Music streaming platforms now host quarter of a BILLION tracks. Where does it end?New Luminate report reveals head-spinning volume of content on audio services, as debate rages over minimum-stream payout thresholds.
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Trinnov showcase the Nova & AltitudeCI at NAMM Room-correction experts Trinnov have announced that they will be showcasing two Dolby Atmos-capable room-correction systems at the NAMM Show 2026.

Apple to introduce Apple Creator Studio The bundle will include Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor and MainStage, and will also include some new intelligent features and premium content for Keynote, Pages, Numbers and eventually Freeform for iPhone.

Splice at The 2026 NAMM Show
Splice will be at the NAMM Show (January 20-24) in Anaheim, California to speak about the latest in AI innovation and music education across the industry.

“Based”: Musicians celebrate as Bandcamp bans AI music from its platformThe prevalence of AI-generated music on streaming platforms has been a major talking point in the industry over the last year. Many ‘real’ artists are voicing concerns that such music is both diluting the royalty pools from which they are paid, and diminishing the creative integrity of the music on these platforms in general.
Now, Bandcamp – which is famously friendly to up-and-coming artists looking to monetise their music – has made the decision to ban AI-generated music from its platform.

READ MORE: Abbey Road and Chandler team up on the first EMI recording console in 50 years – and it’s fully modular

In a post on Reddit, Bandcamp explains its reasons for massively clamping down on AI music, citing the “sheer quantity of human creativity” on its platform, and how its “vibrant community of real people making incredible music is something we want to protect and maintain”.
“We want musicians to keep making music, and for fans to have confidence that the music they find on Bandcamp was created by humans,” the company writes.
In the post, Bandcamp outlines two main guidelines for AI on its platform:

Music and audio that is generated wholly or in substantial part by AI is not permitted on Bandcamp.
Any use of AI tools to impersonate other artists or styles is strictly prohibited in accordance with our existing policies prohibiting impersonation and intellectual property infringement.

The second point comes as numerous artists as of late have criticised streaming platforms for allowing AI-generated music which is heavily inspired by or derivative of their music. In some cases, such AI artists generate more plays than the human artists on which they are allegedly trained or inspired by.
Back in October, Lucas Woodland – of Cardiff metal band Holding Absence – called it “shocking, disheartening and insulting” that AI artist Bleeding Verse – which he accused of being trained on his music – had more Spotify monthly listeners than his own band.
Finishing its note on Reddit, Bandcamp encourages its users to report music which sounds AI-generated for review by its team, adding: “We reserve the right to remove any music on suspicion of being AI-generated.”
“We will be sure to communicate any updates to the policy as the rapidly changing generative AI space develops,” it concludes. “Given the response around this to our previous posts, we hope this news is welcomed.”
AI Generated Music on Bandcamp byu/bandcamp_official inBandCamp

While many have accused Spotify of not doing enough to combat the spread of AI music on its platform, the company did reveal a plan in September to crack down on what it called “AI slop” in a bid to protect artists.
Still, AI music generators remain widely popular and a hotbed of investment and hype; in November, Suno raised $250m in its latest funding round, bringing the platform’s valuation to $2.45 billion.
That said, a study released the same month revealed that over 80% of music producers are against AI-generated songs – with 81% supporting the clear labelling of AI-generated music on streaming platforms.
Reddit users in the comments section have praised Bandcamp’s decision to ban AI-generated music from its platform, with one user writing: “Bandcamp continues to be the best place to post your music.”
Another replies simply: “Based.”
Head to Bandcamp to learn more.
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Every US Venue That Was Awarded a Music in Action Grant in 2025LMS's Music in Action grants were set up to fund venues engaging with their local communities on a deeper level, and to support efforts to transform the role live music plays in society at large.
The post Every US Venue That Was Awarded a Music in Action Grant in 2025 appeared first on Hypebot.

Clio Music Awards 2026 Winners AnnouncedClio Music has named its 2026 winners. The awards recognize creative excellence in music marketing, brand/artist collaborations, and the use of music in advertising, film and trailers.
The post Clio Music Awards 2026 Winners Announced appeared first on Hypebot.

Abbey Road and Chandler team up on the first EMI recording console in 50 years – and it’s fully modularAbbey Road Studios and Chandler Limited have teamed up on the REDD Mixing System, the first EMI recording console in 50 years, and a fully modular unit which brings together “every era of EMI’s legendary recording equipment”.
The modular nature of the REDD Mixing System allows producers and engineers to design their optimal setup, combining REDD, TG and RS channels and busses in whatever configuration they like to suit everything from home studios to professional control rooms.

READ MORE: Apple Creator Studio: Logic Pro, Final Cut and all your favourite creative apps are now available in one subscription

The REDD Mixing System has been six years in the making, and is the result of “intensive collaboration” between Wade Goeke of Chandler Limited, Abbey Road’s Head of Audio Products Mirek Stiles and the wider Abbey Road team.
Abbey Road and Chandler are currently taking orders for the REDD Mixing System in the US only, with expected delivery dates of August 2026.
Credit: Abbey Road Studios/Chandler Limited
They say that given each console is made in America and the wide variety of possible configurations requested in each special order, time is required to “establish infrastructure for building and sales”, and determinations on wider distribution will be made at a later date.
“Development of the new desk was a labour of love,” says Goeke. “I wanted to include all the different sounding gear we make with Abbey Road as well as offering a modular approach that is more suited for modern recording setups.
“I can have a very small system at home and cover everything I need, whether it be tracking with tube or solid state gear, mixing in the box, reamplifying, inserting pedals with the sends, passive EQ on the busses, flexible control room options and even glow-in-the-dark faders that add a creative feel to a dimly lit studio. This has truly been the design of a lifetime and one I hope adds to the legacy of EMI, Abbey Road and Chandler Limited.”
Credit: Abbey Road Studios/Chandler Limited
“I was introduced to the TG and REDD desks at Abbey Road Studios when I was 18 years old,” adds Stiles. “I’d never seen or heard anything like them. I was blown away watching how producers like Mike Hedges, Jon Brion or Peter Cobbin would use them to colour the sound of their recordings and mixes in such a musical way.”
He goes on: “Examples of the original desks used on everything from The Beatles to film scores like Raiders of the Lost Ark are very rare indeed, so it’s with great pleasure to witness Wade revive these beautiful engineering classics for artists, producers and engineers of today, all of course with a modern innovative twist.
“Wade has created a modern classic, there simply isn’t anything else like this on the market. I truly believe the music production community now have access to a tool that will redefine what the mixing console is and how it’s used creatively.”
For a full breakdown of specs, head to abbeyroad.com.
The post Abbey Road and Chandler team up on the first EMI recording console in 50 years – and it’s fully modular appeared first on MusicTech.

FX-Mechanics releases TeAr, a FREE text-based arpeggiator for Windows and Linux
TeAr from FX-Mechanics is a free, advanced polyrhythmic and polyphonic arpeggiator featuring a text-based language system. The plugin is available in VST/VST3 formats for Windows and Linux. TeAr boasts four independent arpeggiator engines, each with dedicated pattern editors, and controls for subdivision and MIDI output channel. You can also turn engines on/off independently. Four engines [...]
View post: FX-Mechanics releases TeAr, a FREE text-based arpeggiator for Windows and Linux

Okeanos Pro: the “first augmented reality headphones” with 16 virtual loudspeakersNAMM 2026: Karlheinz Brandenburg – best known as the co-inventor of the MP3 audio format – is back with a very different kind of audio technology. His company, Brandenburg Labs, has launched the Okeanos Pro, a headphones-based system that promises an “immersive augmented reality listening experience” by simulating up to 16 virtual multi-channel loudspeakers.
At its core, the Okeanos System is designed to remove the need for large, costly physical speaker arrays by moving the entire listening environment into headphones. Using Brandenburg Labs’ Deep Dive Audio (DDA) technology, the system recreates the experience of working in front of a full multichannel speaker setup in a real, physical space.

READ MORE: Fender forays into consumer audio with two Bluetooth speakers and a set of wireless over-ear headphones

Okeanos Pro supports up to 16 virtual loudspeakers, covering everything from stereo and quad through to formats like 9.1.6, with the ability to switch between configurations almost instantly.
Importantly, the system isn’t locked to a single ‘ideal’ room. During setup, Okeanos Pro is calibrated to the acoustics of the user’s actual listening space, then combined with real-time six degrees of freedom (6DoF) head tracking.
As you move or turn your head, the soundstage responds accordingly, preserving the illusion that audio is coming from fixed speakers in the room. To achieve this, the system includes an HTC Vive Tracker and two Vive base stations, which monitor the user’s position in real time.
The result is a monitoring experience that behaves much like a traditional speaker setup. Users can place sounds precisely across a 360-degree field, judge spatial compositions, and audition how a mix translates across different speaker layouts – all from the desk, without taking their headphones off.
Credit: Brandenburg Labs
Control is handled via a browser-based interface, where users can create and switch between custom speaker setups using a 3D visual layout. The system also includes tools for shaping how virtual speakers behave, including adjustable directivity patterns that let you emulate the way different loudspeakers project sound into a room.
On the technical side, the system supports up to 32-bit/ 48kHz audio, with 96kHz support planned, and integrates with professional studio hardware via Dante or Ravenna.
“From the early proof of concept, we put in a lot of work to make the system ready for real-world usage,” says Brandenburg Labs founder and CEO Karlheinz Brandenburg. “Now, we’ve made it and are beginning to sell our systems to professional studios and educational institutions worldwide.”
At $5871/€5000 (before tax and shipping), Okeanos Pro isn’t cheap, but Brandenburg Labs argues the price sits well below the cost of installing, calibrating and maintaining a physical 16-speaker studio.
For those attending NAMM 2026 in Anaheim, Okeanos Pro will be available for live demonstrations at Booth #14916.
Learn more at Brandenburg Labs.
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Warm Audio team launches Audio Collective Group to scale and support music industry brandsThe team behind Warm Audio has officially announced Audio Collective Group (ACG), a new parent company designed to help music industry brands grow while preserving the quality, identity, and innovation that make them unique.
Founded by the same team that built Warm Audio into a global brand, ACG has been operating quietly for over a year, providing sales, manufacturing, distribution, logistics and marketing support to a growing roster of partners. The idea is simple – let brands focus on building great products, while ACG handles the infrastructure and operational support needed to scale.
Current brands supported by Audio Collective Group include Warm Audio, RockNRoller Multi-Carts, Tegeler Audio, Tokai Guitars, Wavebone, Gotham Audio Cable and Pop Audio, with more partnerships expected to be announced.

READ MORE: PreSonus Studio One is now Fender Studio Pro, as Fender launches its own fully-fledged DAW environment

Importantly, Warm Audio isn’t going anywhere. The brand will continue to operate independently, but the same team that helped establish Warm’s reputation is now extending its support to more companies across the music and pro audio space.
“Warm Audio was founded on a simple mission: to give more musicians and creators access to truly great sound. That same commitment now fuels our ability to support other outstanding brands,” says Bryce Young, President of Warm Audio & Audio Collective Group.
“As this vision expanded, it became clear we needed a broader platform to serve the industry, which led to the formation of Audio Collective Group. Through ACG, we’re able to share our strengths in worldwide sales and channel reach, operations, marketing, fulfilment, customer support, and global logistics – helping more brands thrive while staying true to the craftsmanship and character that earned their place in the music world.”
Young points to RockNRoller Multi-Carts as an early example of the model working in practice: “We’ve expanded distribution, stabilised pricing, refreshed branding, and grown the retail footprint,” he says. “The response from the channel has been overwhelmingly positive regarding our expansion and support of other ACG brands.”
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Audio Collective Group says additional partnerships are already in the pipeline.
Learn more at Audio Collective Group.
The post Warm Audio team launches Audio Collective Group to scale and support music industry brands appeared first on MusicTech.

Apple Creator Studio: Logic Pro, Final Cut and all your favourite creative apps are now available in one subscriptionApple has unveiled Apple Creator Studio, a new subscription bundle that combines its most powerful creative software – including Logic Pro – into a single monthly or annual plan. For those already paying for Logic Pro’s subscription, the new bundle stands as a reasonably good-value upgrade, folding Apple’s wider pro app ecosystem into one package across Mac, iPad and iPhone.

READ MORE: PreSonus Studio One Pro becomes Fender Studio Pro: here’s what it means for producers

Priced at $12.99 per month or $129 per year, Apple Creator Studio includes Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro and Pixelmator Pro on both Mac and iPad, alongside Motion, Compressor and MainStage on Mac. Subscribers also gain access to new intelligent features and premium content across Keynote, Pages and Numbers, with Freeform support coming later.
Alongside the new bundle, Apple is also rolling out fresh AI-powered features for Logic Pro, starting with the addition of a Synth Player to Logic Pro’s AI Session Player lineup. Capable of delivering electronic music performances with a diverse range of chordal and synth bass parts, Apple describes it as “like having access to a skilled synthesist that can instantly take a musical idea in new directions when needed”.

And as with all AI Session Players, creators can direct Synth Player using intuitive controls for complexity and intensity, along with various performance options. Synth Player can also be used to control third-party plugins or external hardware synths, giving producers flexible options for both in-the-box and hybrid setups.
Another key addition is Chord ID, a “personal music theory expert” that turns any audio or MIDI recording into a ready-to-use chord progression. Chord ID can analyse complex harmonic content from nearly any recording to automatically populate the chord track in Logic Pro. And since the chord track drives the performances of any AI Session Player, users can quickly audition different players, styles, and genres before dialling in their preferred vibe.
Apple Creator Studio will be available on the App Store from Wednesday, 28 January, with a one-month free trial. Students and educators can subscribe for $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year. For those who prefer not to subscribe, Apple continues to offer one-time purchases of the Mac versions of Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor and MainStage via the Mac App Store.
Learn more at Apple.
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“Everything will die”: How music gear is harming the environmentMany of us are aware of the environmental impact from factors such as pollution from the burning of fossil fuels. However, the impact of the music gear we buy and use on the planet’s health rarely enters the conversation.

READ MORE: Phone screens are “ruining the club experience”; could wearable tech save screen-plagued dancefloors?

What’s the carbon footprint of your synthesizer? How do festivals and live sound impact the environment? And what about generative AI? We look into these three key areas and speak with manufacturers about the steps they’re taking to address them.
Live sound’s environmental impact
Thanks to some outspoken artists, such as Massive Attack, festivals and live performance venues are reassessing their environmental impact. Changes are underway, with large batteries and onsite solar panels offsetting some of the power usage. But there’s another area where more needs to happen: the speakers. Or, more specifically, the magnets inside them.
“We have a climate risk register with seven things on it, and only one of those specifically calls out one material,” says Andy Land, the head of sustainability for the Focusrite Group. This includes live sound outfits like Martin Sound, which has rigs at Glastonbury, among many other events. That one material? Neodymium, which is required to make high-performance speaker magnets that can output at a high enough level without weighing beyond what is safe for a crew to lift. These rare earth magnets also appear in gadgets like smartphones, hard drives and electric cars, and their environmental impact starts at extraction and continues throughout their lifecycle.
“The bigger issue is not that we can’t find an alternative,” laments Andy. Iron ferrite magnets are acceptable to use when weight isn’t as much of an issue. The problem, ultimately, is access. “We’re in competition with electric car manufacturers and wind turbine manufacturers who want a neodymium alternative as well, and their buying power is magnitudes higher than ours.”
Thankfully, other materials used by the live sound industry, such as plastics, are improving. “They’ve been making really good progress with switching all that plastic to recycled plastic,” Andy says, “and they’ve had no issues with that, to be honest.” They’re also using bioplastics produced from renewable biomass sources in outdoor weatherised speaker cabinets.
Advancements made by Martin Sound and associated brands are having a positive knock-on effect with the rest of the Focusrite Group as well. “They seem to be having a lot of success with this stuff, and they’re almost becoming the R&D lab for the entire group on sustainability engineering projects,” says Andy, “and then everyone else copies what the live sound side does. Which is working quite well, actually.”
Synthesizer manufacturing
How green is your synthesizer? That’s a question that Priscilla Haring-Kuipers, the general manager of Dutch boutique synth manufacturer This Is Not Rocket Science, wants people to ask. The topic of ethical electronics should be important, she asserts, and has written on the topic in electronics publications like Elektor.
After releasing their Fénix IV, a self-contained modular synthesizer, a few years ago, Priscilla decided to calculate the carbon footprint of the manufacturing process using Idemat, an app aiming to help designers create more sustainable products.
What goes into a synthesizer? To start with, there are the PCBs, although you have very little control over their makeup. As Andy Land noted in Light and Sound magazine, “With PCBs and semiconductors, we’re at the whim of whatever the Taiwan producer does. We have to wait for them to improve their stock—we don’t have the buying power to influence that.”
There are also other materials to measure, such as aluminium for the case, components, plastic for the knobs and buttons, cardboard and bubble wrap for the packaging, and so on. But for This is Not Rocket Science, one other element was far and away the biggest contributor to CO2 generation.
“I did the whole calculation for the building of the Fénix IV,” Priscilla explains. “And by far, the biggest CO2 cost of the entire production was us flying to China to source a bunch of the components.” One trip to Shenzhen used 5450kg of CO2. “Everything included [in four years of making 100 units] was about equal in CO2 to one flight back and forth to China.”
To offset this, This Is Not Rocket Science has made the decision to not fly anymore. “The reason why we’re not flying is the Fénix.” It is also compensating the entire run with the carbon offset organization, TreesForAll.
Generative AI
Generative AI has emerged in the last few years as a real hot button issue for musicians. Although the main point of contention so far has been the unethical way that AI has been trained on existing, copyrighted music, there’s a real environmental downside to the emerging technology as well.
According to a just-released study, AI had as much impact on the environment this year as did New York City. In what could actually be a fairly conservative estimate due to the lack of publicly available data, the study found that global demand for AI could hit 23 gigawatts this year, with between 32.6 and 79.7 million tons of CO2 being released into the atmosphere. That’s a lot of prompts. New York City, by comparison, is responsible for 50 million tons.
AI sucked up a significant amount of water this year as well, reportedly as much as the world drinks in bottled water. Water is used to cool data centers and keep servers from going into the red. There’s also a demand for water use at power plants, which use H2O to rotate turbines with steam. More data centers means more power plants necessarily coming online, which will only exacerbate the problem.
There’s also the issue of how to dispose of what is left after you remove the water. “Basically, you take a bunch of water out of a river, and you evaporate it into the sky,” explains Andy. “You’re left with a salty brine of whatever minerals were left at the data centre, and that has to be disposed of correctly. You can’t just release that into the river because it would just be like dumping salt into a river. Everything will die.”
Unfortunately, where audio AI companies like Suno and Udio fit into this is hard to say because of the industry-wide lack of transparency. “I don’t know where audio generation fits within this,” says Andy. “There’s not enough research or data available about audio generation.”
What we do know is that across AI companies, both training and end-user prompts require large amounts of energy; prompts in particular, as scale grows. “Deploying these models in real-world applications, enabling millions to use generative AI in their daily lives, and then fine-tuning the models to improve their performance draws large amounts of energy long after a model has been developed,” says MIT News.
While the conversation around the theft of music for training purposes is absolutely an important one, we also shouldn’t lose sight of the environmental impact of AI, one that will only continue to grow as more people make use of it.
What can be done?
What needs to be done? We as consumers can certainly buy from companies with green policies, ask companies about their manufacturing processes, and take public transportation to festivals and other events.
“For any event, currently the biggest footprint is always the audience travel to the event,” notes Andy. “How you get there is probably the biggest thing an individual can influence on that side of things, because they’re not going to be able to plug in their own battery and contribute a little bit of power. That’s not realistic.”
Ultimately, however, the responsibility for ethical electronics lies not with consumers but with the manufacturers themselves. “I don’t believe it’s right to focus on what individuals can do because the companies are the ones that control these things,” says Andy.
“Consumers shouldn’t be burdened with the task of having to worry about these things. It should be the companies that are responsible for those emissions doing the work.”
Priscilla recommends that companies put environmentally friendly policies in place before manufacturing, rather than trying to fix things later. “Ideally, metrics such as the carbon footprint should be available in the component libraries of your design software,” Priscilla writes in Elektor. “Then you would have this information … when you are still making choices about what to create. When you have the audacity to add something to the world that did not exist before, there are consequences.”
The post “Everything will die”: How music gear is harming the environment appeared first on MusicTech.

GRAMMY Nominations 2025: Best Music FilmThe 2025 GRAMMY nominations are here and we're going to help you to untangle it all right up until the big event, continuing with the Best Music Film category.

Take a listen to the nominated films below--who do you think will win?

See the full list of nominees in every category here.

DevoDevoChris Smith, video director; Danny Gabai, Anita Greenspan, Chris Holmes & Chris Smith, video producers

Live At The Royal Albert HallRayePaul Dugdale, video director; Stefan Demetriou & Amy James, video producers

RelentlessDiane WarrenBess Kargman, video director; Peggy Drexler, Michele Farinola, Bess Kargman & Kat Nguyen, video producers

Music By John WilliamsJohn WilliamsLaurent Bouzereau, video director; Sara Bernstein, Laurent Bouzereau, Justin Falvey, Darryl Frank, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Meredith Kaulfers, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Steven Spielberg & Justin Wilkes, video producers

Piece By PiecePharrell WilliamsMorgan Neville, video director; Morgan Neville, Caitrin Rogers, Mimi Valdes & Pharrell Williams, video producersThe post GRAMMY Nominations 2025: Best Music Film first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Crypto-friendly Old Glory Bank plans Nasdaq listing through SPACThe “digital-first“ bank created in 2022 is set to go public on the Nasdaq, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals.