Just when you thought it was safe to turn the radio back on again, Antares goes and releases Auto-Tune Evo, the latest update for their now infamous pitch correction software. You can be sure that T-Pain, Lil Wayne, and legions of R&B and pop star wannabes are jumping for joy at the thought of bathing their vocals in the magic dust of Auto Tune.
Record collector, store owner, and archivist Paul Mawhinney is credited as having the largest private record collection in the world. With over 1 million albums and 1 1/2 million singles the Library of Congress estimates that only 17 percent of the music in his archive is available on CD.
Interesting note: 9th Wonder picks all of Murs’ beats. Quotes of the day: "Rap is really dumb right now" –Murs "3rd grade rappers…" –9th Wonder Respect always.
On a less positive note, in the documentary entitled 1 More Hit, Pharcyde producer J Swift warns us of the dangers of drug addiction and the struggle to get his life together after falling victim to crack cocaine. [via Nodfactor]
It’s about time our man Madlib dropped another installment on us. On September 30th, 2008 BBE will release WLIB AM: King of the Wigflip, which promises to live up to the high standards that we’ve come to expect from the obscure record king. Madlib – maverick, prolific, and tirelessly uninhibited. /W.L.I.B. AM. //King of the … Read more
EPMD master producer The Funk Lord Eric Sermon dropped by the Roundtable to talk about the upcoming EPMD album We Mean Business, getting jerked in the record business, ignored Hip-Hop demographics, unreleased Rick Ross material. Def Jam A&R Lenny S even tells a Summer Jam story about a 5 thousand dollar bet between Eric and Jay Z… with Jay making it rain on the crowd with his winnings!
Three more parts after the jump!
Forbes Magazine just dropped a feature on Swizz Beatz detailing his earning potential from music and collaborative efforts with cell phone providers and clothing manufacturer Tommy Hilfiger. It’s amazing to obtain a small glimpse into the scale of Swizz’s personal economy.
Last year he rode his royalty-spewing catalog of the 400 songs he’s produced up to No. 17 on Forbes’ Hip-Hop Cash Kings list with an estimated $12 million in pretax earnings. Like many rappers, he splurges on flashy cars (a Lamborghini Murciélago, a Mercedes SLR McLaren and a Cadillac Escalade, to name a few), but his finest possession is an art collection that includes original paintings by Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. He can afford a few more. His earnings for 2008 will probably top $17 million.
Talk about stepping over dollars to pick up pennies… after more than doubling the fees required by Internet radio, many companies such as Pandora may be instantly put out of business. Simply seems like another example of a shortsighted effort to squeeze revenue from the wrong sources. Then again, should we really be surprised that SoundExchange, which distributes statutory royalties to copyright owners and performers and began as a branch of the RIAA, states that "Internet radio stations have done too little to make money from playing their songs."
We’re approaching a pull-the-plug kind of decision," said Tim Westergren, who founded Pandora. "This is like a last stand for webcasting.
Quick and dirty demo of the infamous ASR-10 sampling keyboard including SCSI drive connection, booting up, sample manipulation, and song creation. [via Matrixsynth]
