‘If I ran Spotify…’ How to improve the world’s top music streamerRob Abelow of Where’s Music Going shares eight things he would change if he ran Spotify, the world’s most popular streaming music platform. What would you do to make Spotify. Continue reading
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Indies artists Nightly celebrate release in a unique and intimate wayThe rising indie pop band Nightly has made a name for themselves with infectious melodies and vulnerable lyrics, but they also know a lot about how to stay connected with. Continue reading
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Elon Musk once crashed a Grimes recording session for Cyberpunk 2077 with a gun, demanding a cameoElon Musk allegedly once crashed a Cyberpunk 2077 recording session with a gun when ex-girlfriend Grimes was recording her dialogue for the game, a new biography has revealed.

READ MORE: Elon Musk’s X platform files to dismiss music publishers’ $250 million copyright lawsuit

Walter Isaacson wrote in the biography that Musk crashed the session – Grimes played pop star Lizzy Wizzy in the game – with a “two-hundred-year-old gun”, demanding that he was given a cameo.
“I told them that I was armed but not dangerous,” Musk has said about the moment, while Grimes has shared that the “studio guys were, like, sweating”.
The game developers CD Projekt Red did appear to give him a cameo in the end, lending his likeness to a non-playable character who enters the bathrooms at Arasaka Corporation at the beginning of the Corpo lifepath in the game.
The protagonist has the option to ignore the NPC, or they can ask them why they’re staring. Either way, he doesn’t respond, and simply leaves the bathroom.

Meanwhile, the biography also features a number of previously unreported anecdotes from Musk’s life, including an occasion on which he asked ex-girlfriend Amber Heard to dress up as Mercy, a character from the Overwatch franchise.
Not only that, but the biography also shares the name of Musk’s third child with Grimes, Techno Mechanicus.
Last month, Grimes spoke out about artificial intelligence in an interview, sharing concerns. While she’s even launched her own AI software – Grimes AI – she does have some worries surrounding the technology.
“We should go to the edge of creativity. But I think we should do it very carefully,” she said. “The thing that freaks me out is that AI can remove incentives for learning. LLMs (large language models) are great, but I would maybe only have them in school. Is that something that I want my kids to have access to 100 per cent of the time? Probably not.”
The post Elon Musk once crashed a Grimes recording session for Cyberpunk 2077 with a gun, demanding a cameo appeared first on MusicTech.

Lauten Audio announce the Snare Mic Lauten Audio's latest offering is a compact FET capacitor microphone that has been designed exclusively for use on snare drums.

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Plugin Boutique offers the SSL DrumStrip and Harrison AVA Drum Flow bundle for $34.99 during a limited-time sale. The 90% discount offer expires on September 26th. I will admit I don’t have many processors intended for a singular workflow. I don’t have any guitar or vocal-centric plugins in the swelling folders on any computer. However, [...]
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Modal Electronics confirms insolvency and goes into administrationModal Electronics, known for its compact hardware synthesisers, has confirmed that it is insolvent and will be going into administration.
In a statement released yesterday (20 September), Modal announced that it is in the process of a “comprehensive restructuring” with the aim to “future proof” the company. However, Government records indicate that the company went into administration on 8 September 2023.

READ MORE: Tycho reveals new album for 2024 with collab features from Kaelin Ellis

The official press release explains that all current employees of Modal Electronics will remain employed and were “involved in planning the restructuring”. The company has also stressed that the current ARGON8 and COBALT8 synthesisers as well as the MODALApp will “continue to play an important role in the future”.
“This complex restructuring process opens up unimagined opportunities for Modal Electronics to make the company more economical and even more customer-friendly,” explains Christian Stahl, temporary managing director of Modal Electronics. “We want creativity to continue in the coming years with extensive concepts for new, exciting products of musicians.”
Modal has also stressed that all current synthesisers will stay in the portfolio, and it wants to continue releasing synths in the future.
Despite the company’s determination to see the “restructuring” as a good thing, one former employee has come forward with some choice words about Modal and founder Philip Taysom.
“Apologies but this is great news,” ex-employee Finlay Shakespeare says on X. “[Founder] Philip Taysom has had this coming for a long time – compulsive liar, misogynist and outright scumbag. I’m glad I jumped ship when I did, against all of his advice that I’d never make it work.”

Apologies but this is great news.Philip Taysom has had this coming for a long time – compulsive liar, misogynist and outright scumbag.I’m glad I jumped ship when I did, against all of his advice that I’d never make it work https://t.co/ieEwHqOJty
— Finlay Shakespeare (@FinShakespeare) September 20, 2023

While much of this is hearsay, former CEO Paula Maddox has also spoken about the difficult working environment created by Taysom, telling Focusrite that her former “business partner did not respond well to the news” of her coming out, “urging them to delay any public announcements or procedures to avoid impacting synthesiser sales”.
Model Electronics has been contacted for comment.
The post Modal Electronics confirms insolvency and goes into administration appeared first on MusicTech.

Bootlegs, covers, and scammers: inside Slushii’s fight to reclaim digital ownershipIf having a hit viral song is the dream, then seeing your track go viral with someone else’s name on it must be the nightmare. Julian Scanlan had just such an experience.

READ MORE: Tycho’s $160,000 studio collection is flying off Reverb’s shelves

Better known as Slushii, the producers’ anime-inflected dance tunes have made him a favourite in EDM circles since the release of his full-length debut, Out of Light, in 2017.
However, Julian has a second creative outlet – the more ambient and experimental, sapientdream. It was under this moniker that he uploaded a bootlegged remix of BØRNS’ Past Lives, unwittingly kicking off a chain of events that would see the song garner 40 million daily views on YouTube, 140 million cumulative streams on Spotify, and somewhere north of 2 billion views on TikTok.
Quite an achievement for a song Julian says he originally released online for free and then forgot about.
“I initially heard Past Lives through an advert for iPhone X,” he recalls. “They did a campaign where they use just the intro vocoder part.” That minimalist rendition of BØRNS’ mega hit left Julian feeling inspired to make his own version. He eventually uploaded the resulting track as a bootlegged remix during the pandemic, “as a kind of therapy.”
“I kind of went renegade, against my team’s wishes, and leaked the sapientdream music out there,” he admits. “But, it ended up being for the best because somehow, someway, it gained traction on all these platforms.”
Slushii. Image: Jennica Abrams
Crucially, Julian says that while he sampled BØRNS without permission, he uploaded his remix without any intention to monetise it. It was months later that he discovered the track had been monetised, just not by him.
“I started looking on Spotify and I saw that another artist had distributed my remix,” Julian recalls. “When it initially went viral, there were 200,000 unique videos of the song. I was scrolling through YouTube Shorts, and every two or three Shorts was my version of Past Lives.”
Julian was left with deeply conflicted emotions regarding the track’s viral success. On the one hand, his work was being heard and shared on a massive scale; on the other hand, there were worrying legal and ethical implications.
“At that point, I was very afraid,” he says. “I had initially released that remix for free during the pandemic, and then this guy went ahead and just ripped it off of YouTube and distributed it to Spotify; not only breaking BØRNS’ copyright, but also taking my intellectual property. So, it ended up being extra uncool.”
With his remix spreading like wildfire on streaming platforms and social media, Julian began the daunting task of reclaiming copyright over the song. Working with record label, Trap Nation, they began the slow process of matching all versions of the track across the internet and issuing takedown requests.
Slushii. Image: Jennica Abrams
However, that was only the first step. The original bootlegged upload had featured an unauthorised sample of BØRNS’ voice and to legally monetize the track, Julian and Trap Nation produced a new, official cover version of the song.
“I recorded the vocals myself,” he says. “I’ve always had a love for vocoders, so mimicking it only took about an hour while I was packing for a flight.”
After years seeing his remix attributed to other producers and monetized against his wishes, the new version has now been released under both the artist’s Slushii and sapientdream aliases. While the process leading up to this point has been an unusual and complex one, Julian says it has ultimately all been worth it: “I’m over the moon. I feel so vindicated that people can finally see it’s by me – for years, I’ve gone under the radar and it feels good to be appreciated.”
At the same time, Julian hasn’t lost sight of his remix’s origins as a bootleg and has no plans to fight if the song’s original composer comes knocking: “For me, it’s never really been about monetary gain. If Interscope Records comes to us tomorrow and says ‘we want all of the money that you’re getting from the version with BØRNS vocals’ then that’s cool. I’m just happy that the song was able to have a second life.”
Slushii. Image: Jennica Abrams
While Past Lives was released under both of his artistic aliases, moving forward, Julian says he now sees a much firmer line separating the sapientdream and Slushii projects.
“Now, I’m able to differentiate what’s going to be a Slushii song and what’s going to be sapientdream song. Before, it was like playing with a new can of paint – but now I can actually mix the colours.
Fans won’t have to wait long to hear those new colours, as Julian says a new sapientdream album – his fourth – is nearly completed. In addition to that, Julian is currently in the process of founding his own record label – Sonic Dream. “I want to use it as a platform,” he says. “Not only to release my music, but to sign people who are musically like-minded and to create our own wave.”
Moreover, Julian says the label is part of a larger desire to pass along information, pay forward his own success, and nurture young talent. “I understand my role in the scene now, and I’m beginning to find my tribe of producers. I think once the seed is planted, and you bloom, then it’s your responsibility to keep it going for the next generation; I don’t believe in gatekeeping, I believe there’s really room at the top for everybody.”
The post Bootlegs, covers, and scammers: inside Slushii’s fight to reclaim digital ownership appeared first on MusicTech.

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Automation in music: What it is and 5 creative ways to use it
From shape-shifting reverbs to bouncing stereo effects, we explore just a few of the infinite ways you can use automation to achieve unique sounds.

Tycho reveals new album for 2024 with collab features from Kaelin EllisScott Hansen, the brains behind electronic music project Tycho, has shared with MusicTech the news of an upcoming album for 2024.
READ MORE: Tycho’s $160,000 studio collection is flying off Reverb’s shelves: Why he’s selling and what to expect from his 2024 album
The reveal follows hot on the heels of Tycho’s recent single, Time To Run, which Hansen said in a new MusicTech interview was created with 25-year-old multi-instrumentalist and producer Kaelin Ellis.

“The impetus for that song was this drum part by [producer, multi-instrumentalist and streamer] Kaelin Ellis,” says Hansen. “I just got really into his drumming, so I worked with him on the drums for [Time To Run]. And he has this looser style; I’m used to rigid rhythmic structures I’ve been doing in the past, and more like indie-rock-type drums. So it’s cool to work with a different kind of pattern.”
Hansen adds that there are more tracks featuring Ellis, and that “a set of three songs kind of live in the same space as Time To Run.”
“There are three songs that live in darker [space],” he says. “Like if we kept doing stuff like Epoch, and then there’s some very Tycho original, kind of like Dive and Past Is Prologue era stuff. It feels like it’s a nice balance of stuff from different eras. But it all feels evolved.”
Hansen also details the story of how he met Ellis, who’s cultivated a strong fanbase online following his regular Twitch music production streams, his feature on Mass Appeal’s Rhythm Roulette, and six albums of jazz-funk and hip-hop.

“Reverb wanted to bring somebody who was using a Minimoog clone into my studio, where I had a real Minimoog, and just like, show them around the real thing and have them play it. And that was Kaelin. I didn’t even know him!
“So they had him come out and we just connected that day. And I was like, ‘Man, I’m working on this album. Why don’t you come back out to my studio?’ And he did. So yeah, that was really cool.”
Hansen has recruited mix engineer, Grizzly Bear’s Christopher Taylor will also be working on the new Tycho album. This will be the first time since Dive that mix engineer Count will not be working on a Tycho album.
Full details on the new Tycho album are scarce, but Hansen believes it will be ready for a Spring 2024 release.
The post Tycho reveals new album for 2024 with collab features from Kaelin Ellis appeared first on MusicTech.

International financial group finds gaps in digital euro legislative packageThe Institute of International Finance looked at seven areas where digital euro legislation, which is being developed alongside the technology, is lacking.

More music streaming price rises – now!They're coming soon – mark our words...
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Betweened wants to teach kids how to use social media, not shut them out of itKeeping kids off social media is idealistic at best, and giving them access to it opens a Pandora’s box of privacy concerns.

Tycho’s $160,000 studio collection is flying off Reverb’s shelves: Why he’s selling and what to expect from his 2024 albumDon’t worry, synth nerds and gearheads. Tycho has a dangerous lust for vintage and extravagant music equipment, too. But the esteemed electronica producer, real name Scott Hansen, is being bold: he’s listing over 100 pieces of his studio treasures on Reverb.com from today (20 Sept). Why? Is he retiring from music-making after 25 years in the game? Not even close. He just wants to give these coveted artefacts a better home.
“I started to get this weird sense of guilt,” Hansen says from his California studio “Like, I’m sitting here on this amazing thing that somebody could put to use and do something awesome with. Instead, it’s sitting in a closet, decaying away.”
READ MORE: “Always record ideas on your phone. Whether they’re good or bad – decide that later”: Basement Jaxx’s tips for aspiring producers
Sadly, he’s not giving them away for free. The collection of alluring hardware – from synths such as the Korg Trident, Sequential Prophet 5, and Moog Voyager to outboard like his beloved Ursa Major Stargate 626 reverb and Roland RE-201 Space Echo – totals more than $160,000. That also includes the $31,254 Oberheim FVS-1 and $15,626 Neve 84 mixer. These were all used on his seminal albums: 2011’s Dive, 2014’s Awake, and 2017’s Grammy-nominated Epoch. And, at the time of writing, he’s already sold over 30 pieces of gear.
Tycho’s studio gear from 2020. Image: Tycho
It’s not like he won’t miss these musical companions. But in creating his upcoming album, which he tells us is set for release in Spring 2024, Hansen realised that his sonic palette is now “limitless” after diving even deeper into plugins and software.
“There’s just so many options,” he says. “And I’m definitely a plugin junkie; my gear lust has switched from hardware to software. I’ve used a lot of software in the past it’s not like I just started using software instruments. But I force myself to…if there’s a software equivalent of a tool or an instrument, I’m going to use that instead of the hardware, no matter what.”
Despite Hansen’s favourite instrument being his Minimoog, for example, he’s found himself using Universal Audio’s version more than the real thing. “That’s the sad thing – Universal Audio came out with its Minimoog emulation and, it’s sacrilege to say it but, I like it more. It ended up serving me well on this record.”
Don’t be fooled, though – there’s no way he’s giving up his Minimoog. “No, absolutely not,” he says with a chuckle. “I don’t care if I never use it again. It’s too sentimental.”

With so much hardware and software he’s racked up, we wonder how the producer decides what gear to invest in next. “I’m always just looking for the Holy Grail of sound or something,” he laughs. “[The gear] is either a shortcut to the sound that I want or it can make a sound that I’ve never heard anywhere else.
“I was never a musician,” Hansen continues. “I came to music through musical equipment. I could probably be pretty fulfilled just messing around with gear and never finishing a song. If I didn’t have to for my job, you know?”
Thankfully, Hansen is clearly capable of finishing tracks and albums. With the cult success of his ever-replayable albums, fans are sure to be stoked for new music in 2024. After his 2020 album Simulcast, Tycho moved studio and his workflow changed with so much of his gear going into storage.
“I wanted this album to be flexible in the mix stages. I was always limited by the decisions I made in the moment with hardware equipment,” explains Hansen.
“I’ve finally got around to learning ReaLearn, which is an add-on script in Reaper, for super-deep integration with plugins and controllers. And so it gives you this ability to have a Minimoog [plugin] and really feel the tactile experience of playing when it’s actually software and a controller.”
Hansen says he got a “ton of new plugins” since Simulcast, after being a little “out of the loop” on which ones were worth copping.
“It felt like something major happened between, like, 2015 and 2020, where plugins finally made it to the point where it’s like…Man, if you can hear the difference between a software emulation and the hardware, good for you,” Hansen says. “But this isn’t about the sound anymore. They did it. The argument of sound is over, it’s just more about workflow. So that was when I was like, ‘Well, I don’t care because I love working with computers. And I’m not old-school where I need to be turning all these knobs.’

“So it was just about using as many plugins as I could and figuring out which developers I liked,” he continues. “Now, when I look at plugins, the only thing I’m looking for is a novel approach or a sound that I can’t get anywhere else. Ujam’s stuff is interesting because their plugins sound like nothing I’ve ever heard and that’s compelling to me. But do we need another Roland Juno emulation? Like, Softube’s Model 84 – that’s it! I don’t need another one.”
Alongside new gear and processes comes new collaborators, too. The album’s lead single, Time To Run, comes with an unexpected new collab partner. “The impetus for that song was this drum part by [producer, multi-instrumentalist and streamer] Kaelin Ellis. I just got really into his drumming, so I worked with him on the drums for [Time To Run]. And he has this like, looser style; I’m used to rigid rhythmic structures I’ve been doing in the past, and more like indie-rock-type drums. So it’s cool to work with a different kind of pattern.”

As it happens, Reverb.com also lent a hand in introducing Ellis to Tycho. Hansen and Reverb had been discussing the gear sale for almost three years, developing a pretty close relationship. Separately, the marketplace was planning to create a video to promote the sale of a Minimoog reissue and found Hansen and Ellis as the perfect candidates.
“Reverb wanted to bring somebody who was using a Minimoog clone into my studio, where I had a real Minimoog, and just like, show them around the real thing and have them play it. And that was Kaelin. I didn’t even know him!
“So they had him come out and we just connected that day. And I was like, ‘Man, I’m working on this album. Why don’t you come back out to my studio?’ And he did. So yeah, that was really cool.”

According to Hansen, though he keeps the album’s details close to his chest, the material can be categorised into sets of three. “I’d say there’s a set of three songs that kind of live in the same space as Time To Run. There are three songs that live in darker [space], like if we kept doing stuff like Epoch, and then there’s some very Tycho original, kind of like Dive and Past Is Prologue era stuff. It feels like it’s a nice balance of stuff from different eras. But it all feels evolved.”
Until then, we wonder how he’s going to feel when his cherished studio gear goes into new studios for other artists to create with. “You know, I really appreciate my time with it. And I’ll always remember it. But I think it’s time – you got to keep things fresh, you know?”
Check out the official Tycho Reverb shop.
The post Tycho’s $160,000 studio collection is flying off Reverb’s shelves: Why he’s selling and what to expect from his 2024 album appeared first on MusicTech.