Softube VCA Compressor plug-in currently free Softube have announced that their VCA Compressor plug-in will be available as a free download until 31 March 2024.

S Club at the OrpheumWho would guess the year would be 2023 and Aqua and S Club were back right?? You can leave that out haha. This was scheduled for Nov at the Dolby and they cancelled their 5 N America shows. Hopefully they'll do what Aqua did and come back again for a bigger tour. By way the met the incoming associate editor last night at Extreme. Had no clue Mark retired and you're the editor now. In my 12 years with MC never saw an associate editor move up. Glad it got to be you. Marks a legend and tough to have to follow.

“There ain’t no party like an S Club party,”  and it was quite a party at the Orpheum Theatre February 27th when S Club played the final show of their Good Times tour. This show was originally scheduled at the Dolby Theater in November along with four dates in Toronto, Boston, NYC, and Chicago were postponed to February. British Pop group S Club 7 was founded back in 1998  by Spice Girls’ manager Simon Fuller who was in attendance for this show. The group consisted of 4 female and 3 male vocalists: Tina Barrett, Jon Lee, Paul Cattermole, Hannah Spearritt, Bradley McIntosh, Jo O’Meara, and Rachel Stevens. In five years they released four albums with a number of hits and iconic music videos and had three tours. S Club 7 had four number one hits in the U.K. and another seven that were top five. The whole group would not reunite until 2012 for a medley of hits on a BBC Children in Need telethon and their greatest hits album was reissued. The group would tour one more time as all seven members only in the U.K. for their Bring it All Back Tour. 

S Club 7 first became S Club in 2002 when Cattermole departed the group and their fourth album Seeing Double was the only one to be released as S Club. Previously Cattermole, O’Meara, and McIntosh had performed as S Club 3 in 08. Just a year ago the group announced a two week anniversary tour that would take place in October. Sadly, Cattermole passed away at the age of 46 on April 6th and Spearitt decided to not take part in the reunion. S Club as a five piece released their first single in nearly 20 years “These Are The Days” as a tribute to Cattermole and the group’s legacy. The group worked with Musical Director/Keyboardist/Producer Simon Ellis on the single who was a producer on all but the group’s first album and worked with the Spice Girls on all their tours/performances through 2012. 

S Club, now a five piece, gave their first reunion show since 2015 October 12th, 2023 in Manchester England which would conclude October 27th in Liverpool, England. S Club kicked off their first ever North American tour February 16th in Toronto, Canada. Following the east coast dates, S Club made their way to Los Angeles, CA. The show kicked off just before 8:30 P.M. with the opening song being none other than “S Club Party '' and sure brought a lot of memories back for the audience who would have been in elementary or middle school when S Club 7 released their debut album. The 18 song set included all the hits like “Don’t Stop Moving,” “Two in a Million,” “Bring It All Back,” and “Reach”. McIntosh and Lee performed "Good Times" as a tribute to Cattermole. S Club returned for an encore of “Never Had a Dream Come True,” and “S Club Party” for a second time but as a remix and outro.

Producer remakes Daft Punk’s Face To Face with more recent samples — and it’s amazingJust when you thought Daft Punk’s Face To Face couldn’t get any more legendary, one producer on YouTube has given the 2001 track a jaw-dropping new spin.
The Daft Punk track, which was made in collaboration with UK garage icon Todd Edwards, was released on the duo’s sophomore album, Discovery album. The deep cut gained mythic status from devoted fans who later learned that it comprises over 70 samples. While many fans have attempted to recreate the song — with great success — producer Nickster’s approach is arguably more impressive than a direct reproduction.
Taking samples from 18 songs that are 30 years older than Daft Punk and Todd Edwards’s palette, Nickster cleverly weaves them into the same structure and tonality as Face To Face. Where Daft Punk samples Electric Light Orchestra’s Evil Woman, Nickster samples the Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ Can’t Stop; where Daft Punk use snippets from Alan Parsons Project, Nickster chops up Radiohead.
LCD Soundsystem, Boards of Canada, Oneohtrix Point Never, Lady Gaga, Caryl Rae Jepsen, Estelle and more are the crucial ingredients to this piece of wizardry. Of course, Todd Edwards’ vocal stem is laid over the top for the touch of authenticity.

The resulting track is, obviously, sonically different, but Nickster made some ideal choices to retain the essence of the original. Commenters have noticed “sharper, colder tones,” that defined the 00s indie rock sound in comparison to the warmer soul sounds of the ‘70s, where Daft Punk found their sounds.
“This is CRAZY good,” says another user. “Really keeps the spirit of the original and doesn’t shy away from getting technical and creative. What a love letter to sampling this is.”
“This is one of the most impressive and complex things in music I’ve seen,” reads another comment. “When I clicked on the video I was conflicted between curiosity and scepticism but you’ve definitely gained my respect.”
The hunt for Face to Face samples raged on for decades, with Todd Edwards helping to bring the saga to a close in 2023. In an Instagram post, the New Jersey-born producer shared the original sample files used in his recording session with Daft Punk. Around a similar time, another producer posted the full sample breakdown to YouTube.

But, even though the samples have been identified and put in all the right places, it seems evident that Face To Face is just one of those songs that’ll always inspire creativity.
 
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From Universal Music’s cost-saving ‘redesign’ to Warner’s superfan app… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-UpThe five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days…
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"Bitcoin doesn’t need to become the most popular medium-of-exchange asset in order to drive more economic value in the future. Bitcoin is likely 10x better than gold in terms of portability, divisibility, transparency, predictability, security, etc." #crypto #Blockchain #BTC

UMG Publishing and TikTok send dueling messages to Songwriters [Full Text]With thousands of songs by major and independent artists who are not signed to Universal for recording or publishing now muted in the battle between the music giant and TikTok, both sides stepped up to the bully pulpit with dueling messages to songwriters and the music industry this week.....
The post UMG Publishing and TikTok send dueling messages to Songwriters [Full Text] appeared first on Hypebot.

All of iZotope’s mixing and mastering plugins are on sale at 72% discountMixing and mastering plugins are a crucial asset for modern day music production – and iZotope’s are among the most sought-after. Usually, the company’s plugins will set you back hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars. This month, though, you can get them all for up to 72 per cent off, with upgrade pricing available, too.
Plugin Boutique is hosting the deal, which cuts over $1,400/£1,150 on the iZotope Everything Bundle, and up to 60 per cent off on other individual plugins.
READ MORE: Best synth plugins 2024: 10 of the best polyphonic synth plugins for all genres
In the iZotope Everything Bundle, you’ll get – yes – everything that iZotope has to offer.
That includes Ozone 11 Advanced, Native Instruments’ Guitar Rig Pro, Nectar 4, RX 10 Advanced, Neutron 4, Dialogue Match, Insight 2, BT’s Stutter Edit 2, VocalSynth 2 and… honestly, loads more. A ton of Brainworx plugins are in there, too, really making this one heck of a bundle to claim.
It’s still expensive, though – £1,200/$1,500 is never easy to part with – so the individual plugins are on sale, too.
If you only want the Ozone 11 Standard mastering plugin, for example, it’s available at a 49 per cent discount, making it just $120/£95.
iZotope Ozone 11 full GUI
Elsewhere, Neoverb is available for just £47/$60, saving you 55 per cent off the original price.
If you already own an earlier version of an iZotope plugin, there’s really no better time to upgrade than now. All upgrade prices are slashed by up to 60 per cent, making the iZotope Everything Bundle Upgrade just £267/$338 if you own any iZotope RX Advanced or Post Production Suite software.
Crossgrades are on offer, too, meaning you can get any other iZotope product at a discounted rate if you already have another piece of iZotope software. So, for example, you can get Neutron 4 with a discount of £117/$148 if you own any other iZotope plugin.
This is just the tip of the iceberg; there are loads of iZotope plugins on sale at the moment until 27 March 2024. Head over to Plugin Boutique to browse them all.
Find more music technology deals and news at MusicTech.
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Social Media as an extension of artistry, not a disconnected facadeA strong social media presence is essential for every musician, writes veteran music marketer Melissa d'Engelbronner of FUGA, but its music be an extension of the musician’s artistry, not a disconnected facade.....
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A brief History of Hit Songwriters you’ve probably never heard ofRecent Hypebot stories about how songwriters ar mocking low streaming roaylty rates and Tiffany Red shining a light on unfair song splits, serve as reminders of how much songwriters are the unsung hero's of the music business....
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As D-Day arrives for TikTok’s Universal feud, UMPG tells songwriters: ‘They simply do not value your music’Universal Music Publishing Group has in the past 24 hours written a new missive to its songwriters
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#Roblox revealed that it had 71.5m daily active users at the end of 2023, up 22% year on year - although it's losses are growing as well

Native Instruments launch Jacob Collier Audience Choir Native Instruments have teamed up with six-time Grammy winner Jacob Collier to create a unique virtual instrument that captures the sound of a live audience singing together.

Native Instruments Offfer FREE Audience Choir by Jacob Collier
Native Instruments teamed up with the internet’s favorite jazz cat, Jacob Collier, to create the Audience Choir vocal instrument for Kontakt Player, and the best part is, it’s free! To run Audience Choir, you’ll need to use either the free Kontakt Player (version 7.8 and higher) or Kontakt (version 7.8 and higher). Both of these [...]
View post: Native Instruments Offfer FREE Audience Choir by Jacob Collier

Get Excite Audio’s Bloom Vocal Aether On Sale For A Limited Time
Excite’s Audio Bloom Vocal Aether is currently on sale at Plugin Boutique until the end of February.  There is no shortage of vocal-driven samplers, synthesizers, and so forth on the market. From the earliest romplers and samplers to today, the human voice has been a fixture of electronic music. Excite Audio’s Bloom Vocal Aether might [...]
View post: Get Excite Audio’s Bloom Vocal Aether On Sale For A Limited Time

“Football is played by millions of people – but there’s a very small number that can live off playing full time”: Daniel Ek addresses Spotify’s low royalty paymentsThere’s no denying that technology has transformed the music industry. Nowadays, the digital landscape plays a pivotal role in an artist’s success, and pulling in high streaming numbers is vital. According to a poll by the World Economic Forum, internet-based streaming is accounts for 64% of music consumption.
Streaming has allowed relative nobodies to skyrocket from playing their local pub to topping the charts – however, every rose has its thorns. Streaming infamously generates very little royalties.

READ MORE: “Music is on the right track”: UK recorded music revenues hit new high for the first time since 2001

Spotify is constantly under fire due to its low royalty payout rates. In 2021, the New York Times reported that Spotify artists make roughly $4,000 per million streams – that’s less than half a cent per stream. And 2024 is looking even more dire, with Ditto putting the number at between $0.003 – $0.005 per stream on average, with a revenue split of 70/30 with 30% going to Spotify.
In a new video posted on his socials, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has addressed the company’s low royalty rates. Ek explains that, despite beliefs that Spotify isn’t paying up, the company is indeed putting its hand into its pockets. “Spotify has paid out more than $9 billion to the music industry in 2023,” he states. “In the entire history of Spotify, we have now paid out more than $48 billion.”
While artists claim to generate next to no revenue from streams, Ek says that isn’t Spotify’s fault. “Spotify does not pay out to artists individually… when we pay out, we pay out to record companies, to publishers, and to collecting societies,” he explains. “It can depend on the contracts that the artist or composer [has] with their publisher or with the record company.”

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As Ek goes on to explain, Spotify is putting “more and more [money] back into the music industry, and the music industry is growing” as result. Yet the paradox remains – how can Spotify be paying out billions every year, yet artists are claiming to be making no money from streaming?
“The best analogy that I would have is that the music industry… is like professional sports,” he explains. “If you take football, it’s played by hundreds of millions of people around the world. But there’s a very, very small number of people that can live off of playing soccer full time. FIFA tells us that there’s about 100,000 people that can make it in football or soccer. [And there are also] hundreds of millions of people that are trying to make it in the music industry.”
Ek’s analogy asserts that, like football, there are only a select few who will rake in the big bucks through streaming. “As more and more people can make music in an affordable way with their laptops, more and more people are trying it,” he says. “Out of the $9 billion that we paid out to the music industry last year, around $4.5 billion went to the independent sector.”
If Ek’s calculations are right, that would mean around half of Spotify’s payout went to independent artists. And, while that does allow for certain independent artists to make a living wage off of their music, the huge influx of independent talent means that number split between hundreds of thousands of different artists.
“We are striving each and every day to make Spotify better for more and more artists and to make the system work for more and more people,” Ek concludes.
While Ek’s video sounds logical, the LinkedIn comments aren’t too pleased. One user remarks that Spotify “unequivocally has the ability to pay artists more, yet, you just refuse.”
According to Spotify, 2023 saw a 16% increase in revenue from 2022. Despite the $9 billion payout last year, Spotify is currently the lowest paying streaming platform, next only to YouTube Music.
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