From Universal Music’s cost-saving ‘redesign’ to Warner’s superfan app… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-UpThe five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days…
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UMG Publishing and TikTok send dueling messages to Songwriters [Full Text]With thousands of songs by major and independent artists who are not signed to Universal for recording or publishing now muted in the battle between the music giant and TikTok, both sides stepped up to the bully pulpit with dueling messages to songwriters and the music industry this week.....
The post UMG Publishing and TikTok send dueling messages to Songwriters [Full Text] appeared first on Hypebot.

All of iZotope’s mixing and mastering plugins are on sale at 72% discountMixing and mastering plugins are a crucial asset for modern day music production – and iZotope’s are among the most sought-after. Usually, the company’s plugins will set you back hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars. This month, though, you can get them all for up to 72 per cent off, with upgrade pricing available, too.
Plugin Boutique is hosting the deal, which cuts over $1,400/£1,150 on the iZotope Everything Bundle, and up to 60 per cent off on other individual plugins.
READ MORE: Best synth plugins 2024: 10 of the best polyphonic synth plugins for all genres
In the iZotope Everything Bundle, you’ll get – yes – everything that iZotope has to offer.
That includes Ozone 11 Advanced, Native Instruments’ Guitar Rig Pro, Nectar 4, RX 10 Advanced, Neutron 4, Dialogue Match, Insight 2, BT’s Stutter Edit 2, VocalSynth 2 and… honestly, loads more. A ton of Brainworx plugins are in there, too, really making this one heck of a bundle to claim.
It’s still expensive, though – £1,200/$1,500 is never easy to part with – so the individual plugins are on sale, too.
If you only want the Ozone 11 Standard mastering plugin, for example, it’s available at a 49 per cent discount, making it just $120/£95.
iZotope Ozone 11 full GUI
Elsewhere, Neoverb is available for just £47/$60, saving you 55 per cent off the original price.
If you already own an earlier version of an iZotope plugin, there’s really no better time to upgrade than now. All upgrade prices are slashed by up to 60 per cent, making the iZotope Everything Bundle Upgrade just £267/$338 if you own any iZotope RX Advanced or Post Production Suite software.
Crossgrades are on offer, too, meaning you can get any other iZotope product at a discounted rate if you already have another piece of iZotope software. So, for example, you can get Neutron 4 with a discount of £117/$148 if you own any other iZotope plugin.
This is just the tip of the iceberg; there are loads of iZotope plugins on sale at the moment until 27 March 2024. Head over to Plugin Boutique to browse them all.
Find more music technology deals and news at MusicTech.
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Social Media as an extension of artistry, not a disconnected facadeA strong social media presence is essential for every musician, writes veteran music marketer Melissa d'Engelbronner of FUGA, but its music be an extension of the musician’s artistry, not a disconnected facade.....
The post Social Media as an extension of artistry, not a disconnected facade appeared first on Hypebot.

A brief History of Hit Songwriters you’ve probably never heard ofRecent Hypebot stories about how songwriters ar mocking low streaming roaylty rates and Tiffany Red shining a light on unfair song splits, serve as reminders of how much songwriters are the unsung hero's of the music business....
The post A brief History of Hit Songwriters you’ve probably never heard of appeared first on Hypebot.

As D-Day arrives for TikTok’s Universal feud, UMPG tells songwriters: ‘They simply do not value your music’Universal Music Publishing Group has in the past 24 hours written a new missive to its songwriters
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Native Instruments launch Jacob Collier Audience Choir Native Instruments have teamed up with six-time Grammy winner Jacob Collier to create a unique virtual instrument that captures the sound of a live audience singing together.

Native Instruments Offfer FREE Audience Choir by Jacob Collier
Native Instruments teamed up with the internet’s favorite jazz cat, Jacob Collier, to create the Audience Choir vocal instrument for Kontakt Player, and the best part is, it’s free! To run Audience Choir, you’ll need to use either the free Kontakt Player (version 7.8 and higher) or Kontakt (version 7.8 and higher). Both of these [...]
View post: Native Instruments Offfer FREE Audience Choir by Jacob Collier

Get Excite Audio’s Bloom Vocal Aether On Sale For A Limited Time
Excite’s Audio Bloom Vocal Aether is currently on sale at Plugin Boutique until the end of February.  There is no shortage of vocal-driven samplers, synthesizers, and so forth on the market. From the earliest romplers and samplers to today, the human voice has been a fixture of electronic music. Excite Audio’s Bloom Vocal Aether might [...]
View post: Get Excite Audio’s Bloom Vocal Aether On Sale For A Limited Time

“Football is played by millions of people – but there’s a very small number that can live off playing full time”: Daniel Ek addresses Spotify’s low royalty paymentsThere’s no denying that technology has transformed the music industry. Nowadays, the digital landscape plays a pivotal role in an artist’s success, and pulling in high streaming numbers is vital. According to a poll by the World Economic Forum, internet-based streaming is accounts for 64% of music consumption.
Streaming has allowed relative nobodies to skyrocket from playing their local pub to topping the charts – however, every rose has its thorns. Streaming infamously generates very little royalties.

READ MORE: “Music is on the right track”: UK recorded music revenues hit new high for the first time since 2001

Spotify is constantly under fire due to its low royalty payout rates. In 2021, the New York Times reported that Spotify artists make roughly $4,000 per million streams – that’s less than half a cent per stream. And 2024 is looking even more dire, with Ditto putting the number at between $0.003 – $0.005 per stream on average, with a revenue split of 70/30 with 30% going to Spotify.
In a new video posted on his socials, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has addressed the company’s low royalty rates. Ek explains that, despite beliefs that Spotify isn’t paying up, the company is indeed putting its hand into its pockets. “Spotify has paid out more than $9 billion to the music industry in 2023,” he states. “In the entire history of Spotify, we have now paid out more than $48 billion.”
While artists claim to generate next to no revenue from streams, Ek says that isn’t Spotify’s fault. “Spotify does not pay out to artists individually… when we pay out, we pay out to record companies, to publishers, and to collecting societies,” he explains. “It can depend on the contracts that the artist or composer [has] with their publisher or with the record company.”

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As Ek goes on to explain, Spotify is putting “more and more [money] back into the music industry, and the music industry is growing” as result. Yet the paradox remains – how can Spotify be paying out billions every year, yet artists are claiming to be making no money from streaming?
“The best analogy that I would have is that the music industry… is like professional sports,” he explains. “If you take football, it’s played by hundreds of millions of people around the world. But there’s a very, very small number of people that can live off of playing soccer full time. FIFA tells us that there’s about 100,000 people that can make it in football or soccer. [And there are also] hundreds of millions of people that are trying to make it in the music industry.”
Ek’s analogy asserts that, like football, there are only a select few who will rake in the big bucks through streaming. “As more and more people can make music in an affordable way with their laptops, more and more people are trying it,” he says. “Out of the $9 billion that we paid out to the music industry last year, around $4.5 billion went to the independent sector.”
If Ek’s calculations are right, that would mean around half of Spotify’s payout went to independent artists. And, while that does allow for certain independent artists to make a living wage off of their music, the huge influx of independent talent means that number split between hundreds of thousands of different artists.
“We are striving each and every day to make Spotify better for more and more artists and to make the system work for more and more people,” Ek concludes.
While Ek’s video sounds logical, the LinkedIn comments aren’t too pleased. One user remarks that Spotify “unequivocally has the ability to pay artists more, yet, you just refuse.”
According to Spotify, 2023 saw a 16% increase in revenue from 2022. Despite the $9 billion payout last year, Spotify is currently the lowest paying streaming platform, next only to YouTube Music.
The post “Football is played by millions of people – but there’s a very small number that can live off playing full time”: Daniel Ek addresses Spotify’s low royalty payments appeared first on MusicTech.

DJ Fresh’s Voice-Swap launches new Stem-Swap tool to change vocals from fully mixed tracksVoice-Swap has introduced Stem-Swap, which allows you to change vocals from fully mixed tracks quickly and easily.

READ MORE: “It’s terrifying”: Ariana Grande slams AI covers using her voice

This browser-based tool splits the song into four parts, isolating the vocal, and transforming it into another singer’s voice. You can choose a new voice from its roster of licensed singers and download either the full mix or individual stems.
By doing so, you can give an AI voice a go before you commit, which Voice-Swap suggests will open up “new avenues for creativity and collaboration that weren’t possible before.”
Vocals are cached for hot-swapping, and you’ll be able to test your idea out in different voices, timbres, and tones without too much difficulty. You can use effects like reverb and compression to mix the new vocal.
Whenever a voice gets swapped or you download a mix, the artist involved gets paid a 50/50 split with Voice-Swap.

And, to mark Stem-Swap’s launch, UK drum and bass artist and producer Ruth Royall has joined Voice-Swap, so her voice is now available to use in the tool. She also collaborated with singers across the world to translate her track Lullaby into multiple languages – these recordings were put through her AI voice model, allowing Ruth to sing in languages she doesn’t even speak.
Meanwhile, Voice-Swap is also introducing a new service with which any artist can translate their song into other languages, sung in their own voice using AI.
The company launched last summer and was founded by Dan Stein – otherwise known as drum and bass chart-topper DJ Fresh. It aims to use AI in a responsible, ethical manner.
You can become a part of Voice-Swap by uploading 25 minutes of singing, or eight a capella tracks, to the site. The software then creates a digital clone that subscribers can use.
You can take a closer look at Stem-Swap over at Voice-Swap.
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“Music is on the right track”: UK recorded music revenues hit new high for the first time since 2001UK recorded music revenues have reached a new all-time high for the first time since 2001, marking a historic milestone for the music industry.
According to a report by the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), total music retail revenues for the 12-month period up to 23 February topped out at an impressive £2.223 billion, outperforming the record set during the CD era. Those numbers, though, have not been adjusted for inflation.

READ MORE: Adobe’s new Project Music GenAI tool is basically Photoshop for music

Nevertheless, the new data shows an 8.65 per cent YoY increase over the same period in 2022-2023, when revenues amounted to £2.046 billion. UK recorded music revenue has also more than doubled since hitting historic lows of £1.020 billion in 2013.
ERA — the UK trade group for music retailers and streaming services — credits “booming streaming subscriptions and sales of vinyl albums” for the new record.
The UK music industry hit its previous peak in October 2001, when Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You Out Of My Head ranked Number One on the UK’s singles chart and Gold – The Greatest Hits by STEPS topping the albums chart.
All of that changed, however, with the advent of Napster and the shift away from physical media — which gave way to rampant digital music piracy that massively eroded profits.
“This is a day many thought would never come,” ERA CEO Kim Bayley says in a statement. “It is a red-letter day for music and the artists and songwriters who soundtrack our lives. There’s still a long way to go, but these numbers show that thanks to the innovation and investment of streaming services, music is on the right track.”
The executive added that one shouldn’t “underestimate the seriousness of the plight the music industry faced in the decade following 2001”.
“It was an existential crisis. Luckily a new generation of music loving tech entrepreneurs were able to see a way to a new model, based on subscriptions rather than sales. Today draws a line under 2001 and highlights the fact that music sales have more than doubled since 2013. That’s great, but after 20 years of inflation, it’s still not enough.”
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DOOM Runs On Husqvarna’s Robot LawnmowerDOOM has been ported to a lot of platforms — to the point where the joke is kind of getting old now. Evidence of that is available in the fact that brands are now getting in on the action. Yes, as reported by The Register, you can now officially play DOOM on your Husqvarna’s Automower.
Nice, right? Speedrun it on this interface.
We had to check if this was some kind of joke; indeed, the April release date had us looking at the calendar. However, it seems to be legit. You’ll be able to download a version of DOOM via the Husqvarna Automower Connect App, and play it on the tiny screen of your robot lawnmower. Hilariously, due to the size of the game, Husqvarna notes it “may take up to a week before the game is playable” due to the time it takes the mower to download it, along with a necessary software update.
Controls are simple. The knob on the robot is used for turning left and right, while pressing start lets you run forward. Firing weapons is done by pressing the control knob.
We’ve seen some quality ports before, including an arcade port that was particularly cool. Really, though, at this stage, you have to work harder to impress. Show us DOOM running on a Minuteman launch console or something.

Thanks to [Stephen Waters] for the tip!

Sampleson reveal Drumbada virtual instrument Drumbada models the sound of an ensemble of bombo legüero, and comes with an intuitive built-in sequencer designed to make polyrhythms accessible to users of all skill levels.

Easily Add Link Cable Support to Your Homebrew GBA GameThe Game Boy Advance (GBA) link cable is the third generation of this feature which originated with the Gameboy. It not only allows for peripherals to be connected, but also for multiplayer between GBAs – even with just one game copy – and item sharing and unlocking of features in specific games. This makes it an interesting feature to support in today’s homebrew GBA games and applications, made easy by libraries such as [Rodrigo Alfonso]’s gba-link-connection.
This C++  library can be used in a number of ways: either limited to just the physical link cable, just the wireless link option or both (universal link). These support either 4 (cable) or 5 (wireless) players to be connected simultaneously. As additional options there are the LinkGPIO.hpp and LinkSPI.hpp headers which allow the link port to be used either as a generic GPIO, or as an SPI link (up to 2 Mb/s). The multiboot feature where a single ROM image is shared among connected GBAs is supported with both wired and wireless links.
It’s heartening to see that a device which this year celebrates its 23rd birthday is still supported so well.
Thanks to [gudenau] for the tip.