Heya! Happy Sunday. Yesterday, my partner and I spent the afternoon at two friends’ house playing board games, eating yummy food, and devouring far too many sweets. I only won one of the few games we played, but eating good food is always winning to me. How was your weekend?
Here’s your weekly dose of electronic music business news.
Last week, my conversation with Vu Ho, CEO and founder of HITMKR, was released. Prior to founding HITMKR, Vu was an engineering manager at Atlassian. We discuss what it takes to build a community and connect creatives with one another.
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss any future episodes! Next week, the CEO of Listen Up! public relations, James Mack, joins me on the show. He shares so many good nuggets for independent musicians and tells the story of Black Coffee going from playing small shows to making history and winning a Grammy.
Electronic artist and pioneer Grimes has taken a bold stance on the emergence of AI in music. She announced her AI-generated voice program shortly after her buzzing speech at the International Music Summit.
Dubbed GrimesAI-1 Voiceprint, users are able to upload their own acapella or record one via the software and it will transform the topline into Grimes’ voice. Through this software, Grimes has essentially open-sourced her IP for creatives.
In addition to transforming artists’ toplines, the program is capable of distributing your tracks with Grimes’ AI voice to streaming platforms. This will enable Grimes to monetize these creations and split the sound recording royalties 50/50 with the artist.
Daouda Leonard, Grimes’ manager, tweeted, “Since launching Grimes AI-1, incredible new emergent creative behavior has taken off!” He then shared these stats:
Total Users: 15,158
Avg. Daily New Sign-Ups: 1,225
Avg. Unique DAUs: 3,632
Avg. Audio Transforms/Hour: 250
Avg. Audio Transforms/User: 7
Total Audio Transforms: 19,316 voice transforms
But this open-sourcing of intellectual property has proven difficult for Grimes and her team. She posted on Twitter on May 5 stating that tracks are being struck down on streaming services and that they’re working with TuneCore to resolve it.
I think grimesAI things r getting struck down from streaming and also we need to figure out how to best integrate ai sections into the grimes streaming pages if ppl want that etc but working w tunecore etc to solve this sorry again for delays I was thoughtlessly posting with no plan when I suggested this idea, we r catching up on the technical side lol. shout out grimes team doing loads of work rn [sic]
TuneCore working with Grimes makes sense. They’re one of the largest music distributors out there. TuneCore recently partnered with Beatport to offer “comprehensive distribution options for electronic artists around the world.”
Grimes fits right in here.
If Grimes and her team can pull this off successfully and allow other creatives to use her intellectual property while monetizing them, could this be the death of copyright? What will copyright mean? Will it change? I’d love to hear your thoughts, so respond to this email with your two cents.
Source: EDM.com
Electronic musician and programmer Bad Diode has concocted a new DAW… from a Game Boy Advance SP.
Bad Diode used Stepper, an open-source software, to convert the portable game station into a step sequencer. He built it to have an “intuitive workflow” inspired by Elektron instruments.
By utilizing “per-trigger parametrization that allows access to the four DMG sound channels in the console,” Bad Diode was able to leverage the console’s two square wave channels, a noise channel, and a custom wave channel to generate music.
Source: EDM In a Soda
After returning from a brief hiatus to focus on his health, Skrillex has sent shockwaves across this decade of dance music just like he did in 2011 with Bangarang and again in 2014 with Recess.
My friend and managing editor at EDM.com, Jason Heffler, wrote an amazing long-form piece on Skrillex’s historic 5-hour set at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. There isn’t a more in-depth look at this “transcendental” performance anywhere on the internet.
In February, Skrillex, Fred again.., and Four Tet, who have dubbed themselves the “Pangbourne House Mafia,” performed a legendary set at the fabled Madison Square Garden. The show sold out in three minutes.
Last month, the dynamic trio closed out the second weekend of Coachella. Skrillex has teased a few more albums this year, so it’s going to be a good rest of the year for dance music.
Source: EDM.com
New footage for one of the late Avicii’s performances has been unearthed and shared.
The footage features highlights of Avicii performing at UNTOLD Festival’s inaugural year in 2015. The film, which was shared by UNTOLD Festival, underscores portions of Avicii’s hits like “Hey Brother,” “Wake Me Up,” “Waiting For Love,” and “The Nights.”
Today, the festival brings in dance lovers from around the world with heavyweight DJs and producers like David Guetta, Above & Beyond, and Paul Kalkbrenner.
Before this year’s International Music Summit, TuneCore and Beatport announced a massive partnership to shape the next generation of dance artists.
Artists who’re subscribed to TuneCore’s UNLIMITED distribution plan can submit their music to Beatport for a fee of $7.99 per month (billed annually). Additionally, you’ll gain access to Beatport’s comprehensive list of electronic genres from independent distributors.
Beatport’s CEO, Robb McDaniels, is most excited about helping talent in the expansive dance music space:
As the number of creators around the world continues to accelerate, enabling TuneCore’s customers to easily upload their music to Beatport is an important way for us to nurture new talent in the dance music space. We’re thrilled to be working closely with Andreea and her team to help empower the next generation of DJs, producers, and artists.
TuneCore’s parent company, Believe, and its electronic music imprint b:electronic will celebrate by launching a talent search to promote burgeoning artists. TuneCore’s CEO, Andreea Gleeson, adds:
Electronic music is a top genre among TuneCore artists. Through this new partnership with Beatport TuneCore is excited to offer comprehensive distribution options for our electronic artists around the world, and give them access to a direct pipeline from their recording studio to the vibrant world of clubs, festivals, and radio, as well as the potential for additional promotional opportunities through Beatport’s DJ Charts and renowned editorial features.
Source: EDM In a Soda
Recently, Godmode signed SG Lewis to their management roster. The “Chemicals” artist joins Godmode’s other signees: JPEGMAFIA and Channel Tres. Lewis has worked with artists like Elton John, Khalid, RAYE, Clairo, and become a household name in the last few years.
Elitzer told Billboard:
I am thrilled to formally welcome Sam to Godmode. Sam is an incredible talent and already a part of the Godmode family, I can’t wait to see what we are going to build together.
Godmode was co-founded by former WLHYL guest Talya Elitzer, who joined us in July 2022.
Body Ocean - Dotted Line EP | Spotify / Apple Music
RetroVision - “Be With You” | Spotify / Apple Music
John Summit - “Human” (feat. Echoes) | Spotify / Apple Music
Icona Pop - “Faster” | Spotify / Apple Music
Biscits - “House All The Time” | Spotify / Apple Music
Noizu - “Lost” | Spotify / Apple Music
Hardwell, Olly James - Seduction EP | Spotify / Apple Music
Jubël - “On The Beach” | Spotify / Apple Music
Lennon
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