ‘No pullback’ on fan demand appeared first on Hypebot.

Signalbash SignalbashSignalbash is a free & open source plugin that allows you to track how much time you spend working in your DAW & compete against other artists worldwide to see who's spending the most time making music. When the plugin is placed in a session, your activity will accumulate and can be visualized in the following ways: Recent Activity Chart: This private chart gives you a granular, at-a-glance view of how long you've been working over the past 24 hours. Daily Heatmap: See your long term daily activity in an easy to understand heatmap showing how long you've spent in your DAW each day, synced to your local timezone. Current & All-Time Streaks: See how many days in a row you've actively worked in your DAW. All-Time DAW Activity Stats: See the total time you've spent active in your DAW: Today. Over the last 24 Hours. Over the last 30 Days. This Year. All Time. Leaderboard: The Signalbash Leaderboard ranks you based on the cumulative time you've spent working over the last 24 hours. It also displays the particular DAW. See the live leaderboard now: Signalbash Leaderboard Signalbash Overview Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlnmcL8KTHQ Signalbash Plugin Manual & Support: Support Site Read More

Make Your Own Telescope, Right Down To The GlassTelescopes are great tools for observing the heavens, or even surrounding landscapes if you have the right vantage point. You don’t have to be a professional to build one though; you can make all kinds of telescopes as an amateur, as this guide from the Springfield Telesfcope Makers demonstrates.
The guide is remarkably deep and rich; no surprise given that the Springfield Telescope Makers club dates back to the early 20th century. It starts out with the basics—how to select a telescope, and how to decide whether to make or buy your desired instrument. It also explains in good detail why you might want to start with a simple Newtonian reflector setup on Dobsonian mounts if you’re crafting your first telescope, in no small part because mirrors are so much easier to craft than lenses for the amateur. From there, the guide gets into the nitty gritty of mirror production, right down to grinding and polishing techniques, as well as how to test your optical components and assemble your final telescope.
It’s hard to imagine a better place to start than here as an amateur telescope builder. It’s a rich mine of experience and practical advice that should give you the best possible chance of success. You might also like to peruse some of the other telescope projects we’ve covered previously. And, if you succeed, you can always tell us of your tales on the tipsline!

UK record industry warns against celebrating UK government’s copyright bill amendmentsA bill that could weaken UK copyright law in favor of AI developers is headed to a vote in Parliament next week
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1.5M in US earn a living as a digital creator or influencer1.5M in people in the US earn a living as digital creators and social media influencers. That stat is both encouraging and frightening if you're trying to grab attention online to market music or live shows.
The post 1.5M in US earn a living as a digital creator or influencer appeared first on Hypebot.

Are we reaching peak fandom?With streaming revenue growth slowing to 6.2% in 2024, the recorded music industry’s attention is firmly fixed on superfans as the ‘get out of jail free’ card. The growing sophistication of artist merch has reached the stage where fans can buy Taylor Swift fashion bags and shop her jewelry range, meanwhile all eyes are on the impending Spotify supremium tier (as reported by Bloomberg). But there are early warning signs that the industry may be going too fast and that superfan spending is being pushed to the limit. 

Record labels’ expanded rights revenue (the share of merch, branding, sponsorship, etc. that labels participate in) was up an impressive 16.4% in 2024 and was more than a tenth of all recorded music revenues in 2024. At the same time, however, physical revenues were down -4.8%, and have oscillated between growth and decline every year of the decade so far. Most significantly though, all was not well in the live music sector in 2024. This matters because so many of those live fans are the very same people buying merch (more than half of merch buyers also go to concerts every week). In short, both the live and recorded music businesses are trying to max out the spending of the same customers, all at the same time that streaming prices have gone up and high interest rates mean rents and mortgages are getting ever higher.

Live music has undergone a revenue renaissance since Covid, with revenues of leading live music companies more than double their pre-Covid high. Revenue growth soared in 2022 and 2023, but slowed to just 4.6% in 2024. Most importantly though, while revenue was up, the number of tickets sold was down. According to Pollstar, even though 2024 revenue for the top 100 tours globally was up 3.6% ticket sales were down -5.7%. For the top 100 US tours tickets were down -9.2%, and revenue was down too. In Ibiza, it was a similar story with ticketing revenue up 6.4% but tickets sold down -12.0%.

Live music companies argue that live music is price inelastic – meaning demand will remain stable despite price increases and consumers will tolerate higher prices because they want the product so much. That was true in the post-Covid era, when fans were so desperate to see concerts again that they were willing to pay a premium to do so. But the thing about elastic is, that if you stretch it enough, it snaps. Again, according to Pollstar, the average ticket prices for the top 100 tours worldwide rose 53.9% between 2021 and 2024. The elastic snapped in 2024.

Fans are still fans but they are being pummeled for spending from three directions: higher prices (plus supremium to come!) from DSPs; merch and vinyl from labels and artists; higher ticket prices from live companies. This is all while they are finding it harder than ever to pay the rent or mortgage, and this is not even considering the inflation that tariffs will most likely bring. Instead of thinking of the fan as a single person, three different parts of the music industry are seeing the fan as three separate addressable audience segments. We are now seeing the impact of that – and it will get worse. So much so that we may even see a decline in live music revenues in 2025. Keep an eye on Live Nation’s Q1 25 results later today (May 1st) for what may be an early indicator of what is to come.

As we have long said at MIDiA, you cannot harvest fandom if you are not also nurturing it. As long as the fan appears as three disconnected marketing lists for the music industry, what happens instead is that the field gets harvested three times over. It is time for a joined up view of the fan and a better understanding of just how much money they can spend. Otherwise superfans will simply never be given the chance to become super enough.

Soundtoys unveil SpaceBlender reverb Soundtoys have announced that the innovative new reverb plug-in that was being showcased at this year’s NAMM Show is now available.

Soundtoys SpaceBlender is FREE until May 22
Soundtoys offers the SpaceBlender reverb plugin for free until May 22, 2025. Soundtoys is one of the most generous non-indie developers on the market. I recall them offering the Soundtoys Effect Rack for free during the pandemic. And they provided various premium plugins for free on different occasions. Our reader Wiseman summed it up nicely [...]
View post: Soundtoys SpaceBlender is FREE until May 22

GearFest UK returns for 2025 Sound On Sound and Tileyard London are pleased to announce that GearFest UK will be taking place on 19 July 2025.

Bloomberg Intelligence boosts Solana ETF approval odds to 90%Bloomberg Intelligence has boosted its estimated odds of US regulators approving a Solana exchange-traded fund (ETF) in 2025 to 90%, according to an April 30 post on the X platform. The company also set more favorable chances of approval for other altcoin ETFs, including proposed funds holding XRP (XRP) and Dogecoin (DOGE), Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas said in an X post. The estimates reflect an improved outlook from Bloomberg analysts. In a February analysis, Bloomberg pegged the odds of a Solana (SOL) ETF approval at only 70%. They ascribed a 65% and 75% chance of approval to funds holding XRP and DOGE, respectively. As of April 30, six asset managers — including Grayscale, VanEck and 21Shares — are awaiting clearance from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list ETFs holding the Solana blockchain network’s native cryptocurrency. The same number of issuers are waiting on approval for XRP ETFs, and three are seeking approval for DOGE funds, according to Bloomberg data. The SEC has until October to review and potentially approve the proposed funds. Revised altcoin ETF approval odds. Source: Bloomberg IntelligenceRelated: SEC acknowledges slew of crypto ETF filings as reviews, approvals accelerateAltcoin ETF maniaAsset managers are seeking the SEC’s permission to list dozens of altcoin ETFs, with up to 70 crypto ETFs awaiting the agency’s review as of April. The deluge of filings reflects US President Donald Trump’s efforts to soften the SEC’s regulatory posture toward cryptocurrencies since taking office in January. In March, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the US’s largest derivatives exchange, listed futures contracts tied to Solana.According to Chris Chung, founder of Solana-based swap platform Titan, the listing on the regulated futures exchange signals that approvals for Solana ETFs could be next.“[T]he timeline could extend into 2026 due to the SEC’s precedent of taking […] 240–260 days to review filings,” Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart also said in a previous forecast. In April, US securities exchange Nasdaq asked regulators for permission to list a 21Shares ETF holding Dogecoin, adding to the roster of DOGE funds awaiting a US public listing.Magazine: TV hit Peaky Blinders to launch crypto game, FIFA Rivals on Polkadot: Web3 Gamer

Visa and Mastercard unveil AI-powered shoppingArtificial intelligence is not just infiltrating the startup world. Now, credit card giants Visa and Mastercard are getting into the AI game. Visa announced on Wednesday “Intelligent Commerce,” which it says enables AI “to find and buy.” AI agents will be able to shop and make purchases on behalf of consumers, based on preselected preferences. […]

Spotify Q1 2025 earnings call: Daniel Ek talks growth, pricing, superfan products, and a future where the platform could reach 1bn subscribersSix things we learned from SPOT's Q1 earnings call...
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