Is analog music making a comeback? [Hanna Kahlert of MIDiA]In this complex, uncertain, and always-on world, many people are craving the nostalgia of a simpler time. Just as vinyl made a major comeback, will artists and fans return to. Continue reading
The post Is analog music making a comeback? [Hanna Kahlert of MIDiA] appeared first on Hypebot.

Web3 DAO TRAX raises $2.9M to expand its Music Superfan platformThe CEOs of both UMG and WMG are among the many touting the need for a focus on superfans, and TRAX just raised $2.9 million to build tools to help. Continue reading
The post Web3 DAO TRAX raises $2.9M to expand its Music Superfan platform appeared first on Hypebot.

TIDAL blocked DJs from using Stems – but the next generation of DJ gear will likely make that irrelevant
You may have seen the news that in a recent Serato DJ update – the ability for Serato Stems to work with tracks streamed from TIDAL was removed. The music streaming service has also pulled access to Stems for DJs in new updates to Rekordbox DJ, Virtual DJ, djay Pro, and so on. Many DJs […]
The post TIDAL blocked DJs from using Stems – but the next generation of DJ gear will likely make that irrelevant appeared first on DJ TechTools.

Spotify’s astrology-like Daylists go viral, but its micro-genre mastermind was let go last monthIs it a “fearful vocaloid wednesday morning,” a “yearning cottagecore thursday afternoon,” or perhaps a “heartbroken karaoke friday evening”? That’s up to your Spotify Daylist, an algorithmically-generated playlist inspired by your listening habits, which changes several times per day. Yeah, you may not think it’s a “teen angst mallgoth monday morning,” but Spotify knows something […]
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The Immediate Family Announce 'Skin In The Game,' Release New VideoThe Immediate Family’s new studio album, Skin In The Game, will be released on February 16, 2024, via Quarto Valley Records. The legendary musicians’ second full-length studio album is a skillful combination of power and precision, fun and introspection, featuring soaring harmonies and a burst of R&B with the pure essence of rock and roll. Produced by the band themselves, Skin In The Game’s fourteen tracks showcase the remarkably versatile musical skills possessed by all five members of The Immediate Family: singer/songwriter/guitarists Danny Kortchmar, Waddy Wachtel and Steve Postell, and one of the most renowned rhythm sections in rock history, Russ Kunkel and Leland Sklar. 

Read MC's Q&A With The Immediate Family Here

Launching with the raucous opening track “Whole Lotta Rock and Roll,” the album’s thirteen original songs exuberantly careen from funky rockers such as “24/7/365,” “Confusion” and “Lost in the Shuffle,” to gentler numbers, such as “Fragile Heart” and “Catch You on the Other Side.” On “Looking Away,” they effortlessly build the emotional drama by shifting from restrained acoustic guitars to a blast of electric guitar fury. Similarly, the band’s satiric edge can slide from the dark side on “Party at the Graveyard” to the lighter-hearted fun of “High Maintenance.” Sklar and Kunkel’s subtly profound ways of building and holding down a song’s foundation are present throughout Skin In The Game. The album’s title track begins with Kunkel’s drumbeat, complemented by Sklar’s sonorous bass. Together, they bring a gravitas that supports the song’s message that life isn’t just about the money; you need to have heart, soul, pride, and be willing to risk everything – “skin in the game.” 

The first single from Skin In The Game is its only cover tune: an arresting reimagining of Sparks’ “The Toughest Girl in Town.” The Immediate Family’s rendition, initially released in October of 2022, was hailed by Guitar Player Magazine as: “Injected with a shot of rock ‘n’ roll prowess, ‘The Toughest Girl in Town’ is transformed from eccentric synth-pop gem to ax-centric masterpiece.” The second single, the album’s title track, “Skin In The Game,” will be released in January 2024.

The band’s unique, decades-long musical journey is the subject of the full-length documentary Immediate Family by acclaimed filmmaker Denny Tedesco (director of The Wrecking Crew). The film tracks the rise and collaborations of this group of legendary studio musicians, Danny Kortchmar, Waddy Wachtel, Russ Kunkel, and Leland Sklar, through the 1970s and onward, spotlighting their prestigious partnerships and their indelible mark that helped define the sound of a generation. Immediate Family is a backstage tour of rock history, featuring intimate interviews with the band members, as well as memorable stories from some of music's most iconic performers, including Carole King, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Neil Young, Keith Richards, Don Henley, Stevie Nicks, David Crosby, Jackson Browne, Lyle Lovett, and Phil Collins. Immediate Family released by Magnolia Pictures and available everywhere on December 15.

For more information on The Immediate Family, visit www.immediatefamilyband.com.

The post The Immediate Family Announce 'Skin In The Game,' Release New Video first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Teenage Engineering co-founder on ‘Fadergate’: “We guessed there would be transport damage, but not at this rate”When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. For more information on how this works, see our terms of use.
Teenage Engineering co-founder David Eriksson has addressed ‘Fadergate’, a term that was coined online after users reported problems with the fader of the new EP-133 K.O.II sampler.
READ MORE: NAMM 2024: The hottest rumours and latest announcements from this year’s show
Speaking to MusicTech in the latest digital cover feature, Eriksson and music producer Ricky Tinez discuss the impact and community reaction of Teenage Engineering’s new sampler.
Directly addressing the Fadergate issue, Eriksson says, “We tried to predict everything that can go wrong, from production to cosmetics. We’ve built a lot of fixtures, tools and automation to build these [instruments] and to avoid things like this from happening.”
Since the sampler’s release in November 2023, a noticeable number of customers have complained of the effects fader becoming suddenly unresponsive. Several reviews on retail sites such as Thomann, one user said: “Really nice piece… almost perfect if it weren’t for the fact that it’s delivered broken right away (like many buyers)”. Another wrote: “Unfortunately, due to the thin packaging, the device arrived with a bent and non-functional fader.”

Customers have been able to claim exchanges, but have reported long wait times in receiving a replacement.
In response, Eriksson says: “There are a lot of robotics that move the fader up and down and push all the keys and calibrate them, plus we have a log of everything. So we know for sure that they work when they go into the box and leave the factory. We could guess that you get transport damage, but not at this rate.”
Eriksson assures that the next batch of EP-133s should be at a much lower risk of damage during transit.
Speaking on the first batch, he says that “there were a couple of different mistakes from our side with the packaging dimensions
“The size of the box is 10 inches, so some stores thought it was a 10-inch vinyl package and so shipped it without padding. But it was also our little design flaw; we didn’t have any protection, and if something hit the packaging straight on the fader, it would break. Now that’s been changed.
The box for Teenage Engineering’s EP-133 K.O.II. Image: Simon Vinall for MusicTech
“So we have new packaging — now, we’ve been throwing it like a frisbee at work, at the walls, like over and over. And now it doesn’t break.”
Eriksson adds that Teenage Engineering will be pulling back the curtain on their factory with an online tour that shows the machinery they used to build the EP-133 K.O.II.
For those looking to get their hands on one, the TE co-founder says that more features are still in the pipeline for the sampler.
“We have a lot of stuff planned, it’s just we were focusing on stability in the beginning and getting it rock solid,” “[We haven’t even] turned on the CPU’s crazy power-saving features yet”.
Read the full cover story.
The post Teenage Engineering co-founder on ‘Fadergate’: “We guessed there would be transport damage, but not at this rate” appeared first on MusicTech.

The music industry is learning Hollywood’s lessons about the power of franchisesWould the music industry do well to throw marketing budget behind slightly-forgotten artists from the 'naughts', wonders Tim Ingham
Source

YouTube layoffs to hit 100 employees as company reorgs music and other media teamsYouTube to make job reductions as part of reorganization designed to streamline operations as it handles an ever-growing number of creators on its platform and focuses on new technologies like AI
Source

Will Justice’s new album feature The Weeknd? Fans speculate a new track is on the wayThe Weeknd appears to be hinting that he may have collaborated with French electronic duo, Justice.
The pair – Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay – have been teasing unreleased music and a new album, which will be their first since 2016’s Woman. It is due to be released this year.

READ MORE: Kraftwerk’s Wolfgang Flür and Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter have been making music together

Pedro Winter, who founded the Ed Banger label to which Justice are signed to, broke the news of their return in an interview on a French radio station last year, declaring “I can tell you now. There will be a new album and a new tour in 2024.” The duo are also set to perform at this year’s Coachella festival.
Speculation of a collaboration with The Weeknd began to circulate after the artist posted a range of cryptic images on Instagram containing Justice’s signature cross logo, with one also featuring a French flag. Take a look below:

The Weeknd teases possible collaboration with French duo Justice pic.twitter.com/YmG4AUP4de
— The Weeknd News (@NewsWeeknd) January 16, 2024

Producer Mike Dean, who has worked with both artists in the past, further added to the speculation by also sharing images of both The Weeknd and Justice together on his own Instagram account:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by MIKE DEAN (@therealmikedean)

Despite this, The Weeknd had previously said he had recorded his final feature back in 2023, and that he would not be appearing in any further collaborations unless Daft Punk reunited, hence why there has been talk of the cryptic posts in the Daft Punk subreddit:
Could it be? byu/StonerPowah61 inDaftPunk

However, The Weeknd is also preparing to release his own album, which will finalise the trilogy he has formed with 2020’s After Hours and 2022’s Dawn FM.
Back in October, Winter shared that the forthcoming Justice record gave him the same feeling he felt when listening to their 2007 Cross album: “Listening to Cross, I had goosebumps – I loved each and every note of this record, and I have goosebumps when I’m listening to the forthcoming [2024] Justice album, too.”
He continued, “I can only be proud as a manager to work with a band that is pushing the boundaries and innovating like them. We are celebrating the 20 years of Ed Banger, but we are also celebrating 20 years of Justice.”
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Audient ORIA: Immersive interface & monitor controller Designed specifically for immersive audio, Audient's new ORIA audio interface and monitor controller packs everything you need to calibrate and run a 9.1.6 speaker setup into 1U of rack space.

Web3 DAO TRAX raises $2.9M to expand its Music Superfan platformThe CEOs of both UMG and WMG are among the many touting the need for a focus on superfans, and TRAX just raised $2.9 million to build tools to help. Continue reading
The post Web3 DAO TRAX raises $2.9M to expand its Music Superfan platform appeared first on Hypebot.

Is analog music making a comeback? [Hanna Kahlert of MIDiA]In this complex, uncertain, and always-on world, many people are craving the nostalgia of a simpler time. Just as vinyl made a major comeback, will artists and fans return to. Continue reading
The post Is analog music making a comeback? [Hanna Kahlert of MIDiA] appeared first on Hypebot.

NAMM 2024: Audient launches ORIA, an all-in-one interface that “prioritises immersive audio workflows”NAMM 2024: Audient has introduced the ORIA – an “all in one” interface and monitor controller designed specifically for multi-speaker arrays, from stereo to 9.1.6 setups and everything in between.
ORIA doubles up as a USB-C audio interface with 16 outputs and a standalone monitor controller via its ADAT Inputs or an Optional Dante Card.

READ MORE: NAMM 2024: The microKorg is back, packing classic “essence” with “powerful new features”

Set to arrive in the first quarter of 2024, ORIA also offers two dedicated relayed switched stereo outputs, two independent headphone outputs, BNC Word Clock in and out, as well as two Audient Console Mic Preamps and 16 ADAT inputs.
It also hosts Advanced Speaker Processing, allowing users to create up to 32 custom onboard calibration Profiles (presets) for any monitoring format by utilising per channel 8-band EQ, Speaker Delay, Trim and Bass Management tools.
Especially for this new product, Audient has partnered with “calibration experts” Sonarworks so that users can load SoundID Reference profiles directly into its hardware. Measure and calibrate your room in under an hour, then make use of full control of your stereo, surround or Dolby Atmos environment, via its software and iPad Remote.
“As immersive audio continues to become more prevalent across music, film, TV, game and VR production, our goal was to design a purpose-driven and affordable solution for those wanting to work in the immersive space,” says Audient’s Andrew Allen.
“ORIA is designed to prioritise immersive audio workflows, giving you onboard room and speaker calibration DSP, true immersive monitoring control and professional audio performance, alongside intelligent integrations with Sonarworks and Dolby Atmos.”
ORIA ships with a Sonarworks Reference Measurement microphone and a 60-Day free trial of the SoundID Reference for Multichannel software both included in the box.  Audient will eventually integrate support for the Dolby Atmos Renderer, but further details are yet to be revealed on this.
ORIA will retail at £2520/€2885/$2625. The optional Dante Card is £600/€685/ $625. You can visit Audient at The NAMM Show, booth #7003, Hall C. Find out more over at the official Audient website.
The post NAMM 2024: Audient launches ORIA, an all-in-one interface that “prioritises immersive audio workflows” appeared first on MusicTech.

Tips for Successful & Profitable Touring as a small Independent ArtistTouring requires a lot of planning and preparation, especially if you want to make a profit. This guide can help make your tour more than possible. by Chris Robley from. Continue reading
The post Tips for Successful & Profitable Touring as a small Independent Artist appeared first on Hypebot.

Kraftwerk’s Wolfgang Flür and Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter have been making music togetherFormer Kraftwerk member Wolfgang Flür has revealed that Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter, Juan Atkins and New Order’s Peter Hook have all contributed to his upcoming solo album.

READ MORE: Unearthed 1982 Brian Eno interview: “I generally don’t like electronic sounds”

Flür, who was the percussionist for Kraftwerk before exiting the band in 1997, later releasing solo albums Eloquence: Complete Works in 2015 and Magazine 1 in 2022, is set to put out his next work, Time, in September.
According to a new interview with German news channel Blick, Flür hasn’t held back on getting legendary talent in the studio to work on the album. He says Peter Hook, bassist and co-founder of Joy Division and New Order, Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk, and Detroit techno pioneer Juan Atkins have all contributed.
“My album Time will be released in September,” he tells Blick. “Great people are involved: Peter Hook from New Order, Thomas Bangalter from Daft Punk, U96 from Hamburg – and Juan Atkins from Detroit. I will present dance versions of the songs in Zurich.”
Since Daft Punk’s split in 2021, Thomas Bangalter’s working on a number of solo projects. In 2022, he released a solo orchestral album called Mythologies, and in 2023, Bangalter scored the movie Daaaaaalí!, a film exploring the life of artist Salvador Dalí.
Recently, the Daft Punk member was interviewed by French news channel Brut. In it, he revealed that he was once unknowingly sold a ticket to his own show and he also discussed the impact of anonymity as a result of wearing Daft Punk’s iconic robot helmets.
He said: “At some point, it seemed pretentious to continue staying anonymous, and I found myself in situations where people apologised for not having photos to ensure I wouldn’t be disturbed. I wasn’t seeking attention, but the anonymity started to attract more attention than it removed.”
For more artist news, head to MusicTech.
The post Kraftwerk’s Wolfgang Flür and Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter have been making music together appeared first on MusicTech.