Getting It Done: Last Week in D.I.Y. and Independent Music NewsLast week, our tips and advice for the independent, do-it-yourselfers out there covered how to increase streams, future your fanbase, and more…
The post Getting It Done: Last Week in D.I.Y. and Independent Music News appeared first on Hypebot.

REWIND: New music industry’s last week in reviewIt was a busy week by any definition and the music industry was no exception, with TikTok’s standoff with indie labels and changing media monetization, Taylor Swift empowering artists in. Continue reading
The post REWIND: New music industry’s last week in review appeared first on Hypebot.

Subcraft from UJAM UJAM’s latest plug-in has been created with the aim of solving one of the most common challenges that music producers face: delivering powerful sub-bass tones that translate consistently across all playback systems.

Black Lion Audio launches LS-4 as mini-format multi-purpose 4 Channel Line SelectorBlack Lion Audio has introduced its 4 Channel Line Selector-labelled LS-4 — launched as a mini-format multi-purpose device designed to allow anyone to connect a stereo source and send it to up to four different devices (with the same source signal even being able to be sent to all four destinations simultaneously, or any combination thereof), readily representing an impressive, inexpensive option for passive monitor switching, headphone distribution, parallel effects routing, and more — as of October 10…

Though the LS-4 is small and simple in its execution as a 4 Channel Line Selector, it has, however, limitless practical and creative potential, including — but not limited to — passive monitor switching with subwoofer toggle (by connecting three pairs of studio monitors to outputs A, B, and C, and connecting a subwoofer to output D); headphone distribution (by connecting the headphone output of an audio interface to an LS-4 input and connecting all LS-4 outputs to headphone amps); effects chain auditioning (by running a dry signal into the LS-4’s inputs, connecting different effects processors to outputs A through to D, and connecting the effects processor outputs to the inputs of an audio interface, then pressing buttons A through to D to audition applying different effects processors to the signal); and parallel effects routing (by connecting different effects processors in the same configuration as the aforementioned effects chain auditioning, also allowing for simultaneous recording of all four parallel processed signals into a DAW). It is worth pointing out here that LS-4’s 100%-passive design does not add any tone colouration to the signal, while a flexible ground lift is available internally per channel.

Clearly the Chicago-based boutique audio company did not let LS-4’s small size affect its build quality; like all Black Lion Audio products, it is built road-tough — think steel enclosure with an anodised black aluminium faceplate, paired with high-quality 1⁄4-inch connections to ensure maximum conductivity and secure connections. All add up to make for an impressive, inexpensive option for passive monitor switching, headphone distribution, parallel effects routing, and more. 

LS-4 should start shipping through Black Lion Audio’s growing global network of dealers/distributors (https://www.blacklionaudio.com/dealers) with a MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) of $149.00 USD and an SSP (Suggested Selling Price) of €199.00 EUR (including 19% VAT) in late October 2024.

For more in-depth information, visit the dedicated LS-4 webpage here: https://www.blacklionaudio.com/store/essentials/ls-4/ The post Black Lion Audio launches LS-4 as mini-format multi-purpose 4 Channel Line Selector first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Crypto-stealing malware discovered in Python Package Index — CheckmarxAccording to cybersecurity firm Hacken, financial losses from crypto hacks topped $440 million in the third quarter of 2024.

Researchers question AI’s ‘reasoning’ ability as models stumble on math problems with trivial changesHow do machine learning models do what they do? And are they really “thinking” or “reasoning” the way we understand those things? This is a philosophical question as much as a practical one, but a new paper making the rounds Friday suggests that the answer is, at least for now, a pretty clear “no.” A […]
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Join us on a studio tour at the legendary Sound Factory
Join us on an intimate tour of Sound Factory, the legendary music studio where Linda Ronstadt, Marvin Gaye, and many others created some of their most iconic records.

HMMA Call for Entries | Save The DateThe 15th Annual Hollywood Music In Media Awards is accepting submissions now through October 31 for music in visual media. Eligibility, guidelines and specifics can be found at SUBMISSION INFO & VOTING

SUBMIT MUSIC HERE

The 15th AnnualHollywood Music in Media AwardsNovember 20, 2024

The Avalon Hollywood1735 Vine St, Los Angeles, CA 90028

The Hollywood Music In Media Awards (HMMA) is the first award organization to honor original music (Song and Score) in all visual media from around the globe including film, TV, video games, trailers, commercial advertisements, documentaries, and special programs. HMMA nominations have historically been representative of the nominees of key award shows that are announced months later. The HMMA main event features live music performances, celebrity and industry leaders as guest hosts, tributes to music industry icons, and award recognitions for composers, songwriters, and artists.The post HMMA Call for Entries | Save The Date first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

How To Make Conductive Tin Oxide Coatings On GlassGlass! It’s, uh, not very conductive. And sometimes we like that! But other times, we want glass to be conductive. In that case, you might want to give the glass a very fine coating of tin oxide. [Vik Olliver] has been working on just that, in hopes he can make a conductive spot on a glass printing bed in order to use it with a conductive probe.
[Vik’s] first attempt involved using tin chloride, produced by dissolving some tin in a beaker of hydrochloric acid. A droplet of this fluid was then dropped on a glass slide that was heated with a blowtorch. The result was a big ugly white splotch. Not at all tidy, but it did create a conductive layer on the glass. Just a thick, messy one. Further attempts refined the methodology, and [Vik] was eventually able to coat a 1″ square with a reasonably clear coating that measured an edge-to-edge resistance around 8 megaohms.
If you’re aware of better, easier, ways to put a conductive coating on glass, share them below! We’ve seen similar DIY attempts at this before, too. If you’ve been cooking up your own interesting home chemistry experiments (safely!?) do let us know!

C64 Gets a Graphics Upgrade Courtesy Of Your Favorite Piano ManufacturerThe Commodore 64 was quite a machine in its time, though a modern assessment would say that it’s severely lacking in the graphical department. [Vossi] has whipped up a bit of an upgrade for the C64 and C128, in the form of a graphics expansion card running Yamaha hardware.
As you might expect, the expansion is designed to fit neatly into a C64 cartridge slot. The card runs the Yamaha V9958—the video display processor known for its appearance in the MSX2+ computers. In this case, it’s paired with a healthy 128 kB of video RAM so it can really do its thing. The V9958 has an analog RGB output that can be set for PAL or NTSC operation, and can perform at resolutions up to 512×212 or even 512×424 interlaced. Naturally, it needs to be hooked directly up to a compatible screen, like a 1084, or one with SCART input. [Vossi] took the time to create some demos of the chip’s capabilities, drawing various graphics in a way that the C64 couldn’t readily achieve on its own.
It’s a build that almost feels like its from an alternate universe, where Yamaha decided to whip up a third-party graphics upgrade for the C64. That didn’t happen, but stranger team ups have occurred over the years.
[Thanks to Stephen Walters for the tip!]

Rob Stringer talks Queen, Michael Jackson, and Pink Floyd deals – plus TikTok – at Bloomberg eventStringer spoke to Lucas Shaw at Bloomberg's event in Los Angeles on Thursday
Source

Limp Bizkit are suing Universal Music over alleged unpaid royaltiesLimp Bizkit are all the rage again thanks to nu metal’s post-pandemic revival – except, according to a new lawsuit, they allegedly hadn’t seen a cent from it until recently.
The band and frontman Fred Durst are suing Universal Music Group for $200million (£152.7m), having filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles federal court 8 October, according to Billboard.

READ MORE: Limp Bizkit’s Wes Borland launches digital amps and effects suite in partnership with STL Tones

Lawyers for Durst and the band claim that Limp Bizkit and “possibly hundreds of other artists” have “unfairly had their royalties wrongfully withheld for years” under a “fraudulent” system created by Universal Music. They further allege that UMG  “deliberately designed” this policy to hide royalties from artists so that the label could “keep those profits for itself”.
“Despite this tremendous ‘come back,’ the band had still not been paid a single cent by UMG in any royalties until taking action against UMG, leading one to ask how on earth that could possibly be true,” say Durst’s lawyers.
“UMG’s creation of such a system, while holding itself out as a company that prides itself on investing in and protecting its artists, makes plaintiffs’ discovery of UMG’s scheme all the more appalling and unsettling.
“Durst explained that he had been informed by UMG that he had not received any royalty statements because UMG told him over the years that it was not required to provide them since his account was still so far from recoupment. Durst’s representatives, suspicious that UMG was wrongfully claiming Plaintiffs’ accounts were un-recouped, suggested investigating further.”
After questioning UMG’s accounting and payment practices, Durst’s lawyers claim they have discovered that Limp Bizkit’s accounts held over $1million and the label “failed to alert” the band about the money.
The filing went on: “UMG’s failure to issue royalty statements in particular from 1997-2004 – the height of the band’s fame and during periods in which they made record-breaking sales – with respect to its most popular albums suggests that UMG was intentionally concealing the true amount of sales, and therefore royalties, due and owing to Limp Bizkit in order to unfairly keep those profits for itself.”

 
In response, UMG say that Limp Bizkit had been paid $43 million in recoupable advances over the years, which was apparently why the royalties had only just begun entering the accounts.
Durst’s lawyers added that UMG eventually released $1.03 million to the band, and $2.3 million to Durst’s label Flawless Records. However, they claim that they are still owed much more money.
UMG has not yet responded further to the lawsuit.
The post Limp Bizkit are suing Universal Music over alleged unpaid royalties appeared first on MusicTech.

Fracture Sounds release FREE Blueprint: Gentle Brass for Kontakt Player.
Developer Fracture Sounds has released Blueprint: Gentle Brass, and it is free for Kontakt Player. The Fracture Sounds Blueprint series has been so consistent since its debut that it’s fair to say I automatically expect high quality from every new release. While it’s OK to expect high quality based on past releases, we mustn’t let [...]
View post: Fracture Sounds release FREE Blueprint: Gentle Brass for Kontakt Player.

Beyond the obvious: Building future-focused strategyBusiness strategy has long been demarcated across sustaining and disruptive innovation. In the digital realm, the latter has had the upper hand, but now, as digital enters a slower growth phase, sustaining innovation is back in favour. Yet, this is also a period of dramatic value chain shifts, and is therefore exactly the period when companies should be pursuing disruptive, future-focused strategy instead. Future-focused strategy is a strategy superpower, the way to plot a path that few others have seen. And, in what will be a decade of disruption and change, it has never been more important.

Strategy takes many forms, from functional to conceptual, and the differing ways it is pursued both define and reflect companies’ cultures. The ideal outcome of strategy is to remain on the front foot, setting the agenda rather than following it. However, at some stage or another, all companies find themselves having to react rather than act and to follow rather than lead. Though the catalysts are most often external factors (e.g., changing marketing conditions, responding to competitor activity), the effectiveness of a company’s response, and even the frequency with which it is forced into response-mode, are shaped by its underlying strategy. In a sense, this exemplifies good strategy by continuously keeping up with market dynamics and being prepared to implement new initiatives – i.e., combining strategy and execution into one concerted effort. 

Ever wondered why some companies seem to be less prone to responsiveness? Beyond the usual culprits of uncertainty, complacency, and resistant culture, this often occurs because those companies build strategies that prioritise long term objectives, even if that means limiting the potential of current products and revenue, sometimes even hastening their decline. This is future-focused strategy. However, to be effective, the approach requires operational capabilities that go far beyond a slick slide deck. It often requires a laser-focused leadership team overseeing a company culture that revolves around innovation, risk taking, and challenging accepted wisdoms.

All industries have companies that set the narrative with market-shaping strategy. The rule particularly applies to digital entertainment because: a) it is in relatively early stages, and b) it is shaped by technology.  The companies that have set the pace in digital entertainment have most often been those with future-focused strategies, initiatives that were put into motion before full market fit was present. Here are some examples:

So, how do successful companies spot what lies ahead when others cannot? A common strategy failing is to try to emulate other companies’ success. This approach focuses on the effect of the other company’s strategy rather than the causal principles that underpin it.  Future-focused strategy entails a similar thought process to that employed by chess grandmasters, visualising the game board with multiple potential future moves and counter moves.  It requires looking beyond the current trend or challenge, by mapping out future multiple-order consequences. Through the process of identifying multiple knock-on effects, a company can build a future-focused strategy that not only plans ahead of the competition but is also able to quickly flex to different scenarios. Anticipating the future is both art and science, but operating within a defined methodological structure that maps each occurrence as a consequence of the last pulls in the guard rails, reducing the risk of error.

You will probably not be surprised to learn that MIDiA has developed a framework designed to systemise this process. We call it the multiple-order consequences framework. In this framework, we map out not just what comes next, but also the multiple potential consequences that could emerge, and then from each of those, the multiple consequences that could develop, and so forth. What you end up with is akin to a genealogical tree that maps out a multitude of future scenarios. The task is then to stress test each branch of possibilities and narrow it down to one or two most likely outcomes.

It is an approach that we use widely in our analysis work but also frequently in our consulting work, when we help companies identify future threats and opportunities, and the solutions to pursue. 

Of course, there are no facts about the future, but there is (usually) a relatively narrow set of likely futures in consumer markets. The multiple-order consequences framework is an effective way of being able to see those futures before others, and then build future-focused strategy to act upon them before they even manifest. This is the kind of approach that allowed a DVD rental company to become the leading streaming video player (Netflix); a desktop social network to become the leader in mobile social apps (Facebook), and a computer software company to become a leader in cloud, AI and games (Microsoft).

If you would like to learn more about MIDiA’s approach to future focused strategy, how our consulting team can help you build one or would like to learn more about our future focused strategy report then email businessdevelopment@midiaresearch.com

“The rules regarding the right way to do it – none of those are real. You can discard all of them”: Rick Rubin says there’s no “right” way to make musicProducer extraordinaire Rick Rubin says there is no “right way” to make music.
The 61-year-old, who’s produced everybody from Slayer to Adele across his 40-plus-year career, offers the insight during a new interview with YouTuber Rick Beato.

READ MORE: “Professors and mastering engineers were like, ‘What the fuck were you smokin’ man?’”: RZA on his Wu-Tang Clan production style

Rubin explains that he’s never one to write off particular equipment or a way of recording, explaining that what works for one artist may not work for another. “I think, in general, all of the philosophical ideas of, like, ‘It’s better to make music with a click track, it’s better to make music without; it’s better to record on tape than digital’ – whatever they are, it’s always case-specific,” he states.
“There are no right answers. Sometimes, it’s nice to record on tape, sometimes it’s nice to record digitally.”
The producer later adds: “There’s a real freedom in knowing that none of the rules about ‘the right way to do it’, none of those are real. Those are all made-up rules. You can discard all of them. You can use them if they’re helpful but, as soon as they get in the way, discard them. There truly is no right way to do any of it.”
Rubin continues by citing Linkin Park as an example. Rubin produced the nu metal stars’ third studio album, Minutes to Midnight, which came out in 2007. The album topped charts around the world and spawned such fan-favourite singles as What I’ve Done and Bleed It Out.
“I remember, when I produced Linkin Park the first time, the idea of them playing together as a band was so alien to them,” he remembers. “I think they’d made three records before that [sic]. Not only had they never played together on any of their records – they never played their songs together until they played them onstage! They were always made in the studio. That’s how they worked.”
Rubin set out to challenge the band, and was curious to see if it would yield any new or interesting ideas. “We tried playing together in the studio and it was interesting sometimes, but it didn’t have to be that way. It’s always interesting to test the way you’ve done it before. Is there a new way?”
Elsewhere in the interview, Rubin admits he still doesn’t know “the right way” to program an 808 drum machine. “I still don’t really know the right way to program it,” he says, “I know how I programmed it, because I didn’t have the instruction manual, so I just found a way to make the sound come out.”

See more from Rick Beato via his official YouTube channel.
The post “The rules regarding the right way to do it – none of those are real. You can discard all of them”: Rick Rubin says there’s no “right” way to make music appeared first on MusicTech.