Hello guys, let's consider this ❗
#Spotify just announced three ways they intend to change how they pay royalties, and one of the policies includes not paying royalties to artists whose earnings fall below a minimum threshold.
What will they do with all those #royalties from independent artists?
Answer is - mostly redistribute 💰 to the #majors. Starting from Q1 2024.
#FairSpotify #Musicians #artists #indie #indepedent #Distribution #decentralization
https://musicindustryblog.wordpress.com/2023/10/24/two-tier-licensing-is-about-to-become-a-reality/
There is a YT video from Disc Makers CEO 👇

Posted in May about 1,500 Music Producers How They Use AI in Music Production.
- How many people use AI now and what is the quality?
#AI #musicproduction #tools #musicians #artists #producers #BPB

Acustica Audio #free Halloween #plugin called Pumpkin is here for AA users as usually.

Introducing Beatport Studio, a new cost-effective subscription model for plugins and samples. Beatport has launched Beatport Studio, a brand-new platform which combines Loopcloud, Loopmasters and Plugin...

Max MSP Beginners Guide: Presentation Mode and presets for your synthesizer. If you haven’t caught up on the previous four tutorials where we go through the basic tools needed to use Max MSP, how to build...

Why artist subscriptions are the perfect partner to two-tier licensingWith two-tier licensing now a thing, it is time to focus the discussion on how to add new components to the DSP ecosystem that will help long-tail artists continue to thrive in this brave new world. There are many positives that two-tier licensing will bring (helping mid-tier artist remuneration, attaching an appropriate premium to lean-forward listening, etc.) even if the streaming fraud efforts will likely soon be offset by bot farms increasing their minimum streams thresholds. But the potential downturn to long-tail artist income is a very real prospect. Not only could artist subscriptions re-level the playing field, but self-releasing artists (artists direct) also have an opportunity here that label artists do not.

For more years than we care to remember we have made the case for artist subscriptions, most recently in this MIDiA report. The data in the report shows that what fans want to pay for most (and by some margin) is early access to music, exclusive merchandise, and songs. On one hand, this makes artists subscriptions relatively low effort, as there is no need to produce backstage access videos or host live Q&As, among other things. On the other hand, it is problematic for record labels that have to consider factors such as release campaigns driving large stream volumes to trigger the algorithms, and commercial agreements with DSPs that can complicate exclusives. Artists direct, however, have no such constraints. 

MIDiA’s data shows strong willingness among fans to pay, up to $5 an artist. But, if a long-tail artist was to price their subscription at just fifty cents, it would only take five fans to subscribe to generate the same amount of income a thousand streams would. Get that to ten fans (surely eminently achievable for many long-tail artists) and they would be earning double the minimum stream threshold of the two-tier system. It is a mechanism that enables DSP streaming to deliver on the elusive long tail promise and, to boot, everyone wins:

Artists direct get income that is more meaningful income than in today’s one-tier system

Bigger artists continue to get a more meaningful share of streaming royalties

The beauty of this approach is that the infrastructure is already in place, it just needs a little tweak. In August, Spotify and Patreon announced a new initiative for podcasters, enabling them to create premium subscriptions for exclusive podcast content. Artist subscriptions thus already exist on Spotify, they are just not called artists subscriptions, yet.

Starting in 2024, Spotify and other DSPs face a delicate balancing act. They must navigate the demands of larger rightsholders – a term that covers not only major labels but also a very large number of indie labels and publishers of all shapes and sizes. At the same time, they are going to have to convince the wider creator community that they are there for them. 

This is particularly pertinent because DSP streaming no longer hold a monopoly over music creators. In 2022, the number of creators releasing outside of the traditional digital supply chain grew twice as fast as those releasing into streaming. This is the second successive year that this has been the case. A forking is taking place. These creators are choosing share their music on platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Soundcloud, BandLab, Discord, Twitch, Instagram, etc. rather than risk getting lost in the DSP ocean. From a creator economy perspective this is no bad thing, in fact, it will probably be a good thing. However, from a DSP perspective, they will want to utilise every resource at their disposal to position themselves as the most attractive platform for artists.

Cool #free reverb #plugin for #Mixing.
#musicproduction #Musicians #Producers

Cacophony Is An Open-Source MIDI Sequencer By Subaltern Games
Subaltern Games has released an open-source MIDI sequencer called Cacophony, and it’s free if you want to compile the program for yourself. The developer wanted its strength to be its minimalist and ergonomic design, which is why the software looks like an old video game and has a strong tracker influence. It’s minimalist because it [...]
View post: Cacophony Is An Open-Source MIDI Sequencer By Subaltern Games

Two-tier licensing is about to become a reality With the dust still far from settled on the UMG / Deezer streaming royalty proposal, something even bigger is coming: Spotify is turning the concept into reality in Q1 2024. The behind-the-scenes conversations have been ongoing for some time, but the details were stated publicly on panels at last week’s ADE conference, meaning that the information is now firmly in the public domain. Obviously, nothing is official at this stage, so consider this ‘as reported’ information. Even if the final details end up varying, what is clear is that two-tier licensing is about to become a reality.

Things are moving fast, going from ‘limited trial’ to ‘actually happening’ in the proverbial blink of the eye. If Spotify is indeed set to launch two-tier royalties just months from now, it begs the question as to what the Deezer trial was about in the first place? If decisions had already been made elsewhere, then the likelihood is that it was a way of softening up industry opinion before the big news hit next year, to acclimatise the industry community to the concept ahead of launch.

Streaming democratised access to the means of distribution, enabling an unprecedented growth in artists and releases. But the brake is now being firmly applied. Streams may have all been created equal, but now some streams are becoming more equal than others. 

There are, of course, compelling arguments for ‘fixing’ streaming royalties (arguments that we have discussed at length). But if consumers are choosing to listen to long-tail artists, or if the algorithms consider long-tail artists to be the right fit for their tastes, then the ‘problem’ lies with consumption patterns, not royalties. (And of course, what consumers are listening to is also the most precise way measure where and how subscribers allocate the value pf their subscription.)

Between 2019 and 2022, artists direct streaming revenue grew by 130% while the majors grew by 58%. Long-tail artists are growing their share of ear (even accounting for the fact that algorithms are not neutral agents). In 2022, artists direct accounted for 8% of global streaming revenue and at current trajectory would reach 10% by 2025. Consider that WMG’s share was 16% in 2022, and it becomes clear just how significant the long-tail pool is.

But here is where the cynical genius of the two-tier system comes into play. Right now, streams and revenue are effectively synonymous, but by this time next year, they will mean very different things. The majority of artists direct artists will no longer be paid for their contribution to the value of the $11.99 subscription. The c.10% of consumption they will generate will disappear from the streaming revenue map. They will be othered, their revenue becoming a new black box for the biggest artists to share between themselves. Which means that, hey presto, all that annoying artists direct market share suddenly gets reallocated to everyone else. Market share erosion? What market share erosion?

The two-tier system does not even try to turn back the clock on the rise of independence, it simply funnels the growing revenue from this cultural paradigm shift to the bigger artists who are losing share. If DSP streaming was the only game in town, then the risks of antagonising long-tail artists (label and direct) would be relatively low. But the music consumption and creation landscapes are changing. Non-DSP streaming revenue is outgrowing DSP streaming, while creators choosing to release only on non-DSP platforms is growing twice as fast as artists releasing onto DSPs.

Perhaps it would serve bigger labels and artists well, to have smaller artists and labels focus their attention elsewhere. But if they do so, then they will take audience attention and cultural capital with them. At some stage or another, that kind of shift will start to bite into DSP acquisition and retention rates. By which stage it may be too late to halt the decline. 

RoEx says AI mixing tool AutoMix could be “Instagram filter of music production”RoEx, a UK-based music tech startup, has launched AutoMix, a plugin that uses AI technology to streamline and simpify the mixing process for producers.

READ MORE: UMG and BandLab Technologies team up for “first of its kind” ethical AI collaboration

AutoMix, RoEx claims, lets you mix down projects to a professional standard in a non-technical or complex way, “transforming them into professionally finished pieces within minutes”, it says.
To use AutoMix, you simply upload the individual audio stems of your project into the online platform in a format. From here, you select the instrument type of the audio stems you’ve uploaded, e.g. bass guitar, vocals, synth etc., so the system has an understanding of how each should traditionally sit within your mix.

After selecting the instrument type, you can add basic mix settings such as reverb, the amount of presence each stem should have in the mix, and panning. While adjusting these might take time manually in your DAW, AutoMix aims to make mixing “accessible and efficient for all creatives, without any barriers” by condensing complex processing techniques into the click of a button.
Once you’ve mixed down your stems, you can adjust the volume levels of each and preview how it all sounds together. You can then download your finished track by simply clicking ‘master’. Each master can be downloaded in exchange for one download credit, which can be purchased via RoEx’s website for $11.99 each or included as part of a subscription package.
David Ronan, RoEx CEO comments: “Just as Instagram transformed photography by making filters universally accessible, we aspire to revolutionise the world of music production. We recognise the modern musician’s desire for professional sound without the intimidating complexities of compressors, EQ settings, or the necessity for costly studios and intricate plugins. Our mission is to make top-tier production quality both accessible and efficient for all creatives, without any barriers.
“Looking to the future, we envisage our technology integrating seamlessly with various DAWs, whether they are traditional desktop systems or emerging cloud-based platforms. While the exact roadmap is still unfolding, our direction is unwavering: to democratise professional music creation, making it accessible and intuitive for all,” continues Ronan.
RoEx is a small London-based startup that originated from a PhD project at Queen Mary University of London, focused on simplifying music production. Led by David Ronan, their mission is to democratise music creation, taking away technical obstacles.
Online mastering service LANDR has also launched a tool to streamline mixing for producers within the DAW. The online mastering tool’s new Mastering Plugin brings its AI-powered auto-mastering to DAWs for the first time.
Find out more at RoEx.
The post RoEx says AI mixing tool AutoMix could be “Instagram filter of music production” appeared first on MusicTech.

Games need decentralized randomness to be fairDoes your RNG have sufficient randomness? Is it secure against tampering? Is it decentralized? These qualities are critical to building a viable metaverse.

Hey @drillbaz, there are buttons to apply right here in the group "Promote Yourself":
https://publme.space/groups/profile/12372/

The latest version of Reaper is now available with new features and bug fixesUS-based digital audio brand Cockos has announced the newest update to its Reaper DAW, including a range of new features and fixes.
Reaper 7.001 landed just earlier this week (16 October), and a huge changelog has been made available online listing all of the adjustments made to the software.

READ MORE: Universal launches claims-free music and sound effects subscription service for content creators

As also summed up by Sound On Sound, Reaper 7 most notably now has a Track Lanes feature, which allows users to manage and organise alternative versions or takes of their in-progress piece. Using a new Swipe Comping tool, you can also quickly create composite takes by selecting parts from multiple versions of your track, and you can also run A/B comparisons with just one click.
Reaper users can also store and recall self-contained FX chains, even with complex routing configurations, and apply parallel routing to multiple plugins and FX Containers. Track channel and MIDI In/Out counts have been increased, with tracks now supporting up to 128 channels.
MIDI routing is able to handle up to 128 buses, and there are no restrictions on the number of tracks, send/receive paths, FX and ReScripts you can use. Other key features include:

V6 option for overlapping recording to create new media items is replaced by option to add lanes, but playback behaviour is identical to V6
Supports adding lanes by dragging media to a hashed ‘parking area’, automatically removing empty lanes
Supports naming individual lanes, resizing lane name area
Supports reordering fixed lanes by dragging lane buttons up/down
Displays media item volume knob, FX button, mute button by default
Enables preference to record media, copy imported media to project media directory by default
MIDI editor defaults to one editor per project

The update is free to those with a licence. View the full list of changes and find out more via Reaper.
The post The latest version of Reaper is now available with new features and bug fixes appeared first on MusicTech.

Using Haas-effect quite a lot.
#musicproduction #Mixing

Warner-backed generative AI startup from co-inventor of Siri starts record labelAn AI startup co-founded by the inventor of Siri and backed by Warner has started its own record label, per Music Business Worldwide.
LifeScore Music, co-founded by Tom Gruber, launched the record label Kaleidoscope which is set to feature music that’s composed and performed by artists but then “amplified with LifeScore’s generative AI technology”.

READ MORE: Spotify “Supremium” subscription pricing and further details unveiled

The team at Kaleidoscope work with sound designers and experts around the world to create what it describes as ambisonic recordings, which are interwoven with musical elements to create a “sense of time and place”.
Mary Lockwood, LifeScore’s Chief Audio Officer, asks, “What if you could take the tracks you love so much and experience them in a totally new, different way?
“Whether we’re working with an artists’ existing catalogue, or creating our own new music, the original compositions always remain at the centre of the creative process. The technology is simply there to bring in a surprise factor at the end – to create an experience that’s still uniquely that artist’s music, but coloured by something new and delightful.”
The new record label is set to release a number of albums later this year, beginning with five wellness-focused releases. Riverside Flow was made for yoga, while Skywalk is based around the rainforest, and Castles In the Sand is a beach soundscape.
Twilight Jungle is tailored for sleep, lasting eight hours, while Alpenglow evokes the image of walking through the mountains.
Kaleidoscope is also set to launch collaborations with artists, and will release new music each Friday throughout October. Last Friday (6 October), Riverside Flow was released.

According to LifeScore, the process of making music starts with raw materials sourced from some of the best studios around the world, as well as master recordings provided by artists.
The recordings are then transformed with AI, with remixes and alternate versions made, and many of the releases supporting activities such as sleep, energy, relaxation, and focus.
The post Warner-backed generative AI startup from co-inventor of Siri starts record label appeared first on MusicTech.