Andreessen Horowitz’s thoughts on AI shows what the music industry will be up against in 2024The company's views place it squarely on the opposite side of the issue from much of the music industry
Source

The UK recorded music market saw 179.6 billion audio streams last year – up 12.8% YoYThe BPI has previously confirmed that there were 159.3 billion audio streams in the UK in 2022
Source

Ronan Fed Releases FREE Pneuma Pro Synthesizer For Windows
Ronan Fed releases Pneuma Pro, a freeware polyphonic synthesizer plugin for Windows. Happy New Year to you and yours, dear readers! Hopefully, you’re recovering from the festivities with minimal issues. We’re back in the fray today with a new synthesizer from developer Ronan Fed. Pneuma Pro is a fully-featured polyphonic synthesizer for Windows computers. So, [...]
View post: Ronan Fed Releases FREE Pneuma Pro Synthesizer For Windows

LG’s new DukeBox speaker has vacuum tube audio and a transparent OLED displayLG has revealed an intriguing new smart speaker, the DukeBox, set to be on display at Las Vegas’s CES 2024 consumer tech show next week.

READ MORE: Sonos’ Move 2 might just be 2023’s best portable speaker

As CES 2024 nears, LG has started teasing a range of cool gadgets, such as an AI-powered ‘smart home assistant’ that plays music based on your mood. The DukeBox, however, has the potential to be the most attractive piece of kit to audiophiles.
The DukeBox smart speaker merges vintage vacuum tube audio with a modern transparent OLED panel. Vacuum tube audio, for those that don’t know, refers to using vacuum tubes (electron tubes) in amplifiers or sound systems. These tubes, largely replaced by transistors today, enhance audio signals by controlling the flow of electrons. Vacuum tube audio is renowned for warm, harmonic sound.
The technology blends with front-facing bottom and top 360-degree speakers, creating “an immersive audio experience that surrounds the listener”. The device’s retro jukebox-esque look showcases the visible vacuum pipes, while its OLED display offers adjustable transparency.
The DukeBox, a mix of nostalgia and modernity, functions like a smart speaker but extends beyond music, capable of playing movies or, for example, a cosy fireplace on its transparent OLED display.
This is by far no the only piece of kit being unveiled at CES 2024. The brand recently unveiled the Smart Home AI Assistant, a small AI-powered two-legged robot that, as well as acting as a pet monitor that can interact with smart home appliances, can play you music based on your mood when you come home.
LG hasn’t yet disclosed release dates or prices for its DukeBox smart speaker, but LG says more details will come during CES.
Find out more about the DukeBox via the LG Newsroom and buy tickets for CES 2024 at CES.
The post LG’s new DukeBox speaker has vacuum tube audio and a transparent OLED display appeared first on MusicTech.

How much do Content Creators earn? Here is the Top 50 [Infographic]How much do the top content creators earn from TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram? A new study looked at June 2022 to June 2023 and found that the 50 most affluent. Continue reading
The post How much do Content Creators earn? Here is the Top 50 [Infographic] appeared first on Hypebot.

Social media teaser hints new Justice music imminentLegendary French duo Justice have released a teaser of new music that is hoped to come our way later in 2024.

READ MORE: DJ launches GoFundMe campaign to replace urine “soaked” decks

In a post on social media yesterday (2 January), the duo shared a 30-second video titled “Happy New Year” showcasing the new unnamed track alongside clips of a UV meter.
You can watch the clip below:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by JUSTICE (@etjusticepourtous)

 
It was revealed back in June 2023 that the duo was to return from their five-year hiatus. Ed Banger label founder Pedro Winter – AKA Busy P – broke the news in an interview on French radio station France Inter, declaring “The return of Justice. Now it’s official. I can tell you now. There will be a new album and a new tour in 2024.”
Winter first worked with the pair in 2007 as they released their debut LP Cross, and also revealed that listening to this forthcoming record gave him the same goosebumps as when he first heard Cross.
The upcoming album will be the fourth from the French duo, marking a return from Woman, which was released in 2016.
While Justice have been on a hiatus, it didn’t stop them from sharing a previously unheard demo of their classic 2007 track D.A.N.C.E in 2022 to celebrate 15 years since the album’s release.
Further information surrounding the duo’s fourth album is limited at this time, but we’ll keep you posted, so stay tuned to MusicTech in the meantime.
The post Social media teaser hints new Justice music imminent appeared first on MusicTech.

Audiomovers introduce New Year Collection Audiomovers' new bundles offer a range of remote collaboration options that focus on immersive audio production. 

Can the point system help get Songwriters out of poverty?As the number of middle-class musicians decreases, a handful of pioneering record labels offer songwriters a better royalty deal in the form of points that may give them a livable. Continue reading
The post Can the point system help get Songwriters out of poverty? appeared first on Hypebot.

12 Ways to improve your Social Media as a MusicianReady to make the most of social media as a musician for promotion and discovery? Here are 12 things you can do to start off on the right foot. by. Continue reading
The post 12 Ways to improve your Social Media as a Musician appeared first on Hypebot.

Dillon Francis: “As a music producer, you get to this level and then you’re expected to be amazing all the time and I feel like I’m not.”EDM producer Dillon Francis has opened up about the pressures of expectations in the music industry, revealing that enrolling on a music production course and attending gigs “re-inspired” him to make his latest album.

READ MORE: BandLab’s Meng Ru Kuok: “I think there will be over 1 billion music creators by 2030, potentially even sooner”

Discussed in a new interview with MusicTech, the LA-based artist remarks on a period of creative block in January 2023, when opening Ableton Live felt like “opening a newspaper”, he says.
“As a music producer,” he goes on, referring to a feeling of imposter syndrome, “you get to this level and then you’re expected to be amazing all the time and I feel like I’m not.”
According to Francis, who released his latest album This Mixtape Is Fire TOO in December, six sessions at ICON Collective, an LA-based music production school, offered him newfound inspiration.

“I didn’t know what to expect going into it,” ICON teacher Diaso tells MusicTech, “but they were really fun sessions. It felt less like a teacher-student relationship. He has such great taste for sound design. I demonstrated a few techniques and he could just take it and run with it. It was really fun to watch.”
“There’s a lot of stuff in Serum I didn’t know you could do,” Francis says. “I didn’t know you could put in a PNG and make WAV file out of it. You gotta go read the manual for that. Who has time for that? But no I should be reading the manual. It was awesome to go [to ICON] and re-inspire myself.
He goes on to say how he further found inspiration after fellow EDM producer Porter Robinson urged him to attend more music gigs.
“‘You gotta go out to shows. You gotta see people live and keep re-inspiring yourself.’” Porter told him. “So that was a big thing I started doing at that time when I was going back to school. I was trying to check out new artists and search for people that were inspiring me and that was a big part of [This Mixtape Is Fire TOO].”
Read the full interview with Dillon Francis at MusicTech.
The post Dillon Francis: “As a music producer, you get to this level and then you’re expected to be amazing all the time and I feel like I’m not.” appeared first on MusicTech.

2023 was the worst year for UK venue closures, says MVT2023 was the worst year for music venue closures in the UK, according to Music Venues Trust.

READ MORE: Floating record shop Rubber Ducky Records reopens after sinking with new stock

MVT, a charity set up in 2014 to “protect, secure and improve” grassroots music venues, revealed in a recent Instagram post that 125 venues were closed in the UK within 12 months.
As a result of this, a shocking 4,000 jobs were cut and 14,500 events were no longer able to run without venues to host them in. According to its report, 193,230 gigs for musicians were also lost as a result of the closures and 80 venues are now in crisis services.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Music Venue Trust (@musicvenuetrust)

The figures of course reflect a bleak year for UK music venues. At the start of December, historic 220-capacity Bath-based venue Moles was forced to shut its doors after nearly 50 years of operation. This venue was an early gig location for bands such as Oasis, The Cure, Blur and Everything But The Girl.
Upon its closure, the venue wrote on social media: “We’ve weathered many things over the years, including a fire and a pandemic in the last 10 years alone, but this cost of living crisis has crippled the grassroots music sector. Although that is not the only problem, it has accentuated it. Huge rent rates, along with massively increased costs on everything from utilities to stock, are all factors.”
As part of a month-long initiative based around Music Venue Day, Ticketmaster added an option to donate to Music Venues Trust to its checkout sections throughout October last year. Upon the launch of the feature, MVT’s CEO Mark Davyd stated a need for “radical intervention”.
Davyd told IQ Mag, “This upsell provides a practical method for fans to support grassroots music venues, and we are incredibly grateful to the Ticketmaster team for putting it in place.
“Ticketmaster matching all fan donations is a powerful message for the whole industry about the support our sector needs and the will of the music community to provide it.”
“We believe that live music fans understand exactly how vital these venues are to the future of our whole music ecosystem and how much financial difficulty they are currently facing,” he adds.
“127 grassroots music venues have closed in the last 12 months – more than one is permanently closing every week. We need a radical intervention by everyone: the government, the music industry, artists and fans, to stop these closures and turn this around.”
Read more at Music Venues Trust.
The post 2023 was the worst year for UK venue closures, says MVT appeared first on MusicTech.

Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA to Receive 2024 NAMM Innovation Award at the TEC AwardsFamed producer and Wu-Tang Clan mastermind RZA – real name Robert Diggs – will be presented with the TEC Innovation Award at The NAMM Show’s 2024 TEC Awards on 27 January in Anaheim, California.

READ MORE: BandLab’s Meng Ru Kuok: “I think there will be over 1 billion music creators by 2030, potentially even sooner”

Formerly known as the NAMM TEC Les Paul Innovation Award, the award honours individuals who have set the highest standards of excellence in the creative application of recording technology.
“RZA’s formidable body of work and talent is unquestionable,” John Mlynczak, NAMM president and CEO said in a statement. “His legacy of accomplishments and lasting power on music inspires many music makers beyond hip-hop and he deserves this high recognition.”
A trailblazer in culture and in hip-hop, RZA created the group’s widely-imitated core sound consisting of stark, booming beats, and chilling samples heavily drawing from vintage soul records as well as kung fu movies.
Wu-Tang Clan entered the music scene in 1993 with Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), an album Rolling Stone dubbed one of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (#27). The group’s debut album also featured C.R.E.A.M., a track the magazine ranked first in its list of The 100 Best East Coast Hip-Hop Songs of All Time.
Since then, the collective has sold more than 40 million albums globally.
Outside of his Wu-Tang Clan activities, RZA scored Jim Jarmusch’s 1999 film Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai and soundtracks for Kill Bill Volume 1 and Kill Bill: Volume 2. He stars in the comedy film Problemista, which premiered at SXSW, and is also an executive producer for, and directed several episodes of Wu-Tang: An American Saga, the original Hulu series honouring his group.
Now in its 39th year and presented by NAMM, the TEC Awards recognises the best in professional audio and sound production and takes place as a part of The NAMM Show, the world’s largest music trade show. All finalists will be celebrated at a special communal reception held on the campus of the Anaheim Convention Center on the evening of Saturday, 27 January.
The NAMM Show will include live music and panels, including a performance by emerging female hip-hop artist Blimes, and sessions such as Innovate and Elevate: Exploring DJ Technology with DJ Hapa, as well as signature events such as the Parnelli Awards and She Rocks Awards.
Learn more about the TEC Awards at Tecawards. Tickets are available at Eventbrite.
The post Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA to Receive 2024 NAMM Innovation Award at the TEC Awards appeared first on MusicTech.

“Without that synth, I wouldn’t have my sound”: Demi Riquisimo shines a light on essential hardwareRaised in Detroit and now based in London, Demi Riquisimo’s playful dance tracks reflect a vintage acid, Italo, and disco-inspired house sound made with a modern sensibility, making them huge hits on dance floors. It’s seriously hard to not want to move when listening to one of his tracks, as he laces old-school drums with break samples and combines them with tasty synths.

READ MORE: Back to school with Dillon Francis: Why a maturing music career still needs class clown antics

We speak to Riquisimo about the latest compilation on his label, Semi Delicious, and how he made his standout release on DJ Tennis’ Life & Death, an EP entitled Proto Call. A big advocate for the use of hardware, we get to hear about his hard synths and drum machines and we also learn of his sampling techniques. Just don’t ask Demi Riquisimo where he gets his vocal samples.

Semi Delicious · SEMID016 “Asylum Of Love” VA
Hey Demi, your recent VA compilation on Semi Delicious is fantastic!
Thanks. I’m happy with the SEMID016 Asylum Of Love EP. All the artists on this EP are people I’ve played with over the past few years and whose music I admire.
Demi Riquisimo in his studio
We also have to give a big shout-out to your recent Proto Call EP. It must’ve been a fun one to make.
Thank you. These were two tracks I made fairly close to each other in early 2022. They were both tracks that I made quickly which is normally a good sign. In October that year I had the opportunity to do a B2B set with DJ Tennis at ADE. I thought it would be a good opportunity to test these two tracks in front of the man himself and when I played Talk To Frank, which was labelled April 22, he asked me what it was. We pinged a few messages back and forth and then the Proto Call EP was created for a release on Life And Death, which then came out in June 2023.
Proto Call by Demi Riquisimo
Did you mostly make this using the hardware in your studio space?
This one was totally hardware for all the bass and mid-range sounds and samples as Rex files for the drums taken from jungle packs (I find slowing down the BPM for jungle loops better with Rex files as each hit isn’t being warped, although it’s old school). I used some PSP plugins for processing but that’s it. I try not to over-process sounds to keep them as raw and dynamic as possible.
Tell us a bit about the studio and how you use it.
My studio is based in Mile End, London. I’ve been there for eight years. Before that, I lived in Bristol, where I always had a home studio. I’ve always had the space in Mile End but for the first few years, I’d rent it out at the weekends as I’d normally be gigging. I currently do all my writing, producing and creating in the studio with all my gear, but I want to try and look to produce more on-the-go as I’m touring a lot more now, so to be able to do that whilst I’m away is very important to me.
Demi Riquisimo’s studio
What is your favourite piece of gear?
Novation Bass Station 2 – 100 per cent. Without that synth, I wouldn’t have my sound. It’s an affordable bit of kit which has amazing modulation features.
What synth or effect can be heard the most on Proto Call?
The Korg Prologue. It’s a fantastic poly-synth that mixes analogue and digital oscillators. It has an effects unit built in which creates a lot of original movement, especially the grain delay.
A synth rack in Demi Riquisimo’s studio
How did you create the synth line in Proto Call?
Both the synth line and bassline are from the Novation Bass Station. The synth-line is an auto-modulated high resonance SAW tooth and the bassline is a modulated sine wave.
How do you create drums?
I use a 606 drum machine for the hi-hats and I use analogue drum samples from sample packs which I put into samplers to create patterns. Processing-wise, I don’t use too much standard compression because I prefer to saturate and limit the sounds myself, which is a type of compression.
For me, it’s all about sample choice above everything. I would rather pick the right sounds than spend half a day picking the wrong one but trying to make it sound decent.
Novation Bass Station and Native Instruments Maschine in Demi Riquisimo’s studio
Where did you get your vocal samples from?
No producer is going to tell you where they get their vocal samples from! That would be telling. However, I will tell you that I processed the samples and added basic delay and reverb.
What’s been the biggest investment in your studio? Was it worth it?
The Korg Prologue. I bought it at the beginning of lockdown and it was my first modern polysynth. It was 100% worth it.
Records in Demi Riquisimo’s studio
What is next on your shopping list studio-wise?
I’ve been debating a Roland Juno X. I’ve never owned a Juno synth and the 106 has always been my dream synth. The X – although digital – has many of the sounds and features of the 106 while combining the modulation and programming of a modern synth.
How did you go about getting the acoustics right in the studio?
It took me many years. I’ve been in my studio for almost eight years now so it’s been a lot of trial and error. I’ve got bass traps in each corner of the room and panels on the side wall and hanging from the ceiling. All are made from rockwall; a highly absorbent material.
Do you have any frustrations with your current setup and why?
I’m running out of room for new gear!
What is your top piece of production advice?
Don’t be afraid to start a new idea if the current one isn’t working out. If you do have an idea that is working, try and finish a version there and then so when you go back to it you have an easier job ahead of you. I feel that if an idea is going well, the best ideas happen quickly, so I feel it’s good to make the most of this time.
Check out Demi Riquisimo on SoundCloud
The post “Without that synth, I wouldn’t have my sound”: Demi Riquisimo shines a light on essential hardware appeared first on MusicTech.

EastWest’s New Year’s deals EastWest are celebrating New Year with a selection of special offers on their award-winning sample libraries and virtual instruments.

Tech for Palestine launches to provide tools to help support PalestiniansThe Israel-Hamas war has proved divisive to the tech industry. This is one of the first public stances in support for Palestine.
© 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.