Music

The latest news and reviews of music.

Latest

Amy Winehouse's hologram will tour with a live band in 2019
Amy Winehouse will return to the stage in 2019 as the latest in a long line of deceased performers resurrected as holograms. The digital ghost of Winehouse (who died in 2011) will perform her hits such a "Rehab" and "Valerie" while backed by a live band. The tour is a product of a partnership between LA-based BASE Hologram and the Amy Winehouse Foundation, which raises money for the prevention of alcohol and drug abuse.
Spotify reveals its most-played music for its 10th anniversary
Spotify's 10th anniversary is upon us, and the music streaming service is celebrating by letting all of us in on some of its statistics. Over at the company's Decade of Discovery page, users can take a virtual stroll through Spotify's most-played artists and albums over the last decade.
Garmin fitness watches can finally play music from Spotify
Garmin's initial music support for its fitness watches has been limited to Deezer and iHeartRadio, which is odd to say the least -- most people don't use those services, and you weren't about to ditch a subscription to something else just so you could replace the gym's soundtrack with your own. Thankfully, Garmin is aware of your plight -- it's rolling out support for offline Spotify music on its wristwear, starting with the Fenix 5 Plus series. Download the relevant app in the Connect IQ store and you can save songs, albums and playlists to the watch using WiFi, giving you the chance to catch up on your Release Radar while away from your phone.
Soundbrenner watch includes a metronome, tuner and decibel meter
Soundbrenner is far from a household name in the music industry, but having apparently sold over 50,000 Pulse wearable metronomes with endorsement from notable musicians, this Hong Kong startup isn't doing so bad. Today, the company hopes to make a bigger bang with a follow-up model. Using the original Pulse as the foundation, the new Soundbrenner Core adds three functionalities in the hopes of making life easier for musicians: It's also a watch, a tuner and a sound level meter. "We see ourselves as one of the few players in the music-making space... that solve real problems," said Soundbrenner CEO Florian Simmendinger. "Our goal is to create a must-have companion device for musicians, from beginners all the way to professionals."
FL Studio gets its own dedicated music-making hardware
The favorite DAW (digital audio workstation) of producers like Metro Boomin and Mike Will Made It finally has a piece of hardware to call its own. Ableton got its first dedicated hardware controller way back in 2009. And Pro Tools has had them since... well honestly I don't even know, but long before that even. FL Studio though, despite its popularity, has had to make do with generic MIDI controllers until now. The Akai Professional Fire changes all of that.
Spotify event series offers aspiring artists music industry tips
Spotify appears to be on a mission to aid emerging artists as much as possible, with efforts including allowing them to upload music directly to the streaming service and offering some of them advances for licensing their work. The latest plan to help them out is a series of events designed to connect them with music industry experts and provide them with advice.
Facebook test lets users add songs to photos and videos
Starting next week, some Facebook users will see the option to add songs to their photo and video posts. The social network first mentioned that it's working on a feature that will allow you to add an appropriate soundtrack to your media posts when it announced Lip Sync Live. That time, though, the option was supposed to be exclusive to Stories -- the platform has decided to expand its scope and will now test the feature on both Stories and News Feed.
Ancestry hopes you'll share your DNA for a custom Spotify playlist
What would your music selection sound like if it reflected every last bit of your genealogy? Ancestry can tell you... if you're willing to shed some control. The company has partnered with Spotify to offer custom playlists based on your genetic heritage. It's fairly straightforward on the surface: once you've received your results from an AncestryDNA test, you can visit a website to generate a playlist based on the regions that represent your genetic code. You may hear A Tribe Called Red if you have native North American roots, for instance, or Papa Wemba if you have certain African lineage.
Apple has completed its acquisition of music recognition app Shazam
Back in December of 2017, Apple announced it would purchase the music discovery service Shazam. Now, that acquisition is complete, and it means that the Shazam app experience will soon be ad-free for all users.
Streaming accounts for 75 percent of music industry revenue in the US
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has released music industry revenue statistics for the first half of 2018 in the US, and on average, revenue growth has slowed. While overall revenue was up 10 percent compared to the same time last year, clocking in at $4.6 billion, that rate is only around half of the increase observed between the first halves of 2016 and 2017. Streaming revenue growth slowed as well, though it was still up 28 percent compared to last year. Notably, streaming accounted for the vast majority of revenue so far this year, with 75 percent of overall revenue coming from streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal.
Spotify offers free direct uploads for indie artists
Spotify is making life easier for indie artists who want to get their music on the service by letting them directly upload their own tracks without having to go through an intermediary like a label or distributor. The free feature is launching in beta in Spotify for Artists.
Teenage Engineering's OP-Z synth finally goes on sale in October
We got our first look at Teenage Engineering's next synthesizer in early 2017, and now the company is gearing up to finally ship the portable instrument/control center. The OP-Z is set to go on sale next month, but the company didn't include pricing info in its availability announcement this week. However, pro audio retailer Sweetwater has the OP-Z listed at $599. As a refresher, the compact synth offers a 16-track sequencer that enables live composition of audio, visuals and lights at the same time. Teenage Engineering says this is the first device with that skill set.
Spotify sued over executives' alleged gender discrimination
Spotify has been accused of turning a blind eye to sexism in its workplace. Former sales executive Hong Perez has sued the streaming service over allegations that male execs have perpetuated systemic gender discrimination. The global head of sales reportedly provided higher compensation (including equity) to men, while multiple male executives received little punishment (and in one case, a promotion) despite sexual harassment claims.
US Senate passes bill modernizing music licensing and payouts
The US Senate has unanimously passed the Music Modernization Act, which aims to bring the way the music business works in line with the digital age. Providing the bill is met with approval from the House, and is subsequently signed by President Donald Trump, the legislation -- renamed the Orrin G Hatch Music Modernization Act in honour of the Republican senior senator responsible for introducing the bill -- will finally be enshrined into law. It's not expected to meet any opposition.
Bikini Kill's riot grrl punk is available to stream for the first time
Prince, The Beatles and other well-known artists gave into the siren's call of streaming music years ago, but not Bikini Kill -- you still had to get the iconic riot grrl group's music the old-fashioned way. Until now, that is. The feminist punk group has posted its small but influential catalog on streaming services, including Apple Music, Spotify and Tidal. Why now? If you ask singer Kathleen Hanna, it's about accessibility.
Recommended Reading: Brands are not your friend
Why Comcast Sent Me Pizza Ian Bogost, The Atlantic Brands -- well, #brands may be the more accurate term here -- do all sorts of things that seem like they're rewarding you, dear customer, for some action or loyalty. The Atlantic dives into how these acts of kindness and mountains (literally) of freebies almost always stem from an ulterior motive, especially when social media is part of the equation. Just because Comcast sends you a stack of pizzas, doesn't mean you're best pals.
Fender's music instruction app now includes bass lessons
Fender has added bass lessons to its Fender Play platform, providing users with bite-sized exercises, a number of instructors to learn from and a slew of skills to master. Those working on developing their bass-playing abilities will have access to a concept glossary, can work from multiple camera angles including close-up finger placement shots and over-the-shoulder views, track their progress and choose which style they prefer -- like funk, rock, R&B, blues or pop.
Native Instruments’ latest performance controllers do beats on a budget
If you're into digital DJing or music production, you'll be very familiar with Native Instruments. For disc jockeys, Traktor (software) in combination with the Kontrol S series of hardware is about as comprehensive as it gets. For tunesmiths, it's Maschine (production/performance) and Komplete (studio) -- both also a watertight combination of hardware and software, for whatever your preferred style of songwriting is.
Garmin adds Deezer to its music-playing fitness watches
To date, Garmin's music-capable fitness watches have had access to iHeartRadio and... that's about it. You're about to get some much-needed variety, though, as Deezer's music service has finally arrived on Garmin fitness wearables after months of promises. You can store more than 100 tunes on your wrist and sync playlists (including curated workout playlists) like you might with other services on smartwatches, but the ace up Garmin's sleeve may be Deezer's Flow feature. While the mix of favorites and recommendations isn't that special on your phone or PC, it gives you a fresh mix every day -- important when you'd rather not repeat your gym soundtrack.
Paul McCartney will play a YouTube concert on September 7th
Paul McCartney is no stranger to embracing technology, and you're about to get further proof of it. The iconic musician is performing an "intimate" YouTube concert on September 7th at 8PM Eastern as part of a YouTube Original production. It's a plug for his new album Egypt Station, as you might have guessed, but he'll also play tunes from his Beatles and Wings days.

...