Warner acquires minority stake in India-based live entertainment and ticketing platform SkillBoxSkillBox also runs an artist management arm, LevelHouse
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Amazon confirms employee data stolen after hacker claims MOVEit breachAmazon has confirmed that employee data was compromised after a “security event” at a third-party vendor. In a statement given to TechCrunch on Monday, Amazon spokesperson Adam Montgomery confirmed that employee information had been involved in a data breach. “Amazon and AWS systems remain secure, and we have not experienced a security event. We were […]
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Ikenna Nwagboso, co-founder of Mr Eazi’s emPawa Africa, to step downExec to step down from his role effective January 2025
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Fans reacting to Tyler, The Creator’s new album Chromakopia are getting copyright strikes – but he’s working overtime to reverse themFans using music from Tyler, The Creator‘s new album Chromakopia in their social media posts are seeing them muted or removed, and the rapper and producer is working overtime to stop this from happening.
Chromakopia landed on 28 October through Columbia Records, and has since seen a flurry of reaction videos and other content featuring its music posted online. These have been flagged by copyright infringement detection algorithms, and some fans say their accounts have been taken down entirely.

READ MORE: Tyler, the Creator: “I’m always ahead of even myself, so AI will never catch up to me creatively”

But Tyler, The Creator has since told fans that his team is working on getting these copyright strikes lifted. And in an age when artists both large and small rely upon fans on social media to share and circulate their releases, it’s no surprise.
Tyler is the latest in a string of artists to insist their music not be subject to copyright restrictions; Kendrick Lamar and Drake reportedly removed said restrictions from the diss tracks they aimed at each other earlier this year, seemingly aiming to push further virality online.
Why do some artists want copyright restrictions lifted online?
While copyright laws fundamentally exist to protect artists, many were written pre-social media and the internet. Thus, a law that may have been beneficial years ago, might work to damage an artist’s reach in the present day, by preventing fans who aren’t seeking to monetise from promoting a song or album.
In the case of Tyler, The Creator, those playing Chromakopia in their reaction videos are helping to generate publicity for the record and start more conversations about his music. Some may even refer to this kind of promotion as User Generated Content, or UGC – a term commonly associated with brands and marketing, in which social media users create unpaid/unsponsored content about a specific brand, and in turn, promote it.
How things are changing
In today’s world, where platforms like TikTok are changing how we listen to and discover new music, some artists are becoming more flexible in how listeners use and share their music online.
TikTok has licensing deals in place with a number of labels for its library – it even famously feuded with Universal Music, as the label argued for a better deal – so that users can use music from popular artists in their videos. Given how the platform has had a significantly positive impact on the careers of a plethora of artists, labels and musicians would essentially be missing out by not having a deal in place.
Platforms such as Twitch are also introducing similar licensing deals. The platform now allows DJs to use copyright-protected music, with a royalty payment system that reimburses copyright holders. It’s likely that more online platforms will continue to implement systems like this, however it looks unlikely that entire albums will be available to include in any online content. This may mean full album reaction videos may still be subject to removals and restrictions going forwards, unless the artist argues otherwise.
 
Copyright and music – the law
As outlined by PRS For Music, copyright of a musical work begins automatically once a piece of music is created and documented or recorded. In the UK, this is detailed in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. In the UK, copyright lasts for a period of 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the author dies.
To use copyright protected music in content online, you need permission from the copyright holder(s). This is referred to as a licensing deal, and will often involve a fee and royalty payments. Copyright laws in music exist to prevent work from being stolen or shared without permission, and also enable financial reimbursement for copyright holders.
What is a copyright strike? How does it work?
For this, we’ll use YouTube as an example. As per Google Support, “If you get a copyright strike for sharing a song in a YouTube video without permission, it means that a copyright owner has submitted a legal copyright removal request for using their copyright-protected content. When a copyright removal request is submitted to us, we review it. If the removal request is valid, we have to remove your video from YouTube to comply with copyright law.”
On YouTube, after three copyright strikes, your channel becomes “subject to termination”. Bear in mind, a copyright removal request is done manually by a copyright holder. However, YouTube also has a system in place known as Content ID. This works a little differently, and is fully automated.
A Content ID claim is “automatically generated when an uploaded video matches another video (or segment of a video) in YouTube’s Content ID system”. Content ID claims can block a video from being viewed, monetise the video by running ads on it (thus sometimes sharing revenue with the uploader), and even track the video’s viewership statistics.
The post Fans reacting to Tyler, The Creator’s new album Chromakopia are getting copyright strikes – but he’s working overtime to reverse them appeared first on MusicTech.

How To Prepare Spotify Artist Accounts For Wrapped: 5 DAYS LEFT!Spotify Wrapped is a rare opportunity for every musician to be part of a global cultural moment regardless of their level of success. The are now just 5 days left to prepare Spotify Artist Accounts for Wrapped 2024.
The post How To Prepare Spotify Artist Accounts For Wrapped: 5 DAYS LEFT! appeared first on Hypebot.

Battle for Control Of The Creator EconomyThe competition for control of the creator economy is intensifying as tech giants build all-encompassing ecosystems designed to lock in creators. Where should creators invest their time and content for long-term success?
The post Battle for Control Of The Creator Economy appeared first on Hypebot.

How to Legally Cover a Song: A Musician’s Guide to CopyrightLearn how to legally cover songs while respecting copyright and protecting your music career. This guide breaks down essential steps every musician needs to take before releasing a cover song.
The post How to Legally Cover a Song: A Musician’s Guide to Copyright appeared first on Hypebot.

Trinnov update Nova room-correction hardware The Trinnov Nova has received a significant software update that introduces a new hardware bypass function alongside a range of improvements and enhancements. 

ADAM Audio H200 headphones are near-perfect for beginners, professionals, and everyone in-between£140 / $150 / €160, adam-audio.com
Known best for its studio monitors, German brand ADAM Audio entered the headphones market in 2019 with its $550 Studio Pro SP-5. Five years on, another closed-back model has been launched with a more competitive price of $150 and, intriguingly, they come with a companion plugin.
It’s a crowded market out there, so how do the new H200s fare alongside go-to competitors such as Beyerdynamic’s DT 770 Pro and Austrian Audio’s Hi-X15?

READ MORE: Sony’s MDR-M1 headphones give ​​a true picture of your mixes and masters

What features do the ADAM Audio H200s have?
ADAM’s headphones have a closed-back construction that makes them ideal for recording sessions as they won’t leak headphone spill into nearby microphones as readily as open-backs. And they’re not too bulky, so also won’t look out of place on your daily commute. They aren’t foldable unfortunately, which affects portability and storage, but they do come with a smart drawstring bag. However, once you have listened to them, you’re likely to want to keep them on and use them for all your listening needs.
The cable is detachable and can connect to the headphones from either side, to suit your dominant hand and particular situation. However, at three metres in length, the provided cable is most suited to recording tasks, where you’re situated a distance away from your desk or audio interface.
Headphone Utility plugin. Image: Press
An accompanying Headphone Utility plugin comes in standard AU and VST formats and is best hosted in the control room section of a DAW (if yours has one) or, better still, using a system-wide solution such as the ever-handy SoundSource from Rogue Amoeba.
The plugin has two main functions. The first is Externalisation, which introduces crossfeed between the left and right channels inside the headphones similar to the way in which we experience music played back on stereo speakers. The left ear hears some sound from the right speaker and vice versa, meaning that panning moves end up appearing less extreme on speakers. Externalisation gives you a far better idea of the differences between how mixes will sound on headphones and speakers, so you can make more informed mixing and mastering decisions without having to have boutique studio monitors in an acoustically treated room.
Second, a voicing switch offers two different frequency response curves – Pure, and the brand’s own Uniform Natural Response (UNR) – which are designed for critical listening and listening for enjoyment, respectively. Incidentally, the Pure curve is modelled on ADAM’s s3V midfield monitors – here, the combination of externalisation and voicing gets you far closer to the sound of a £5000 studio monitor set-up than you would imagine with a $150 pair of headphones.
Image: Press
What are the ADAM Audio H200 headphones like to use?
The H200s clamp tightly to the head, which provides effective isolation when tracking, but too fierce for casual listening. Hopefully this will ease up over time. Memory foam earcups and headband do lend some comfort and make for a tight seal, which in turn leads to a satisfying, beefy bass response (both of these parts are user-replaceable).
The long cable irks me. I wouldn’t dare take these headphones out on the street with the stock cable, and I’m in constant fear of entanglement as my errant toddler wanders past me while catching up on work at the dining table. A 1.5-metre cable would have been just right for the majority of users, however, a generic 2.5mm-to-3.5mm cable will work and not break the bank, even if it doesn’t lock into the headset like the one supplied.
Sonically, there’s a rich bass end and plenty of clarity further up the frequency range, but surprisingly, none of the phasey, cupped phenomenon experienced with other closed-backs. Nor do the H200s have spiky presence peaks built into their voicing. I find them less harsh in the high-mids than the ubiquitous DT 770 Pros (although such a presence peak can be handy for cue mixes), and with a deeper bass extension. And while my daily-driver closed-backs – the Austrian Audio Hi-X15s – require EQ correction due to jagged high-mids, this is not the case with the H200s. You can simply plug them in to track and mix while enjoying supreme sound, whether using the plugin or not.
Digging into Ninajirachi’s Lapland, there’s a tight punch to the kick patterns and distortion-free sub-bass with clear sustain. There’s not much masking in the busy mid-range of the mix, and there’s a truly immersive stereo image.
It’s a similar story with Rush’s seminal Tom Sawyer, abound with glorious, tight drum fills and a revealing mid-range that is neither scooped or forced. For a treat, I switch to the alternative, UNR voicing. Extra-velvety tops and a slight mid-range recess result, but the sound isn’t strikingly different from the default Pure voicing. The H200s are supreme for critical mixing tasks as well as listening for enjoyment.
Working on my own mixes, enabling the Externalisation crossfeed gives me a better sense of how panning decisions will translate to speaker playback. It’s a truly welcome addition, implemented in a no-nonsense, user-friendly way. Sure, plugins such as CanOpener and Realphones are more capable and flexible in simulating loudspeaker listening (Realphones takes this and room simulation to a whole new level), but ADAM’s plugin is lightweight and efficient, free of tantalising options that could potentially distract me from serious work.
Image: Press
Who should buy ADAM Audio H200 headphones?
If you’re not fazed by clamping force, the clumsily-long stock cable, or a lack of foldability, ADAM Audio’s H200s ought to be a serious contender on your studio headphone shortlist. In fact, they sound every bit as pleasing as competing closed-back models priced over $100 more, and have lower levels of measured distortion than just about any other headphones at any price.
This is all without taking into account the extras offered by the plugin. Crossfeed helps you make more reliable mixing decisions away from studio monitors, while voicing changes is an unexpected bonus. All processes are handled in moderation, free of stark differences that would otherwise cause the headphones to lose their impressive inherent sonic signature.
Save for a couple of wonky design decisions, ADAM Audio has a real winner on its hands with the H200s. I’ll be bereft when these leave my desk.

Key features

Closed-back, over-ear headphones
Plugin for crossfeed and voicing options (AU/VST)
40-mm Polyether Ether Ketone (PEEK) dynamic drivers
2 Hz – 23.5 kHz frequency range
32 Ohms
Memory foam, leatherette-covered earcups
User-replaceable earcups and headband pad
Comes with 3-metre detachable cable, jack adapter and carrying pouch

Jerry Cantrell says streaming is a “bad business model”Streaming services have billions of users worldwide, so there’s no denying their success from a listener standpoint. But what about for the artists whose music is their lifeblood? Well, in the words of Alice in Chains’ Jerry Cantrell, from this perspective, streaming is a “bad business model”.
Speaking to Primordial Radio [transcribed by Blabbermouth], the guitarist explains that while streaming is cutting into artist earnings, it is simply an “intensified” version of the model the music industry has operated on for years.

READ MORE: Pete Townshend says “somebody needs to occasionally slap Rick Rubin”: “One minute he’s telling us to do whatever we like and the next he’s telling us we mustn’t do this”

“The music business really wasn’t set up in a very equitable way,” he says. “It was kind of predatory loans to bands that you paid back at 75 cents on the dollar.
“And as far as keeping your publishing, that was a real battle and very few artists did that. The new model has taken that and kind of intensified it a bit. I was looking at – I can’t remember the artist – but I was looking at something that gets millions and millions of streams or whatever, and people are being paid 1000th of a cent every time it’s played.
“In the old days, when you got played on the radio, that turned into like a penny or something then, and that adds up. I’m a real advocate for artists’ rights, man.”
He goes on: “The new model of the streaming platform has really taken the old model of really being a small cut to the artist and made it really even smaller. So the prices to do business – rent a bus, gas, fuel, salaries, travel – they all continue to go up and the income continues to go down for artists of all sizes now.
“It’s a bad business model. It would be nice to see it a little bit fairer toward the artist. The landscape is always moving, the clock is always running and you can count on the fact that it’s changing.”
The post Jerry Cantrell says streaming is a “bad business model” appeared first on MusicTech.

VSL introduce Duality Strings Essentials VSL have announced an entry-level version of Duality Strings, a free choir library and a series of limited-time promotional offers.

Alissia (Bruno Mars, Kaytranada) makes a track in Studio One for the first time
World-renowned producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Alissia creates a track in Studio One for the first time.

WalletConnect Foundation and Reown establish UX standards framework"We are always looking for feedback and ways to improve WalletConnect," Foundation director Pedro Gomes told Cointelegraph.

Building a Motor Feed For the UE1 Vacuum Tube Computer’s Paper Tape ReaderBuilding a paper tape reader by itself isn’t super complicated: you need a source of light, some photoreceptors behind the tape to register the presence of holes and some way to pull the tape through the reader at a reasonable rate. This latter part can get somewhat tricky, as Usagi Electric‘s [David Lovett] discovered while adding this feature to his vacuum tube-era DIY reader. This follows on what now seems like a fairly simple aspect of the photosensors and building a way to position said photosensors near the paper tape.
As the feed rate of the paper tape is tied to the reading speed, and in the case of [David]’s also contains the clock for the custom tube-based UE1 computer, it determines many of the requirements. With 8 bits per line, the tape forms the ROM for the system, all of which has to be executed and used immediately when read, as there is no RAM to load instructions into. This also necessitates the need to run the tape as an endless loop, to enable ‘jumping’ between parts of this paper-based ROM by simple masking off parts of the code until the desired address is reached.
For the motor a slot car motor plus speed-reduction gear was chosen, with a design to hold these then designed in FreeCAD. Courtesy of his brother’s hobby machine shop and a CAD professional’s help, producing these parts was very easy, followed by final assembly. Guides were added for the tape, not unlike with a cassette player, which allowed the tape to be pulled through smoothly. Next up is wiring up the photodiodes, after which theoretically the UE1 can roar into action directly running programs off paper tape.

Component Tester TeardownIn the modern age, when you hear “component tester” you probably think of one of those cheap microcontroller-based devices that can identify components and provide basic measurements on an LCD screen. However, in the past, these were usually simple circuits that generated an XY scope plot. The trace would allow an experienced operator to identify components and read a few key parameters. [Thomas] tears down an old Hameg device that uses this principle in the video below.
The unit is in a nice enclosure and has a feature that controls the amount of current the unit uses in the excitation signal. It plugs into the wall, and you can connect the component under test with either test leads or a socket. The output, of course, is a pair of BNCs for the scope’s X and Y inputs.

Compared to some homebrew projects that are similar, the PCB inside the device seems more complex. The output of most devices like this uses the line frequency (50 or 60 Hz). This one, however, has its own drive oscillator that operates at a different frequency.
Each type of component has a tell-tale trace on the scope. We found the tunnel diode trace especially interesting. Capacitors are circles, diodes make a definite step shape. There’s a table from the manual near the end of the video.
Most of these devices are much simpler, using a transformer to generate the AC sweep and a simple mechanism to measure the current. That makes them quite easy to build and they are still surprisingly useful.