Death Grips abandon Arkansas show after fans throw objects at themIDM band Death Grips were forced to cut a show short in Arkansas on Friday after fans threw objects at them.

READ MORE: “Somebody leaked 85 of my demos”: FKA Twigs axes upcoming album after hacking

The gig took place at JJ’s Live in Fayetteville on 13 October. The band, according to NME, had four songs left to play when they decided to abandon the show. Death Grips’ lead vocalist MC Ride had apparently already left the stage twice while performing 25 songs.
One Reddit user recounted what they saw at the gig, writing, “Someone threw a phone at them and Ride threw the mic on the ground and walked off and back. Someone threw a glow stick that hit him in the chest and he walked off, back and waiting for more. Another glow stick was thrown and they left. Fair is fair.”
This video below, posted to Reddit, shows the moment the band left the stage:
i edited a video that sums up what happened at the show tonight byu/Apprehensive_Use6195 indeathgrips

One X user makes the quite valid point that “If [fans] were moshing like [they’re] supposed to this wouldn’t happen”. They go on to write, “I just don’t understand how you can be a fan of an artist, pay a really stupid amount of money to a scalper to go see them, and then show up and just whip shit at the stage? You didn’t need to pay 500 dollars to throw shit at people you can do that to your loved ones for free.”

i just dont understand how you can be a fan of an artist, pay a really stupid amount of money to a scalper to go see them, and then show up and just. whip shit at the stage ??? you didnt need to pay 500 dollars to throw shit at people you can do that to your loved ones for free
— Rodney (@SkinnyTuna) October 14, 2023

The band are the latest to be the victim of a worrying trend of fans throwing objects at acts during gigs. Nicki Minaj, Drake, Beyoncé, Harry Styles, P!nk, Bebe Rexha and Kelsea Ballerini have all had items pelted at them so far in 2023, with Bebe Rexha even sustaining an injury requiring stitches following her incident.
Artists are starting to address this strange habit of throwing items at acts during performances. In July, Adele said at her Las Vegas residency, “I’ll fucking dare you to throw something at me and I’ll fucking kill you.”
Billie Eilish weighed in on the trend recently, telling The Hollywood Reporter during the Barbie movie premiere, “People just get excited and it can be dangerous. I have mixed feelings about it, because when you’re up there it blows. But you know it’s out of love and they’re just trying to give you something.”
For more artist news, head to MusicTech.
The post Death Grips abandon Arkansas show after fans throw objects at them appeared first on MusicTech.

Spotify launches personalised Merch Hub based on listening habitsIn its latest addition, Spotify is launching a personalised Merch Hub in the app, with merch recommendations based on your listening activity.
The company announced its plans yesterday (17 October), explaining that whereas previously you could check out merch on individual artist profiles, release pages, and Now Playing, you can now see all artist merch in one place.

READ MORE: “Somebody leaked 85 of my demos”: FKA Twigs axes upcoming album after hacking

Once you’re in the new Merch Hub, you can browse through items, and then when you’re ready to buy something you can do so via the artist’s Spotify store, through a partnership with Shopify.
“The new merch hub on Spotify is the first-ever merch shopping experience that is tailored to an individual’s listening habits and fandom,” said Heather Ellis, product marketing manager of Fan Monetization at Spotify, in a statement.
“Spotify pulls personalised recommendations for you, specifically, into your merch hub experience, so offerings from your favourite artists find you – not the other way around.”
To check out the new Merch Hub, you need to either go to the Merch tile on the Browse page, or search “Merch”.
In a recent blog post, Spotify explained that it has a mission to enable artists to “live off their art”, and that launching the new Merch Hub will help the company fulfil it.
Spotify saw its highest-grossing merch sales of 2022 after Spotify Wrapped came out. This year, it’s thought that Spotify Wrapped, now firmly a key event on the calendar of many of today’s music fans, will come out during the final week of November.
Earlier this month, details about Spotify’s premium tier subscription plan, Supremium, were leaked. It’s thought that the new tier will cost $19.99 in the US, but will bring with it a variety of interesting features. It’s rumoured to include lossless audio, something rivals Apple Music already offer, advanced playlist mixing tools and extra listening statistics.
The post Spotify launches personalised Merch Hub based on listening habits appeared first on MusicTech.

Analog Obsession Releases FREE Rare Bundle Of EQ Plugins
Analog Obsession’s Rare Bundle vintage EQ plugins are available for FREE download. Analog Obsession is undoubtedly one of the most trusted names in audio freeware. The ever-popular developer made all Analog Obsession plugins available for free a few years ago and released a few notable freebies in 2023, including UREQ and KolinMB. KolinMB is the [...]
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Ohmforce Releases Frohmager FREE Filter Plugin
Ohmforce releases Frohmager, a freeware filter VST plugin for Windows and macOS. I will readily admit that I love a good filter. They’re just fun to use, especially when you get a little wacky with things like modulation and automation. Now, I typically use FabFilter’s Volcano or the excellent Kilohearts filters for any sort of [...]
View post: Ohmforce Releases Frohmager FREE Filter Plugin

Half of Bandcamp’s staff reportedly laid off following Songtradr acquisitionHalf of the workforce at online music and merchandise store Bandcamp has reportedly been laid off following its recent acquisition by music licensing marketplace, Songtradr.

READ MORE: “More than half of existing positions” reportedly cut at Moog Music’s North Carolina manufacturing plant

Layoffs at Bandcamp were swiftly rumoured to take place last week after the news was announced on 28 September that Epic Games was selling the site to Songtradr for an undisclosed sum.
Songtradr states that the reason for the sackings are increased operating costs, adding that it “required some adjustments to maintain a “sustainable and healthy company”.
“Over the past few years the operating costs of Bandcamp have significantly increased. It required some adjustments to ensure a sustainable and healthy company that can serve its community of artists and fans,” Songtradr tells Rolling Stone.
“After a comprehensive evaluation, including the importance of roles for smooth business operations and pre-existing functions at Songtradr, 50 per cent of Bandcamp employees have accepted offers to join Songtradr. We are committed to keeping the existing Bandcamp services that fans and artists love, including its artist-first revenue share, Bandcamp Fridays and Bandcamp Daily.”
How is the industry reacting?
The layoffs have sparked a backlash on social media among outgoing Bandcamp employees, Bandcamp users and musicians who rely on the site to sell their music.
One Instagram user, an artist called Fermata Ark, took to the platform to write: “The underground is the lifeblood of mainstream music, and it needs to exist within a community. It needs to be supported by the people who actually see its value and not by annoying tech-bro CEOs who equate their success in one area of their life as something that can extend to anything they can afford to buy.
“You can’t buy community, I hope they know what they now hold in their hands.”
In March, some Bandcamp employees unionised in a push for fairer wages, going by the name of Bandcamp United. Today, they posted the following to X:

Update on today's layoffs: pic.twitter.com/yyUkcifXdQ
— Bandcamp United (@bandcampunited) October 17, 2023

Musician, vlogger and music tech industry commentator Benn Jordan has slammed Fortnite creators, Epic Games, who took over Bandcamp in March 2022:

If you want to make a̶n̶ ̶o̶m̶e̶l̶e̶t̶t̶e̶ Fortnite for the Metaverse you gotta b̶r̶e̶a̶k̶ ̶a̶ ̶f̶e̶w̶ ̶e̶g̶g̶s̶ aquire a profitable indy music platform, make it unprofitable, then immediately sell it to a 3rd company that will fire everyone and say it's profitable and resell it.
— Benn Jordan (@bennjordan) October 16, 2023

Jordan later wrote that fans need to “start asking how we can set up a platform or gateway that allows our listeners to support us directly”.
Everyone’s favourite plaid-shirt popular music reviewer, Anthony Thee Fontano, also weighs in on the situation, disregarding a comment by Songtradr that “business is as usual”:

fires half of bandcamp staff
“business as usual”
eat shit https://t.co/g6VudIC278
— Anthony Thee Fantano (@theneedledrop) October 17, 2023

Many of the layoffs are said to be within Bandcamp’s editorial team. One now ex-staff member, who worked there for eight years, wrote:

officially laid off, after two weeks of limbo where i expected that would be the case but had no confirmation. nearly eight years at bandcamp and it’s over. if anyone is looking for a dedicated, talented, and professional editor and culture writer, i’m on the market
— jj skolnik (@modernistwitch) October 16, 2023

Bandcamp’s acquisition by Songtradr is an ongoing story. Keep up to date via MusicTech.
The post Half of Bandcamp’s staff reportedly laid off following Songtradr acquisition appeared first on MusicTech.

Cockos launch Reaper 7 The latest version of Reaper delivers a number of major new features and user interface enhancements, along with a huge selection of behind-the-scenes fixes and improvements.

Music of the Sails turns Sydney Opera House into an audiovisual performance lasting 744 hoursIn partnership with Sydney Opera House.
For its 50th birthday, the Sydney Opera House has become its own musical instrument in Music of the Sails. With a combination of machine learning and human creativity, the Opera House is making a generative soundscape lasting 744 hours, which it says “will dynamically recompose the everyday data flow” of the building.

READ MORE: Zoom’s R4 MultiTrack handheld 4-track recorder boasts built-in effects

The music is available as a free, ongoing live stream on the Sydney Opera House website, and features continuously evolving music and visual art, running until October 31.
The artwork takes real-time environmental data (such as cold flow, hot flow, CO2 and temperature levels) and uses a string of artificial intelligence processes to convert field recordings from the House, including the sounds of the Concert Hall’s grand organ, into a month-long generative composition.

The Opera House says that Music of the Sails “augments the sonic secrets of the building in a way that we’ve never heard before.”
 
Rather than being a collage of random notes and sounds, you’ll hear that the generative composition will often follow a rhythm, key and structure – you’ll even hear an outro in many instances.
To create the unique soundscape, the Opera House teamed up with the University of New South Wales’ Interactive Media Lab and with AI Song Contest winners Uncanny Valley.

Dr Oliver Bown (UNSW) says: “In the kind of generative music we’re doing, the music is unfolding but nobody is performing it, and a longstanding idea has been this one of non-human organisms or systems or ecosystems as the performers, which we can render as music through technology. The result is something really rich and multifaceted.”
To watch the stream and learn more about the project, head to Sydney Opera House.
The post Music of the Sails turns Sydney Opera House into an audiovisual performance lasting 744 hours appeared first on MusicTech.

Claptone will give his first ever live interview at ADE on ThursdayNotoriously mysterious dance producer and DJ Claptone is set to give his first-ever live interview this Thursday.

READ MORE: Friend Within breaks down how much he gets paid by major platforms, thanks gym classes for paying his rent

Speaking as part of Amsterdam Dance Event’s (ADE) programme at the Felix Meritis (Concertzaal) venue in the city, fans will be able to hear, for the first time, about Claptone’s rise to fame from the man himself in person.
The venue is set to be transformed, says ADE, into an immersive Claptone Experience, evoking a “captivating atmosphere that perfectly complements the artist’s enigmatic persona”. Alongside distinctly Claptone-esque decor, there will be an exclusive number of behind-the-scenes footage, live and archive shots, and highlights of Claptone’s most notable moments.
This event will then conclude with Claptone taking to the stage with BBC Radio 1 DJ, Danny Howard, who will host the first-ever live interview with the German producer.

Although Claptone has never done a live interview with an audience, MusicTech was lucky enough to chat to the enigmatic artist in March. We spoke about his label, Golden Recordings, his The Masquerade parties in Ibiza, his immense home studio and why passion for the music is important.
During the conversation, he advised budding producers to fall in love with the process of making music, saying, “You’ve got to love it and not expect anything – no success, no money, no fans. Nothing. Only then, your music will sound as if it’s from the heart and will touch other people.”
The event is one of over 1,000 talks, workshops, club nights and performances taking place at ADE 2023, the world’s biggest dance music conference. The city-wide festival will run from 18 – 22 October in over 200 venues throughout the Dutch capital.
Other notable events include a talk on science and music by Max Cooper, various discussions about the use of AI in music, a conversation with A-Trak about 50 years of hip-hop and a panel on career advice by Dillon Francis.
Claptone: First Ever Live Interview and Experience takes place at Felix Meritis (Concertzaal) on Thursday 19 October.
Buy tickets for that and more at Amsterdam Dance Event.
The post Claptone will give his first ever live interview at ADE on Thursday appeared first on MusicTech.

djay Pro for Windows launches with Neural Mix tech, where DJs can isolate track elements
Algoriddim has released the Windows edition of its flagship djay Pro software, opening the door for expansion to PC users. Originally exclusive to Mac, djay Pro’s Windows edition claims to be completely re-engineered from the getgo, with the full swath of the original program’s features – including Algoriddim’s Neural Mix technology, track playback from your […]
The post djay Pro for Windows launches with Neural Mix tech, where DJs can isolate track elements appeared first on DJ TechTools.

Hidden Hits in Plain SightThe pop music hit parade is rife with can't-miss songs that were overlooked for years, needing a remix or re-recording to bring out the best in the tune. Here are 10 examples of this fascinating phenomenon.

NYC mayor releases plans for responsible AI usage in local governmentThe administration for the mayor of New York City has released a plan for creating a framework for government agencies to utlitize AI, along with the pilot of the city’s first AI chatbot.

Google lobbies against legally mandated age verification for minorsGoogle is challenging proposed laws that would require online services to implement age checks in a new framework that theorizes how technology companies should approach children’s safety online. The framework, titled the “Legislative Framework for Protecting Children and Teens Online,” is the tech giant’s response to congressional child online safety proposals. In its set of principles, […]
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Pfundstein Audio Plugins Virtual BassLine Buster Std8 plus We are in love with the massive sound of octaved 8-string basses. That's why we were the first to sample such a unique instrument for MIDI. And now we've done it again with an all-new custom... Read More

JBL Pro Product Launch Announcement

Be the FIRST to experience the latest from JBL Pro. TWO SESSIONS are available, register below for links/reminders. Or join the YouTube livestream. 

SESSION 1: North America, Central America, South America & EMEAThursday, October 19, 20239:00am PDT, 12:00pm EDT, 5:00pm BST, 6:00pm CEST

REGISTER NOW

SESSION 2:  Asia-Pacific, China & India Friday, October 20, 202311:00am SGT & CST, 8:30am IST 

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AVA Music Group Releases FREE PRISM Drums Lite For Kontakt Player
AVA Music Group has just released PRISM Drums – Lite Edition, a FREE Kontakt library compatible with the free Kontakt player. It’s a collection of curated mix-ready drum samples designed for today’s modern productions. It features 5 drum kits into one instrument: Modern Pop drum kit, Retro Pop Drum kit, Trailer kit, Indie Pop kit, [...]
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