Why Amazon bought Bee, an AI wearableAmazon explains where its wearable Bee fits in and whether it will merge with Alexa.

Circle of fifths explained: What it is and how to use it
Learn about what the circle of fifths is, why it's important, and two interesting ways you can use it in your own music.

The Distroless Linux Future May Be ComingOver the decades the number of Linux distributions has effectively exploded, from a handful in the late ’90s to quite literally hundreds today, not counting minor variations. There lately seems to be a counter-movement brewing in response to this fragmentation, with Project Bluefin’s Distroless project being the latest addition here. Also notable are KDE’s efforts, with KDE Linux as its own top-down KDE-based distro, but now with a switch to BuildStream from Arch likely as a distroless move.
It should be clear that there is no obvious course here yet, and that opinions are very much divided. The idea of ‘Linux’ becoming a more singular OS appeals to some, while to others it’s the antithesis of what ‘Linux’ is about. This much becomes clear in [Brodie Robertson]’s exploration of this topic as well.
The way to think about ‘distroless’ is that there is a common base using the Freedesktop SDK on which the customization layer is applied, such as Bluefin, KDE or Gnome’s environments. You could think of this base as the common runtime, using the Freedesktop standards for interoperability for a user-selected layer that’s installed on top. This way the idea of basing a distro on a specific distro is tossed out in favor of something that’s vaguely reminiscent of the Linux Standard Base attempt at standardization.

It’ll be fascinating to see how things will move from here, as there are definite arguments to be made in favor of less fragmentation and resultingly less duplicated effort. In many ways this would bring Linux closer to for example FreeBSD, which avoids the Linux Chaos Vortex problem by having a singular codebase. FreeBSD ‘distros’ like GhostBSD and NomadBSD are therefore essentially just specialized customizations that target a sub-group of FreeBSD users.
Of course, when we start talking about package managers and other base-distro specific features, we may very well risk igniting the same problems that tore apart the LSB so many years ago. Will we also standardize on RPM over DEB package files and kin, or something else?

‘When you can’t see the whole picture, you don’t truly understand what’s going on in your business.’Absolute Label Services co-bosses, Henry Semmence and Simon Wills discuss Anthology, a new system they believe is key to the future of their company – and the success of their clients…
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Waves Curves Resolve: more info on the latest freebie from Waves
Waves recently announced Curves Resolve, a new freebie to kick off 2026, and we have some more information to share. Besides breaking out of their typical Black Friday free plugin schedule, Waves stayed true to form for the most part. After announcing the freebie, the developer provided a sign-up page and minimal information. Now, we [...]
View post: Waves Curves Resolve: more info on the latest freebie from Waves

Seay Interactive Materia PrimaMateria Prima — Sound Design Engine & Library for Kontakt Materia Prima is an expressive, multi-layered sound design engine and Kontakt library built to ignite creative inspiration and sonic exploration. Designed for composers, sound designers, and producers, it blends sound design features with a rich library of ready-to-play presets — from cinematic pads to evolving pulses, dirt-ready basses, lush keys, organic textures, and much more. At its core, Materia Prima combines three independent sound layers per voice with extensive modulation (Pulse Engine), filters, and a flexible effects suite — giving you complete control over every aspect of your sound. With its intuitive drag-and-drop sample support, you can sculpt custom sounds in minutes, or use the included waveforms to build entirely new patches. Key Features: Multi-Layer Engine: Three dynamic sound layers with independent envelopes, tuning, and routing options. Inspiring Presets: Over 230 presets & multis spanning bass, pads, synths, pulses, leads, organic elements, percussion, FX, plucks, and keys. Includes many multi-sampled (velocity and round-robin) instruments. Robust Effects Suite: 16 simultaneous processors including distortion, modulation, delay, convolution reverb (with 700+ IRs), compression, EQ, and more. Pulse Engine: Tempo-synced LFOs and sequencers for rhythmic modulation and expressive motion. BYOS Edition: Bring Your Own Samples — drag your own samples into one of the three layers. Features automatic root note detection and looping support. Performance Controls: MIDI CC mapping, user-configurable aftertouch, and pitch-bend support for expressive playability. Who Is It For: Materia Prima thrives in soundtrack, ambient, cinematic, electronic, and hybrid production workflows — ideal for composers and producers who want deep sound design capabilities and inspirational libraries in one integrated engine. System Requirements: Requires the full version of Native Instruments Kontakt (6.7.1+) — not compatible with the free Kontakt Player beyond 15-minute demo mode. Intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp1Pbh5HguY Preset Demos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1hQrEu_q34 Create Your Own Preset Walkthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuuxHTZN1bs Read More

The 2026 NAMM Show Artist Lineup AnnouncedSome big news to kick off the week, as NAMM announces the artist lineup for its 2026 show, and there are some significant names on the list.

Global Media Day, on January 21, will see alt-rockers The Runarounds perform, as well as "critically acclaimed artist Margaret Glaspy and two-time GRAMMY winner and Best New Artist nominee Molly Tuttle."

Smashing Pumpkins frontman and founder Billy Corgan (pictured) will be honored on January 22 with the 2025 TEC Innovation Award at the 41st Annual NAMM TEC Awards.

Also on January 22, the 2026 Bass Magazine Awards takes place at The Observatory in Santa Ana, and that bill will feature performances by "Mike Dirnt of Green Day, Les Claypool of Primus, Marcus Miller (Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock), Laura Lee of Khraungbin, and Blu DeTiger. Presenters include Robert Trujillo of Metallica, Justin Chancellor of Tool, Mark Hoppus of Blink-182, Derrick Hodge, Victor Wooten, and more to be revealed. Additional performances will include Stu Hamm, Vincen Garcia, Scott Mulvahill, and Pops Magellan."

“I’m honored to be receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2026 Bass Magazine Awards, but more importantly to be surrounded by the titans of bass and some of my heroes. I will get to jam out with some of my closest friends and it is going to be one hell of night! You DO NOT want to miss this! Let’s go,” said Mike Dirnt of Green Day,

“I’m very honored to be given the Future of Bass Award at the 2026 Bass Magazine Awards," said Laura Lee of Khruangbin. "It’s such an honor to be embraced by the bass community and to be performing alongside some really amazing bass players. I hope to see you there!”  

It has been revealed that Primus will be performing a set too--expect more surprises as the days progress.

January 23 will see the Yamaha Grand Plaza Stage host Yamaha All-Star Concert on the Grand. Performers there include The War & Treaty, Alana Springsteen, Sheléa, and Ethan Bortnick.

On that same Friday, the She Rocks Awards will honor Carnie Wilson and Margaret Glaspy.

January 24 is the final day of the event. "Joining NAMM President and CEO John Mlynczak will be Chad Smith, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and longtime advocate for music education, and Victor Wooten, the five-time GRAMMY® Award-winning bassist, educator and author, whose work has inspired generations of players and students," reads a statement. "The Grand Rally reaffirms NAMM’s and The NAMM Foundation’s commitment to expanding access to music education and supporting the next generation of creators."

“We have a deep commitment to making The NAMM Show a global platform for live artist performances and musical appearances," John Mlynczak, NAMM President and CEO, told MC. "The 2026 line-up of award-winning artists and bands is a direct reflection of that commitment.”

For more information about The 2026 NAMM Show, event schedules and registration, please visit www.namm.org.

The post The 2026 NAMM Show Artist Lineup Announced first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Linux Audio Conference 2026 The Linux Audio Conference, or LAC, is an international conference dedicated to free/open-source software for music, audio and other media where GNU/Linux features as the main creation platform.

Phone screens are “ruining the club experience”; could wearable tech save screen-plagued dancefloors?“Phones have been a blessing and a curse in my DJing life,” ponders Fat Tony when asked about smartphone use on the dancefloor. “Clubbing is all about energy and connection to the music, and while capturing that matters, the reality is that screens take us out of the moment.”

READ MORE: Remember that CDJ-3000 firmware bug? AlphaTheta and pro DJs explain what really happened — and how to avoid it in the future

Now, the iconic British selector thinks he’s found a remedy that will protect the very foundations of dance culture: wearable tech. “They give people freedom to experience the night while keeping the memories alive,” he says, having recently partnered with Ray-Ban to promote the Meta Gen 2 Glasses (as did popstar-rapper Doja Cat, who wore a pair in a backstage tour video posted to her Instagram).
“When I first tried them, I figured two things,” Fat Tony recalls of the smart glasses, which offer high-definition photo and video capture, AI-powered assistance, hands-free communication, and live translation. “Using them to capture a moment feels a lot more special,” he suggests, likening the experience to bringing out a digital or disposable camera… “And you no longer have to worry about everyone being on their phones in the club.”
Having banned phones at his gigs eight years ago, Fat Tony isn’t alone in feeling this way. A recent study showed more than half of clubbers believe that mobile screens are ruining the raving experience; the Keinemusik show that went viral for having such a dead crowd is disheartening proof — all phones, no dancing, it was bitingly satirised by Resident Advisor as ‘The Great Regression’.
Image: Press
Since then, the idea of switching off and dialling in has proved increasingly popular, with more and more venues and artists following in the footsteps of Fat Tony, London clubs Fabric and Fold, Pikes hotel in Ibiza, and, famously, Berghain in Berlin. Recent phone-ban converts include The Warehouse Project’s Concourse venue in Manchester, Lakota Moon Club in Bristol, Sankeys and Amber’s in Manchester. On the live circuit, Jack White, Bob Dylan and metal band Ghost have adopted no-phone policies for their tours. Last summer, pop superstar Sabrina Carpenter considered doing the same.
Back to the dancefloor, though, and Fat Tony makes it clear why he was among the first. “The dancefloor is about connecting people,” he states bluntly — “and what could be less connecting than everyone collectively having their phones out in a club?” While he likes that it’s easier than ever for people to capture a memory, he is unsure whether this is always a good thing. “I don’t mind someone taking a quick video here and there, but when you see clips of certain DJs, and there’s not a single person in the crowd that isn’t filming… it makes you wonder what the point of being there is if you’re not present.” He’s also not convinced that people even look through the majority of their pictures.
All this points to one simple question, then: why do we need cameras on dancefloors at all? “Some of my favourite memories were created on a dancefloor,” Fat Tony says bluntly, before pausing to respond: “Don’t you want to be able to relive yours?” It’s reasonable to think that most people would answer ‘yes’, but how can all this phone-based intrusion be removed?
Image: Press
Having put the Meta glasses to the test at a recent event, he’s confident that wearable tech is the answer. On 29 November last year, he DJ’d at Club 2.0, a one-night event at London venue FRAMELESS’ Blank Canvas gallery where attendees were asked to keep their phones hidden and on airplane mode. Those who still wanted to document the night were instead offered a pair of Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 smart glasses. “It gave an insight into what a club would look like when guests move away from their cameras and stay present more,” he says. The collaboration included the creation of an Ibiza sunset visual room, which was inspired by Fat Tony’s history of DJing on the island. “That instantly drew me to the project,” he says of the vision behind the party at which attendees placed their devices in sealed pouches.
“Clubbing need not choose between memory and presence,” concluded Nisa Serin in a post-event feature for Luxuriate Life. “One could fully engage with the beat and energy, while still taking home something more enduring than a blurry phone video. They also wondered if Club 2.0 could be a “beacon for change” in nightlife and events… where “curated, immersive, tech-enabled experiences prioritise attendance over documentation, presence over posts…”
While this remains to be seen, London Evening Standard journalist Allegra Handelsma has also given a personal account of her time testing the “nightlife tool”. “To me, the glasses initially felt like another AI gimmick, an accessory just for tech bros,” she said in a feature focusing on her days wearing them at London club Lost, as well as Lorde’s 02 arena show in the capital. In the end, her experience was unquestionably positive: “They gave me the freedom to record my favourite songs without any pressure to constantly check my screen,” she wrote. “Instead, I could dance, sing and look straight at the artist. In other words, I was fully present.”
FRAMELESS Colour in Motion. Image: Press
There’s no denying, however, that this type of technology isn’t as ubiquitous, necessary or affordable as a smartphone (Ray-Ban’s Meta Gen 2 glasses cost between £370 and £450, depending on the make and model). Concerns have also been raised about the privacy of this technology; just this month, the Manchester Evening News reported that residents were left feeling ‘violated’ after being recorded by strangers wearing Meta glasses. Last October, Forbes published that two Harvard students went viral as they demonstrated how they used Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses to access the personal information of people on campus—including name, age, home address and phone number—raising significant security concerns about facial recognition and artificial intelligence technologies.
Nonetheless, Fat Tony is confident that the trend of wearing Meta glasses in clubs will soon catch on. “They’re way more accessible than you might think,” he suggests. “As with any new technology, developers will make them a crucial part of people’s lives soon enough.”
The key positive of these types of glasses, Fat Tony suggests, is that “they will allow us to all look up again. As a Londoner, especially, I love my city, and as so many of us are constantly on our phones, we take that for granted.” He suggests that AI glasses can fix this.
When asked to highlight any negatives, Fat Tony reaches a blank. “Their invention in itself is so revolutionary,” he says. “The more we invent tech that is more integrated with our lives, the less we’ll be on our phones — that will help bring back the human connection our dancefloors depend on so much.”
While Handelsma concluded in her London Evening Standard piece that she is “not convinced these glasses will redefine nightlife or fix our relationship with technology, Fat Tony is more optimistic. “I can easily see AI glasses shaping the way we communicate and capture memories in a positive way,” he offers. Whether or not wearable tech such as Ray-Ban’s smart glasses become the norm at clubs in the near-future remains to be seen, but if the price were to drop enough, it doesn’t seem unfeasible.
The post Phone screens are “ruining the club experience”; could wearable tech save screen-plagued dancefloors? appeared first on MusicTech.

Apple Music and Shazam report record growth"Apple Music had its best year ever in 2025, breaking records across both listenership and new subscribers," Apple said in a statement Monday. Strong Apple Music growth is indicative of its increasing popularity and market influence.
The post Apple Music and Shazam report record growth appeared first on Hypebot.

Live Events Industry Calls on EU to Stop Predatory Ticket Resale + Why U.S. is paying attentionEurope’s live events industry is intensifying its push against ticket scalping. They are calling on regulators to take decisive action against what it describes as industrial-scale ticket resale abuse.
The post Live Events Industry Calls on EU to Stop Predatory Ticket Resale + Why U.S. is paying attention appeared first on Hypebot.

Phantom Sounds releases Orbit, a FREE spatial reverb plugin
Phantom Sounds has released Orbit, a free reverb plugin in AU, VST3, and AAX formats for macOS and Windows. We aren’t exactly short of reverb options, so when a new plugin comes along, it’s nice if it has a bit of a twist, like the fantastic SOL by S1gns Of L1fe. Phantom Sound’s Orbit has [...]
View post: Phantom Sounds releases Orbit, a FREE spatial reverb plugin

PATCH se from Flock Audio The PATCH se will offer 48 channels (24 inputs and 24 outputs) of relay-based routing, and will be priced at an impressive $999.

Feeling lucky? Get over 90% off this mystery plugin bundle from Antelope AudioIf you’ve started the new year feeling pretty optimistic, then you might want to grab this mystery Antelope Audio plugin bundle, with over 90 per cent off until 1 February.
The bundle can feature anywhere from six to 20 plugins, all for less than £50. Every bundle is completely unique and draws from Antelope Audio’s entire plugin catalogue – that’s 76 in total. You could essentially receive a bundle that is around £3000 in value from a single purchase. Not bad, huh?
[deals ids=”19Kkrte3b6wblqpM0zhLvX”]
It seems the number you get may depend on factors like the original value of the individual plugins, their popularity, or complexity. For example, you may get a smaller bundle filled with its more high-end plugins, or a larger bundle that is more varied.

READ MORE: Antelope Audio’s Zenith 2 interface “bridges the gap between million-dollar studios and bedroom setups”

You’ll need to head over to the “My Offers” tab in the Antelope Audio User area, then click “Open My Bundle” to generate your unique collection. The licences will be deposited to your iLok account, and you can download your new plugins from the Antelope Launcher.

Antelope Audio released its A4-1B compressor in January last year, and we included it in our top selections of the best outboard gear releases from 2025. The A4-1B is an analogue automated opto-valve compressor in a 2U rack, designed to preserve vintage Opto-Tube units’ legendary smoothness and musicality.
But if it’s even more plugins you’re after to kickstart your creativity this year, then you can check out our round-up of the best free plugins of 2025. It features all the best freeware releases from across the year, including deep sound design plugins, impressive synths, and complex sample mangling tools.
Shop the Antelope Audio mystery bundle deal now over at Plugin Boutique.
The post Feeling lucky? Get over 90% off this mystery plugin bundle from Antelope Audio appeared first on MusicTech.

Rockheyday releases SlowWave, a free slow + reverb standalone app for Windows
Rockheyday has released SlowWave, a free, standalone Windows app that instantly applies slowed-down playback and lush reverb to any audio file. At 40 (someone recently called me unc and I had to Google it), I’m definitely not in the target age group for this kind of effect. But even so, I instantly figured out what [...]
View post: Rockheyday releases SlowWave, a free slow + reverb standalone app for Windows