DistroKid’s Bandzoogle buyout, Songtradr’s Bandcamp acquisition point to the power of D2C commerce (and a potential future battle for ‘superfans’)Why two deals announced in the last month are connected
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Songtradr, Epic Games respond to Bandcamp Union concerns [UPDATED]UPDATE: Epic Games has joined Songtradr in responding to a letter from the Bandcamp United union expressing employee concerns after it was announced earlier this week that Epic Games had. Continue reading
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As layoffs begin, Bandcamp union launches petition demanding Songtradr recognitionUPDATE: Workers at Bandcamp are in limbo after Epic Games sold the indie music marketplace to Songtradr, and their recently recognized Bandcamp United Union is looking for answers. Workers voted. Continue reading
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Imagine Dragons, Bandsintown partner for free livestream concert to support fight against pediatric cancerImagine Dragon’s Tyler Robinson Foundation has partnered with Bandsintown for the third year in a row for a free livestream concert this Friday to raise awareness and support for families. Continue reading
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Oana Ruxandra, Chief Digital Officer at Warner Music Group, to exit companyRuxandra confirmed her decision to leave in a note to WMG staff today
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Celestion Debuts Shades of Greenback Digital IR CollectionCelestion, the world’s premier designer and manufacturer of guitar loudspeakers, well-known as the “Voice of Rock & Roll” behind many of the world’s most memorable guitar performances, is pleased to introduce the digitally downloadable Celestion Greenback Impulse Response Collection, bringing together a collection of seven of the most popular Celestion 12-inch Greenback-style speaker tones favoured by rock legends, available for download at CelestionPlus.This collection brings together the G12M and G12H as well the speakers that have since been inspired by these tonal icons. Fans of classic rock and all things Greenback will be in sonic heaven. Featuring the G12M, G12H Anniversary, Heritage Series G12M, Heritage Series G12H (55), G12-35XC, G12-50GL Lynchback and G12 EVH in all cabinet configurations: 1×12 (both open and closed back), 2×12 (both open and closed back) and 4×12 (closed back).

The Shades of Greenback Collection features the speakers which helped to create the tones of legends, including:

The G12M Greenback – The LegendThe G12M Greenback is the modern incarnation of the speaker that helped define rock tone; played by legends like Clapton, Page and Beck. Expect a broad mid-range attack and a restrained top-end with added grit and aggression.The G12H Anniversary – The Heavy RockerRecreate the classic sounds of the 1960’s and 1970’s hard rock era with the G12 Anniversary. With no quarter given, the anniversary delivers serious swagger with its aggressive low-end, articulate treble and searing midrange.The Heritage Series G12M – Timeless ToneAs materials and manufacturing techniques changed over time, so tones did too. The Heritage Series was the result of Celestion’s quest to build our iconic speakers as close to their 1960s specification as possible. The Heritage G12M delivers a little more openness and room to breathe than the Modern G12M.Heritage Series G12H (55) – The Bass ConeThis G12H Heritage Series speaker features a 55Hz (low resonance) cone. Originally intended for bass guitar, it was quickly adopted by guitar players too, who loved its more pronounced low-end thump. Legend has it that Hendrix played this Greenback in his live rig.The G12-35XC – The Sonic LegacyA key part of the Greenback legend is the Pulsonic® cone. Sadly, they are no more, but for our 90th birthday we tried to replicate the sound of an early 70s Pulsonic Greenback, just to see if we could. The result is the G12-35XC speaker.The G12-50GL Lynchback – Mr. NastyA few years ago, George Lynch came to us and requested we build him his perfect speaker. The G12-50GL is it. Beautiful, saturated vintage rhythm tones together with a modern lead sound that befits a legendary Shredmaster.The G12 EVH – The Ultimate Brown SoundLast but certainly not least is the EVH signature speaker. Eddie Van Halen tried several Greenback variations and he chose this one. As Ed himself put it, “Since day one, the 20-watt Greenback has been a big part of my sound.”Each of these in the Shades of Greenback IR collection include five cabinet configurations: 1×12 (both open and closed back), 2×12 (both open and closed back) and 4×12 (closed back).The new Shades of Greenback Impulse Responses are available individually or as a complete set, representing a significant savings over purchasing the individual IRs. And if you already own any of the speaker responses included in the collection, you’ll also receive an additional discount to complete your Greenback collection!The new Shades of Greenback Collection joins the massive collection of Celestion Impulse Responses available for demo and download at CelestionPlus.

Amanda Rae Kopp promoted to Chief Product Officer at JKBXExec worked at Warner Music Group prior to JKBX
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Spotify’s audiobooks move is another brick in the audio wallStreaming has come a long way since its days as a pure music service for super fans. Spotify’s announcement that it is making 15 monthly audiobook hours available to premium subscribers is simply the latest step in a journey that has seen streaming become the 21st century’s take on radio. This has been achieved with the steady addition of non-music content (podcasts and audiobooks especially) and a growing emphasis on programmatic lean back consumption. As with all change, when it sits in an extended period of transformation, its immediate impact is often under-recognised. Audiobooks are the completely natural and logical progression for Spotify (and other DSPs), but they are also another waymarker in the journey away from being a pure play music service.

The pandemic was a catalyst for audiobook consumption. Audiobooks had been around for a long time already, with Audible leading the charge, but it was the sudden increase in non-allocated time that people found themselves with that triggered a coming of age for the format. Listening surged, including of podcasts, but as normal life slowly returned, audiobook consumption dipped again, though to a higher point than pre-pandemic levels. 

In many respects, Audible never really managed to push the format out of its niche foundations, with weekly active user (WAU) penetration still stuck at around 10% (Q1 23). DSPs though, represent the opportunity to mainstream the proposition – something that Deezer identified many years ago by becoming the first DSP to integrate audiobooks. Deezer was, however, probably a little too early, launching audiobooks when streaming was still almost entirely about music and still very lean-forward. Now, streaming is the soundtrack to our everyday lives. It is about filling the silence (or blocking out the noise) more than active listening. In this use case, spoken word audio is just as good a fit as music. In fact, it can often be a better fit. For example, getting lost in the narrative of an audiobook can make a daily commute fly by a lot quicker than simply listening to a playlist, in large part because it commands your attention.

Spot the important shift there? Audiobooks can turn passive listening into active listening in a way that music cannot so easily do. Music carved out hours for streaming by being passive, and now audiobooks and podcasts can colonise those hours with active consumption. The more active usage becomes, the more engaged a user is and the less likely they are to churn. Music did the hard yards; audio reaps the rewards.

Music rightsholders have long been concerned about audio eating into listening hours, less because of the cannibalisation of hours and more so because of the risk of DSPs using that as a basis for negotiating down the share of the subscription fee that gets paid to them. 15 hours of audiobooks may not sound like a lot but it represents close to 40% of the monthly music listening hours of the average subscriber. There is a good chance that there will be strong uptake, not least because over half of audiobook WAUs are also Spotify WAUs (which will probably give Audible pause for thought).

Of course, from Spotify’s perspective at least, the benefit of reducing music rightsholder fees simply to replace them with book publisher fees would be self-defeating. That is unless Spotify can secure the latter for less. But there is another crucial variable at play: original content. Back in 2020, when Spotify was hiring its head of audiobooks, the job description included the following: “Develop, pitch and oversee production of high-quality content”.  Just as with podcasts, audiobooks represent an opportunity for Spotify to develop original content and improve its margins.

How To Use Facebook Hashtags + Free Hashtag ToolWe all use hashtags to spread content on Twitter, but what role do they play on Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms, and how do you know which ones to use?. Continue reading
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‘Thinking Out Loud’ about the ‘Blurred Lines’ of U.S. Copyright Law [Wallace Collins]Entertainment lawyer Wallace Collins shares the overlapping impact of two major music copyright court decisions. “Current artists are effectively midgets standing on the shoulders of giants in order to reach. Continue reading
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QUICK HITS: BandLab • SoundExchange • Warner Music + HuManagement • Trevanna Tracks + Synchtank • Cyanite for InnovatorsBandLab is officially expanding its team. Kevin Breuner has joined as Head of Artist Development and Education, and Jessica Strassman as the Head of Industry Relations and Artist Services (Americas).. Continue reading
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JH Audio Introduces Pearl Tri Amp Macro Speaker Management System JH Audio, innovator and manufacturer of leading in-ear monitoring products for professional touring artists and audio engineers, announces the availability of its new Pearl Tri Amp Micro Speaker Management System, the latest innovation in IEM audio technology. The system includes the brand’s PC-based Pearl Control Software and Pearl Loader program, which offer functions that allow users to precisely control gain, phase, time and equalization of low, mid and high frequencies of an in-ear monitor. The system is available exclusively with a pair of JH Audio’s new Ruby in-ear monitors, which when used together will make it possible to reproduce any frequency response or audio signature.  



In addition to its control benefits, the Pearl system utilizes an actively controlled passive crossover (ACPX), keeping the latency low ― between .60 and .80 milliseconds. This is especially important to live performers, who require a latency of less than five milliseconds. 

“Pearl processing provides unparalleled control to shape and optimize the audio and performance of any in-ear monitor solution,” says Jerry Harvey, owner of JH Audio. “The system’s low-latency benefits are the result of a passive crossover in the IEM, and active control over the low, mid and high speaker circuits, which each have their own amplifier and processing. We sweeten the passive crossover slopes with equalization, which does not increase latency.”

Spotify adds free Audiobooks to Premium Subscriptions at no extra costSpotify is adding more than 150,000 audiobooks as part of existing Spotify Premium subscriptions in the UK and Australia starting today and in the US this winter. In the announcement,. Continue reading
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YouTube Shorts sponsors Manager of the Year category at A&R AwardsShort-form video platform backs management showdown at UK industry's elite awards night
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Latin music super fans spend over 30% more on music-related activities than other music super fans in the US (report)US market monitor Luminate has published its new Latin Music Report
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