Universal Music Group and Spotify have inked a new licensing deal. It remedies Spotify’s infamous US ‘audiobook bundle’ royalty discount in UMG payouts, say MBW sourcesBig news from the land of MBW’s well-connected industry sources: Universal Music Group and Spotify have inked a new licensing agreement. (This news has now been officially confirmed by both sides – read all about it here.) We’re told the multi-year deal arrives a year earlier than many expected UMG’s next deal with Spotify to … Continued
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Rast Sound’s Lumo Loudness Enhancer is FREE until Feb 24
Rast Sound is offering its Lumo loudness enhancer for free (usually €79) until February 24, 2025.  Lumo is a 64-bit only macOS and Windows release for AU, VST3, and AAX.  The plugin enhances loudness using a multi-stage psychoacoustic method. The developer states this method adds depth, warmth, and clarity while preserving dynamics and avoiding limiting artifacts.  The [...]
View post: Rast Sound’s Lumo Loudness Enhancer is FREE until Feb 24

Heavyocity release MicroFX Refiner MicroFX Refiner uses a carefully crafted signal chain which combines EQ, compression, saturation, stereo imaging, limiting and subtle clipping.

Vicious Antelope Odyssey In Illusion - Pigments & Analog Lab V PresetsOdyssey In Illusion - Pigments & Analog Lab V Presets Odyssey In Illusion offers 50 meticulously crafted presets for Arturia Pigments, also compatible with Analog Lab V. Built... Read More

Vicious Antelope Galactic Tones - XilsLab TheEighty PresetsGalactic Tones - XilsLab TheEighty Presets The Galactic Tones soundbank offers 50 expertly crafted synth presets for the Xils Lab TheEighty plugin. These polyphonic presets deliver... Read More

ATH-R70xa & ATH-R50x headphones from Audio-Technica Audio‑Technica have unveiled their latest generation of professional open‑back headphones, the ATH‑R70xa and ATH‑R50x.

Album Review of "From West Hollywood" by Silas Nello (7/10)SelfProducer: Silas NelloSilas Nello’s EP From West Hollywood reflects his move from Texas to Los Angeles, and reimagines past material (as well as a Bob Dylan cover) in a stripped-back, lyric-focused presentation with an emphasis on serving the song. Nello has doubled-down on independent releases and self-production, drawing on a do-it-yourself ethos. “Holy Ghost Blues” is memorable and will be a powerful listening experience when heard live and reformed with a full band. We’ll get our chance when he’s touring his new home state of California and across the U.S.The post Album Review of "From West Hollywood" by Silas Nello (7/10) first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Trump administration reportedly negotiating an Oracle takeover of TikTokThe Trump administration is negotiating a deal that would see Oracle take over TikTok alongside new U.S. investors, according to a report in NPR. Lawmakers passed a bill last year forcing Chinese parent company ByteDance to either sell TikTok or see it banned in the U.S. The app briefly went dark before the law took […]
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Here’s what happened in crypto todayNeed to know what happened in crypto today? Here is the latest news on daily trends and events impacting Bitcoin price, blockchain, DeFi, NFTs, Web3 and crypto regulation.

Soviet Wired Radio, How It WorkedAt the height of the Cold War, those of us on the western side of the wall had plenty of choice over our radio listening, even if we stuck with our country’s monolithic broadcaster. On the other side in the Soviet Union, radio for many came without a choice of source, in the form of wired radio systems built into all apartments. [Railways | Retro Tech | DIY] grew up familiar with these wired radios, and treats us to a fascinating examination of their technology, programming, and ultimate decline.
In a Soviet apartment, usually in the kitchen, there would be a “Radio” socket on the wall. Confusingly the same physical dimension as a mains socket, it carried an audio signal. The box which plugged into it was referred to as a radio, but instead contained only a transformer, loudspeaker, and volume control. These carried the centralised radio station, piped from Moscow to the regions by a higher voltage line, then successively stepped down at regional, local, and apartment block level. A later refinement brought a couple more stations on separate sub-carriers, but it was the single channel speakers which provided the soundtrack for daily life.
The decline of the system came over the decades following the end of communism, and he describes its effect on the mostly older listenership. Now the speaker boxes survive as affectionate curios for those like him who grew up with them.
You probably won’t be surprised to find twisted-wire broadcasting in use in the West, too.

Thanks [Stephen Walters] for the tip.

Preventing AI Plagiarism With .ASS SubtitlingAround two years ago, the world was inundated with news about how generative AI or large language models would revolutionize the world. At the time it was easy to get caught up in the hype, but in the intervening months these tools have done little in the way of productive work outside of a few edge cases, and mostly serve to burn tons of cash while turning the Internet into even more of a desolate wasteland than it was before. They do this largely by regurgitating human creations like text, audio, and video into inferior simulacrums and, if you still want to exist on the Internet, there’s basically nothing you can do to prevent this sort of plagiarism. Except feed the AI models garbage data like this YouTuber has started doing.
At least as far as YouTube is concerned, the worst offenders of AI plagiarism work by downloading the video’s subtitles, passing them through some sort of AI model, and then generating another YouTube video based off of the original creator’s work. Most subtitle files are the fairly straightfoward .srt filetype which only allows for timing and text information. But a more obscure subtitle filetype known as Advanced SubStation Alpha, or .ass, allows for all kinds of subtitle customization like orientation, formatting, font types, colors, shadowing, and many others. YouTuber [f4mi] realized that using this subtitle system, extra garbage text could be placed in the subtitle filetype but set out of view of the video itself, either by placing the text outside the viewable area or increasing its transparency. So now when an AI crawler downloads the subtitle file it can’t distinguish real subtitles from the garbage placed into it.
[f4mi] created a few scripts to do this automatically so that it doesn’t have to be done by hand for each one. It also doesn’t impact the actual subtitles on the screen for people who need them for accessibility reasons. It’s a great way to “poison” AI models and make it at least harder for them to rip off the creations of original artists, and [f4mi]’s tests show that it does work. We’ve actually seen a similar method for poisoning data sets used for emails long ago, back when we were all collectively much more concerned about groups like the NSA using automated snooping tools in our emails than we were that machines were going to steal our creative endeavors.
Thanks to [www2] for the tip!

Electro-Harmonix POG3The POG3 is the most powerful pedal in Electro-Harmonix's revered line of polyphonic octave generators that continues to inspire and captivate musicians of all styles. At its core, the POG3 delivers... Read More

Rast Sound LumoA Next‑Generation Loudness Enhancer Every producer reaches that point where basic EQ and compression just can't capture the energy or vibrancy their track demands. Lumo changes... Read More

DIY and Independent Musician News Last WeekThis week, our tips and advice for the independent, do-it-yourselfers out there covered how to make more money from merch at shows, new music bills introduced, and more...
The post DIY and Independent Musician News Last Week appeared first on Hypebot.

Last week’s Top Music Business NewsA busy week by any definition and music business news was no exception, with new updates on LA Fire Relief, Chartmetric reports an overcrowded industry, and more...
The post Last week’s Top Music Business News appeared first on Hypebot.