“So many artists and their managers work unpaid on loss-making tours”: A new touring fund has been set up for UK artistsA new UK Artist Touring Fund developed with the Musicians’ Union, Music Managers Forum, and Featured Artists Coalition will be used to help mitigate the “cost of touring crisis” in grassroots live music.
The fund will “act as a vehicle to distribute artist-allocated revenues collected by the recently-launched LIVE Trust” – an organisation delivering funding where it is needed most to help the entertainment sector thrive. The fund arrives off the back of recent data from Ditto that revealed 84 per cent of UK-based respondents (from a survey of 1,500 independent artists) could not afford to tour.

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The “transparent” application process will soon open for artists, DJs, and other music performers, with funding also set to support managers and session musicians through a partnership with the Musicians’ Union (MU) and the Music Managers Forum (MMF). The UKAT Fund will also be open to receive one-off donations and commercial support for those who wish to invest directly in UK talent.
David Martin, CEO of the Featured Artists Coalition, comments, “The FAC has established the UKAT Fund in preparation for when the LIVE Trust becomes operational and starts to distribute revenue from the incoming ticket contributions. It will ensure that any funding allocated for grassroots artists can be distributed in the most effective, transparent and efficient way possible. By helping keep shows on the road, our three fundamental aims are to support artist development, boost audience engagement and help sustain the wider live music supply chain.”
Annabella Coldrick, Chief Executive of Music Managers Forum, also states “So many artists and their managers work unpaid on loss-making tours for many years in the hope of growing a fanbase, developing their live performance and creating long term careers. They are having to make tough financial decisions to make ends meet, and in many cases artists play many fewer dates than they would like around the UK due to the upfront costs of touring… We look forward to the fund being operational in the coming weeks and months as it is so urgently needed.”
Naomi Pohl, General Secretary, Musicians’ Union, adds, “The past five years have been extremely difficult for musicians due to COVID and the rising cost of touring, both within the UK and overseas. We want to make sure there is clear and transparent access to support, not only for those who book and platform artists, but for artists themselves and the huge teams they employ.”
Head over to the Featured Artists Coalition website to receive updates on the fund or find out more.
The post “So many artists and their managers work unpaid on loss-making tours”: A new touring fund has been set up for UK artists appeared first on MusicTech.

Make Noise introduce MultiMod module Make Noise's latest Eurorack module takes a single control signal and creates eight duplicates, providing users with control over their relative speed and phase relationships. 

Coinbase revenue hit $2.3B in Q4 as Trump's win boosted crypto tradingCrypto exchange Coinbase reported a net income of $1.29 billion in the fourth quarter, while its $2.2 billion net revenue comfortably beat industry estimates.

Tilr RipplerXRipplerX is a physically modeled synth, capable of sounds similar to AAS Chromaphone and Ableton Collision. Features: Open source and Cross-platform, available on Windows,... Read More

Meta CTO says staff should quit if they don’t like Meta’s new policiesMeta's CTO said staff unhappy with the tech giant's latest policies should work somewhere else, an internal chat reveals.
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Get the 1176 Classic FET Compressor plugin FREE in Universal Audio’s Valentine’s Day Giveaway
You can now get the 1176 Classic FET Compressor plugin for free as part of Universal Audio’s Valentine’s Day Giveaway. After all these years, the famous 1176 compressor, in all its revisions, is still one of the most sought-after pieces of vintage hardware. To a lesser extent, the same is true of re-issues, hardware clones, [...]
View post: Get the 1176 Classic FET Compressor plugin FREE in Universal Audio’s Valentine’s Day Giveaway

The Nokia 3310 Finally Gets A USB-C UpgradeThe Nokia 3310 has a reputation of being one of the most indestructible devices ever crafted by humanity. It’s also woefully out of date and only usable in a handful of countries that still maintain a GSM network. It might not be easy to bring it into the 5G era, but you can at least convert it to work with modern chargers, thanks to [Andrea].
[SGCDerek] whipped up their own solution for USB-C charging.If you don’t want to buy the parts, you can just DIY the same mod. [SGCDerek] did just that a few years ago. From what it looks like, you likely don’t even need to worry about doing any fancy charger handshaking. The 3310 will happily grab a charge from a low-current 5V supply straight off the USB pins.
You might think this is a messy, complicated mod, but [Andrea] engineered it as a drop-in upgrade. He’s combined a USB-C port with a small plastic adapter that enables it to sit in place of the original phone’s charge port module.  Contact between the port and the rest of the phone is via spring-loaded contacts. The only additional step necessary is popping out the mic from the original charge module and putting it in the new one. You need only a screw driver to disassemble the phone, swap out the parts, and put it all back together.
If you want to upgrade your own handset, [Andrea] is more than happy to provide the parts for a reasonable price of 25 euros. It’s almost worth it just for the laughs—head around to your friend’s house, ask to borrow a charger, and then plug in your USB-C 3310. You’ll blow some minds.
Once upon a time, it was big news that someone hacked a USB-C port into the iPhone. Video after the break.

Music Business Worldwide launches The MBW Database, a vital new resource for the music industry (and its investors)New site offers over 150 charts, built from more than 2,500 data points. It will be constantly updated.
Source

Range Music Publishing Announces New SigningsOn the heels of a massive first year with five chart-topping hits across multiple radio formats, Range Music Publishing kicks off 2025 by adding writers/producers Darius Coleman, Alex Goose, James Maddocks and Simon Oscroft to its diverse roster.
Coleman, signed in partnership with Tommy Brown and Champagne Therapy Music Group, has worked with an impressive array of artists, including Normani, Chris Brown, Renee Rapp, DJ Khaled and Coco Jones. He co-wrote "You See Me" from The Color Purple soundtrack, which was nominated for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media at the 67th Grammy Awards.
Los Angeles-based producer/songwriter Alex Goose has collaborated with Childish Gambino, Vince Staples, Brockhampton, Aaron Frazer, Adrian Quesada (Black Pumas), Freddie Gibbs, and Kevin Gates. He’s also composed original music for global brands such as Nike, Apple, Samsung, Google, and Target and produced the iconic Ghostbusterstheme for the 2016 soundtrack Ghostbusters (Answer the Call).
Maddocks, signed in partnership with Charlie Handsome, is known for his versatility across country, hip-hop and R&B. Recent successes include co-writing Morgan Wallen’s No. 1 country radio hit “Cowgirls” (feat. ERNEST) and collaborating with artists such as Post Malone, Khalid, Lil Baby and H.E.R.
Simon Oscroft, signed in partnership with Baxter House, is a songwriter from New Zealand now based in Los Angeles. He’s a long-term close collaborator with Almost Monday and co-wrote and produced their current #1 Alternative hit, “Can’t Slow Down.” Other cuts include songs with Pale Waves, The Aces and OneRepublic.
Casey Robison, Head of Range Music Publishing, says, “We’re excited to introduce the latest additions to Range Publishing. These exceptional writers bring remarkable talent, creativity, and expertise, further elevating our roster. Their contributions will play a vital role in our continued growth as we build on the momentum of our first year.”
In its first year of operation, Range Music Publishing celebrated five chart-topping hits across multiple radio formats. Notably, Shaboozey’s “Bar Song (Tipsy),” co-written by client Sean Cook and co-signed with Warner Chappell, reached #1 across Top 40, Country, Hot AC, Rhythmic charts and tied “Old Town Road” as the longest-running number-one song of all time on the Billboard Hot 100, marking Shaboozey as a breakout star.
Beyond Cook’s work on “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and Paul Russell’s “Lil Boo Thang,” Range has also found success with Geoff Warburton (Tyler Hubbard’s “Back Then Right Now,” Luke Bryan’s “But I Got a Beer in My Hand”, co-signed by Big Machine) and Tyler Dopps (#1 Dance radio hit “Young & Foolish” by Loud Luxury featuring Charlieonnafriday).
Last year, Range Music Publishing inked an exclusive, global administration deal with Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG), the global music publishing division of Universal Music Group. The new agreement expanded on Range Media Partners’ existing relationships with Universal Music Group’s Capitol Music Group and Virgin Music Group.
Range Music represents a wide range of talent including Jack Harlow, Shaboozey, Tanya Tucker, Cordae, Pentatonix, Saweetie, Midland, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Lauv, Dylan Gossett, MAX, Bazzi, Sean Douglas, Paul Russell, Wondagurl, Russell Dickerson, Coi Leray and more. The publishing division is supported by Range Music’s entire partnership, which includes Matt Graham, Jack Minihan, Tyler Henry, Melissa Ruderman, Chris Thomas, Evan Winiker, Cory Litwin, Shawn McSpadden, Rachel Douglas and Jared Cotter.
Range Media Partners is one of the most disruptive new representation businesses in entertainment, with a foothold in the music, film, television, production, comedy and sports industries, as well as offices in Los Angeles, New York, London, and Nashville.The post Range Music Publishing Announces New Signings first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

These keyboards can control your DAW – and have a built-in trackpad to replace your mouseNUX is launching three new keyboard controllers with built in track pads, so you can say goodbye to your desktop mouse.
The NUX NTK is available with either 37, 49, or 61 keys. The lineup marks the brands’ first series of USB keyboard controllers, which are designed to make working with your DAW much more seamless, and streamline your desktop setup.

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All three models have buttons for DAW transport control, plus a range of pre-configured presets for simple integration with DAWs such as Cubase (Cubase LE is included with all models), Logic Pro, Pro Tools, Nuendo, Ableton Live, Studio One, FL Studio, and GarageBand. There’s also a memory slot for a custom DAW configuration, plus a MIDI mode on each model, allowing users to configure controls via the keyboard using its display and push encoder, or through the included software editor.
Each keyboard hosts two wheels for pitch bend and modulation, and has nine programmable faders. The 49- and 61-key models also have eight rotary knobs, with the mighty 61-key NTK being the only keyboard in the range to feature eight velocity-sensitive pads, plus a Bank A/B button. All three keyboard controllers also feature a five-pin MIDI output and a sustain pedal jack, alongside USB-B connectivity.
Take a closer a the NTK-61 model in the video below:

For 2025, MusicTech has rounded up the best MIDI controllers to buy in this year, starting with the 12 best Ableton Live controllers you can currently find on the market. Among our picks is the Ableton Push, Novation SL MkIII, and Yaeltex TURN – just to name a few.
To find out more head over to NUX. Official pricing details and availability are yet to be confirmed.
The post These keyboards can control your DAW – and have a built-in trackpad to replace your mouse appeared first on MusicTech.

Joe Satriani: “Anyone can make decent music at home, which is good for people who – because of their sex or appearance – have been cut out of the music scene”Technology has made the barriers to entry in music production lower than ever. Nowadays, Google can be your music teacher, music tech equipment is affordable and social media can get your name out there fast. In the eyes of guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani, that’s definitely a good thing.
Of course, while modern musicians have to fight to get their name out their in a more saturated market, Satriani acknowledges that the industry has been “democratised” and is keen to emphasise its benefits.

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The topic came up during an interview with Terrie Carr of WDHA, during which Satriani discusses how technological advances have helped musicians from marginalised backgrounds.
“If you happen to listen to Alyssa Day, she can shred any guy out there,” he says [as transcribed by Ultimate Guitar]. “There’s no difference in aptitude and technical prowess… The opportunity is so important. I don’t think it’s any different for any other art form or business form, if society, either locally or on a bigger scale, doesn’t provide an opportunity for someone to grow into that niche, that business, that art form, then it it sits dormant. And I think, with the digital age, music production has become democratised.

“Everybody can pretty much make a decent musical product at home with their laptop, or their iPad, or something like that. And this has been a good thing for people who, maybe because of their sex or their appearance, have been cut out of the music scene, because they don’t fit. They don’t have a TV look, or they don’t have the right sound for a particular radio station.”
Satriani goes on to talk about how you can find “the most amazing guitar players” on Instagram, who are breaking boundaries in terms of the skills they’re showing off.
“That’s all broken down; the artists and the fans connect without the need for the music industry infrastructure. This has been great for music. If you go to Instagram, you just see the most amazing guitar players from ages eight to 18. They’re just playing better than guitar players have ever played before in the history of the world. So this is a great thing.”
The post Joe Satriani: “Anyone can make decent music at home, which is good for people who – because of their sex or appearance – have been cut out of the music scene” appeared first on MusicTech.

‘Banned’ TikTok still outperforms YouTube, Facebook in U.S.TikTok outperforms YouTube and Facebook in the US in January, according to a new report from Guggenheim Partners and Apptopia. Unofficial app stores are seeing up to 2000 TikTok downloads per hour.
The post ‘Banned’ TikTok still outperforms YouTube, Facebook in U.S. appeared first on Hypebot.

Streaming is losing steam. It’s time to reimagine music’s futureStreaming was supposed to save the music industry, but it's leaving artists behind. As streaming is losing steam, it’s time to rethink the model and put creators back at the center of their own success, writes Alexandre Saboundjian, the CEO of Winamp.
The post Streaming is losing steam. It’s time to reimagine music’s future appeared first on Hypebot.

Sampleson releases rePEDAL, a FREE AI guitar pedal maker for macOS and Windows
Sampleson’s rePEDAL is an experiment in machine learning; the project is currently in beta, and feedback is welcome. In short, rePEDAL is an AI-powered overdrive pedal generator. You get an infinite amount of overdrive pedals in a single plugin. The HD interface looks fantastic and incredibly user-friendly, with just a few controls. In terms of [...]
View post: Sampleson releases rePEDAL, a FREE AI guitar pedal maker for macOS and Windows

DR-05XP & DR-07XP recorders from Tascam Tascam have announced the upcoming launch of two new handheld recorders that build on the strengths of their popular DR-series devices.