Try 8 Hours of Crackling Vinyl Background Noise

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People love the crackle-and-hiss of vinyl records, but usually it’s alongside actual music.  But what about isolating the crackle-and-hiss as its own background, instead of the typical white noise of falling rain, waves crashing, or birds chirping?

There are a number of vinyl soundscapes designed with just this in mind.  Signal processing engineer Stéphane Pigeon has recently developed a customizable background track of vinyl white noise that allows for individualized adjustments of the needle, scratch, and hiss.  Pigeon’s ‘Dust ‘n Scratches Vinyl Crackle Background Noise Generator‘ is the perfect drone-out, and can also be added to any digital recording for that vintage effect, even if it isn’t pressed to actual vinyl.

Here’s another vinyl soundscape to consider, from Ascerting Art, who compiled 8 hours of vintage white noise to amplify concentration, relaxation, and overall nostalgia.

 

 

Image of ‘Zen of Pea Gravel’ by Steve Johnson transformed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC by 2.0). 

The post Try 8 Hours of Crackling Vinyl Background Noise appeared first on Digital Music News.


Source: Industry News

Wiz Khalifa Joins YouTube’s Exclusive Billion Views Club

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Image: By Portal Focka – licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported.

Recently, Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s massive hit single “See You Again” hit a major milestone on YouTube as it became the 10th member to join the exclusive group of videos that have been watched at least one billion times.

Google announced this news via a post on the Youtube trends blog – stating that the video took 184 days to gain its billion views – coming only second to that of the record-breaking, Gangnam Style. This is a massive achievement in itself, but even more-so as it’s the first Rap song to claim a spot in the exclusive members club. With ‘’See You Again’’ being out less than a year, it may seem surprising that the song has already hit one billion views, but it’s actually following a trend that shows that views on YouTube of hit singles, are on the up.

‘Gangnam Style’ became the first music video to hit one billion views back in 2012, followed by Justin Beiber’s ‘Baby’, and up until Spring 2015, it was just these two players in the club. Youtube’s Kevin Allocca writes,

‘’For ten years, the Billion View Club was one of the most exclusive circles on YouTube, but in 2015, things changed,”

Here, Kevin refers to the fact that since June this year, there have been eight more debuting singles that have joined this elite club.

So, is the billion views club becoming a ‘thing’? With 10 members currently – (featuring the likes of Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Meghan Trainor, Mark Ronson, Psy, Justin Beiber etc), and 5 more waiting to be crowned, this indicates a broader trend. Not only are we watching more music videos than ever, but the rate at which these videos become successful is accelerating.

billion view club graph

The graph highlights a common trend that is occurring with the eight new entrants to the club – All videos were uploaded in 2013, and had hit a billion views by June 2015. The average number of days for the top ten to hit a billion views took approximately 484 days, with the three most recent videos to reaching a billion in an average of 241 days. What really stands out from this graph, is the time it’s takes for the videos to reach a billion views, and the fact that this timeframe is becoming progressively shorter.

So, what’s next? Will the goal post for a successful music video be pushed further, with the increasing number of videos hitting that one billion view milestone? Or, will our focus shift to music subscription services like Spotify and Apple Music? Despite the rise of streaming music, current trends are suggesting that Youtube is still a major player in the game – people want to watch music videos – and they want to watch them on Youtube.

The post Wiz Khalifa Joins YouTube’s Exclusive Billion Views Club appeared first on Digital Music News.


Source: Industry News

100 Million Fewer Downloads Have Been Sold In 2015

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The year-to-date drop was precisely 92.2 million song downloads as of September 31st, according to stats released today by Nielsen for the first three quarters of 2015.  At this rate, the yearly gap will sprawl to at least 120 million songs by the end of the year.  Incidentally, packaged album downloads remained fairly steady, though the real picture is happening on the streaming side.<!–/*
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Meanwhile, paid subscriptions appear flat, according to first-half 2015 figures, and it’s unclear whether those numbers improved over the summer.

More as further statistics come in.

 

The post 100 Million Fewer Downloads Have Been Sold In 2015 appeared first on Digital Music News.


Source: Industry News

For Sale: 1/2 of the Largest Music Publisher In the World

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Sony/ATV Music Publishing is easily the largest music publisher in the world, with a 50/50 ownership split between the estate of Michael Jackson and Sony Corp.  Now, Sony is exercising its right to sell its stake, according to preliminary details from the Wall Street Journal, with the Jackson estate granted the right of first refusal.

Apparently, word is leaking from Jackson estate lenders, with the Sony/ATV holding carrying a $2 billion valuation.  Jackson famously purchased his stake in 1985 for $47.5 after getting a tutorial on publishing from Paul McCartney; ironically, Sony/ATV carries a bulk of the Beatles’ publishing catalog.  Jackson sold the half-stake to Sony in 1995 for roughly $100 million.<!–/*
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More as the situation unfolds…

Image: Benoit Cars, licensed and transformed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0).

The post For Sale: 1/2 of the Largest Music Publisher In the World appeared first on Digital Music News.


Source: Industry News