Apple Music’s new “Transparency Tags” aim to flag AI-generated content – but labels have to self-reportApple Music is rolling out what it calls “Transparency Tags,” a system for flagging AI-generated content on its platform. Before celebrating the dawn of radical honesty in streaming, though, there’s a catch: the system appears to rely largely on record labels choosing to actually use it.
On Wednesday (4 March), Apple sent a newsletter to industry partners announcing that AI disclosures would now be a “delivery requirement” for content submitted to the service.
The tags cover four categories: Artwork, Track, Composition, and Music Video, each intended to indicate when AI contributed a “material portion” of the work.

READ MORE: Apple Music demonetised 2 billion fraudulent streams in 2025 – that’s nearly $17 million in royalties

“Proper tagging of content is the first step in giving the music industry the data and tools needed to develop thoughtful policies around AI,” the newsletter states. “We believe labels and distributors must take an active role in reporting when the content they deliver is created using AI.”
“These new tagging requirements provide a concrete first step toward the transparency necessary for the industry to establish best practices and policies that work for everyone.”
Exactly how that transparency will be enforced remains unclear.
Apple’s technical specification describes the tags as “optional” – at least for now – and the system does not appear to include any visible enforcement mechanism or verification process. “If omitted, none is assumed,” the notes state.
Credit: Apple
In practice, that likely means labels can tag AI-generated elements – be it a drum loop, lyric line, or album artwork – if they choose to disclose it. If they don’t, nothing changes.
Given the sheer scale of AI-generated uploads, that limitation could prove significant. Last September, Spotify introduced similar AI disclosure labels, alongside a policy allowing the removal of tracks with unauthorised AI generated voice clones.
Other platforms have also taken a more proactive approach. Deezer, for once, implemented an automated AI-detection system more than a year ago. The company says it now receives over 60,000 AI-generated songs every day, and its detection tools have identified more than 13.4 million AI-created tracks on the service.
Nevertheless, Apple’s Transparency Tags represent a step toward clearer disclosure – though relying on self-reporting alone is unlikely to slow the flood of AI-generated music.
The post Apple Music’s new “Transparency Tags” aim to flag AI-generated content – but labels have to self-report appeared first on MusicTech.

SEC ends case against Justin Sun with $10M settlementThe Securities and Exchange Commission has ended its long-running fraud and securities violation lawsuit against Justin Sun in a $10 million settlement.

Cluely CEO Roy Lee admits to publicly lying about revenue numbers last yearThe $7 million in annual recurring revenue that Cluely CEO Roy Lee shared last summer was a lie, its founder and CEO Roy Lee admitted on Thursday on X.

Recreating the forms and sounds of historical musical instrumentsWhat if there were a way to create accurate replicas of ancient and historical instruments that could be played and heard? In late 2024, senior MIT postdoc Benjamin Sabatini wrote MIT Professor Eran Egozy to ask just that, and about a collaborative research project between the Center for Materials Research in Archeology and Ethnology (CMRAE) and the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS) to CT scan, chemically and structurally characterize, and produce replicas of the ancient and historical musical instruments housed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA).He was soon introduced to Mark Rau, a newly hired MIT professor in music technology and electrical engineering. Sharing similar interests, the two together contacted Jared Katz, the Pappalardo Curator of Musical Instruments at the MFA, to propose a cross-institutional project. Rau, an avid museum-goer, particularly of musical instrument collections, has always wanted to hear the instruments on display, commenting that “my biggest qualm is often there are no accompanying audio examples. I want to hear these instruments; I want to play these instruments.” Katz, fortuitously, specializes in ancient musical practices and has developed a technique for 3D scanning and printing playable replicas of ancient instruments for his research. He had long dreamed of having access to a CT scanner to better understand how ancient instruments were constructed. The MFA was also an ideal institution for the project, since, according to Katz, the MFA’s musical instrument collection began in 1917 and has since grown to just over 1,450 instruments from six continents, with the earliest dating to approximately 1550 BCE. Rau and Sabatini, soon after, applied to and were funded by the MIT Human Insight Collaborative (MITHIC) with Katz's support. The team of five, including Nate Steele, program associate in the MFA’s Department of Musical Instruments and MIT postdoc Jin Woo Lee, now meets regularly at the MFA to scan and acoustically measure the instruments.Using a CT scanner from Lumafield, a company founded by MIT alumni, the team measures both internal and external dimensions. When combined with non-destructive vibration and acoustic testing and numerical simulations, these measurements are used to digitally replicate the instruments’ sound accurately. “For example, if we’re trying to recreate a violin, we can use an impact hammer — a very small hammer with a transducer in it — so we’re imparting a known force signal into the instrument, and then measure the resulting [surface] vibrations with a laser Doppler vibrometer,” says Rau.The team then uses 3D-printed copies of the instruments to create plaster mold negatives, which are cast into using slip, such as with the Paracas whistle, a ceramic artifact from Peru dating from 600-175 BCE, to replicate the instruments physically. The team demonstrated a playable replica at the MITHIC Annual Event in November. They also intend to build replicas of wooden instruments using old-growth wood in collaboration with local luthiers.Sabatini, a member of CMRAE, sees the humanistic implications of the project and the importance of studying the instruments from a materials and archaeological perspective, which is to explore and understand the cultures that were involved in their production, stating that “[from our] perspective, we want to understand the people who made these instruments through both the materials that they’re made of, but also the sound that they have.”With his team of Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) students, including Irene Dong and Mouhammad Seck, Sabatini reproduced several ancient and historical clay instruments in the CMRAE archaeology lab, including the Paracas whistle, which was showcased at the MITHIC event.So far, the team has scanned approximately 30 instruments from the MFA’s collection, with the goal of scanning at least 100 instruments over the duration of the project, documenting them, and supporting future study. The data from the scans are used to reconstruct the instruments, both physically and in software, matching their physical form and sound.“They’re both visually beautiful and striking objects, but they are meant to be heard,” Katz says. Further stating that his “hope for this research is to provide us with a way to protect the original instrument while still allowing them to be heard and experienced in the way they were intended to be experienced.”Katz also sees potential for outreach and community engagement through these playable replicas, which is a goal written into the project’s proposal, further stating that “[i]t shows how powerful it can be when art and science come together to create new understandings and to help us reactivate these instruments in exciting ways.”Students have also been drawn to the project, including Victoria Pham, a second-year undergraduate in materials science and engineering, who is working with Sabatini as a UROP student. Pham was “drawn to this project because I love history,” she says. “I love wandering through the halls of the MFA and immersing myself in the descriptions of paintings and artifacts. I find learning about ancient peoples to be fascinating, especially in how their legacy affects us today.”Her work involves finite element modeling of a Veracruz poly-glabular flute, dating to 500-900 CE, to investigate its acoustics non-destructively. She notes that “[m]y work is fulfilling because I was able to learn new software and problem-solve to improve my model, which was very satisfying.”Pham thinks that “contributing to the new, budding field of music technology scratches an itch in my brain, and I hope that my work inspires others to get interested in archaeology, material science, or music technology.”Alexander Mazurenko, a second-year undergraduate majoring in music and mathematics, has also been working on the project. He began last summer and continued during this year's Independent Activities Period in January.Mazurenko notes that his involvement in this project has furthered his interdisciplinary education at MIT, commenting that “[t]he opportunity to participate in this UROP with Professor Rau was the perfect chance to begin to work in the intersection of my passions.” His work, and that of Pham, will be presented at upcoming conferences, and are expected to produce academic papers under the guidance of Sabatini and Rau.

Pr.Germux Speaker Diarization ProSpeaker Diarization Pro Automatically split mixed-speaker audio into separate tracks, right inside your DAW Transform any mono or stereo recording into isolated speaker stems, subtitles, and timeline files for podcasts, interviews, post-production, and research workflows. With a single plug-in instance, Speaker Diarization Pro uses embedded diarization model assets to detect speaker boundaries and export per-voice outputs, saving hours of manual editing. Key Features Advanced Speaker Segmentation (1 to 20) Choose the number of speakers from 1 to 20, or enable Auto mode for speaker-count detection. Expanded Pro Input Formats Pro supports WAV, MP3, AIFF/AIF, FLAC, and OGG. Basic supports WAV only. Higher Speaker-Identity Accuracy vs first Basic (192-dim) Pro uses full 512-dimensional speaker embeddings. That is +167% richer embedding representation (512 vs 192) and removes the earlier 63% embedding truncation. In practice, diarization quality is more stable on difficult multi-speaker recordings. Pro Controls for Cleaner Turns Adjust sensitivity, minimum segment length, and merge gap for better speaker boundary behavior. Hardware Modes Run Auto hardware mode (GPU when available with CPU fallback) or force CPU-only mode. Multi-Export Workflow Export WAV stems, SRT subtitles, and CSV diarization timeline in one run. Fully Local Processing Runs inside your DAW with no cloud upload and no external app round-trip. Pro vs Basic (Quick Contrast) Capabilities | Basic | Pro Input formats | WAV only | WAV, MP3, AIFF/AIF, FLAC, OGG Max speakers | up to 10 | up to 20 (+ Auto mode) Exports | WAV stems | WAV stems + SRT + CSV How It Works 1) Install (copy) your Speaker Diarizer folder to the system VST3 folder: Windows (64-bit): C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\ macOS: /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/ Or if you specifically pinpoint you DAW application to the plug-in root folder. 2) Open the Speaker Diarization plug-in in your DAW program. 3) Browse your recording in WAV format and choose number of speakers inside the recording. 4) Adjust sensitivity, minimum segment length, or expected speaker count. 5) Export automatically speaker's in root folder. System Requirements Windows 10 or later (64-bit or 32-bit). macOS 10.15+ (Intel or Apple Silicon). DAW supporting VST3 (Audition only supports effects, not instruments). CPU: SSE4.1+ (most CPUs since 2010). Optional compatible GPU for accelerated Auto mode. ~100 MB disk space for plug-in + model files. What's Included Speaker Diarization Pro.vst3 (x86, x64, arm64). ONNX models (.onnx) pre-optimized for real-time. Runtime components required by the plug-in. Lifetime license with free minor updates. Licensing & Support Perpetual License: purchase once, use forever. Email support: pr.germux@gmail.com. Take your podcast, interview, and post-production workflow to the next level. Use Speaker Diarization Pro and stop manual chopping — let AI do the hard work. All sales are final, and no refunds will be issued for this product due to its digital nature. If you encounter any issues or need assistance, feel free to contact me at: pr.germux@gmail.com. I'll be happy to help resolve any questions or concerns. Read More

Capacitor Memory Makes Homebrew Relay Computer Historically PlausibleIt’s one thing to create your own relay-based computer; that’s already impressive enough, but what really makes [DiPDoT]’s design special– at least after this latest video— is swapping the SRAM he had been using for historically-plausible capacitor-based memory.
A relay-based computer is really a 1940s type of design. There are various memory types that would have been available in those days, but suitable CRTs for Williams Tues are hard to come by these days, mercury delay lines have the obvious toxicity issue, and core rope memory requires granny-level threading skills. That leaves mechanical or electromechanical memory like [Konrad Zeus] used in the 30s, or capacitors. he chose to make his memory with capacitors.
It’s pretty obvious when you think about it that you can use a capacitor as memory: charged/discharged lets each capacitor store one bit. Charge is 1, discharged is 0. Of course to read the capacitor it must be discharged (if charged) but most early memory has that same read-means-erase pattern. More annoying is that you can’t overwrite a 1 with a 0– a separate ‘clear’ circuit is needed to empty the capacitor. Since his relay computer was using SRAM, it wasn’t set up to do this clear operation.
He demonstrates an auto-clearing memory circuit on breadboard, using 3 relays and a capacitor, so the existing relay computer architecture doesn’t need to change. Addressing is a bit of a cheat, in terms of 1940s tech, as he’s using modern diodes– though of course, tube diodes or point-contact diodes could conceivably pressed into service if one was playing purist. He’s also using LEDs to avoid the voltage draw and power requirements of incandescent indicator lamps. Call it a hack.
He demonstrates his circuit on breadboard– first with a 4-bit word, and then scaled up to 16-bit, before going all way to a massive 8-bytes hooked into the backplane of his Altair-esque relay computer. If you watch nothing else, jump fifteen minutes in to have the rare pleasure of watching a program being input via front panel with a complete explanation. If you have a few extra seconds, stay for the satisfyingly clicky run of the loop. The bonus 8-byte program [DiPDoT] runs at the end of the video is pure AMSR, too.
Yeah, it’s not going to solve the rampocalypse, any more than the initial build of this computer helped with GPU prices. That’s not the point. The point is clack clack clack clack clack, and if that doesn’t appeal, we don’t know what to tell you.

The 1975 to receive MPG Award Ahead of their upcoming MPG Awards, the Music Producers Guild (MPG) have revealed the latest winner in their collection of gifted awards.

UMG puts US listing plans on holdCompany confirmed the decision as part of its Q4 and full-year 2025 earnings announcement on March 5
Source

How to write better lyrics: 9 tips for your songwriting
From experimenting with new rhyming schemes to being more intentional about your message, we explore nine tips and techniques that can help you improve your lyrics.

Duality Strings Bundle from VSL VSL’s Duality Strings series comprises six releases, and now, VSL are offering the whole set at a reduced cost in the form of the Duality Strings Bundle.

Harmonica Pocket's Keeth Apgar Wins ASCAP Foundation Joe Raposo Children's Music AwardNews broke this week that, "Singer-songwriter-educator Keeth Apgar, founder and frontman of the Pacific Northwest-based The Harmonica Pocket, has won the prestigious ASCAP Foundation Joe Raposo Children’s Music Award for a body of work that spans nearly 30 years."

"Equal parts silly and sweet, The Harmonica Pocket is a young-at-heart band bursting with thoughtful, fun-loving songs for 'ages zero to Grandma' that inspire spontaneous family dance parties wherever they’re played," a statement reads. "The band makes the case for blurring the lines between children’s and grown-up music, elevating 'kids’ music' into something meaningful, moving, and joyful. Kids can handle rich, nuanced subjects!"

"I believe in finishing things," says Apgar. "Even writing bad songs is part of my practice - The last song I wrote is called 'Stupid Song.' You can’t pick up a guitar and order a timeless classic, but you can sit down and finish a tune. Emphasizing quantity over quality eventually leads to better songs."

"A song is a puzzle," he adds. "You can study the picture on the box and build the border first, or you can start by fitting together small pieces without knowing what you’re making. Once the song has some shape, you enter a new phase - making the natural rhythm of words line up with rhyme. It’s fascinating, challenging, and maddening — and beautifully rewarding when the pieces finally lock."

According to the press release, "The ASCAP Foundation Joe Raposo Children’s Music Award was established in 2010 by Joe Raposo’s family to honor his legacy. Raposo, one of the creators and longtime musical director of Sesame Street, wrote music for diverse talents such as Kermit The Frog, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Dr. Seuss, Barbra Streisand, and Cookie Monster. His songs like “Sing,” “It’s Not Easy Bein’ Green,” and the “Sesame Street Theme” paved the way for him to receive five Grammys and multiple Gold and Platinum albums."

The Harmonica Pocket's "Imperfection is a Gift" is out now.

The post Harmonica Pocket's Keeth Apgar Wins ASCAP Foundation Joe Raposo Children's Music Award first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Morphulus releases Spectrus, a modular multi-effect plugin with 7 free effects
Morphulus has released Spectrus, a modular multi-effect plugin with a permanently free tier and a paid Pro version. Let’s cover the differences between the two versions first. The free version of Spectrus includes seven effects with no time limit. The Pro version, which unlocks all 21 effects, is priced at $49 as a one-time purchase [...]
View post: Morphulus releases Spectrus, a modular multi-effect plugin with 7 free effects

Soundtrap introduces “total rebrand” of its online DAW platform – here’s what’s newOnline DAW platform Soundtrap has announced a “total rebrand”, introducing a plethora of new features for its 2.0 version.
Soundtrap – which was sold to streaming giant Spotify in 2017, before being sold back to original founders Per Emanuelsson and Björn Melinder in 2023 – says the latest iteration of its online DAW aims to offer producers a “more powerful” environment while “removing some of the friction” creators had previously experienced while using the platform.

READ MORE: Save over £2,500 on Waves’ Diamond Bundle of 86 top mixing and mastering plugins

New and updated features include a refreshed design to make the workspace more streamlined and easier to navigate, a new desktop app for Mac which syncs in real time with the cloud/web-based studio, a newly rebuilt mobile app for listening back to projects on the go, an expanded set of automation features, plus 1000+ new loops and presets for sparking creativity. There’s also been a lift on track limits.
Currently, Soundtrap is available on a number of paid tiers, as well as a free version with more limited – but still pretty decked out – features.
Simplicity – and the most frictionless path to creativity – appears to be a key pillar of the thought process behind Soundtrap 2.0. In a blog post on the Soundtrap website, it’s said that there are “no heavyweight setups and no long, gruelling learning curves” often associated with other DAWs.

The new version also seeks to shed the “entry-level” label often attributed to Soundtrap, offering a “more serious” environment, but one which still “stays out of your way”.
Soundtrap also comes with a host of stock plugins, including reverb, distortion, EQ, delay and compressors, plus virtual instruments like a Beatmaker, software synths and an 808 with Glide sounds. There’s also thousands of royalty-free loops, samples, one-shots and sound effects, and a host of collaboration features which facilitate working with other creators in different locations.
As part of the relaunch, Soundtrap has made an AMA (Ask Me Anything) post on Reddit, on which it is answering questions posed by existing and prospective users about new features, plus features not yet included.
We just released a big update to Soundtrap (desktop app, automation, no track limits) – AMA byu/adam_soundtrap insoundtrap

Learn more at Soundtrap.
The post Soundtrap introduces “total rebrand” of its online DAW platform – here’s what’s new appeared first on MusicTech.

Save over £2,500 on Waves’ Diamond Bundle of 86 top mixing and mastering pluginsHow great would it be to find a plugin bundle that covers all bases in your production arsenal, so you never need to spend money on plugins again – or at least for a very long time? Well, this deal on Waves’ Diamond Bundle over at Plugin Boutique might just be the ticket. 
Until 16 March, you can save a whopping 94% on this absolutely stacked bundle comprising 86 essential audio mixing and mastering plugins, and pay just £169 instead of the usual price of £2,828.
[deals ids=”5IXdlT1g75RfxlUokmoZf0″]
This insane deal arrives as part of Plugin Boutique’s Mixing Month celebration which, for the duration of March, sees a plethora of top mixing and mastering plugins on the platform discounted heavily so you can add them to your production arsenal for less.
The Waves Diamond Bundle is the perfect option to deck out your production toolkit with everything you’ll ever need, with 86 plugins spanning dynamics, EQ, reverb, pitch correction, spatial imaging and more.

READ MORE: The best free and paid-for plugins you need to know about this week

“This comprehensive collection of audio processing tools elevates your studio setup with unparalleled signal processing capabilities, suitable for tracking, mixing, mastering, creative sound design, and audio restoration tasks,” says Plugin Boutique.
Essentially, the Diamond Bundle is the next step up in the Waves hierarchy from its Platinum Bundle, adding crucial plugins like the L3 multiband level maximizer, Center, and WLM Plus Loudness Meter. 
There’s also the complete X-series of plugins for noise reduction and audio repair, as well as premium production tools including the NLS console summing plugin, OneKnob filter and more.
See below for a full list of included plugins:

AudioTrack
C1 Compressor
C4 Multiband Compressor
Center
CLA Unplugged
Cobalt Saphira
DeEsser
Doppler
Doubler
Eddie Kramer Drum Channel
Electric Grand 80 Piano
eMo F2 Filter
eMo Generator
eMo Q4 Equalizer
Enigma
Greg Wells PianoCentric
Greg Wells ToneCentric
GTR3 Amps
GTR3 Stomps
GTR3 ToolRack
GTR3 Tuner
H-Comp Hybrid Compressor
H-Delay Hybrid Delay
IR-L Convolution Reverb
Key Detector
L1 Ultramaximizer
L2 Ultramaximizer
L3 Multimaximizer
L3 Ultramaximizer
L3-LL Multimaximizer
L3-LL Ultramaximizer
Linear Phase EQ
Linear Phase Multiband Compressor
LoAir
Lofi Space
Magma Springs
Manny Marroquin Triple D
MaxxBass
MaxxVolume
MetaFilter
MetaFlanger
MondoMod
Morphoder
MV2
NLS Non-Linear Summer
Nx – Virtual Mix Room over Headphones
OneKnob Driver
OneKnob Filter
OneKnob Pumper
PAZ Analyzer
PS22 Stereo Maker
PuigTec EQs
Q10 Equalizer
Q-Clone
Renaissance Axx
Renaissance Bass
Renaissance Channel
Renaissance Compressor
Renaissance DeEsser
Renaissance Equalizer
Renaissance Reverb
Renaissance Vox
Retro Fi
S1 Stereo Imager
Sibilance
Smack Attack
SoundShifter
Spherix Immersive Compressor & Limiter
Submarine
SuperTap
Trans-X
TrueVerb
UltraPitch
V-Comp
V-EQ3
V-EQ4
Vitamin Sonic Enhancer
Voltage Amps
VU Meter
Waves Tune LT
WLM Plus Loudness Meter
X-Click
X-Crackle
X-Hum
X-Noise
Z-Noise

So don’t wait around – save over £2,500 on the last plugin bundle you’ll ever need right now at Plugin Boutique.
The post Save over £2,500 on Waves’ Diamond Bundle of 86 top mixing and mastering plugins appeared first on MusicTech.

WaveShaper releases Nya8 808 sample pack (free version available)
WaveShaper has released Nya8 (Not Yet Another 808), an 808 sample pack with a heavily character-driven approach to the classic drum machine we all know and love. The full pack costs $5.90, and a free version containing 25 samples is available on the product page. It’s 2026, and I’m covering the second free WAV sample [...]
View post: WaveShaper releases Nya8 808 sample pack (free version available)