Tip Jar: Low-Cost Guitars That Earn Their Place on StageBy the time a guitar survives years of live performances, price becomes irrelevant. What matters is whether it holds tune, projects reliably through a PA, and delivers a sound that supports the song rather than distracting from it. After decades on the road, one conclusion has become increasingly difficult to ignore: low-cost guitars, properly set up and thoughtfully amplified, can perform at a professional level.

Time off the road—rare as it is—provides an opportunity to reassess long-held assumptions about gear. Revisiting instruments that have endured sustained touring reveals that some of the most dependable tools in my collection were also the least expensive. In practical terms, they have outperformed expectations while demanding very little in return.

An Unplanned Shift

This realization didn’t come from a deliberate search for budget instruments. It happened gradually, beginning in the years following my time with the Atomics. Playing smaller rooms throughout Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia meant adapting to intimate spaces where immediacy mattered more than volume or sheen. Berea, KY became a frequent stop, and with downtime between gigs, pawn shops became informal laboratories.

In Richmond, KY, a checkerboard-patterned parlor guitar caught my eye. It was inexpensive, visually distinctive, and clearly not designed with touring musicians in mind. Still, it suggested something different—a break from the assumption that quality tone required a significant financial investment.

Preparing for the Stage

The primary challenge with these guitars was amplification. Most lacked onboard electronics, making them impractical for live use without modification. After researching options and consulting fellow musicians, I installed a Fishman Matrix II undersaddle pickup.

The results were consistent and repeatable. The pickup produced a clear, balanced signal with strong low-end response and articulate highs, while preserving the natural dynamics of the instrument. Onstage, the guitar translated well across different PA systems without introducing unwanted coloration.

Encouraged by the outcome, I acquired additional Trinity River parlor guitars and outfitted them similarly. Each performed reliably, reinforcing the idea that thoughtful electronics can elevate modest instruments into dependable live tools.

Discoveries on the Road

Further validation came in Appleton, WI, where I encountered Jay Turser parlor guitars, often referred to as Jay Juniors. One model—finished in sea-foam green—was fitted with the same Fishman Matrix II pickup and upgraded Schaller M-6 tuning machines.

That guitar quickly became a primary performance instrument. Its tone was earthy and direct, well-suited to small stages and seated rooms. Importantly, the electronics amplified its natural voice rather than reshaping it. The visual impact of the instrument also translated well under stage lighting, an often-overlooked factor in live performance.

A second Jay Turser, finished in black and modified in the same way, delivered similarly strong results. Over more than a decade of consistent use, it has proven durable and stable, surviving the kind of wear that touring inevitably inflicts.

Tone Is Not a Price Point

One of the persistent myths in the guitar world is that cost correlates directly with tonal quality. In reality, even instruments from the same manufacturer and series can vary significantly in character. Each guitar develops its own voice.

The Trinity River checkerboard guitars exemplify this. Years of aggressive pick use have worn through the finish below the sound hole, exposing material that bears little resemblance to traditional tonewood. Despite this—or perhaps because of it—the guitars continue to sound strong and responsive.

Their imperfections contribute to their identity. They are not precious objects; they are working instruments. And in that role, they excel.

Context and Contrast

This is not an argument against high-end guitars. I own several Taylor instruments whose refined tonal balance and consistency perform exceptionally well in both studio and live environments. Their depth, resonance, and predictability make them valuable tools in controlled settings.

However, they coexist alongside lower-cost guitars that have proven equally effective under real-world conditions. Onstage, reliability and musicality matter more than branding.

A Practical Conclusion

With touring temporarily paused, there is time to engage with these instruments outside the pressure of constant performance. In a quieter environment, their strengths remain evident: playability, consistency, and an ability to support the song without calling attention to themselves.

For working musicians, the takeaway is straightforward. Great sound does not require a large investment. It requires an understanding of how instruments function in live contexts and a willingness to judge them by performance rather than reputation.

In the end, these guitars earned their place not because they were inexpensive, but because they worked—night after night, on real stages, under real conditions.The post Tip Jar: Low-Cost Guitars That Earn Their Place on Stage first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

New Music Critique: Cassia DawnContact: cassiadawnmusic@aaron-freiwalWeb: cassiadawn.comSeeking: SponsorshipStyle: Singer-Songwriter

Right from the opening bars of “Life is Like a Latte,” we get a flavor of what acoustic soul-pop artist Cassia Dawn is all about, namely the sweetest melodies adding color and vibrancy to her tales of everyday life. The entire Life is Like a Latte EP, in fact, features five tracks that all seem to be centered around working in a coffeeshop. Inspiration strikes at the funniest times, apparently. So we also get the pointed and perhaps metaphorical “No Free Refills,” and the allegorical “Spinning Plates.” Dawn’s voice is delicately expressive, and her songs are expertly constructed.The post New Music Critique: Cassia Dawn first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Lexi Todd promoted to Deputy Chief Operating Officer At Primary WaveTodd celebrates 10 years at Primary Wave, initially joining the company as a legal intern in 2016
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Lime Cordiale’s Lime Green Festival Is How Artists Can Take Climate Action Into Their Own HandsAustralian indie band Lime Cordiale is launching a festival to address the environmental impact of touring and the live music industry. Here's why this matters.
The post Lime Cordiale’s Lime Green Festival Is How Artists Can Take Climate Action Into Their Own Hands appeared first on Hypebot.

How To Finish An Album This 2026 (My Monthly Song Sorting System)Hermes of the Sound + Creativity Substack shares his mathematical approach to creativity and productivity, a replicable formula for any creative looking to output more in 2026.
The post How To Finish An Album This 2026 (My Monthly Song Sorting System) appeared first on Hypebot.

Signing Stories: Poly-MathDate Signed: November 2025Label: The Lasers EdgeType of Music: Prog, Math-RockPublicity: Earsplit PRWeb: poly-math.net

Sometimes, it’s all in the name. Poly-Math is English instrumental prog/math-rock quartet that was founded by Tim Walters around a dozen years ago.

“At the time, Tim was the drummer of math-rock band Monsters Build Mean Robots,” says band member Chris Woollison. “Initially founded as a three-piece with Joe Branton and [I], Poly-Math’s instrumental fusion of prog and math-rock was simply a side project at the time. However, only six months after the band started writing together we were booked to support math-rock legends And So I Watch You From Afar, and were shortly after booked to play the first ever ArcTanGent festival—the U.K.’s biggest math-rock and avant-garde music festival, which lead to us taking the project more seriously, eventually superseding any of our separate projects.”

While Woollison does describe the band as math-rock, he’s also keen to point out that the sound has evolved. “We started as a math-rock band, but definitely on the heavier, riffier side of that genre,” he says. “Initially, we took massive influence from the Mars Volta and Omar Rodriguez Lopez’ other projects. Also Deerhoof and Battles, as well as contemporaries in the U.K. scene like Three Trapped Tigers and Physics House Band. As we added more members--keys and then saxophone--we developed a more prog-rock/quasi-jazz sound, calming down a little from the punky energy of the first recordings and moving to a more expansive, considered sound that goes on a journey through styles and motifs but without losing any of the energy and power.”

Poly-Math signed to The Lasers Edge based on a deep appreciation for the label’s roster and catalog. They’ll be adding to that roster with the Something Deeply Hidden album. 

“We have recorded most of our live albums at Brighton Electric Studios because they have a fantastic live room and selection of gear,” Woollison says. “This time, we decided to record only drums at Electric and track the rest of the material in our home studios to give us a bit more freedom and time to experiment--a potentially risky choice because of the lack of time pressure, but we got it all together in pretty good time and sent it off to Mark to make sense of it and mix it. Mark Roberts is one of the most prolific engineers for alternative music in Brighton, U.K., and as always with Mark, we were instantly happy with the results.”

The band has more releases and plenty of touring planned for 2026, so keep your ears to the ground for Poly-Math news. The post Signing Stories: Poly-Math first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Sony Music buys 49% stake in music unit of Vietnam media giant YeaH1; companies launch new SYE Holdings joint ventureSME, through Sony Music Entertainment Hong Kong, agreed to acquire a 49% stake in YeaH1-owned 1Label for an undisclosed sum last month.
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Kid Rock, Live Nation to testify at new Senate Ticketing HearingThe battle over how live events are ticketed is heading back to Washington. On January 28, the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Technology, and Data Privacy will convene a high-stakes Senate ticketing hearing.
The post Kid Rock, Live Nation to testify at new Senate Ticketing Hearing appeared first on Hypebot.

China, US sign off on TikTok US deal, but uncertainty remainsBoth China and the USD have signed off on the TikTok US deal, according to multiple sources. But major uncertainties remain for artists, labels and all creators.
The post China, US sign off on TikTok US deal, but uncertainty remains appeared first on Hypebot.

Maroon 5 and the End of the Analog EraSennheiser this week released word that, with Maroon 5's "first tour to fully deploy Sennheiser Spectera, Dave Rupsch proves that wideband digital wireless is the future of high-stakes stadium audio."

"For 25 years, monitor engineer Dave Rupsch has occupied the high-stakes sonic cockpit for global icons like My Chemical Romance, Katy Perry, Megadeth, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nick Jonas and more," a statement reads. "He has watched the industry undergo a digital revolution, seeing line arrays and consoles evolve into marvels of precision — yet one crucial link remained stubbornly tethered to the past. To Rupsch, a flawless, end-to-end digital IEM transmission was his 'white whale' and the 'utmost needed component to close the loop on modern concert audio technology.' This search felt like an elusive and unattainable goal for far too long."

"That search came to an end during the 2025 Maroon 5 tour. While Rupsch had spent years relying on industry-standard analog wireless systems, the increasing congestion of the UHF spectrum was becoming an unavoidable disruption."

Mark Chipeur, Business Development Manager at Sennheiser who worked directly with the band's audio team on Spectera deployment.

“Introducing Spectera to Maroon 5’s monitor team was about tackling real-world RF and workflow challenges head-on. Rolling the system out with them on the fly at the first Phoenix show in its especially congested RF environment was a true test, and Spectera delivered. Working closely with Dave throughout evaluation and deployment highlighted his deep RF expertise, thoughtful approach to system design, and ability to quickly translate new technology into a reliable, tour-ready solution. 

"Dave’s team had already coordinated their existing wireless Mics and IEM channels so we decided to use the clean RF spectrum in the Duplex Gap. Following this selection Dave wanted coverage not only on stage but also backstage. This helped us to determine optimal antenna placement for continuous performance.”

For further info, visit here.The post Maroon 5 and the End of the Analog Era first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Duetti secures $200m in fresh financing, led by $50m Series C equity investment from The Raine GroupThe funding consists of a $50 million Series C equity round led by Raine Partners and a $125 million private securitization.
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Ed Sheeran Is Letting Fans Curate His Setlists. You Should Too. Ed Sheeran is letting fans curate five songs in his setlist on his current tour. Is this something all artists should take note of?
The post Ed Sheeran Is Letting Fans Curate His Setlists. You Should Too.  appeared first on Hypebot.

Audiomack hits 50M monthly active users, adds Artist Pro toolkitAudiomack now has 50 million monthly active users fueled by 31% year over year growth. Learn how their human-powered curation and Audiomack Pro tools for artists are reshaping independent music discovery and marketing.
The post Audiomack hits 50M monthly active users, adds Artist Pro toolkit appeared first on Hypebot.

Remembering Those We Lost in 20252025 was a year where we lost many treasured musicians. Some legendary older artists whose time had unfortunately come, and some surprising younger names whose loss came as a sudden surprise. On AllMusic, we've tried to feature small tributes in recognition of these events, and now we look back at a selection of those who left their mark on music's history and will certainly be missed.

The Legal Beat: RAPPER RBX’S CLASS ACTION AGAINST SPOTIFYIn late 2025, Rapper RBX, whose real name is Eric Dwayne Collins, filed a class action lawsuit in federal court in California against streaming giant Spotify, alleging that Spotify failed to prevent streaming fraud. The action is on behalf of RBX as an individual and “on behalf of other members of the general public similarly situated.”

The lawsuit alleges that Spotify failed to prevent bots (bots are automated software programs that perform repetitive tasks over a network, also commonly known as fake users) from fraudulently inflating the number of streams for Drake, one of the most streamed artists on Spotify, with almost 81 million monthly listeners.

RBX first had success decades ago performing for labels Death Row Records and Aftermath Entertainment alongside Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre. He is Snoop Dogg’s cousin.

Spotify is a massive company with over 713 million users, which includes 281 million paid subscribers; it offers over 100 million songs to these users and leads the audio streaming market.

In particular, the suit alleges that Spotify allowed “billions” of bot-generated streams, which increased Drake’s streams. Drake is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit perhaps because plaintiff had no proof that Drake was involved in any streaming fraud.

RBX contends that some Drake songs have gotten “more than a hundred million streams” which were from “areas with zero residential addresses.” The lawsuit further alleges that Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) were used to disguise some streams and some were apparently created by bots that “moved unreasonable locations between songs.”

The plaintiff claims that Spotify’s failure to keep bots off its platform has caused “massive financial harm to legitimate artists, songwriters and other rightsholders” due to the fact that income earned from streams on Spotify is paid to artists based upon a percentage of the streaming marketplace and that percentage is diluted by the failure of Spotify to keep bots off its platform.

The lawsuit alleges that Spotify’s efforts to eliminate bots are “nothing more than window dressing, inadequate at best.” RBX further contends that the more users Spotify claims it has “the more advertisements it can sell, the more profits the company can report.” 

The suit further states: “[T]his mass-scale fraudulent streaming causes massive financial harm to legitimate artists, songwriters, producers, and other rights holders whose proportional share is decreased as a result of fraudulent stream inflation on Spotify’s platform.”

Spotify claims that it does not benefit from artificial streaming and invests in “always-improving, best-in-class systems to combat it and safeguard artist payouts with strong protections like removing false streams, withholding royalties and charging penalties.”

According to Spotify’s website, it pays artists from a revenue pool and calculates royalty payments from the pool based on an artist’s share of the total amount of monthly streams.

In 2025, shares of Spotify increased to a stock market valuation of a 100 billion dollars. Many artists complain about low streaming income, believing that platforms like Spotify pay too little per play, thus making it hard to earn a living wage for all but very successful artists. The pay per stream rate is only about $0.004 on Spotify.

GLENN LITWAK is a veteran entertainment attorney based in Santa Monica, CA. He has represented platinum selling recording artists, GRAMMY-winning music producers, hit songwriters, management and production companies, music publishers and independent record labels. Litwak is also a frequent speaker at music industry conferences around the country, such as South by Southwest and the Billboard Music in Film and TV Conference. Litwak has been selected as a “Super Lawyer” by Super Lawyer magazine for 2022-2025. Email Litwak at gtllaw59@gmail.com or visit glennlitwak.com.

This article is a very brief overview of the subject matter and does not constitute legal advice.The post The Legal Beat: RAPPER RBX’S CLASS ACTION AGAINST SPOTIFY first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.