CCC to Host Webinar 'Spotify, Why Do You Keep Hurting Songwriters?'Join the CCC on Tuesday, January 14th at 2:30pm PST for the first webinar of 2025Tuesday, January 14, 2025ZOOM WEBINAR2:30 PM PST - 3:30 PM PSTREGISTER HEREModerator: Charley Londoño | Counsel Plus, Co.; and Of Counsel at The Peter Law Group Panelists to date: Michelle Lewis | CEO, Songwriters Of North America (SONA)Adam Parness | Adam Parness Music Consulting (Former Global Head of Music Publishing at Spotify, Amazon, Pandora) Advance Registration:CCC Members $0 per person | Non-members $5 per personMORE HEREThe post CCC to Host Webinar 'Spotify, Why Do You Keep Hurting Songwriters?' first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

New ship, new year: SpaceX to deploy model Starlink satellites on next Starship launchSpaceX is significantly upping the ante of its Starship test flight program, with the next rocket launch expected to demonstrate payload deployment for the first time.  The payload in question will be 10 Starlink “simulators” that will be similar in size and weight to the next-gen satellites SpaceX plans to use Starship to deploy in […]
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Landing Soon: This Beautiful Weather DisplayAll wiring is beautiful, except when it isn’t. But is there anything more lovely to behold than circuit sculpture? Once again, [Mohit Bhoite] has made this process look easy like Sunday morning. This time, he’s created a weather display in the form of a lander.
This lander runs on the Particle Photon 2, which connects over Wi-Fi and retrieves the weather forecast for the day, along with sunrise and sunset times and wind conditions. Everything is beautifully displayed on a vertically-oriented Adafruit 170×320 TFT screen.
There’s also a pulse-density microphone (PDM) breakout board and a buzzer, and the build is capped off with a red 0805 LED. We’re not sure what the feet are made of, but they sure make this lander cute (and accurate).
All the project logs are picture-rich, which is really the most we could ask for when trying to imitate this level of greatness. This is apparently an ongoing project, and we’re excited for the end result, although it looks fairly complete from here.
Do you want to bend it like Bhoite? Then be sure to check out his Hackaday Supercon talk on the subject.

FTX’s payment plan is now effective — When will users see their funds?According to the plan, certain FTX users claiming less than $50,000 could expect to see their funds returned within 60 days.

Organizing Components, The Easy WayThere’s an old joke: What do you get someone who has everything? A place to put it. For hackers like [Christian], everything is a hoard of priceless electronic components. His solution is using small zipper bags, either regular plastic or anti-static. These attach using hook and loop fastener to plastic binder sheets which then live in a binder. Combined with some custom printed labels and a few other tricks, it makes for a nice system, as you can see in the video below.
Honestly, we’ve done something similar before, using a binder with little pockets, but the bag and custom labels beat our system. He even has QR codes on some of them to locate data sheets easily. Seems like a barcode for inventory management might have been good, too.

Some advice from us. If you are just starting out, this might seem like overkill. But if you start out doing something — this or something else — then ten years from now, you won’t have to be like us and think, “I’d get everything organized, but it is going to take months to work through what I already have…” That usually makes it a project you never really get started with. Develop good habits early!
Even if you don’t want to store your components this way, his binder hacks probably work for lots of other things, too. It isn’t as flashy as some systems we’ve seen, but it is very practical. If only you didn’t have to turn the pages in the binder yourself.

From UMG’s deal with Amazon to songs entering the public domain… here are the top stories you may have missed over the holidaysThe biggest stories from the holiday season – all in one place…
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Pershing Square distributes 47m shares of Universal Music to investors, delists from Amsterdam exchange"We believe that UMG stock is substantially undervalued at its current share price..."
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Music Industry Trends that will drive 2025: Experts Weigh InWe asked a handful of our favorite music industry execs to share the trends that they see shaping the music business is 2025. From changes in distribution to a direct to consumer revolution and AI to fans as creators, they delivered the wisdom you'll need to thrive in 2025.
The post Music Industry Trends that will drive 2025: Experts Weigh In appeared first on Hypebot.

Alter Egos: The Data Behind Musician PseudonymsMany artists have used alter egos throughout music history. In 2024, these musician pseudonyms have a varied effect on the original artist's music streaming statistics.
The post Alter Egos: The Data Behind Musician Pseudonyms appeared first on Hypebot.

Everything you need to know about BlueskyBluesky is quickly growing as an alternative to Twitter with a focus on giving users more control over their social media experience. Here’s what you should know… Everything you need. Continue reading
The post Everything you need to know about Bluesky appeared first on Hypebot.

Tycho calls this “one of the best soft synths ever made”In a wide-ranging new interview with MusicTech, American musician and producer Tycho – real name Scott Hansen – waxes lyrical on both the hard and soft synths that powered his new album Infinite Health.
And there’s one soft synth in particular that he heaps considerable praise upon: Softube’s Model 84, which emulates the Roland Juno-106.

READ MORE: “I’m hoping that one day the passion will come back”: Fatboy Slim says he “just don’t seem to feel like” making music anymore

He labels the software as “one of the best soft synths ever made”, adding: “It’s just like a real synthesizer. It’s crazy. I don’t know what they’re doing over [at Softube] but their synth plugins seem way ahead of everybody else’s.”
Based in Sweden, Softube specialises in high-quality software emulations of classic vintage gear. “We chose to push the envelope of component-level modelling of analog systems, taking hardware apart and putting it back together in code and at the highest resolution possible,” the brand says on its website.
Other products available in its vast lineup include the Model 77 – which emulates the famed Yamaha CS-80 – and the Model 82, which recreates the classic Roland SH-101.
Elsewhere in the interview, Tycho says while many producers and beatmakers seek out specialist pieces of software and hardware to create the sound they’re after, they’re not always needed.
“You don’t need every sound to be magical and have all that character…” he says. “The most basic DAWs have enough tools in them to be able to make, like, 90 per cent of all music ever created. So now it’s just down to you learning how to use it, not the lack of access, which I think is so powerful.”
Read the full interview at MusicTech.
The post Tycho calls this “one of the best soft synths ever made” appeared first on MusicTech.

Azealia Banks is obsessed with Teenage Engineering and the OP-XY: “They’re really s**tting on every audio hardware company out there. Nobody is this cool”Azealia Banks reckons Teenage Engineering is “shitting on every audio hardware company” out there with its synths.
The award-winning rapper and producer recently took to Instagram in a four-post series that left no doubt about her newfound obsession with the Swedish firm’s revolutionary instruments.

READ MORE: “I’m hoping that one day the passion will come back” Fatboy Slim says he “just don’t seem to feel like” making music anymore

“The Teenage Engineering design story is really everything,” Banks wrote in one post. “They’re really shitting on every audio hardware company out [there]. Nobody is this cool.”
But it’s the OP-XY in particular that has her raving. Calling the synth “actual insanity,” Banks declared, “I’m obsessed” with the instrument.
A keen commenter on music production and the music industry at large, Azealia Banks often shares snippets of her studio process to her Instagram fans, including new gear purchases and clips of her DAW sessions.”
Launched last November, the OP-XY is a successor to the popular OP-Z, which was released in 2018. Dubbed an “all-in-one powerful synthesizer and composer with deep, direct sequencing capabilities”, the OP-XY takes the advanced sequencing of the OP-Z and places it in a smaller enclosure, much like the brands’ OP-1.
“Now including built-in CV, effect sends, and a best-in-class DAC. with 8 individual instrument tracks and 8 auxiliary tracks for controlling any external synthesizer, modular or otherwise, and adding effects,” TE said of the release. “We dare to say it’s probably the most complete, portable sequencer ever built.”
Sharing a picture of the OP-XY, OP-1 and OP-1 Field laying side by side in another post, Banks wrote: They look like a litter of kittens. Aww.”

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Banks also praised the OP-XY’s aluminium construction, noting that it’s a major “step up” from its predecessors: “These knobs ain’t going no fuckin’ where,” she said.

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A post shared by Azealia Banks (@azealiabanksforever)

And in her latest post, where she proudly shows off her growing collection of Teenage Engineering gear—including the K.O. II sample/sequencer, TX-6 mixer, and TP-7 field recorder—it’s clear: Azealia Banks is now a fully-fledged Teenage Engineering convert.

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A post shared by Azealia Banks (@azealiabanksforever)

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A post shared by Azealia Banks (@azealiabanksforever)

Learn more at Teenage Engineering.
The post Azealia Banks is obsessed with Teenage Engineering and the OP-XY: “They’re really s**tting on every audio hardware company out there. Nobody is this cool” appeared first on MusicTech.

Peter Thiel-backed venture debt firm Tacora raises $268.7M for new fundTacora Capital has raised its second fund, after Peter Thiel backed its first fund with $250 million.
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Do Kwon’s superseding indictment includes money laundering chargeThe Terraform Labs co-founder was indicted on eight felony charges in 2023 but will likely face an additional count for money laundering conspiracy.

A Modern Battery For a Classic LaptopAside from their ability to operate fairly well in extreme temperatures, lead-acid batteries don’t have many benefits compared to more modern battery technology. They’re heavy, not particularly energy dense, have limited charge cycles, and often can’t be fully discharged without damage or greatly increased wear. With that in mind, one can imagine that a laptop that uses a battery like this would be not only extremely old but also limited by this technology. Of course, in the modern day we can do a lot to bring these retro machines up to modern standards like adding in some lithium batteries to this HP laptop.
Simply swapping the batteries in this computer won’t get the job done though, as lead-acid and lithium batteries need different circuitry in order to be safe while also getting the maximum amount of energy out. [CYUL] is using a cheap UPS module from AliExpress which comes with two 18650 cells to perform this conversion, although with a high likelihood of counterfeiting in this market, the 18650s were swapped out with two that were known to be from Samsung. The USB module also needs to be modified a bit to change the voltage output to match the needs of the HP-110Plus, and of course a modernized rebuild like this wouldn’t be complete without a USB-C port to function as the new power jack.
[CYUL] notes at the end of the build log that even without every hardware upgrade made to this computer (and ignoring its limited usefulness in the modern world) it has a limited shelf life as the BIOS won’t work past 2035. Hopefully with computers like this we’ll start seeing some firmware modifications as well that’ll let them work indefinitely into the future. For modern computers we’ll hope to avoid the similar 2038 problem by switching everything over to 64 bit systems and making other software updates as well.