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Aiken’s Secret Computing MachinesThis neat video from the [Computer History Archives Project] documents the development of the Aiken Mark I through Mark IV computers. Partly shrouded in the secrecy of World War II and the Manhattan Project effort, the Mark I, “Harvard’s Robot Super Brain”, was built and donated by IBM, and marked their entry into what we would now call the computer industry.
Numerous computing luminaries used the Mark I, aside from its designer Howard Aiken. Grace Hopper, Richard Bloch, and even John von Neumann all used the machine. It was an electromechanical computer, using gears, punch tape, relays, and a five horsepower motor to keep it all running in sync. If you want to dig into how it actually worked, the deliciously named patent “Calculator” goes into some detail.
The video goes on to tell the story of Aiken’s various computers, the rift between Harvard and IBM, and the transition of computation from mechanical to electronic. If this is computer history that you don’t know, it’s well worth a watch. (And let us know if you also think that they’re using computer-generated speech to narrate it.)
If “modern” computer history is more your speed, check out this documentary about ENIAC.Thanks [Stephen Walters] for the tip!
Aiken’s Secret Computing Machines
hackaday.comThis neat video from the [Computer History Archives Project] documents the development of the Aiken Mark I through Mark IV computers. Partly shrouded in the secrecy of World War II and the Manhatta…
Machinedrum: “That’s what’s exciting about making music: learning, evolving and experimenting”A cursory web search of ‘demoscene’ will lead you down one of cyberspace’s most esoteric rabbit holes. You’ll find website designs straight out of 1998, archives of trippy electronic music from 1999, and bizarre CGI music videos from competitions held in 2000. This all transpired from a late-90s/early-00s online movement, the demoscene, which saw creatives exploring the early internet. They’d pirate software, share music files, build video games, and socialise in IRC chatrooms, forming a unique subculture.
Running in parallel to the demoscene was an even more niche movement: the tracker scene. Here, music producers used software-based trackers — Aphex Twin, Calvin Harris and Venetian Snares are notable users of these early DAWs — to create electronic music on their home computers, complete with CRT screens. Producers would then head to the web to share their music, samples and video game scores with other tracker producers and demoscene fans.
In this online community, in an IRC channel dedicated to tracker music (#trax), a young Travis Stewart in North Carolina found his calling as an electronic music producer. After producing 11 albums as Machinedrum in the past 20 years, he’s revisiting his tracker and demoscene roots to find out “what it would be like to collaborate with my younger self,” Travis says. “Me in the 90s to early 2000s, when I was really excited and bewildered by this world of electronic music…this amazing community of tracker musicians.”
Travis Stewart AKA Machinedrum.Image: Ben Bentley for MusicTech
You’re not exactly being thrown back 30 years when listening to Machinedrum’s new album, 3FOR82, released on Ninja Tune. The LP features on-point vocal performances from luminary artists including Mick Jenkins, Duckwrth, Kučka, Jesse Boykins III and Tinashe, and — true to Machinedrum fashion — mashes together hip-hop, d‘n’b and IDM. It feels more innovative than retrospective. But the nostalgia lies in Travis’ production techniques, and not just in the gear and software he used.
“After my past two albums and collaborating with vocalists, I wanted to be more intentional this time about the narrative of 3FOR82,” Travis tells us over a video call from L.A.
To build a concept, he conducted interviews with each vocalist just before they’d head into the studio, also recording these conversations with the same model VHS recorder his family owned in the 90s, no less. Travis asked each collaborator one crucial question: “If you were in the room with your younger self, what would you say to them?”
3FOR82 by Machinedrum
“Some people seemed to be very inspired by the question and their answer would turn into, like, a 10-minute response,” Travis says. “But I wouldn’t then say, ‘Okay, let’s write a song about that.’ I would just hope that it would affect their subconscious in a way that would influence what they wrote; whether it was more literal, like a love letter to their younger self, or if there was just some certain aspect of the inspiration behind the song, or if they tapped into vocal style from when they were younger. Basically, having that be somewhere in their inspiration was important to me.”
Travis Stewart AKA Machinedrum.Image: Ben Bentley for MusicTech
Travis was careful about how he enlisted the vocalists. Usually, he’d hit up friends and singers he’d already worked with, either as Machinedrum or as a producer on their projects, so that rapport was already established. This includes longtime friend Jesse Boykins III, who is credited as the album’s co-executive producer and lent his vocals on the tracks WEARY and GODOWN. For this album, though, Travis wanted to connect with new artists — and Jesse was invaluable in making that feel natural.
“[Jesse] kept giving me different vocalist ideas for songs, often people he was directly connected with, and they were so spot on,” Travis says.
“He’s a great songwriter and is really good at putting vocalists outside of their comfort zone. He’ll challenge certain things or, if he knows that the vocalist is on a roll, he’ll just stay completely uninvolved if he needs to.”
The diverse vocal performances beautifully complement Travis’ experimental production. From Aja Monet’s introspective dialogue in ORACLE and Jesse’s emotive performance in GODOWN to Mick Jenkins’ defiant bars in WEARY and Topaz Jones’ aggressive verses on RESPEK, the album gives each vocalist space to shine. As many producers know, getting vocalists to perform their best in a session is really a skill in itself.
Travis Stewart AKA Machinedrum.Image: Ben Bentley for MusicTech
“A lot of times,” Travis explains, “you get into the studio with the new vocalist and the first hour or two, you’re trying to find some sort of rapport or playing them a bunch of beats and hoping something grabs their attention. Having Jesse there made the environment more friendly and open, which definitely helped in how the songs came together so quickly.”
Travis’ idea for the 12-track album came during a trip to Joshua Tree, California, on his 41st birthday. He then started building up a library of sounds – “thousands and thousands of sounds; I only scratched the surface with this album” — and gave himself a time limit to pull new ideas together quickly.
“I’d have an hourglass on my studio desk and turn it over when I started working on an idea. When the hourglass ran out, I’d walk out of the studio for five or 10 minutes, come back and take a listen to the track, and if I felt like it was really worth continuing to flesh out whatever the idea was, then I would.
“And if I just really didn’t like it, that was another reason for me to move on and also not try to rescue the idea. The point was to just keep moving forward.”
Travis Stewart AKA Machinedrum.Image: Ben Bentley for MusicTech
With his thousands-strong sample library, Travis had a DOS emulator running Impulse Tracker, which was released as freeware in 1995. He’d load his old tracker projects and samples into the software until he heard something that caught his ear — a loop, kick sound, a synth, anything with an “old retro kind of 90s tracker aesthetic” — and recorded those moments into Ableton Live, which ran in the background. Sometimes, he’d turn those sounds into virtual instruments within Ableton to play chromatically.
After a month, Travis had around 45 tracks; not bad for a few weeks of hourglass rotations. The final 12 tracks on the album, which he whittled down based on his mood (“those 12 tracks were 12 different tracks each month”) traverse hip-hop with samples from Tracklib, liquid drum ‘n’ bass with mellow synth parts, and experimental backdrops for the likes of Jesse Boykins III and Tanerélle’s vocals.
For Travis, producing across a variety of genres comes fairly naturally. He explains that it comes from his earliest days in music production “when I was very focused on experimenting with anything I wanted to. When I was a teenager and in my early 20s, I was just constantly emulating what I was hearing and trying to recreate other people’s music, which was really exciting to me. I’d find my own sound within that inspiration. I think that’s inside of my DNA — I’m always exploring different sounds based on whatever my tastes are at the time because that’s what I find exciting about making music: learning, evolving and trying new things.”
Travis Stewart AKA Machinedrum.Image: Ben Bentley for MusicTech
So what remains appealing about Impulse Tracker? Why not try new gear or a newer, more traditional DAW? Is it all just for the nostalgia?
“In the 90s, there were a lot of producers, especially bedroom producers, using trackers because they wielded a lot of power despite being essentially free software,” Travis says. “When I was younger, I would read different music technology publications that would feature my favourite producer’s studios, and they were just filled with massive amounts of gear and it seemed so unattainable for me…[Making electronic music] is so much more possible now and there’s this amazing support within the tracker community.”
Another bonus for Travis was that the small size of tracker files meant they were easy to share online with fellow tracker producers and demoscene fans. Small file sizes can seem trivial now — we’ve got virtual instruments that take up hundreds of gigabytes — but it was a game-changing factor during a time of dial-up and cable modem internet. Impulse Tracker’s file compression also resulted in a distinct sonic characteristic that Travis likens to vintage samplers, like an Akai MPC 60 or E-Mu SP-1200 .
“The way that Impulse Tracker, and a lot of trackers, processes the samples gives it this very…it’s hard to describe the sound, but it’s somewhere between lo-fi and hi-fi.
Travis Stewart AKA Machinedrum.Image: Ben Bentley for MusicTech
“Your capabilities of decimating a sound and making something really grimy and saturated were just that. There were so many possibilities for downgrading samples to the point where they would become unrecognisable. And then eventually you’d get DAWs like Ableton and FL Studio, with the goal of making things sound as professional and clear and hi-fi as possible. So going back to those old versions of Impulse Tracker and turning off any hi-fi settings gave it this really endearing, unique sonic quality. And, yeah, there’s a nostalgia there, but there’s also an interesting rawness to the sound that I really like.”
Travis was making his tunes on Impulse Tracker until around 2005, at which point he gradually switched to Ableton Live. He says that if you listen back to his earlier releases, you can actually hear a change in the sonics and in the song structures, the latter being a consequence of the change from a vertical sequencer to a linear DAW.
He’s pretty much been hooked on software his whole life, rather than getting too caught up in which hardware synth or drum machine to buy next. He keeps his studio in LA pretty minimal, sometimes capturing specific synth sounds when he goes to a friend’s studio. Or, he’ll buy a piece of gear, collect some sounds from it and then let it go.
Travis Stewart AKA Machinedrum.Image: Ben Bentley for MusicTech
With a musical career so focused on software and computers, it’s no surprise that Travis tried tinkering with AI to create music. He’s previously said that new AI developments are “super interesting and equally terrifying” – rightly so — but his experience with ChatGPT was less than fruitful. And not just in his attempts to make it produce an Aphex Twin track…
“I was getting ChatGPT to give me Csound code to create experimental sound design. And it was cool to get back into Csound and see what was possible there, but chat GPT wasn’t really yielding the best results, as it’s known to do.”
So he ditched the idea of AI being able to make the music he wanted. Instead, he used ChatGPT to stylise his social media captions with underscores, cryptic symbols and abbreviations that are reminiscent of demoscene. These messages also appear in //3FOR82//’s accompanying zine and vinyl package, which is a printed homage to demoscene, tracker culture and the retrofuturism of the early 2000s. There’s also a nod to Californian cyberpunk magazine Mondo 2000, which was published in the 80s and 90s.
Travis Stewart AKA Machinedrum.Image: Ben Bentley for MusicTech
Travis and I opine that much of what we now see as futuristic has already been imagined and referenced by the likes of Mondo 2000 and other forward-thinking figures and brands. One example is Discord, a community platform that’s reportedly seeing 29 million daily users communicate and collaborate with like-minded people (producers, gamers, even workplaces) in dedicated servers and channels. It sounds novel but it’s essentially a modernised version of IRC — and Travis has been using it as such.
“A lot of those same people that I would talk to on IRC are all on their respective Discord servers now,” Travis says.
“I grew up in the middle of nowhere in North Carolina, and I didn’t have that real, in-person, collaborative aspect to what I was doing. And so my only opportunity to learn from other producers was to literally download their tracker files and look at how they made a song, and, you know, use the same samples that they used, because a lot of those samples are being passed around within the community.”
Travis can look back at the “huge growth periods” in his career and attribute them to times when he was collaborating. Whether in IRC channels or in person, he’d discover new concepts, processes and techniques to implement into the Machinedrum project. In the tracker community, he’d find inspiration from the breaks, loops and sounds that were circulated around the scene. He’s now reviving that same movement within his own fanbase, with hopes that the producers in his community can grow, too.
His Discord-based COMPO battles see fans and fellow producers take a Machinedrum-supplied sample pack and create something new.
Travis Stewart AKA Machinedrum.Image: Ben Bentley for MusicTech
“I’ve always tried to find some way of incorporating a community aspect to what I do,” Travis says. “Because I recognise the importance of how that can help other artists grow, but even myself grow, you know…Just doing all these beat battles and learning about how other people take the rules that I apply to each competition and really run with it.”
Travis and his community maintain the same ethos of those early demoscene and tracker scene channels; the idea of creating for creation’s sake, not to release or sell music. “There’s a certain aspect of it that you want to impress everyone, but at the same time, you know the stakes aren’t so high.”
“We all listen to the music together and celebrate these moments in time through the beat battles.”
As Machinedrum, Travis has embraced key concepts from demoscene culture — collaboration, curiosity and creativity — and kept them alive as we collectively grapple with early versions of new technology. He’s finding ways to engage an online community and explore new technologies, all while keeping letting the past inform the present.
Read more music producer interviews.
The post Machinedrum: “That’s what’s exciting about making music: learning, evolving and experimenting” appeared first on MusicTech.Machinedrum: “That's what’s exciting about making music: learning, evolving and experimenting”
musictech.comTravis Stewart dives deep on the production process for his album, 3FOR82, and explains his nostalgic approach to creating futuristic sounds.
Intentionally Overly-Complex Clock is Off to a Good Start[Kelton] from Build Some Stuff decided to create a clock that not only had kinetic elements, but a healthy dose of Rube Goldberg inspiration. The result is a work in progress, but one that looks awfully promising.
The main elements of the design are rotating pieces that indicate the hours and minutes, but each hour is advanced solely by the satisfying physical culmination of multiple interacting systems. Those systems also completely reset themselves every hour.
Each hour, a marble run kicks off a short chain reaction that culminates in advancing the hour.
At the top of the hour, a marble starts down a track and eventually tips over a series of hinged “dominoes”, which culminate in triggering a spring-loaded ratchet that advances the hour. The marble then gets carried back to the top of the device, ready for next time. Meanwhile, the domino slats and spring-loaded ratchets all get reset by a pulley system.
There’s still some work to do in mounting the motor, pulley system, and marble run. Also, a few bugs have surfaced, like a slight overshoot in the hour display. All par for the course for a device with such a large number of moving parts, we suppose.
[Kelton] has a pretty good sense how it will all work in the end, and it looks promising. We can’t wait to see it in its final form, but the tour of clock so far is pretty neat. Check it out in the video, embedded just under the page break.
As for the clock’s inspiration, Rube Goldberg’s cultural impact is hard to overstate and our own Kristina Panos has an excellent article about the man that might just teach you something you didn’t know.Intentionally Overly-Complex Clock is Off to a Good Start
hackaday.com[Kelton] from Build Some Stuff decided to create a clock that not only had kinetic elements, but a healthy dose of Rube Goldberg inspiration. The result is a work in progress, but one that looks aw…
- in the community space Tools and Plugins
Triton Audio launch D2O Plugin Triton Audio's first software release recreates their discontinued D2O Microphone Preamp unit.
Triton Audio launch D2O Plugin
www.soundonsound.comTriton Audio's first software release recreates their discontinued D2O Microphone Preamp unit.
- in the community space Music from Within
Chris Taylor resigns as CEO of MNRK Music Group; Sean Stevenson to lead companyStevenson to lead the company as of July 1, 2024
SourceChris Taylor resigns as CEO of MNRK Music Group; Sean Stevenson to lead company
www.musicbusinessworldwide.comStevenson to lead the company as of July 1…
Benn Jordan dives deep into the “bats**t” software Aphex Twin has used throughout his careerIn his latest video, musician and YouTuber Benn Jordan takes a deep dive into the gear used by electronic legend Aphex Twin on some of his most important works.
The video – titled The Batsh*t Software Aphex Twin used – begins with a look at Metasynth, a piece of software that allows users to “paint” to sound: “Metasynth more or less allows you to use sound as your medium and then colour represents panning and once you manage to make a sonic image that you like you can sequence it among others in software called Xx,” Jordan explains.READ MORE: Spotify CEO Daniel Ek claims cost of making content is “close to zero”, internet outrage ensues
The software, which is still being updated and sold 25 years later, was instrumental in the making of Aphex Twin’s 1999 Windowlicker EP.
Next, Jordan delves into the tools used by Aphex Twin to create the complex, layered sounds characteristic of tracks like Bucephalus Bouncing Ball from his 1997 EP, Come to Daddy.“The sound that’s making up most of the crazy sounds in the rest of the song [is] a ball being dropped on a hard surface. The audio of this sample is eventually torn apart in ways that nobody had ever heard before and it’s recycled into new, completely batshit insane sequences,” he explains. “The thing is in 1997, there really wasn’t a graphical destructive wave editor that could do this.”
According to Jordan, what we’re hearing on Bucephalus Bouncing Ball is Composers Desktop Project (CDP), a powerful, command-line-based sound design software that “did not have a GUI or front end at the time”.
While the user interface will feel extremely dated by today’s standards, it “still has functionality that I’ve not seen in any other software,” says the musician.
Some of the other softwares discussed in the video include PlayerPro, an early tracker used by Aphex Twin, and Super Collider, a high-level audio programming language created in 1996 by James McCartney.
Watch the full breakdown below.The post Benn Jordan dives deep into the “bats**t” software Aphex Twin has used throughout his career appeared first on MusicTech.
Benn Jordan dives deep into the “bats**t” software Aphex Twin has used throughout his career
musictech.comIn a new video, Benn Jordan takes a deep dive into the gear used by electronic legend Aphex Twin on some of his most important works.
Odyssey is Cercle’s new travelling 360-degree immersive concert installationParis-based production company Cercle has launched a travelling, 360-degree immersive concert installation called Cercle Odyssey.
The structure blends live music with a new type of visual storytelling. Cercle will collaborate with artists from various genres and backgrounds, but particularly with those who blend auditory and visual elements together.READ MORE: Amsterdam venue The Other Side becomes world’s first nightclub to adopt L-ISA Spatial Audio
Odyssey utilises 2300 m² giant projection screens to envelop the audience. These are 10 to 12 metres (up to 40 feet) high, and up to 55 metres (up to 180 feet) long. Inspired by traditional movie screens, they showcase an array of high-quality images shot in 8K, “meticulously synchronised” live with music. Neels Castillon will oversee the direction of these videos.
Cercle Odyssey also has a commitment to sustainability, as all of the equipment (sound, light, and projectors) are sourced and rented locally. By opting for 29 projectors instead of traditional LED screens to illuminate the scenography, Cercle eliminates the need to transport a massive load of LED screens, therefore cutting down on emissions.
Interestingly, those who attend Odyssey shows will be subject to a strict ‘no phones’ policy. This is “to ensure that every audience member can fully immerse themselves in the experience”. Cercles hopes this will also foster “a shared sense of presence and connection”, and as a parting souvenir, each guest will still receive a folder of filmed content to keep.“My current obsession is to create the shortest connection between the music played by the artist, the video narrative that we will present live on the screens, and the audience’s emotions,” says Cercle founder and creative director, Derek Barbolla.
“I want to connect these three things together at the deepest level and I believe this is still underdeveloped in the entertainment industry. If, by the end of a Cercle Odyssey show, I see people on the dance floor literally moved to tears, then I will consider it a success.”
The dates and locations for Cercle Odyssey 2025 will be announced soon, and you can pre-register now to be among the first to receive notification of these events.
Find out more about Cercle.
The post Odyssey is Cercle’s new travelling 360-degree immersive concert installation appeared first on MusicTech.Odyssey is Cercle's new travelling 360-degree immersive concert installation
musictech.comParis-based production company Cercle has launched a nomad 360 degrees immersive concert installation called Cercle Odyssey.
- in the community space Music from Within
5 great promotion ideas for after the music is releasedUnlock the full potential of a music release with these five expert strategies designed to keep your audience engaged and attract new fans even after the music has been released.....
The post 5 great promotion ideas for after the music is released appeared first on Hypebot.5 great promotion ideas for after the music is released - Hypebot
www.hypebot.comUnlock the full potential of a music release with these five expert strategies designed to keep your audience engaged and attract new fans even after the music has been released.....
- in the community space Music from Within
How to get your music on Spotify playlists: Step-by-Step GuideLearn how to get your music featured on Spotify playlists with this comprehensive guide. Unlock key strategies and tips to boost your streaming numbers and dramatically grow your fanbase.....
The post How to get your music on Spotify playlists: Step-by-Step Guide appeared first on Hypebot.How to get your music on Spotify playlists: Step-by-Step Guide - Hypebot
www.hypebot.comLearn how to get your music featured on Spotify playlists with this comprehensive guide. Unlock key strategies and tips to boost your streaming numbers and dramatically grow your fanbase.....
- in the community space Tools and Plugins
LoudnessMeterFree Is A New FREE Metering Plugin
SaschArt introduced a user-friendly audio plugin designed for loudness (LUFS) analysis, the LoudnessMeterFree. Meters might not be as exciting as a good reverb or synth, but they’re very useful. I leave them strapped on buses, usually to get a feel for the RMS or momentary LUFS of elements when trying to nail things down just [...]
View post: LoudnessMeterFree Is A New FREE Metering PluginLoudnessMeterFree Is A New FREE Metering Plugin
bedroomproducersblog.comSaschArt introduced a user-friendly audio plugin designed for loudness (LUFS) analysis, the LoudnessMeterFree. Meters might not be as exciting as a good reverb or synth, but they’re very useful. I leave them strapped on buses, usually to get a feel for the RMS or momentary LUFS of elements when trying to nail things down justRead More
- in the community space Music from Within
Top recommendations from the first queer Music AgencyCelebrate Pride Month with a curated playlist from the trailblazing queer music agency that's changing the industry for the better. Discover a diverse selection of tracks that celebrate and uplift LGBTQ+ voices.....
The post Top recommendations from the first queer Music Agency appeared first on Hypebot.Top recommendations from the first queer Music Agency - Hypebot
www.hypebot.comCelebrate Pride Month with a curated playlist from the trailblazing queer music agency that's changing the industry for the better. Discover a diverse selection of tracks that celebrate and uplift LGBTQ+ voices.....
- in the community space Tools and Plugins
Analog Obsession Releases FREE Cite High-Frequency Processor
Analog Obsession released Cite, a freeware high-frequency processor for Windows and Mac. Cite is a fully custom build designed from scratch and is made to be easy to use. The plugin is available for VST3 and AAX for Windows, as well as VST3, AU and AAX for Mac. Analog Obsession says that “high-mids and highs [...]
View post: Analog Obsession Releases FREE Cite High-Frequency ProcessorAnalog Obsession Releases FREE Cite High-Frequency Processor
bedroomproducersblog.comAnalog Obsession released Cite, a freeware high-frequency processor for Windows and Mac. Cite is a fully custom build designed from scratch and is made to be easy to use. The plugin is available for VST3 and AAX for Windows, as well as VST3, AU and AAX for Mac. Analog Obsession says that “high-mids and highsRead More
Skrillex and Fred again’s huge surprise Civic Center rave looked insane – take a look the highlights hereSkrillex and Fred again.. hosted a rave of epic proportions at San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza on Saturday with 25,000 people in attendance.
Tickets were announced just a week ago, and they sold out within an hour. Though the event’s last minute nature had some fans sceptical on just how smooth things would run, praise for the colossal rave has been shared widely online. They even managed to finish just on time for their curfew of 10pm.READ MORE: Skrillex says the next big music-sharing app after TikTok will be whatever’s “accessible to the kids”
As SFGATE reports, a massive stage was erected in front of City Hall, and neighbouring streets were closed. Skrillex, who was raised in the city, spoke of his upbringing with the crowd, and reflected on how he would walk through this very place as a child.
The pair also shared thanks to “Martha at the mayor’s office”, Fred Again’s aunt – who was in attendance – and to the crowd throughout. The event lasted for three hours and included tracks Rumble, Turn On the Lights, RATATA, and a whole lot more.
Anderson .Paak also joined the EDM giants for a performance of his new track with Fred, places to be, which also features CHIKA and landed back on Friday 31st May. Check out his guest performance, and other social media posts on the event below:
Skrillex + Fred again at SF Civic Center was lit!! byu/macrobiome inavesSKRILLEX & FRED AGAIN DROPPING THIS INSANE RUMBLE FLIP AT SF CIVIC CENTER HOLY MOLY @skrillex @fredagainagain1 pic.twitter.com/Woyc2Zc8Vl
— Brownies & Lemonade (@TeamBandL) June 2, 2024Skrillex and Fred again.. took over San Francisco@Skrillex @fredagainagain1 #shotoniphone pic.twitter.com/Snxqjv3DUF
— Eric Dew (@ericdew) June 2, 2024View this post on Instagram
A post shared by We Rave You (@weraveyou)
You can view all upcoming tour dates for Skrillex or Fred again.. now.
The post Skrillex and Fred again’s huge surprise Civic Center rave looked insane – take a look the highlights here appeared first on MusicTech.Skrillex and Fred again’s huge surprise Civic Center rave looked insane – take a look the highlights here
musictech.comSkrillex and Fred again… hosted a rave of epic proportions in San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza on Saturday with 25,000 people in attendance.
- in the community space Tools and Plugins
Airwiggles’ free AirCon audio conference returns Airwiggles have announced that their free-to-all online film and game sound audio conference will be returning for 2024.
Airwiggles’ free AirCon audio conference returns
www.soundonsound.comAirwiggles have announced that their free-to-all online film and game sound audio conference will be returning for 2024.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek claims cost of making content is “close to zero”, internet outrage ensuesWhat is the cost of creating content? Well, according to Spotify CEO Daniel Ek, “close to zero”. And his comments have sparked outrage online.
The tech boss took to X to share his thoughts on the value of content creation and Stoicism (among others) last week, writing: “Today, with the cost of creating content being close to zero, people can share an incredible amount of content. This has sparked my curiosity about the concept of long shelf life versus short shelf life.”READ MORE: Sony Music CEO wants free streaming users to start paying – would it ever work, though?
“While much of what we see and hear quickly becomes obsolete, there are timeless ideas or even pieces of music that can remain relevant for decades or even centuries.”
“For example, we’re witnessing a resurgence of Stoicism, with many of Marcus Aurelius’s insights still resonating thousands of years later. This makes me wonder: what are the most unintuitive, yet enduring ideas that aren’t frequently discussed today but might have a long shelf life? Also, what are we creating now that will still be valued and discussed hundreds or thousands of years from today?”
The backlash to Ek’s post came hard and fast, with artists and fans alike slamming the executive for being “out of touch” with his remarks. One user, composer Tim Prebble, commented: “Music will still be valued in a hundred years. Spotify won’t. It will only be remembered as a bad example of a parasitic tool for extracting value from other peoples music. (or “content” as some grifters like to call it).”Music will still be valued in a hundred years.Spotify won't. It will only be remembered as a bad example of a parasitic tool for extracting value from other peoples music. (or "content" as some grifters like to call it) AI will seal your fate.
— Tim Prebble – HISSandaROAR (@timprebble) May 30, 2024Calling Ek a “billionaire off of everyone else’s hard work and time”, Canadian singer-songwriter Shimmer Johnson also blasted: “Creating music is not even close to zero, my out of touch friend. Johnson highlights the cost of buying a “good computer to run all the programs, guitars and drum kits” associated with making music, adding: “So you’re saying if a song takes me six hours to create, that my time is close to zero and the gear I used whether I bought my own or rented it was close to zero. It’s ludicrous!”
Creating Music is not even close to zero my out of touch friend !!! If you can afford great gear to sound like what is on the radio it is close to 80k to just buy a good computer to run all the programs , guitars drum kits and all that !!! Plus the hours of recording a song ,…
— Shimmer Johnson (@shimmer_johnson) June 1, 2024Today, with the cost of creating content being close to zero, people can share an incredible amount of content. This has sparked my curiosity about the concept of long shelf life versus short shelf life. While much of what we see and hear quickly becomes obsolete, there are…
— Daniel Ek (@eldsjal) May 29, 2024Ek’s comments are the latest in a string of PR and legal woes for the streaming giant, which is facing a lawsuit for allegedly underpaying tens of millions in royalties to songwriters and publishers after its “bundling” subscription plans. The platform’s new AI Playlist feature has also been accused recently of being homophobic.
The post Spotify CEO Daniel Ek claims cost of making content is “close to zero”, internet outrage ensues appeared first on MusicTech.Spotify CEO Daniel Ek claims cost of making content is “close to zero”, internet outrage ensues
musictech.comSpotify CEO Daniel Ek has drawn the ire of the internet after claiming that the cost of creating content “close to zero”.