Radio Promotion and Sync Licensing on a budgetCan you do radio promotion and sync licensing on a small budget? Two experienced music marketers, Michael Brandvold and Jay Gilbert, offer proven suggestions on a new episode of the Music Biz Weekly Podcast. Watch and listen here.
The post Radio Promotion and Sync Licensing on a budget appeared first on Hypebot.

Melda Production update plug-in line-up Melda Production are celebrating their 16th anniversary with an update to their range of over 100 plug-ins.

SoundCloud’s new store pays artists 100% of merch sale profitsThe internet has vastly shifted how we support our favourite artists. Rather than buying CDs, streaming has quickly become most people’s preferred way to consume music. As a result, physical CD sales aren’t what they used to be, and streaming revenue certainly isn’t enough to live on.
Nowadays, artists rely on merch sales more than ever. But merch sales can come with a load of hidden fees, meaning artists only get a fraction of the profits. Thankfully, the SoundCloud Store is here to change that.

READ MORE: Resident Advisor and SoundCloud team up to “improve music and event discovery”

Launching today, SoundCloud’s new online store allows a selection of SoundCloud Next Pro artists the opportunity to sell exclusive merchandise to fans. The best part? 100% of all profits will make their way back into artists’ pockets.
SoundCloud Store also boasts no upfront costs, as artists won’t have to pay for inventory or storage fees. Every hoodie, shirt or exclusive accessory will be made to order and immediately shipped out. And SoundCloud will notify fans about any merch an artist wishes to sell.
Of course, the store is in its early days. Only Wiz Khalifa, Denzel Curry, wolfacejoeyy, Bk The Rula, and Armani White currently have merch available. But SoundCloud is encouraging eligible Next Pro artists to apply, with hopes to expand the store in future.
This isn’t the first time SoundCloud has attempted to help artists make a living. In 2021, the streaming platform introduced Fan-Powered Royalties to aid independent artists, allowing those with a loyal, dedicated fanbase to earn more per stream. The shift earned Portishead 500% more revenue on a track than the band otherwise would have earned.
Alongside the artist merchandise, the store also boasts the exclusive SoundCloud Essentials Collection. The Essentials Collection will allow SoundCloud lovers to wear their music-loving heart on their sleeve, with selection of SoundCloud-centric tees, tanks, shorts and hats for grabs.
The SoundCloud Store is currently only available in the United States, European Union, and Canada. For more information, head to SoundCloud.
The post SoundCloud’s new store pays artists 100% of merch sale profits appeared first on MusicTech.

MeldaProduction’s new V17 plugin update brings efficiency improvements and six new virtual instrumentsMeldaProduction has officially announced V17 of its plugin suite.
The latest version introduces MPluginManager as a new and easy way to manage all installations, licensing, and subscriptions from one convenient location. MPluginManager automatically detects and uninstalls older versions of plugins, ensuring you have the latest updates without downloading any unnecessary data.
Melda’s modular virtual instrument MSoundFactory also gains six new instruments, including Cyberpunk Bass, Trap Bass, Cyclicity, Ethereal Keys, Alchemist Whoosh, and Organic Scape — all of which are available for free for existing users.

READ MORE: Universal Music Group and Meta to tackle unauthorised AI-generated content and more in new “expanded global agreement”

Additionally, core efficiency improvements have been made across the board, with Melda updating the compatibility of all its plugins (“including the free ones”, says the brand) to meet current standards. Some plugins like the MTurboDelay feature a lot of new presets with the update.
V17 maintains backward compatibility with all previous plugins, ensuring a seamless transition if you’re upgrading from earlier versions. Users who have previously installed MeldaProduction plugins can also take the chance to restart their 15-day trial period with the new version.
That said, making a decision about which plugin to buy can be tricky when you’re on a tight budget or deadline. One way to have all of Melda’s 100-plus plugins at your disposal is via the brand’s “Subscribe-To-Own” program, which allows you full access to all of its plugins for a monthly fee. For just €15 a month (or €165 annually), you will own the perpetual licence for MCompleteBundle, which costs €2,099 if purchased.

Learn more at MeldaProduction.
The post MeldaProduction’s new V17 plugin update brings efficiency improvements and six new virtual instruments appeared first on MusicTech.

Tyler, The Creator slams “meme” musicians: “You’re taking up space”Tyler, the Creator has hit out at musicians who make “meme records” for “taking up space” in the industry.
The rapper – real name Tyler Okonma – did not mince words in his latest critique of the genre and the internet culture surrounding it. In a new teaser for the web series Mavericks with Mav Carter, the musician says, “There’s so many n***as out right now that aren’t musicians that are getting treated like musicians because they make meme records.”
“Publicly [they] will be like, ‘I don’t give a fuck about music. I just do this shit for money.’”

READ MORE: Bicep’s Matt McBriar recovering after undergoing surgery to remove non-cancerous brain tumour

He compares the phenomenon to the famous Spider-Man clone meme, saying, “When every publication is like, ‘Hell yeah, let’s put that out,’ you taking up space for n***as like me.”
Despite his comments, Tyler says that “I don’t wanna seem like a hater. Sometimes I have hater energy ’cause I just think I’m that good.”
Asked if his frustrations stem from how much he ‘cares about this art form’, the musician tells Carter, “I love this art form so much, bro.”
Reposting the clip of Tyler on X, rapper Russ commented, “Spot on. Making music solely to get rich is why the majority of the music sucks ass.”
The full episode will be released on YouTube later today (14 August).

Earlier this year, Tyler, the Creator chimed in on the AI debate, explaining why he was unphased by the technology as far as music-making is concerned.
“It might have its perks but I’m always ahead of even myself, so the AI will never catch up to me creatively,” he said. “It’ll only be a reference point of what I already did, not where I’m going because it’s not me.”
The post Tyler, The Creator slams “meme” musicians: “You’re taking up space” appeared first on MusicTech.

We dare you to try and reach Elektron Digitakt II’s limitations£899/$999, elektron.se
You know a company’s influence is crystallising when its name enters common usage. ‘Google’ and ‘Photoshop’, for example, are as much verbs as they are product names, while in music, ‘Hammond’ tends to be applied to organs of all sorts of brands.
Elektron, it seems, is rising to a similar stratum. More and more, in various manners of speaking, performers and producers talk about playing Elektron to ostensibly describe a particular role or workflow. Often the word is used as an adjective for a style of performative sequencing, generally with multiple units synced over MIDI. The Elektron workflow is also an increasingly ubiquitous term, referring to the Swedish company’s rather unique approach to the user interface. One wonders how long it’ll be before other developers look to appeal to those specific skills Elektron users (excuse us: Elektronauts) will have honed through this workflow.

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The original Digitakt is one of the most popular drum computers and samplers on the market. It has eight audio tracks and eight MIDI tracks on a sensibly laid-out interface with an incredibly well-considered sequencer, boasting over 400 factory sounds for massive sound-sculpting potential. Sampling into its memory via a line input is quick and intuitive, and it’s in the blend between those sounds and the ones already onboard where the magic happened.
In many ways, the Digitakt turned the page for Elektron. Announced at 2017’s NAMM show, it marked a move away from Elektron’s larger instruments, like the 2001 Machinedrum, and into more compact designs. The Digitone eight-voice synthesizer followed in 2018, along with its sibling, the keyboard-equipped Digitone Keys and, in 2022, Syntakt drum computer and synthesizer.
Digitakt has become incredibly dear to Elektron and its user base. Which also means that too much of a departure could be a mistake; it wouldn’t be the first time public opinion has judged an original model to be preferable. But, too similar, and there’s simply no point.
The screen on the Digitakt II
When it comes to Digitakt II, on the surface, it looks more in danger of the latter– except for a noticable price hike. Perhaps expected, though, considering the original Digitakt was released the seven years ago into an economically unrecognisable music technology world.
In any case, little on the panel separates the Digitakt II from its predecessor. But this is to be respected, whether you’re new to the Elektron ecosystem or not. Elektron’s signature workflow for this format of machines— sequencer buttons in two rows along the bottom, eight encoders on the top right, a screen on the left— has been proven to work marvellously and really needs no overhaul.
The Digitakt’s primary strength is the speed and ease of use, paired with a well-designed signal flow and robust effects that are actually useful. It’s a breeze to capture sounds at the line input and feed them through its architecture, hitting its transport buttons with gusto to performatively record and play them. All of that prowess has been carried forward into Digitakt II.
On the subject of buttons: if there’s any bugbear with Elektron’s design, it’s the insistence on using the most rattley buttons imaginable, even if they are supremely satisfying to hit. This machine could capably double as an acoustic shaker if required. Alas, we digress.
Sampling on the Digitakt II
Clues remain of major upgrades under the hood. A keyboard setup button has appeared on the left, and another row of LEDs sits above the Page button; an FX button has joined the five parameter buttons (TRIG, SRC, FLTR, AMP and LFO).
“The Digitakt experience, but multiplied”, is how Elektron opens Digitakt II’s manual, and it’s not wrong. Digitakt’s eight mono tracks expand here to 16 stereo tracks, any of which can be assigned to output MIDI to seamlessly integrate other gear into sequencing. Digitakt’s sequencer had a 64-step limit; Digitakt II doubles that. While Digitakt had 1GB of internal storage accompanied by 64MB of RAM, Digitakt II has a capacious 20GB plus 400MB of RAM. Digitakt allowed 128 samples per project and now Digitakt II allows 1024 – we challenge anyone to reach that limit.
From sample storage to sequence length and variance between patterns, we find ourselves nowhere near the limitations of Digitakt II. It allows over five times the Roland SP-404MKII’s samples-per-project allowance, for instance, and 4GB more internal storage. It doubles the track allowance of the Polyend Play. While it doesn’t trounce these competitors in every department (the effects section of the SP-404MKII is best-in-class, for example), it all suggests that this is a workhorse of an instrument that will serve its users for a long time to come.
The OS 1.50 update to the original Digitakt introduced workflow enhancements that now constitute the core of Digitakt II, namely the SRC page and Machines for delivering samples in various ways. These consist of the Oneshot, which linearly plays samples forward, backward or looped; Werp allows samples and loops to automatically stretch to the tempo of a project or pattern by warping audio and chopping it into quantised sections. Stretch, well, stretches audio into the tempo of your project or section with a granular-style engine, while Repitch does the same but with a more traditional pitching method. Grid lets you slice a sample into segments to be triggered individually. Each feature brings its own distinctive flavour into the mix and makes for huge variety, even within sequences consisting of reasonably homogenous sounds.
Back of the Digitakt II
Sonically, the Digitakt II leaves very little to complain about. The onboard sounds are rich and varied– deep kicks, industrial clatters, sizzling hats, garage-reminiscent woodblocks, it’s all here– and its sampling fidelity is flawless. The Machines’ audio editing imparts minimal artefacts into the samples, and the choice selection of effects sounds adds all the sparkle one could ask them to.
In essence, Digitakt II breaks into entirely new territories of functionality. One thing it takes pains to retain is the purity of its purpose as a drum computer and sampler. While it can manipulate samples any which way, to the point of making new sounds entirely, it’s not a synthesizer and nor is it pretending to be. There’s Elektron’s Syntakt and Digitone for that. We could cite all the ways it pushes the boundaries of that role, for instance the brilliant, exquisitely-detailed multi-mode variable filter, or the Euclidean sequencer, which allows for mathematically complex sequences of pseudo-irregular patterns. We could list the brilliantly tweakable and cutely animated effects, from delay to bit-crushing, or the well-expanded modulation capabilities, but if we did, you’d be here all day.
What we can say is that it’s a pleasure to operate, it sounds fantastic and it has all the connectivity, memory and functionality one could hope for from a machine like this. And that’s without the Overbridge software package which, at the time of writing, isn’t available for Digitakt II. It’s highly playable, with all manner of handy functions that we’ve come to expect from Elektron by now, but here the developer has outdone itself.
We can likely expect a Digitone II and Syntakt II. If those upgrades are as expansive as this, the Digitakt II looks set to lead the charge, possibly influencing the entire groovebox market, all over again.

Key features

Digital drum computer & stereo sampler
16 audio tracks for stereo or mono samples, or MIDI
128-step sequencer
Euclidean sequence generator
20GB internal storage and 400MB RAM
Effects: delay, reverb, chorus, bit reduction, sample reduction, and overdrive per track
Dimensions: 215 x 176 x 63 mm
Weight: 1.48 kg

The post We dare you to try and reach Elektron Digitakt II’s limitations appeared first on MusicTech.

Techivation introduce AI-Impactor Techivation's latest AI-series plug-in is described as an intelligent attack enhancer that’s been designed to make any sound stand out and cut through a busy mix.

Roblox strikes deal with DistroKid – but indie artists won’t be paid any money from itRoblox revenues are forecast to hit $3.5bn across the course of this year
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Gemini Live first look: Better than talking to Siri, but worse than I’d likeGoogle launched Gemini Live during its Made By Google event in Mountain View, California, on Tuesday. The feature allows you to have a semi-natural spoken conversation, not typed out, with an AI chatbot powered by Google’s latest large language model. TechCrunch was there to test it out firsthand. Gemini Live is Google’s answer to OpenAI’s […]
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Roblox strikes deal with DistroKid – but indie artists won’t be paid any money from itRoblox revenues are forecast to hit $3.5bn across the course of this year
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McDSP Live Pack II bundle goes native A new version of the Live Pack II bundle has arrived, offering support for Waves and Fourier Audio's VST3 host systems as well as all major DAWs.

5 impactful sound design tips from Mad Keys
Veteran producer and instrumentalist Mad Keys shares five essential sound design tips that inspire his creativity.

Cheap DIY Button Pad Uses Neat Punchcard TrickA StreamDeck is effectively a really cool box full of colorful buttons that activate various things on your PC. They’re fun and cool but they’re also something you can build yourself if you’re so inclined. [Jason] did just that for his sim racing setup, and he included some nifty old-school tech as well.
An ESP32 is at the core of the build, listening to button presses and communicating with the PC. However, the build doesn’t actually use regular buttons. Instead, it uses infrared sensors wired up in a matrix. This was an intentional choice, because [Jason] wanted the device to be reconfigurable with different paper card overlays. There are ways to do this with regular buttons too, but it works particularly well with the infrared technique. Plus, each button also gets a Neopixel allowing its color to be changed to suit different button maps.
What’s really neat is that the button maps change instantly when a different overlay card is inserted. [Jason] achieved this with an extra row of infrared sensors to detect punched holes in the bottom of the overlay cards.
Once upon a time, even building your own keyboard was an uphill battle. Today, it’s easier than ever to whip up fun and unique interface devices that suit your own exact needs. That’s a good thing! Video after the break.

UnitedMasters launches new $20-a-year subscription tier that allows artists to keep 100% of royaltiesOnce again, the indie artist services and distribution platform is bringing down the cost of doing business for artists
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Metro Boomin Continues ‘Leslie Joanne Single Moms Are Superheroes' Grant ProgramLast night, GRAMMY®-nominated, diamond-certified producer and global superstar Metro Boomin descended on Atlanta for the 6th stop of his highly anticipated ‘We Trust You’ tour with Future at the State Farm Center. Metro and Future performed a collection of their top hits, including “Like That” and “Type Shit” from their #1 Billboard 200 album We Don't Trust You, which holds the #1 spot on the Apple Music charts in over 80 countries and was also the most streamed album in a single day of 2024. 

Also, making its 6th tour stop was Metro Boomin's Leslie Joanne Single Moms Are Superheroes grant-giving tour program, a national, multi-city initiative providing $20,000 in grants and show tickets to selected single mother non-profit organizations in each market of the ‘We Trust You’ tour. 

The first recipient of the night was the Atlanta Mission, an Atlanta-based organization and registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to transforming the lives of those experiencing homelessness through customized services offering a path forward amidst challenging circumstances. Followed by the second grant recipient Solomon’s Temple, a holistic emergency and transitional shelter for homeless women and their children, driven by a mission to treat the root causes of homelessness in Atlanta.

Both organizations were gifted $20K from Metro to help further the work for their important causes as he takes the 'Leslie Joanne Single Moms Are Superheroes' tour grant program to all 21 markets of his national, multi-city 'We Trust You' tour. Metro officially launched the grant program at the first tour stops in Kansas City and St. Paul. Metro initially launched his ‘Single Moms Are Superheroes’ initiative in 2017, hosting annual give-back activations. In December of 2023, he partnered with St. Louis-based non-profit organization RUNG for Women and presenting sponsor Amazon Access to launch his grant-giving program in honor of his late mother, Leslie Joanne.The post Metro Boomin Continues ‘Leslie Joanne Single Moms Are Superheroes' Grant Program first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.