Scout Motors sued over plan to sell EVs direct to consumersScout Motors’ plan to eschew traditional dealerships and sell EVs directly to consumers is running into legal trouble. A group of Volkswagen and Audi dealers filed a lawsuit this week against Scout Motors, the EV that spun out of Volkswagen. The lawsuit, which was first reported by Automotive News, seeks to block Scout’s direct-to-consumer sales […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

GATEWAY STUDIOS & PRODUCTION SERVICES BOOKINGS LARGEST TOURING STUDIO IN THE U.S.Gateway Studios & Production Services (GSPS) will open its cutting-edge rehearsal and production studio complex in May 2025. Situated on a sprawling 32-acre campus in Chesterfield, MO, within the Greater St. Louis area, this state-of-the-art facility redefines production and rehearsal spaces for touring professionals and the entertainment industry at large. GSPS is now accepting bookings for the most advanced rehearsal destination in the nation.Experience an in-depth 3D tour of Gateway Studios, showcasing its highly developed design and innovative features by visiting gsps.com/studios."This facility is designed to set a new standard for production and rehearsal spaces, both in size and innovation," says Trey Kerr, CEO of Gateway Studios & Production Services. "Our goal has always been to create a world-class environment where artists and their teams can prepare to bring their visions to life. Centrally located in the heart of the country, we offer unmatched access and flexibility for artists that strive to deliver unforgettable performances."For bookings and more information, visit: gsps.com/studiosThe post GATEWAY STUDIOS & PRODUCTION SERVICES BOOKINGS LARGEST TOURING STUDIO IN THE U.S. first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Is Bitcoin price going to crash again?Bitcoin is following its March 2024 price action pattern, suggesting that a revisit to the $90,000 level is possible.

Audio cable types: A complete guide (with pictures)
Learn about common audio cable types spanning TS, TRS, XLR, MIDI, USB, and more, and how you can use them effectively when making music.

Good-Looking HAT Does Retro Displays RightMick Jagger famously said that you cain’t always get what you want. But this is Hackaday, and we make what we want or can’t get. Case in point: [Andrew Tudoroi] is drawn to retro LEDs and wanted one of Pimoroni’s micro-LED boards pretty badly, but couldn’t get his hands on one. You know how this ends — with [Andrew] designing his first PCB.
The Pitanga hat is equally inspired by additional fruit that [Andrew] had lying around in the form of an 8devices Rambutan board. (Trust us, it’s a fruit.) With some research, he discovered the HT16K33 LED driver, which checked all the boxen.
The first version worked, but needed what looks like a couple of bodge wires. No shame in that! For the next revision, [Andrew] added buttons and decided to make it into a Raspberry Pi HAT.
This HAT is essentially a simple display with a basic input device, and a beauty at that. You can see all the various cool displays that [Andrew] tried both here and in the project log. Although he included pads for an ARM M0 microcontroller, he never did populate it. Maybe in the future.
Of course, this project was not without its challenges. For one thing, there was power compatibility to wrestle with. The Pi can sometimes work with I²C devices at 5 V, but this isn’t ideal long-term. So [Andrew] put the LED driver on the 3.3 V I²C bus. Despite the data sheet calling for 4.5 to 5.5 V, the setup worked fine. But for better reliability, [Andrew] threw a dedicated I²C logic level converter chip into the mix.
Don’t forget, you can run a noble amassment of HATs with the PiSquare.

TikTok’s parent company quietly launched a music licensing platform called EasyOdeByteDance appears to have a service in the works that could shake up the global music licensing market.
Source

FLOSS Weekly Episode 819: Session, It’s all Abot the MetadataThis week, Jonathan Bennett talks Session and cryptocurrency skepticism with Kee Jefferys! Why fork Signal? How does Session manage to decentralize? And why the cryptocurrency angle? Listen to find out!

https://getsession.org/
https://github.com/oxen-io/

Did you know you can watch the live recording of the show right on our YouTube Channel? Have someone you’d like us to interview? Let us know, or contact the guest and have them contact us! Take a look at the schedule here.

Direct Download in DRM-free MP3.
If you’d rather read along, here’s the transcript for this week’s episode.
Places to follow the FLOSS Weekly Podcast:

Spotify

RSS

Theme music: “Newer Wave” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

K-Pop in crisis? Around 93m albums were sold in South Korea in 2024 – 23m fewer than in 2023New data shows that, even as K-Pop gets bigger in the US, album sales declines in its home country in 2024
Source

Is this the perfect card game for music producers?Ever find yourself hitting a creative wall in the studio? Flipspark Elements might be the solution. It’s a card game perfect for any producer in a creative rut – or anyone keen to experiment with new production ideas.
Every deck comes with 64 cards divided into four suits (Element, Instrument, Pattern, and Effects), with each card providing a creative prompt. Element cards represent the key components of a track, like the bridge, bass, or chords, while Instrument cards refer to your sound source. Pattern cards might suggest a melody idea, and Effects cards will knock out engineering ideas like delay, distortion or reverb.

READ MORE: Spotify confirms 2024 was its first full year of profitability – amid ongoing industry debate surrounding artist payouts

There are no set rules to the game – meaning you could grab a handful of cards and attempt to make a track that with every suggestion, or just select a pair of cards. Whatever your approach, the idea is to challenge and inspire you to try out new approaches in the studio.
Flipspark Elements isn’t only intended to inspire solo creatives. It could even be used in parallel with a collaborator, or treated as a competition; two producers could battle it out to make the best tune, abiding by the guidelines of a selection of cards.

The game is currently available as a digital download, costing just $9. The set also comes with some blank cards, so you can create your own prompt cards to throw into the mix.
Flipspark also has an Inspire card game available, which is more in line with Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt’s 1975 classic, Oblique Strategies. Rather than specific production and mixing prompts, it’s a lot more writing and ideas focused, prompting users to ask “what if?” There are also some ‘consider; cards thrown in, to get artists to ponder things like their project’s themes.
The company has even released a Kids Contrast kit, if you want to teach your kids about EQ alongside their ABCs. It’s a set of high contrast photos of things like audio cables, vinyls and cassette tapes, intended to get children familiar with music equipment from an early age. Certainly more useful than photo cards depicting farm animals if you want your child to become a virtuoso.
Flipspark Elements is on sale for $9, while the Inspire and Kids Contrast packs are both available for free.
The post Is this the perfect card game for music producers? appeared first on MusicTech.

Howard Benson: “The producer credit is different than it was 20 years ago, because so many people take it now”Howard Benson has been a producer for nearly 40 years. In that time, he’s produced records for a dynamic selection of artists, from emo rockers My Chemical Romance to his Grammy-winning work on popstar Kelly Clarkson’s 2011 record, Stronger. However, over the last two decades, he’s noticed a shift in respect for record producers.
Speaking to SPIN, Benson notes that, nowadays, record production is misunderstood. He insists people have “no idea” what he truly does. “The producer credit is a really different credit than it was even 20 years ago because so many people take it now,” he says.  “It’s an easy credit for bands to give away because they just go, ‘Aw fuck it, make them a producer.’”

READ MORE: Bandcamp to donate 100% of proceeds to MusiCares in support of Los Angeles wildfire relief during special event this February

Due to the credit being dished out so readily, Benson says it’s diluted the true meaning of the title. “You’re not really doing the producer’s job just because you came up with a guitar part or something like that,” he says. “But sometimes you can’t fight that battle because the bands just want what they want.”
He also explains how splitting the producer credits can also put a heavy dent in how much the real producer actually earns. For this reason, Benson insists you have to be firm about how much you’re earning.  “And at some point, it just becomes about the money,” he says. “You just go, ‘You know what, if you’re going to take my producer credit, you’re going to have to pay me this much to take that credit from me or split the credit with me.’”
For those confused about what a producer actually does, Benson explains that a record producer is in the business of “feeling” above all else. “I don’t care how ‘good’ [a track] sounds,” he insists. “My job as a producer is to sell feelings.”
“If I [hear a track and] really hate it, it’s probably good,” he explains. “If I really love it, it’s probably good. But, if I feel absolutely nothing, then the production sucks.”
He notes his work with All-American Rejects for their 2005 record, Move Along. “I had to stop [for a while],” he recalls. “I have a friend who was going through a lot of trouble at that time in his life… The lyrics are about getting through the day, step by step, trying to move along. And I just went like, ‘Oh my God, I just can’t believe how tough his life is right now.’ And I went, ‘This is going to be a hit.’”
Beyond feeling, Benson’s job also comes with a side of babysitting. “You’re just trying to keep the band from imploding,” he says. “I’ve done some bands that literally fight the entire time they’re in the studio. Every producer I meet who’s really good has a good sense of musicality, engineering, and psychology, all three things.”
The post Howard Benson: “The producer credit is different than it was 20 years ago, because so many people take it now” appeared first on MusicTech.

Fix The Tix says TICKET Act would legalize ‘ghost’ ticketsThe Fix The Tix Coalition of more than 30 live music industry organizations including NIVA, NITO, the RIAA and Bandsintown is calling for major changes to pending TICKET Act legislation including restrictions on speculative tickets, often referred to as ghost tickets.
The post Fix The Tix says TICKET Act would legalize ‘ghost’ tickets appeared first on Hypebot.

Musical AI raises $1.5M for rights managementMusical AI raises $1.5M USD / $2.1M CA for rights management for generative AI. The investment will support its music’s attribution model.
The post Musical AI raises $1.5M for rights management appeared first on Hypebot.

Spotify loves Background Music, but is it a long term win?Spotify loves background music, but it could hurt music culture in the long run. As the AI and passive listening accelerates, dedicated fans and artists may start looking elsewhere.
The post Spotify loves Background Music, but is it a long term win? appeared first on Hypebot.

“The Bentley of Keyboards”: You can now get $150 off Arturia’s KeyLab MKII 49 via its official Reverb storeArturia’s KeyLab MKII 49 is currently being sold for just $299 via its official Reverb shop while supplies last – that’s a saving of $150.
Branded by one Reverb shopper as “the Bentley of MIDI Keyboards”, the KeyLab MK II 49 was first released in 2019, and is a versatile MIDI controller that can work with a full rig – including your DAW, virtual instruments, hardware, and modular gear.

READ MORE: Arturia launches Pigments 6, the sixth iteration of its powerful sound design software

This drop of KeyLab models on Reverb consists of B-Stock, meaning the items have previously been opened, used or possibly blemished. However, they are of course sold via an authorised dealer or original builder – which in this case is Artuira itself, as it has been running its official Reverb store since 2024.
The KeyLab MKII 49 features dynamic performance and studio controls, including a 49-note keyboard with aftertouch, 16 RGB backlit pads, nine faders, nine rotary knobs, plus DAW and transport controls. It also has CV / Gate outputs, so you can take command of outboard synth and Eurorack modules, and comes with three software titles – Analog Lab, Piano V, and Ableton Live Lite.
If you need more of a refresher on what it can do, check out the video below (featuring its slightly larger sibling, the 61 note KeyLab MKII):

In other Arturia news, the brand has also just launched a new version of the DrumBrute Impact with a retro, 1980s-inspired makeover. Originally launched in 2016, the DrumBrute was designed to “deliver raw, unapologetic drum sequences for producers and performers alike”. This new limited-edition version sees the same 10-voice machine reimagined with an off-white finish.
Head over to the official Arturia Reverb shop now to find out more about the KeyLab MKII 49, or grab yours while stock lasts.
[deals ids=”GN2vULVIRzpF5bbManFcV”]
The post “The Bentley of Keyboards”: You can now get $150 off Arturia’s KeyLab MKII 49 via its official Reverb store appeared first on MusicTech.

Arturia to release Drumbrute Impact 1984 The latest version of Arturia's compact drum machine sports a striking new off-white finish.