Indie Artist Playbook: Tips for a Sustainable Music CareerWant to make a living from your music while staying independent? The Indie Artist Playbook shares 25 years of insider knowledge, giving you the tools to build a sustainable career, market your music, and thrive in today’s music industry.
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Top 10 Trending Posts on HypebotDid you miss anything? Here are the 10 trending posts on Hypebot that resonated with readers over the last 30 days.
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“Music is the closest thing humanity has to magic – but it will fade into history unless we support creators’ rights”: Max Richter blasts proposals to allow AI companies to train models on copyrighted materialAt present, few issues pervade the music conversation quite like the regulation of AI. With more music creation tools cropping up driven by artificial intelligence, many worry that the human creators of the source material on which they are trained aren’t being attributed and compensated fairly.
German-British composer and pianist Max Richter made his thoughts on the matter known earlier this week, when he gave a speech to MPs calling for greater protection for music creators.

READ MORE: Rights management platform for generative AI raises $2.1 million in investment for “trailblazing” attribution model

Per Mixmag, Richter called recent proposals by the UK government that would allow AI companies to train their models on copyrighted material “unfair and unworkable,” putting “the onus on artists to opt-out”.
Richter started by asserting that he’s not “anti-AI”. “There are many areas of life, especially in scientific and technical fields, where it’s obvious there are huge benefits to the use of this technology,” he said. “When it comes to creative work however, the situation is more complex. We need to approach it with thoughtfulness and keep in mind the societal impacts that its use in creative fields could have.”
He went on to call music “one of the defining human characteristics”, and one that is “universal to all human cultures”.
“We have music for getting married, for celebrating a birthday, for learning the alphabet, for graduating school or university, for resisting oppression. From national anthems to lullabies, music is in any place in our lives that matters to us. 
“A love song touches us because it was written by a person who knew what it means to fall in love; when we lose someone close to us, the funeral music touches us because its composer also felt the agony of grief, and this shaped the music they wrote; when a massive banger floods the dancefloor with joyful people, it is because the artist who made it knows what joy feels like.
“So, music gives a direct glimpse into how it feels to be another person. It connects us in profound ways and lifts us up collectively and personally.”
“Music is the closest thing humanity has to magic,” Richter explained, “But all of this will fade into history unless we support creators’ rights because, unless artists can be fairly rewarded for their work through copyright, there is no future for human creators.”
Richter called copyright “an acknowledgement that music has a value, both on a moral level and in monetary terms”.
“The tech companies pay their researchers and coders salaries. They pay for their buildings, their computers and server farms, but none of these mean a thing without access to good training data, so why is the government proposing that the tech companies should not pay for the training data too?”
The post “Music is the closest thing humanity has to magic – but it will fade into history unless we support creators’ rights”: Max Richter blasts proposals to allow AI companies to train models on copyrighted material appeared first on MusicTech.

Klevgrand releases FREE SyndtSphere v2 Sound Surfer Synth
Developer Klevgrand has released the SyndtSphere v2.0.0 Sound Surfer Synth, which is free to download for macOS and Windows. Syndtsphere, the Sound Surfer Synth is back and is now in version 2.0.0. Klevgränd released the original Syndtsphere around seven years ago (roughly), and it took an interesting approach to blending sounds. Version 2.0.0 features a [...]
View post: Klevgrand releases FREE SyndtSphere v2 Sound Surfer Synth

Ela Minus: “I never wanted to be signed to a label; I never wanted to play big festivals”When Ela Minus dials in for our video interview, an effulgent mass of light is pouring into her New York window, dousing her house plants and alighting the abstract art hanging on the walls. A fitting setting considering the title of her new album is DÍA, which translates to “day” in her native Spanish.
But Ela finds a more profound definition in the word: “A period of time defined by the presence of light.” She then takes that definition one layer deeper. Light is the means of revealing truth, and in making this record, so many personal truths were revealed to her.

READ MORE: DESTIINO: “I think it’s outdated now to mix on a desk; DAWs work well if you know how to use them”

On her previous records, she experimented with her arsenal of hardware synths including the Akai MPC 1000 and a Moog Sirin. After leaving her hometown of Bogotá, she studied synthesis at Berklee College of Music then started working at Critter & Guitarri, the boutique Brooklyn instrument company, where she built their Pocket Piano. Throughout her work, she has also developed such a good relationship with Moog that when she’s producing on the road they will ship a Sub 37 out to her so she can maintain her signature sound.
But this time around, she shifted her focus away from the hardware and towards herself:
“For this record, I didn’t have any idea or any preconceived concept of what I wanted to make,” Ela says. “I just needed to make a record and get this music out of my system. But I was confused about what it was because it felt like every song was very different. Whenever I would try to put them in a sequence, it felt schizophrenic, but I started realising what tied it together was this presence of light. Making this record was like turning a light on inside of myself, going into every nook and crevice and making music with it.”
While Ela was in the throes of her internal search, she realised the same theme had influenced her music for many years. In remembering her earliest EPs such as Adapt. (2017) and OK…(2018), she would write the word “light” (in Spanish) on Post-it notes and stick them in her immediate view as she worked. But DÍA was the first release where she shined the light to its complete potential, and much of that illumination came in the process of producing the album on the road.
Image: Alvaro Arisó
Ela produced her previous works, including her debut album, acts of rebellion (2020), in her home studio, surrounded by her wide range of familiar hardware (she “barely touched” her laptop when she made the first record).
For this album, however, Ela wrote another message to herself: “Change the process, you change the result.”
She went from a small space in the mountains of Northern Mexico to California’s Mojave Desert, to a studio in Los Angeles, back to New York, over to Seattle, down to Mexico City, and finally finishing the album in London. Unlike at home, when her laptop was an afterthought, she now had to use her limited time in all these new spaces to the fullest, recording as much as possible and then doing extensive edits on her laptop after the sessions.
The only familiar machines she had were her trusty Elektron Analog Rytm, OTO BOUM effects unit, Moog Minitaur bass, and sometimes the Sub 37. Other than that, every studio throughout this disparate process was a new, frightening experience.

“I was terrified of not having my own space and not having my own gear. I didn’t believe I would be able to produce out of my own context. So, I’m very proud that I did it that way,” Ela says. While the constant travel took a toll on her body, she found significant value in leaving the comfort of her studio. “There’s something really unique about changing places. The perspective is way bigger. You’re able to see what you’re making better because you’re not tunnel-visioned in. I think that’s extremely positive, and that helped me a lot.”
Creating in new studios illuminated new areas of her music — specifically, her vocals. In Ela’s earlier songs, such as Dominique and Megapunk, her voice is subdued, adding another simmering layer to the dark analogue soundscape. On cuts from DÍA such as COMBAT, she sings without restraint, providing buoyant, graceful tones over a warm ambient composition.
In these new studios, she saw that her subdued style stemmed, in part, from being shy about her neighbours hearing her. In a professional setting, no neighbours were listening in, and by using high-end monitors instead of her Sennheiser HD 25 headphones (as she did at home), she could properly observe how much her productions had increased in quality.
“The vocals just didn’t match the music, and I felt like the production was getting so much more confident. The voice was just not there, and it was kind of hurting my music,” Ela says. Another benefit of being in these professional environments was the wide variety of microphones she could try. “The first thing every engineer or producer will tell you is, ‘You need to try every single microphone as a singer until you find the one that fits perfectly for your voice.’”
Image: Fabrizio Colque
For Ela, two mics fit her voice: The Neumann U 87 and a Telefunken U48, running both through a Distressor and a Neve 1073 preamp. With this tried-and-tested formula, she discovered her true vocal power, which, like a domino effect of revelation, revealed that she also needed to give more attention to her lyrics.
For instance, in the song BROKEN, despite its uplifting arpeggios and dance-pop beat, Ela is singing about how she was, in fact, broken. That realisation only came to light while she was writing the song.
“I never thought I would write that song until I wrote it. The chorus flowed out of me with the lyrics, and I remember sitting there in awe of what I had just written. The fact that I was maybe not doing so well at the moment was illuminated to me,” Ela says.
Coming out of the pandemic, Ela launched right into touring acts of rebellion, stepping out on stage to see crowds filled with intoxicated people — completely disconnected from themselves, each other, and the music. “I remember looking out at the crowd and seeing their eyes. No one was there. It was very, very sad,” Ela says. But she was also disconnected from herself and what she truly wanted from her life:
“On a professional level, I still don’t really care about any career goals. I never wanted to be signed to a label. I never wanted to play big festivals. I never had this hyper-specific dream that a lot of my colleagues have,” Ela says.
Image: Fabrizio Colque
“In the years before the pandemic, I kind of let myself get pulled into this world. It never really felt right, but I still went out and tried. Then everything was set up for 2020, and it vanished into thin air. So, that left me not only broken or sad because of the obvious reasons, but also confused because I tried to follow a path that didn’t really feel like my path.”
As Ela is releasing and performing DÍA, though, she feels like she is back on the right path. She made big changes to the people around her, and she is stepping forward with intention:
“I don’t have the answers to everything I want to do differently. But the things that I know in my gut have to change, I’ve changed. The things that I am unsure about changing, I’m doing with a lot of attention and a lot of intention,” Ela says.
One thing that will never change about Ela is her Colombian heritage — making DÍA reignited her connection to her home country. Despite writing English lyrics and making music outside traditional Colombian genres like cumbia and vallenato, as a member of what she describes as “a new generation of Latin Americans,” she expresses her relationship with her native land differently.

“We grew up in cities not listening to Colombian music. Completely colonised culturally by the North. Watching only European or North American movies, the same for music, the same for books. Everything we consumed, not only us, but even our parents, has been from the north. So the ways we connect to our Colombian-ness are deeper and less obvious.”
Ela expresses her Colombianness through her creative application of rhythm. Many Latin genres, no matter how complex they may sound, are built on a simple foundational rhythm known as a clave. Her relationship with Colombian music plays a similarly deep yet impactful influence on her original works. “We don’t need literal Colombian or Latin rhythms. It doesn’t have to be a Reggaeton beat. Rhythm is in everything.”
This broad, fervent perspective can be heard in her newfound approach to vocals and lyrics. In listening to her sing on I WANT TO BE BETTER, she focuses on how the words fit together as different beats, defining phrases with accented consonants and discarding standard rhyme schemes:
“When I met you, I collapsed, disarmed/Still trying to pick myself up/And every piece of me/Just wants to show you that,” Ela sings.
Image: Fabrizio Colque
As ostensibly separate from the Colombian tradition as her music may seem, at her album release show in Bogotá, her people resonated with her more than ever.
“Being in my hometown, seeing everybody connecting and dancing and singing, it was extremely special. I’ve never felt more love in a room than that night,” Ela says, attributing that passionate response to making the album from such an honest place. “All of these deeper traits of my personality are very present In DÍA, and I think that’s why it’s connecting to people.”
Ela Minus revealed those deeper traits to her fans — and to herself — by having the courage to explore new techniques and also explore her inner world…by the light of day. Or rather, “la luz del día.”
Ela Minus’ DÍA is out now via Domino.
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VSL introduce Concert D-274 Essentials Concert D-274 captures a Steinway D274 in the renowned acoustic of Stage a at VSL’s Synchron Stage Vienna facility, and is now available in an all-new Essentials variant alongside its Standard and Full counterparts. 

Winklevoss brothers mull IPO for Gemini crypto exchange: ReportThe Winklevoss brothers are reportedly considering another IPO for Gemini after deciding not to pursue a public listing in 2021.

Plugin Boutique is offering 50% off these new Native Instruments Komplete 15 bundlesNative Instruments’ Komplete 15 – the latest version of its flagship production suite – is now available as part of three new bundles via Plugin Boutique, with 50 percent off for a limited time only.
Komplete 15 landed in September last year, and these three new curated editions – Beats, Band, and Electronic – each feature 13 products bundled to suit specific genres and workflows. Ending on 28 February, each bundle is currently on sale for just £44.50.

READ MORE: Native Instruments Komplete 15 is still the essential mega bundle

The Komplete 15 Select Beats Bundle offers a range of tools “designed to inspire and elevate beat production”. It features NI’s drum sampler BATTERY 4 at its core, plus a range of other tools such as EMPIRE BREAKS, offering sample-based sounds processed through classic gear, inspired by golden-era hip-hop.
As for the Select Electronic Bundle, this one is more apt for creators in need of tools for, well, electronic music production of course. Inside, you’ll get MASSIVE X for sound design, plus offerings such as TRK-01 – which combines classic mixing techniques with modern sound for expressive kick and bass combinations – and Schema: Light, an “intuitive” step sequencer for creating atmospheric patterns.
And lastly, the Select Band Bundle is curated for music producers seeking “top-tier” instruments, and includes a whole bunch of traditional band-inspired tools. It includes STUDIO DRUMMER for realistic acoustic drum kits, a sampled 1908 upright piano in the form of THE GENTLEMAN, and even the SCARBEE RICKENBACKER BASS, offering the iconic sound of the Rickenbacker 4003.

In other NI news, the brand recently confirmed that bringing its Maschine 3 software to its Maschine+ hardware controller this year is a top priority, as confirmed in a new community blog post from Chris La Pietra – Product Lead for Maschine, Kontrol, and NKS Hardware Partnerships. Currently, it is predicted for a launch in spring.
Find out more or get your hands on the Komplete 15 bundles over at Plugin Boutique.
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The post Plugin Boutique is offering 50% off these new Native Instruments Komplete 15 bundles appeared first on MusicTech.

CCC Webinar: 'Spotify, Why Do You Keep Hurting Songwriters?'“Spotify, Why Do You Keep Hurting Songwriters?”Tuesday, February 18, 2025 ZOOM WEBINAR2:30 PM PST - 4:00 PM PSTREGISTER HEREJoin as the CCC discusses the tensions between the music publishing community  and Spotify, in connection with Spotify’s reduction in payment of streaming mechanical royalties  to songwriters and music publishers, due to Spotify claiming it qualifies to pay a discounted “bundle” rate for premium subscriptions it characterizes as “Bundled Subscription Offerings.”Topics of discussion will include the following:History of the CRB Phonorecords IV settlement proceeding, as well as the Phonorecords IV’s determination of rates and terms;

Spotify’s position on reclassifying its premium subscription as a bundled service and why Spotify thinks it’s entitled to a discounted bundle rate, pursuant to Phonorecords IV;

The Mechanical Licensing Collective v. Spotify USA Inc. complaint;

NMPA’s outreach to Congress to overhaul the compulsory license in the Copyright Act to “permanently fix the power imbalance” to songwriters;

NMPA legal complaint against Spotify with the FTC;

Letter to the US Register of Copyrights from lawmakers, questioning Spotify’s bundling in light of the Music Modernization Act; and

Other DSPs’ position on bundling (e.g., Amazon Music and YouTube Music).Moderator:

Charley Londoño | Counsel Plus, Co.; and Of Counsel at The Peter Law Group

Ashley Joyce | Senior Vice President, Legal & Business Affairs, NMPAMichelle Lewis | CEO, Songwriters Of North America (SONA)Adam Parness | Adam Parness Music Consulting (Former Global Head of Music Publishing at Spotify, Amazon, Pandora)

Register for this webinar by1:30pm PST on Tuesday, February 18, 2025CCC MEMBER & NON-MEMBER REGISTRATIONThe post CCC Webinar: 'Spotify, Why Do You Keep Hurting Songwriters?' first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Government agency removes spoon emoji from work platform amid protestsAccording to a New York Times report, on Thursday, the U.S. government’s General Services Administration (GSA) removed the spoon emoji as an option that users of its videoconferencing platform can select to express themselves. The move comes a day after workers embraced the digital cutlery to protest the Trump administration’s “Fork in the Road” resignation […]
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Cindy Mabe exits as CEO of Universal Music Group NashvilleExec was appointed Chair and CEO of UMGN in April, 2023
Source

Song Athletics Sad PianoThis pack distills the essence of contemporary classical piano music with a collection of delicately performed loops via a suitably-toned felted upright. Recorded closely to give an enhanced... Read More

Running Doom on an Apple Lightning to HDMI AdapterAs a general rule of thumb, anything that has some kind of display output and a processor more beefy than an early 90s budget PC can run Doom just fine. As [John] AKA [Nyan Satan] demonstrates in a recent video, this includes running the original Doom on an Apple Lightning to HDMI Adapter. These adapters were required after Apple moved to Lightning from the old 30-pin connector which had dedicated pins for HDMI output.
As the USB 2.0 link used with Lightning does not have the bandwidth for 1080p HDMI, compression was used, requiring a pretty beefy processor in the adapter. Some enterprising people at the time took a hacksaw to one of these adapters to see what’s inside them and figure out the cause of the visual artifacts. Inside is a 400 MHz ARM SoC made by Samsung lovingly named the S5L8747. The 256 MB of RAM is mounted on top of the package, supporting the RAM disk that the firmware is loaded into.
Although designed to only run the Apple-blessed firmware, these adapters are susceptible to the same Checkm8 bootROM exploit, which enables the running of custom code. [John] adapted this exploit to target this adapter, allowing this PoC Doom session to be started. As the link with the connected PC (or Mac) is simply USB 2.0, this presumably means that sending keyboard input and the like is also possible, though the details are somewhat scarce on this aspect.

OC201 Preamp pedal from Great Eastern FX Co.  The latest Great Eastern FX Co. pedal sees the company take a new approach to a popular fuzz design, and also marks the beginning of a new series.

dBdone’s AI Chords Plugin for Generating Chord Progressions Features a FREE Tier
dBdone launched AI Chords, a plugin for generating chord progressions with a free tier.  The plugin is available for VST, AU, and AAX on macOS (universal) and Windows (64-bit only).  AI Chords is designed as a tool to spark inspiration for songwriters, producers, and beatmakers.  dBdone offers three AI Chords tiers, namely the free tier [...]
View post: dBdone’s AI Chords Plugin for Generating Chord Progressions Features a FREE Tier