First-generation iPod sells for $29,000A first-generation iPod bought in 2001 as a Christmas gift has been sold for $29,000 (approximately £22,750).
The iPod, sold on August 4 via Rally Alternative Asset Investment platform, was originally purchased by the parents of a teenager at an Apple store in Plano, Texas for $399. Its sky-high price now is commanded, in part, by the fact it remains in its original packaging.

READ MORE: Nearly 120 historic hip-hop artefacts – including a ring designed by Tupac – go on sale in Sotheby’s auction

“He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with it, so he put it on a shelf, and then, inevitably, time passed,” explains Rally co-founder Rob Petrozzo.
He adds that the owner found the iPod in the original blue Apple bag while cleaning out his childhood home after the passing of his father. “It truly is a time capsule,” says.
Rally, the platform which hosted the sale, allows investors to own shares in collectible assets in an NFT-style framework.
Per NME, ownership of the iPod was originally split into 5,000 shares each valued at $5 through an LLC, but a private collector unexpectedly acquired all 5,000 shares and secured exclusive possession of the iPod.
Last year, Apple officially discontinued the iPod after more than 20 years. At the time, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing Greg Joswiak said: “Today, the spirit of iPod lives on. We’ve integrated an incredible music experience across all of our products, from the iPhone to the Apple Watch to HomePod mini, and across Mac, iPad, and Apple TV.
“And Apple Music delivers industry-leading sound quality with support for spatial audio — there’s no better way to enjoy, discover, and experience music.”
Legacy Apple products regularly command high resale prices. Just last month, an original factory-sealed 2007 4GB iPhone was sold for a record-breaking $200,000.
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Ticket scalpers fund major groups claiming to serve fansThe Ticket Buyer Bill of Rights Coalition is a collective of “consumer advocacy groups” that claims to “fight for your rights as a fan.” But in truth, it’s made up. Continue reading
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Bandcamp adds free Listening PartiesBandcamp has added free Listening Parties as a new way to market releases and celebrate milestones. A simple scheduling tool sets up the party, then at showtime, the album plays. Continue reading
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Stelios Vassiloudis on the “crazy Reaktor patches” and free plugins he used on ‘Human Damage Human’Hailing from Athens, Greece, Stelios Vassiloudis is a mainstay on John Digweed’s legendary Bedrock label and an audio aficionado. With a degree in acoustical engineering and a master’s in composition, the electronic music producer isn’t afraid to explore new sonic territories – his latest album, Human Damage Human, is a strong testament to that.

READ MORE: 808 Day: Best 808 sample packs and plugins

Pivoting away from the dancefloor, Stelios’ album transports you to the 90s in trip-hop tracks such as Kaizen and Failure Of Imagination, and places you into deep introspective spaces in Heat and Stay Calm. The 12-track opus is rife with clever sound design and sees three features from Alex Avdis, former vocalist for London metalcore band, The Defiled, who brings a distinct, industrial edge to the album.

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Stelios’ vast palette on the album might have you imagining him in a studio packed with samplers, instruments and synthesizers. Guess again. Much of his work is created on a laptop and a guitar, with software like Native Instruments Guitar Rig and Reaktor proving essential in his workflow – plus a few handy free plugins that give him a damaged, lo-fi sound – perfect for an album like Human Damage Human.

Stelios Vassiloudis. Image: Stelios VassiloudisHey Stelios. We’re loving your new album, Human Damage Human – serious trip-hop vibes. How did you get into music production?
I come from a rock background so I spent most of my early musical years dabbling with pedals, preamps, racks etc. By the time I got into electronic music, a lot of the recording and programming was being done in the box and was the antithesis to the cumbersome patchwork and imprecision (both of which, it turns out can be great things) of hardware. From that point on, and as computing power became increasingly powerful (I’ve been making music on my laptop recently), I just continued along the same path.
What’s your latest plugin purchase?
Native Instruments’ Playbox was probably the last thing I purchased. To be honest, it was an impulse buy because I was really, really impressed with the promotional video they did for it. It seemed like (and is) such a fun and creative little jam tool. The presets are really cool and the randomiser function yields crazy results.
Stelios’ plugins. Image: Stelios Vassiloudis
What’s the best free plugin you own?
There’s this amazing company/record label called Puremagnetik and one of its free plugins is Driftmaker, which is a disintegration-type delay. I run a lot of one-shots or chopped elements through it and record multiple takes (the results can be crazy and unpredictable). A lot of the lo-fi sounding, glitchy elements on the album come from hours of experimenting and recording with it.
What’s the best value plugin you own?
Waves OneKnob Filter! I’ve owned – and used – it forever. I love its interface and simplicity, not to mention its sound. I probably use it too much but I just find it to be so smooth and easy to program.
Stelios Vassiloudis. Image: Stelios Vassiloudis
What’s a DAW stock plugin you use all the time?
Apple Logic Pro’s compressor still does the business for me; great interface, easy to understand and dial in. I haven’t compared it to a great deal of third-party versions to be perfectly honest but I’ll say it works wonders for me when dealing with low-end in my dancefloor-oriented tracks but also when trying to shape and craft some of my more floaty, ambient sounds.
What plugins go on your master bus without fail?
The last stage of production for me is the mixdown – I don’t touch mastering with a ten-foot pole! As for the engineering and mixdown phase, I’ve always got a Logic multimeter open, iZotope’s Tonal Balance Control and a Lindell Audio PEX-500 by Plugin Alliance.
Stelios Vassiloudis. Image: Stelios Vassiloudis
What plugin would the album would be incomplete without?
Probably NI’s Guitar Rig. You might not be able to tell, but there’s a lot of guitar on there and, as I recorded the tracks over a long period of time and in different locations, It wasn’t always convenient to mic up a 2×12 cabinet (as I used to).
Where do you source your drums from? How do you create beats?
It depends on the track. Sometimes, I’ll get jamming on something like NI’s Battery or Maschine (more than I’d like to admit, actually). Other times I sample and chop loops the old-fashioned way. On occasion, I’ve even mic’d and played my own drums. It really does depend on the circumstance as the music I make varies from ambient downtempo to drum n bass!
Stelios Vassiloudis. Image: Stelios Vassiloudis
Do you have any secret sauce plugins?
This is probably going to sound lame but I think I probably use Soundtoys’ Decapitator way too much. I love the transients and harmonics you get from overdriving stuff – particularly when you make stuff do things they’re not really supposed to. A lot of my one shots or transitions SFX come from these happy accidents.
What about a guilty pleasure plugin?
Definitely this crazy Reaktor patch I discovered on one of the obscure NI message boards. I’m not going to name it, for fear of someone stealing it (sorry!) but it combines a crazy LFO, delay, filtering, pitching etc. It’s quite unpredictable and a bit unstable but the presets are great and, if you’re patient, can yield some amazing results.
What do you use without fully understanding?
More than I care to admit!
Find more about Stelios’ work on his website.
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Everything you need to know about the YouTube algorithmJust about every social media platform has some sort of user centric content algorithm that has the potential to bring your music to the screens of new fans. by Philip. Continue reading
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Spotify DJ beta has been rolled out globallySpotify’s AI-powered DJ feature has now been rolled out globally across 50 markets.
The beta DJ curates an ever flowing playlist of tunes using Spotify’s personalisation tech, along with OpenAI, the company known for creating ChatGPT.

READ MORE: Spotify CEO Daniel Ek sells $100m worth of Spotify shares

The beta DJ was first launched in English back in February for Spotify Premium users across the US and Canada, before making its way to the UK and Ireland in May. Though it is now available on a much larger scale, the DJ tool will still only operate in the English language for the time being.
Spotify DJ is now available for premium subscribers in countries such as Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Ghana, Nigeria, Pakistan, Singapore, and South Africa in its beta phase.
If you haven’t already caught how it works, here’s a summary: Spotify DJ will curate your music lineup for you, and will also offer commentary on whatever’s playing in a “stunningly realistic voice” for that real, on demand DJ feel.
The feature also refreshes the lineup based on its user feedback, and doesn’t take offence if you ask for a skip. You can move on to the next artist, genre, or mood with the tap of a button, and the DJ will learn about your preferences from this. The more you listen and tell the DJ what you like or don’t like, the better its recommendations should get.

“We put this in the hands of our music editors to provide you with insightful facts about the music, artists, or genres you’re listening to,” Spotify said in a statement back at its launch. “With this generative AI tooling, our editors are able to scale their innate knowledge in ways never before possible.”
According to Spotify, the DJ’s voice was modelled after the company’s head of cultural partnerships, Xavier “X” Jernigan, who hosted the service’s first morning show The Get Up.
You can locate Spotify DJ in your app now if you are a premium subscriber via the Music Feed, or simply use the search tool.
Find out more at Spotify’s Newsroom.
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Zayne Vaporwave Synth Aesthetic plugin by Zayne and Team Entropy. YouTube/rUk8Fok9KO4 Read More

Dance Music Record Labels Do It DifferentlyAri is joined by Deron Delgado, Label Manager at DIRTYBIRD, and Sam Sciarra, the Head of A&R and Brand Director for Higher Ground.

Dario Lupo / Daze ZEN Subtractive synthesizer with pre-set modulators and a broken tape-like effect knob. It's not the easiest beast to tame, but you can get some fun or broken sounds out of it. Read More

Free Filtron plug-in from Polyverse Polyverse’s latest plug-in houses a state-variable filter that also offers some built-in saturation processing and interesting modulation capabilities.

Core Scientific's bankruptcy plan includes equity stake for Bitmain and AnchorageIf the plan is approved, Core Scientific could buy 27,000 Bitmain miners for roughly $23 million in cash and $54 million in company equity.

Lyft wants to kill surge pricingLyft has been cutting fares in order to secure more riders, and it’s working. Bu that success has come with a (literal) cost.
The ride-hail company reported Tuesday during its second quarter 2023 earnings an increase in riders and decrease in revenue per active rider. That discrepancy was fueled by a decision by the company to “price in line with the market,” according to CEO David Risher.
Lyft’s revenue per rider decreased almost 5% quarter-over-quarter, while the number of active riders increased in the second quarter to 21,487 riders, up from 19,552 in the first quarter.
Lyft appears to be not only trying to keep prices competitive with Uber, it’s also working to kill off surge pricing, or “primetime” as the company calls it.
During Tuesday’s earnings call, Risher said that surge pricing might work to incentivize more drivers during peak service, but it also acts as a demand suppressor when riders don’t want to pay exorbitant fees just to get home after work.
“[Primetime pricing] is a bad form of price raising,” said Risher. “It’s particularly bad because riders hate it with a fiery passion. And so we’re really trying to get rid of it, and because we’ve got such a good driver supply…it’s decreased significantly.”
Lyft’s driver supply is the highest its been in three years (up more than 20% year-over-year) and the average hours per active driver has reached a new high above 2019 levels, according to a spokesperson for Lyft.
Risher noted that this has helped the share of rides affected by surge pricing drop down 35% from the first quarter.
“That has a revenue implication — we’re actually taking less money,” said the executive. “But it’s good for our riders, and it’s good for our overall market results.”
At least in the short term, ditching surge pricing might serve as a differentiator for Lyft as it continues to compete with its so-called “big brother” Uber.

The king of the TR-808: Egyptian Lover on the iconic drum machine
Egyptian Lover sat down with us to discuss his relationship with the TR-808, bringing two hardware units and a vocoder to lay down some samples and vocals.

Live Review: MoonwalkerThe Moroccan Lounge   Los Angeles, CA 

Web: listentomoonwalker.com

Contact: romy@bighassle.com

Players: Harry Springer, vocals, guitar; Alicia Vigil, bass; Joan Daewin, drums

Material: Moonwalker is Guns N' Roses meets Led Zeppelin—who have dinner with Deep Purple. The music is loud, hard and in your face. They are reminiscent of the older jam bands of the ‘70s and ‘80s and have that spark to make it happen. Although they didn’t “jam it up” too much, the potential for it was there. The songs have a hard rock foundation, in the style of Zeppelin; A progressive rock layer on top of that, as with Deep Purple; and a raspy, colorful vocal frosting to finish things off.

Musicianship: The musicianship was excellent. Vigil was on point all night and she knew it. She stroked the audience in every which way while she grooved to every beat. Together with Daewin, they had the audience eating out of their hands as they laid down some incredible backdrops for Springer to paint on. One of the best rhythm sections of late. 

Performance: It started out flat, but slowly built its way up and ended in great fashion. Springer is a prodigious frontman and really knows how to handle a crowd. He made the “show” happen and he had the right crew to help him achieve it. Great drumming, great bass play and a great frontman make for an entertaining show. 

Summary: Moonwalker is edgy and fun and they’re ready to Rock out at any time. They are extremely fun to watch and the music is strong and tasteful (just not for everyone). Tunes like the bass/drum-driven “Doombox” and the Guns N' Roses-sounding “Disturbed Suburbia” will have you grooving in your seat and stomping the ground you’re standing on. “Tear Down the Wall” will take you back to the Led Zep days of yesteryear, and Springer will keep you there. “Turn Off This Song” will funk you out and the breakdown will make you sigh and say, “This is very cool!” Moonwalker brought the jams all the way from New York City and didn’t disappoint. Check them out now! – Pierce Brochetti

Win $1,000, an exclusive pack, and more via Tisoki’s remix contest
Create a remix of Tisoki's "Go (ft. San Holo & RUNN)" for the chance to win $1,000 USD, an exclusive sample pack, and more.