Kanye West samples underground producer TSVI “without permission”: “We’re at the bottom; he’s at the top with billions in his bank”An underground dance music producer, TSVI — who recently discovered that Kanye West allegedly sampled his music without permission — has criticised the artist’s use of sampling “without any repercussions”.

READ MORE: Spotify demonetises all tracks under 1,000 streams

Posting to Instagram on Monday, TSVI, who also goes by Anunaku and is the founder of record label, Nervous Horizon, purports that his 2016-released track 12345678 was sampled by West. The track in question is West’s 2021-launched Believe What I Say.
Listen to both tracks for comparison below:

“So, as you might have seen, last week I found out that Kanye sampled my track ‘12345678’ that was released on Chevel’s label Enklav back in 2016,” wrote TSVI – real name Guglielmo Barzacchini – on Instagram on Monday morning.
“It’s been a few days since I discovered this (in a totally random way, searching myself on WhoSampled), and I think it is one of the most surreal things that has happened to me in my music-making career.
“Fuck Kanye though. I’ve seen stories of him stealing samples from other producers in the underground music scene, and it sucks. We producers are at the bottom of the chain; he’s at the top with billions in his bank account, with a team of producers who have complete freedom to sample whatever they want. He has an infinite sample pack at his disposal, which he can use as he pleases, without any repercussions.
“Anyway, I’ll probably never see any money from this, but I appreciate all of your support and kind messages.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by TSVI Anunaku (@gu_tsvi)

Fellow DJs/producers have reacted to the news in the comments. Eris Drew suggests “As long as you own your music maybe hire a lawyer in the States to negotiate a writing credit and royalty,” while UK techno DJ James Newmarch says he should “100% go after it”, referring to a friend who “received a 60k settlement” from Drake for sampling without permission.
MusicTech reached out to TSVI for comment. He said, “The minimum that I’d like to gain from this situation is at least a credit on the song.”
So far, there has been no response from Kanye West or his team.
Keep an eye on TSVI’s Instagram page for more updates and be sure to check out his music on Bandcamp.
The post Kanye West samples underground producer TSVI “without permission”: “We’re at the bottom; he’s at the top with billions in his bank” appeared first on MusicTech.

“VR concerts are here to stay but people will always complain”: Avenged Sevenfold’s M. ShadowsAvenged Sevenfold are revered for their avant-garde approach to metal. From soaring prog to blistering heavy metal, the Californians have always embraced experimentation — as shown in 2023’s album,  Life Is But A Dream…. 
Unsurprisingly, the band’s creative approach means that they’re rather fond of how modern technology is impacting the concert-going experience. The group’s vocalist, M. Shadows thinks that such tech — namely VR concerts — isn’t going anywhere and should be embraced.

READ MORE: “We’re taking power away from corporate networks, and saying, ‘No, we’re gonna reward our fans, not you’”: M. Shadows on Avenged Sevenfold’s new Fortnite-style Season Pass

In a recent interview with M. Shadows, the frontman says, “It blows my mind that there’s any sort of pushback on VR concerts — they are here to stay.”
To M. Shadows, the age of live show DVDs is long gone. It’s a “played out” art form, while he sees VR as a revolution of how fans can experience a live performance. “VR is amazing because it checks the box of ‘people get to see us live,’ but they get to do it in a way that has never been experienced before – you are in the production. You are a part of the show.”
“To all the people saying, ’just make a DVD!’ or ‘just put yourselves in the videos!’ – that’s what this is, but this is the next iteration of it,” he continues. “This is the cool version of what you’re asking for… It’s an experience unlike any other.”

A7X has reportedly seen pushback from a number of its fanbase, though. “You can put out a new record and people are gonna complain; you can do a VR concert, people are gonna complain,” M. Shadows says, adding that he’s eager to see the future of VR gigs. “I cannot wait until more artists that I enjoy do them.”
Last month, the group dropped their own AmazeVR Concert, Looking Inside. The 27-minute show features performances of Mattel, Hail to the King, Interlude – (D)eath, Nightmare and Nobody. The group have also created an immersive VR experience for the We Love You music video.
The art of the VR show is an entirely new creative realm for A7X to toy with. “It’s a video game, a movie, a play, it’s live, it’s interactive – it’s everything,” M. Shadows explains. “And it’s just gonna get better and better. It takes all of those things that people are wishing for and just wraps it up into a new thing.”
Elsewhere in the interview, M.Shadows discusses the impact of Spotify and why he thinks that “not every artist deserves to be rich,” and why he believes in Web3 as a means of connecting with his fans.
 
The post “VR concerts are here to stay but people will always complain”: Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows appeared first on MusicTech.

Rigid Audio release Kontakt GUI Maker Rigid Audio's new software tool makes it possible to create custom Kontakt instruments from a simple and intuitive GUI. 

‘Make me a playlist to cringe to’: Spotify’s AI now builds playlists with your text promptsSpotify has launched an AI Playlist tool for its Premium users that lets them turn their wildest ideas into specially curated collections of music using text prompts.
The tool is in its Beta testing phase and is currently available to users on Android and iOS devices in the United Kingdom and Australia only.

READ MORE: No, Daniel Ek, the music industry isn’t like professional football

Spotify hopes the tool will aid users in finding new music discoveries – of which it says nearly two billion happen on its platform per day – and “bring fans closer to the artists they love”.
Spotify AI Playlist. Image: Spotify Newsroom
As an example, Spotify says users can generate AI playlists by feeding it prompts such as “relaxing music to tide me over during allergy season”, or “a playlist that makes me feel like the main character”.  You can use prompts that reference places, animals, activities, film characters, colours, and even emojis. Spotify claims the most successful playlists are generated with prompts that combine genres, moods, artists, and decades.
To find AI Playlist in the Spotify mobile app, select Your Library at the bottom-right corner of your screen. From here, tap the ‘+’ button at the top-right corner of the app and then select AI Playlist.
Once you’ve provided your prompt, Spotify will begin generating tracks. From there, you can manage the selection of songs by previewing and deleting those you don’t like. You can also provide further revisions such as “more pop” or “less upbeat” if the music is not the vibe you’re looking for.
In addition, Spotify caveats that while AI Playlist is “designed to be fun, the tool is still in beta and won’t produce results for non-music-related prompts, like current events or specific brands. We also have measures in place around prompts that are offensive—so please prompt responsibly.”
The streaming giant has already introduced AI to its platform with the AI DJ feature. The tool selects music based on your listening habits and has a DJ voice, named X, speaking at intervals to introduce new tracks.

Find out more at the Spotify Newsroom.
The post ‘Make me a playlist to cringe to’: Spotify’s AI now builds playlists with your text prompts appeared first on MusicTech.

Emergency DIP Pin Repair For AnyoneWho has not at some point in their lives experienced the horror of a pin on a DIP package breaking off? It’s generally game over, but what if you don’t have another chip handy to substitute? It’s time to carefully grind away some of the epoxy and solder on a new pin, as [Zafer Yildiz] has done in the video below the break.
The technique relies on the pins continuing horizontally inside the package , such that they provide a flat surface. He’s grinding with the disk on a rotary tool, we have to say we’d use one of the more delicate grinding heads for something more akin to a miniature die grinder.
Once the flat metal surface is exposed, the chip is placed in a socket, and a new pin is cut from the leg of a TO-220 power device. This is carefully bent over, inserted in the socket, and soldered into place. The whole socket and chip arrangement is then used in place of the chip, making for something a little bulky but one infinitely preferable to having to junk the device.
There are many useful skills to be learned when it comes to reworking, and we’ve covered a few in our time. Most recently we saw a guide to lifting SMD pins.

TechCrunch Mobility: Apple layoffs, an EV price reckoning and another Tesla robotaxi promiseWelcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here — just click TechCrunch Mobility — to receive the newsletter every weekend in your inbox. Subscribe for free. Automakers reported auto sales for Q1 and, welp, turns out that pricing sure does matter if you want to […]
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Squishy Miter Saw Shroud Spares you the Sneezy BitsLet’s be honest. When it comes to operating miter saws, these tools kick dust out the back like a spray paint can. Most of us have accepted this quirk as-is, but not [Inspire Woodcraft] who’s on a mission to achieve near perfect dust collection. And he nearly has it. With a budget dust collection setup, he’s able to eliminate over 90% of the dust from his cuts, and others who’ve adopted his setup can vouch for his results.
The solution comes in two pieces. First, he focuses on creating a new dust shroud or “boot” for collecting dust through the vacuum hookup on the back of the saw. What’s key here is that this dust boot is made from squishy silicone, enabling it to flare outwards and spread out as the saw travels downward into the material. It’s clear that [Inspire Woodcraft] has gone through dozens of material and shape iterations, but the result is sturdy enough to stay open with the vacuum running through the back hose attachment.
With the dust nearly perfectly funneled from the back, the second tweak focuses on rerouting stray dust away from the table and directly into this boot. [Inspire Woodcraft] later noticed that dust collection from the bottom of his miter saw simply didn’t exist, so dust would accumulate at his feet.
His solution? To create a second shroud that fits under the throat plate that takes sawdust once destined for the ground and ejects it backwards and straight into the dust collection boot.
Altogether, this setup solves a long-existing problem with a handful of commodity parts and a few 3D prints. [Inspire Woodcraft] has also chronicled his journey in such detail where you too could recreate his solution from the video. But if you’re feeling lazy, and you’re lucky enough to own the same Dewalt DW716 or DWS716 model miter saws, you can simply snag a kit from his website.
If all this talk of miter saws has your reaching for a screwdriver to see what modified mayhem you can unleash with yours, look no further than this LED hack that adds a shadow line to your cuts.

Malstrom reveal Wyvern saturation module Wyvern offers a wide range of stereo saturation effects, and comes equipped with a set of controls that allow users to refine the processing to avoid harsh-sounding side-effects.

Canoo reveals it paid for CEO’s jet, AT&T leaks records and X announces NSFW plansHeya, folks, welcome to Week in Review (WiR), TechCrunch’s newsletter recapping the noteworthy happenings in tech over the past several days (and change). Famed startup accelerator Y Combinator had its Demo Days, and the venture desk took it all in with an appropriately skeptical eye. You can read their day one and day two coverage, […]
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Kid’s Ride Gets Boosted Battery, ESP32 ControlThat irresistible urge to rescue an interesting piece of hardware from the trash is something that pretty much every Hackaday reader will have felt at one time or another. Sometimes it’s something that you could put to work immediately, like an old computer or some scrap piece of material that’s just the right size. But other times, you find something on the side of the road that ends up being the impetus for a whole new project.
For [David Bertet], finding a beat up kid’s Jeep Wrangler on the curb was the first step towards a journey that ends with PowerJeep: an open source project that we wager could end up saving similar vehicles from the landfill. The basic idea is simple enough — strip out the vehicle’s original 12 volt power supply and replace it with 18 V provided by easily swappable tool batteries. But as is often the case, it’s the details and the documentation that sets this project apart.

Just hacking an 18 V battery into the existing wiring and controls would probably have provided a few minutes worth of destructive fun, but not much else. So [David] approached things a bit more methodically; by adding a proper motor controller and dumping the original momentary switch “throttle” pedal for an analog version, the upgraded power from the new batteries could be properly harnessed. The addition of 12 and 3 volt regulators means the vehicle’s remaining stock electronics and accessories can be powered without letting the Magic Smoke out.
But perhaps the most exciting part of the PowerJeep project is the ESP32 that’s been added into the mix. While this project could certainly have been completed with “dumb” electronics, putting the WiFi-enabled microcontroller between the driver and the motor controller allows [David] to do things like adjust the vehicle’s maximum speed depending on whether his younger or older child is behind the wheel. He’s also able to monitor the system’s vital statistics on his phone through a slick web interface, and should the need ever arise, he can tap the big red “Emergency Stop” button to cut power in an instant.
For those looking to upgrade their kid’s ride, [David] has provided source code for the ESP32, a parts list, a wiring diagram, and even the 3D models for the few parts that needed to be printed. Naturally there’s going to be a lot of variations on this basic premise depending on which particular kiddie car you’ve got, but this project should still get you most of the way there.
If you’re looking to put even more high-tech goodies into your build, you might want to take a look at the clever traction control system we saw added to a lil’ Lambo back in 2019. You could even upgrade the frame and slip into the driver’s seat yourself, if you dare.

IRC Client on Bare MetalIn the beginning, there was the BIOS, and it was good. A PC’s BIOS knows how to set up the different hardware devices, grab a fixed part of a hard drive, load it, and run it. That’s all you need. While it might be all you need, it isn’t everything people want, so a consortium developed UEFI, which can do all the things a normal BIOS can’t. Among other things, UEFI can load code for the operating system over the network instead of from the hard drive.
In true hacker fashion, [Phillip Tennen] thought, “Does it have to be an operating system?” The answer, of course, is no. It could be an IRC client. He chose Rust to implement everything. While UEFI does provide a network stack, it isn’t very easy to use, apparently. It also provides support for a mouse. [Phillip] ported his GUI toolkit library over, and then the rest is just building an IRC client.
The client isn’t the easiest to use because, after all, this is a lark. Why would you want to do this? On the other hand, we can think of reasons we might want to take control of a UEFI motherboard and use it for something. If you want to do that, this project is a great template to jump-start your endeavors.
We’ve looked at the UEFI system a few times. Or, you can use it to play DOOM.

Warner Music will not bid to acquire Believe [Full Statement]Warner Music Group announced on Saturday that it would not bid for independent music conglomerate Believe. No specific reason was given for the shift, but WMG was granted access to Believe financial data to guide their bid two weeks ago.....
The post Warner Music will not bid to acquire Believe [Full Statement] appeared first on Hypebot.

Confirmed: Warner Music Group won’t be making a bid for BelieveThe way now appears clear for Denis Ladegaillerie consortium's takeover
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Getting It Done: The Week in D.I.Y. & Indie MusicLast week, our tips and advice for the independent, do-it-yourselfers covered how to get to know your fans better, podcasts to help with musician mental health and more.....
The post Getting It Done: The Week in D.I.Y. & Indie Music appeared first on Hypebot.

REWIND: The new music industry’s week in reviewLast week was a busy week by any definition; the music industry was no exception, with CD Baby and Downtown Music merging operations, Spotify changing how they allocate royalties the Records , and more.....
The post REWIND: The new music industry’s week in review appeared first on Hypebot.