MusicTech Rewinder - Issue #51

Heya,

it's Friday again, and today is also my birthday 🕺.

Before you read about actual news from today's music tech ecosystem, here are two interesting things I learned this week about the past.

1) The Oldest known musical melody dates back to 1400 B.C.E. and was discovered in the 1950s in Ugarit, Syria. Check this video in which the very talented Michael Levy performs this ancient musical fragment on the Lyre. It was interpreted by Dr. Richard Dumbrill who wrote a book entitled "The Archaeomusicology of the Ancient. Near East."

2) Someone had a closer look at the 15th Century Hieronymus Bosch painting "The Garden of Earthly Delights" and discovered some music printed on the butt of one of the tortured souls in hell. Amelia Hamrick transcribed the melody and James Spalink played the short riff, intended to be repeated, on the instruments of the time, the Lute, Harp, and Hurdy-Gurdy. Here is how is the 600-years-old butt music from hell sounds.

O.k. One more thing that is not about the past but about the future. In case you haven't realized it yet, virtual humans are taking over the entertainment industry. Whether it be musicians, YouTubers, social media influencers, Twitch Streamers, or Instagram models, nearly all forms of media are currently being infiltrated by artificial personalities. With the Metaverse constantly growing, it is very likely that the next superstars may not even be human.

Now, enjoy reading the latest news and have a wonderful weekend,

Matt

Unsatisfied with the corporate streaming model, an idealistic group of avant-garde improvisers created a small-scale alternative—and want other artists to do the same.

Shares of Spotify are up a fraction this morning after the company announced that it will acquire Betty Labs, the company behind the Locker Room, which focuses on live audio. Prior to the deal, Betty Labs had raised more than $9 million, per Crunchbase data.

Amazon is integrating merchandise more deeply into Amazon Music, the company’s music streaming app.

Music Streaming: Is It a Level Playing Field? The dramatic growth of music streaming over recent years is potentially very positive...

35% of media composers have taken buyouts or work for hire deals 41% had to give away more of their mechanical rights than they wanted to 64% believe the commissioning environment is coercive There’s already a fair and established way of paying composers: a commissioning fee upfront and royalties over time.

The frustration many creators have shown with Twitch – the streaming platform giant that became a powerful tool for musicians stuck at home during the pandemic – is no secret. The battle between creators looking to share music with the online world and the copyright that has caused endless hurdles along the way has been a massive […]

Cassette tapes are in again – and this time, it's smaller artists who look likely to gain.

The Covid-19 crisis has thrown up many problems for the manufacturing and distribution of vinyl. Bruce Tantum speaks to a selection of record shops, labels, cutting houses and distributors and learns that — by adapting — many of those working with vinyl are thriving against the odds

Japanese designer and sound artist Yuri Suzuki has created the Easy Record Maker, a machine that can be used to make and play records.

An analysis of Bandcamp sales, 9/1/2020 - 12/31/2020. This report argues that Bandcamp's basic business model of potentiating people's various impulses to pay for things and allowing those impulses to freely interact, modulate, and compound one another has turned the company into one of the most chimerical in Silicon Valley: a profitable startup, run on mostly outmoded technology.

BandLab, the free social music-making platform for mobile and web, has officially crossed 30 million users.

BandLab, the free social music-making platform for mobile and web, has officially crossed 30 million users.

BE THE CHANGE: WOMEN MAKING MUSIC 2021 TuneCore and Believe Partner with MIDiA for First of its Kind Global Study LONDON, BROOKLYN AND PARIS —Thursday, March 25 2021: MIDIA Research and TuneCore/Believe…