How to make an album cover for your music
We draw on in-depth advice from expert artists to explore how to make an album cover for your music, regardless of your skills or budget.

Reservoir reports double-digit revenue jump in latest fiscal year, to $144.9mThe company is forecasting continued growth, though at a somewhat slower pace, in the coming year
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Sony Music Group boss Rob Stringer talks acquisitions, artificial intelligence and how music streaming services should start charging free usersSony Music wants to see an end to free music subscriptions, and 5 other things we learned from its latest investor presentation
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Old Spotify Car Thing Hacks Gain New AttentionIf you haven’t heard by now, Spotify is shutting down support for their “Car Thing” on December 9th of this year. Once that happens the automotive media player will officially be useless, with users being advised to literally throw them in the trash come December 10th. Call it an early Christmas present from your friends at the multi-billion dollar streaming company.
Surely the hardware hacking community can do a bit better than that. As it turns out, there’s actually been a fair amount of hacking and research done on the Car Thing, it’s just that most of it happened a couple years back when the device first hit the market. Things stagnated a bit in the intervening years, but now that the clock is ticking, there’s far more interest in cracking open the gadget and seeing what else we can do with it.
[lmore377]’s Car Thing macropad hack from 2022.The car-thing-reverse-engineering repository on GitHub has a wealth of hardware and software information, and has been something of a rallying point for others who have been poking around inside the device. Unsurprisingly, the Car Thing runs Linux and with relatively minor work you can gain U-Boot and UART access. With just 512 MB of RAM and a Amlogic S905D2 chip that’s similar to what powers the Radxa Zero, it’s not exactly a powerhouse. Then again, we’ve seen plenty of awesome projects done with less.
If you’re more into the step-by-step approach, security researcher [Nolen Johnson] did a write-up about getting access to the Car Thing’s internal Linux system back in 2022 that’s certainly worth a look. As you’d imagine, there’s also a few YouTube videos out there that walk the viewer through gaining access to the hardware. This one from [Dinosaur Talks Tech] not only provides a good overview of how to get into the system, but covers flashing modified versions of the stock firmware to unlock various features and tweaking the internal Linux OS.
Interestingly enough, while we’ve seen plenty of homebrew hardware players for Spotify over the years, this is the first time the Car Thing has ever crossed our path. Something tells us though that this isn’t the last time we’ll hear about this forlorn Linux gadget.

Song Athletics announce Bones Bones from Song Athletics packs in 5.73GB of loops and samples than cover everything from acoustic drums to synth sounds, and just about everything in between. 

ROSTR launches Stack: free curated advice from Music Industry PROsROSTR, an online directory for music industry contacts, data, and jobs, has launched Stack, a free expert-curated collection of tools, resources, and recommendations for artists and music professionals. Stack launched. Continue reading
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In generative AI and music, will nice guys finish last? [MIDiA’s Tatiana Cirisano]Discover how generative AI is transforming the music industry while raising ethical questions about music licensing and copyright. As startups push boundaries, the stakes are higher than ever, challenging the. Continue reading
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So You Have a Sonic Strategy – Now What?You’ve crafted the perfect sonic identity. Now, learn how to integrate it seamlessly across all aspects of your brand. Here are some key strategies for managing, scaling, and maximizing your. Continue reading
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John Summit says Avicii comparisons are “extremely disrespectful”: “If there’s any way to honour his legacy, it’s by not making those same mistakes”John Summit has asked fans to not compare him or his music career to EDM superstar Avicii, who sadly died by suicide back in 2018.
Summit is currently hugely busy with multiple live dates ahead of him. He also announced this week that he will be releasing his debut album, Comfort In Chaos, on 12 July, per Billboard.

READ MORE: “It was like a beam came out of heaven and dropped this beautiful song”: Vocalist Dan Tyminski reflects on Avicii’s Hey Brother as it hits 1 billion streams

The project follows on from a series of huge sets from Summit, including performing twice on both weekends of Coachella. He also has a headlining show booked at Madison Square Garden on 29 June, plus 26 other club and festival dates ahead this summer and autumn.
Due to his busy career, a comment on Summit’s TikTok saw a user suggesting he will “crash out like Avicii”. Summit called this out as “disrespectful”, responding: “Please stop making this comparison, it’s really extremely disrespectful. Avicii was an incredible artist and incredibly inspiring to me, and if there’s any way to honour his legacy, it’s by not making those same mistakes.”
He concludes, “It’s just really really getting on my nerves. It’s not the easiest life I live, but I really fucking love it. And I really love entertaining people, and making music is my life.”

@johnsummit
Replying to @I don’t snort percs
♬ original sound – john summit

Avicii’s outstanding music career saw him achieve huge streaming numbers with hits such as Hey Brother, Levels and Wake me Up reaching numbers over one billion. After his death, his family set up The Tim Bergling Foundation, which operates under Avicii’s real name and “advocates for the recognition of suicide as a global health crisis and actively works to remove the stigma attached to suicide and mental health issues”.
In June last year, Avicii’s Wake Me Up became the highest-certified dance/electronic song in RIAA history. The 2013 track earned RIAA Diamond Certification, a milestone marking 10 million certified units sold.
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Data of 560 million Ticketmaster customers reportedly obtained in large-scale hackLast week, the US Department of Justice announced it would be suing Ticketmaster and Live Nation, which may potentially lead to the breakup of Ticketmaster and Live Nation. The court case comes in a bid to stop the companies monopolising the live music industry – and a recent security breach is proving one other downside of the two companies controlling the live music market.
With a centralised market, most gig goers are forced to purchase their tickets through Ticketmaster or Live Nation, meaning that the sites process millions of users’ data each day. Unfortunately, this had lead to the ShinyHunters hacker group being particularly eager to attack Ticketmaster’s servers.

READ MORE: Opinion: AI won’t replace music producers anytime soon — but many need to adapt

Allegedly, the group have illegally obtained 1.3 TB of customer data. Hackread reports that the security breach has compromised the personal data of 560 million users. The data breach includes “full names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, ticket sales and event details, order information, and partial payment card data.”
According to Hackread, the customer data is currently up for sale on the dark web for $500,000.
This isn’t the first time the notorious ShinyHunters have enacted a cyber attack on a huge company; the hackers have also previously compromised both AT&T Wireless and Microsoft servers. The FBI have previously attempted to stop the hackers by seizing and shutting down their forum, but ShinyHunters quickly reclaimed their domain.
Speaking to Hackread, ShinyHunters revealed that they have attempted to contact Ticketmaster regarding the breach. As of right now, the hackers are yet to receive a response.
However, Christopher Budd, a threat researcher at cybersecurity firm Sophos, believes that we shouldn’t immediately believe everything ShinyHunters are claiming.
“Right now, since we only have the attackers’ words to go on,” he tells Cyber Daily, “it’s too early to make any firm statements about whether there was a breach and what, if any, data was stolen. While there allegedly are new data in the dump, there is also older info, meaning it could be a series of concatenated data.”
“Regardless of whether the breach is legitimate, the attackers have been successful in drawing attention to a criminal forum that was recently taken down,” he continues. “As with many take downs like this, we often see the sites rebooted, so organisations should never let their guard down.”
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Gothic Storm Trailer Scoring Competition Gothic Storm are running a competition that challenges composers to score a trailer exclusively with a free sound pack download. 

Organic Instruments releases Ukulele, a FREE instrument for Elemental Player
Developer Organic Instruments has released Ukulele, a free instrument for Elemental Player. You may remember the introduction of Elemental Player, a free virtual instrument player for macOS and Windows, around November 2023. Since then, Organic Instruments, the creator of Elemental Player, has released a few free libraries, like Felted Piano, Glockenspiel, and Ukulele. Ukulele is [...]
View post: Organic Instruments releases Ukulele, a FREE instrument for Elemental Player

My Forever Studio: Sharooz wants the synths software can’t recreateThis week, we welcome into the Forever Studio Sharooz Raoofi, a DJ, producer, synth hoarder and serial music entrepreneur, who has founded the likes of Sample Magic, Principle Pleasure Studios in downtown LA, and more recently, beats and sounds marketplace Wavetick.
During the episode, Raoofi talks about the early stages of his career, which really began to take off when he unexpectedly received a cheque for £28,000, after he had his music placed on a Japanese TV show where it was played on rotation. His mum called him as he was preparing to move out of London saying he’d received a cheque for nearly £3,000, before she checked again and realised it was 10 times that amount.
The producer also dives deep on his impressive collection of vintage synths, which some commenters have accused him of “splurging money” on. He says, though, that he bought most of his gear 20 years ago when it was cheap and uncool.

The My Forever Studio podcast – created in partnership with Audient – sees artists, producers and engineers create their dream fantasy Forever Studio, wherever they want in the universe. However, there are strict rules in the Forever Studio. Our guests are permitted a limited number of items in their creative space, so they must choose carefully. There will be nostalgia. There will be anecdotes. There may be gags. But there will be no bundles!
Last week, we spoke with award-winning Nigerian producer and WizKid/Skepta collaborator Sarz, who discussed why producer tags are now more important than ever, and the time he lost a job with a top Nigerian recording artist because he used Fruity Loops and not Pro Tools.

Subscribe to My Forever Studio on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and check out all episodes so far via MusicTech.

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IK Multimedia introduce iLoud MTM MkII IK Multimedia have announced the launch of the iLoud MTM MkII, a new and improved version of their hugely popular compact nearfield studio monitors.

Opinion: AI won’t replace music producers anytime soon — but many need to adaptSimon Hestermann is the co-founder and CTO of Masterchannel, a company offering AI mastering services.
The music industry is on the brink of an AI transformation. Despite this, AI is mostly seen as a ‘nice-to-have’, optional tool for artists and producers, or an existential threat that requires heavy regulation. The reality is that AI represents a paradigm shift that will revolutionize how the industry operates by taking over myriad human tasks. It is not an existential threat to human-made music, but it will require profound adaptation from producers to remain successful.

READ MORE: Why Wolfgang Gartner used custom-trained AI vocals on Automatic

By embracing this shift instead of shying away from it, producers can leverage the huge creative and strategic upsides available with the implementation of AI. Producers can save time, create more tracks, and explore more musical variety than otherwise possible.
Drawing from my experience as a mastering engineer and computer scientist, I recognized years ago that technology was poised to bridge the final gaps in mastering and music production. Confronted with this prospect at the close of 2019, I made a conscious choice: if AI was going to supplant my role, I would ensure it did it well.
With AI’s rise, producers face a critical juncture but they have the power to chart an encouraging trajectory. Not only can producers use AI to improve efficiency, but also to enhance their creativity.
Masterchannel’s Simon Hestermann
The future of music production
AI will automate many established processes in music production, providing producers with abundant opportunities to redefine their roles. Traditionally, being a ‘skilled’ producer meant mastering the art of arranging the instrumentals and vocals of a song, taking a song from an idea to a polished product.
Today, AI models have started to perform all those steps convincingly, and producers need to take on much more of a conductor role integrating those models into their workflow. This doesn’t mean they shouldn’t know their craft, but it does mean that performing their craft alone no longer gives them a competitive advantage over AI. The modern producer’s focus will be on orchestrating and harmonizing the AI technology at their disposal to create music that resonates with audiences. This requires producers to develop a solid understanding of AI technology.
As a mastering engineer myself, I’ve witnessed how AI has already transformed the way my fellow artists and producers work. A prime example is an artist friend who tours extensively, but who also produces music in the studio between tours. To streamline this process, they employed a voice clone tool to re-record parts of their tracks that needed improvement. Not only did this expedite their creative process, but it also reduced their hours of studio time, giving them the flexibility to focus on writing, performing, and taking rest.
The pivot to AI is already happening in the visual arts space, and these artists are being celebrated for their innovation. Take Refik Anadol’s AI-generated living paintings, for example. In these artworks, credit goes to the artist for the composition, not the execution.
However, the same attitude is not so prevalent among music creators, apart from some notable exceptions, such as Grimes’ futurist approach to AI.
If producers want to remain relevant, they need to reevaluate where their value lies. The producers that are truly going to stand out are the ones that embrace new technologies ahead of everyone else. That way, they can become the source of knowledge of music tech production for their peers and stay relevant in discussions regarding the future development of AI tools.
Image: M Stock via Getty Images
Embracing market pressures
The ongoing debate about AI in music production tends to be polarized, which potentially oversimplifies the issue.
On one hand, there is a prevalent fear among artists about AI’s impact: a recent survey indicates that 73 per cent of music producers are concerned that AI may replace them, with another 30 per cent worried that AI could undermine creativity and originality. Others believe that AI is just a tool intended to augment the creative process. Indeed, 53 per cent of artists hesitate to disclose their use of AI, suggesting a stigma associated with its use.
However, the reality is more nuanced. A middle ground is emerging, led by a new generation of producers who skillfully integrate AI with human creativity, from simple things like sampling in the case of Deadmau5, all the way to vocal generation in the case of David Guetta. The bottom line is that producers need to challenge their preconceived notions about AI because those who master its potential will undeniably shape the future trajectory of the music industry.
Image: Drablenkov via Getty Images
Artists tend to look for producers who can integrate cutting-edge technologies into their production process. My expectation is that artists will soon expect AI integration to be as standard a component of a producer’s toolkit as knowing the ins and outs of a DAW. It’s no surprise that DAW-makers themselves have therefore started betting on that development, too.
Producers must also consider what they believe constitutes the intrinsic value of their work. The resonance of music with audiences is predicated on the artists’ narratives, and the ability to evoke human emotion. Therefore, automating routine processes will free up resources and time to cultivate artists’ distinctive brands and personas, aspects of artistry where AI cannot readily compete. This strategic use of technology in music production echoes historic shifts in other creative industries, such as the advent of filmmaking technology on storytelling.
The challenge and opportunity lie in harnessing AI to enhance the art of music production, potentially reshaping the music industry as fundamentally as cinema did for storytelling.
Image: Kosamtu via Getty Images
Harmonizing AI with Music Production
Finding harmony between technological innovation and the human touch is the path forward.
I believe there are huge upsides to this new era of music production. Acknowledging and embracing it will not only prepare us for the change in the industry, but also position us to navigate the future of the industry. In this new era of music production, an artist’s skill in mastering and shaping AI-powered music technology is pivotal, positioning them as a source of expertise and innovation.
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