Music, Sound Effects, Tech News, and More — The AudioMicro Blog

It’s Britney!  And it’s $1.99 that you’ll never get back. The aptly named iPod and iPhone app, “It’s Britney,” was released to mixed reviews.  Britney Spears herself tweeted to fans, “See there really is an app for everything,” not appearing to realize that that was not very flattering.  Yes, there is an app for everything, even completely inane things.  Perhaps that is harsh; you decide.  Would you part with two of your hard-earned dollars for the following?

• Home screens which are updated frequently
• Twitter updates
• Britney photos
• A sparkler feature that allows you to do the iPhone version of the lighter at a concert
• The chance to be a backup dancer.  You can superimpose your picture over the dancers’ bodies.
• And the best, when you shake your iPhone, it will say “It’s Britney, bitch.”

The iPhone app has been roundly criticized by everyone from PC World to New York Magazine.  PC World had this to say about the new app, “Why can’t Apple’s App Store overlords exercise more discretion when it counts?… Should we have expected any less from Britney? After all, an iPhone app is the perfect byproduct of our celebrity (and iPhone) obsessed culture.”

Not surprisingly, the Britney Spears website raved about the new app.  A fan writes, “Been waiting for decent Britney app!  This is so cool!  Cannot wait to check it every morning for the latest on America’s Queen of Pop.”  This Brit fan is far from alone: the pop star has nearly four million followers on Twitter, ensuring that the app will have strong sales, if not a long shelf life.

Britney Spears was the driving force behind the so-called “One Woman Economy,” valued at $110 to $120 million a year.  She helped paparazzi, perfume maker Elizabeth Arden, entertainment magazines, and others rake in millions, and this is one more attempt to capitalize on the Britney franchise.  Will it work?  Probably.  Is it worth $1.99?  Probably not.

Other Music Headline sFrom Around The Web Today . . .

Snoop Dog On Fan Interaction & Show “Business”

Bob Dylan’s Must Be Santa Video Is A Strange Comeback

Micachu And The Shapes Melt Down Crayola Crayons

Courtney Lol and her new Hole

Alicia Keys “Empire State of Mind II” Live

Posted in: Britney Spears, iPhone

It wasn’t the British Invasion that Harmonix wanted:  instead of crowds thronging the stores, screaming like the girls at the Ed Sullivan Theater, they got tepid sales when a Rock Band completely devoted to the Beatles was unleashed.  Are the lackluster sales of both the Beatles Rock Band and Guitar Hero5 indicators that the music video game has passed its prime and is on its way out?  It may be that the current model is on its way out – or needs to be in order to recapture the excitement the original games stirred in 2007.

Combined, Beatles Rock Band and Guitar Hero5 brought in $1.1 million in October.  Respectable.  So why does Gamasutra’s Matt Matthews write, “October’s sale figures brought with it new evidence of the crisis the genre is experiencing”?  Of all the games across all the platforms, only Beatles Rock Band for Wii made it into the top ten.  There were no other appearances in the top twenty.  But most damning:  in October 2007, Guitar Hero 3 sold 1.4 million copies in six days. The fifth edition seems a pale shadow of this, and DJ Hero doesn’t even compare.  This version has sold 120,000 in five days across all the gaming systems.

All games have taken a hit because of the economic downturn, but the music genre has taken it hardest of all.  Very simply, we’re sick of the same thing over and over.  Each new edition is not really new at all.  Dhani Harrison, who consulted with Harmonix on Rock Band, said, “I’m working on Rock Band 3 and making the controllers more real so people can actually learn how to play music while playing the game.”  A move like this could reignite excitement and draw in new fans of the game.

Northeastern University marketing researchers wrote in a recent blog post, Too Much of a Good Thing: Explaining the decline of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, “Once people own a music game, there is less reason to purchase another one.”  So simple, so why are Harmonix and Activision so reluctant to change their formula?  Whatever the reason, it is becoming abundantly clear that they need to break the mold they’ve created.

Other Music News From Around the Web Today:

Arctic Monkeys Talk Fourth Album

New Vampire Weekend Video – “Cousins”

Reports: MySpace Buys imeem At Fire Sale Price

Karen-O and the Kids “Where the Wild Things Are OST”

Saul Williams & The Niggy Tardust Experience @ The Roxy

Posted in: Guitar Hero, Harmonix, music games, Rock Band, wii

Charity begins at home, but you’ll have to pay for it.  Charities have traditionally benefited from an exemption from paying royalties for music played during nonprofit events or in public places.  A new decision by the government in conjunction with the Office of Intellectual Property will end this exemption and force UK charities to shell out to the PPL (Phonographic Performance Limited), which represents music producers and artists.  As of April, 2010, the £750,000 annual funding will be pulled and charitable organizations will have to foot the bill themselves.

Though the fee is likely to be less than £100 a year for an organization, (so says the PPL, at least) the move is being decried by charities, led by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO).  The NCVO feels that it is “shameful” that charitable organizations be charged at all.  Says NCVO chief executive Stuart Etherington, “This scheme will make it impossible for small community-based charities or organisations to play music at their social and fundraising events because of the cost involved.”

A signal of the tightened economy, the move will have the side effect of creating a more simple system for charitable organizations.   Despite the NCVOs objections, could this actually benefit the third sector?   A government response to the Office of Intellectual Property consultation that led to the decision stated, “…almost all the representatives of the third sector organisations agreed that it would be preferable to have a simple licensing system, if possible with an affordable flat fee rather than to have a complex system with limited exemptions.”

The PPL defended its position, stating, “Music is hugely beneficial to charities and it is only right that the people who create, produce and perform the music should be paid for its use. Charities are not exempt or awarded special discounts for standard charges or costs. This applies to charges such as electricity and heating as well as for the use of music. Following this change in legislation, what we want to do is simplify the administration process for organisations so that they can continue to benefit from playing music legally.”

How will this work out for charities?  Take a look at the Berkshire organization, Keep Mobile, which transports the elderly and disabled.  In 2008, they were told by the Performing Rights Society (PRS) that they would have to pay royalties for the music they listened to on their eleven buses.  Each bus holds sixteen people, and the drivers depended on radios for traffic reports to ensure that they made pickups and drops on time.  PRS told Keep Mobile that it had to pay £858 a year or lose the radios: they had to lose the radios.

Keep Mobile’s manager, Sally Gibson, said at the time, “It is ridiculous we need a public performance license for this. We are just being treated like a commercial vehicle, there’s no concessions for charity vehicles, all our money is raised through donations.”

More Music News From Around the Web Today . . .

Shazam! “Digimarc’s suing us!”

SXSW 2010 Announces First Round Of Bands For Lineup

Drunkenmonkey Remixes tUnE-YaRdS

One of my favorite new bands – Magic Wands on Daytrotter!

Jay-Z, Will Smith + Jada Get Behind FELA! On Broadway + more!

Posted in: charity, Office of Intellectual Property, Phongraphic Performance Limited, UK

Despite all of the hoopla surround the Pirate Bay trials (which have been moved to next summer), royalty-free music-sharing websites continue to attract users from all over the world. According to a Threats Report released by McAfee on last week, the number of torrent sites grew by an astounding 300 percent after the Pirate Bay was ordered to shut down during the spring.

Torrent sites are popular because they contain popular music, movies and images for easy downloading, but also because they manage to circumvent any copyright issues. Or, so users thought. If copyright issues weren’t a problem, then why was the Pirate Bay targeted? According to VatorNews, when the Pirate Bay site went down following the trial, replacement sites came out of nowhere, filling in the need for new sites for indexing torrent files. The problem is that these sites aren’t protected by McAfee software, and put many users at risk for computer-related viruses. But users don’t seem to care. What they care about is being able to download royalty free music, movies and other forms of media through file-sharing means.

It doesn’t matter if the Pirate Bay is eventually shut down or not. Since its inception, file-sharing websites have grown in leaps and bounds. There will always be a new way to download and share files, as long as new technology continues to develop and evolve. That is part of the reason why the music industry is at a crossroads. What they are beginning to realize is that there has to be some sort of compromise. They won’t be able to charge everyone in the world who has downloaded royalty-free content with unrealistic fees. It’s impossible. One of the solutions has been to charge radio stations with royalty fees. But that is a dead end. The public doesn’t support it and it won’t have any affect on file-sharing users. The music industry needs to reevaluate its stance and work with file-sharing websites in order to find some common ground. Otherwise, the amount of file-sharing websites will continue to grow, and people all over the world will continue to use them without a second thought.

More Music News From Around the Web Today . . .

MySpace In Talks To Buy imeem

Wilco Confirmed For 2010 End Of The Road Festival

Passion Pit Release “Little Secrets” Video, Soundtrack Palm Pixi Ad

A breakup story that will leave you in tears…

k-os “I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman”

Posted in: McAfee, pirate bay, torrent sites

Is there a mass exodus of app developers from iPhone?  Rogue Amoeba, which designs apps and software for MAC OS X, announced that is it leaving the iPhone app business.  Also leaving are Joe Hewitt, a Facebook iPhone app developer, and Second Gear.  Maybe “mass exodus” is an exaggeration, but a number of developers are unhappy with the Apple Store’s review process for new apps.  Here’s why:

Which app would you find more offensive or inappropriate:  one that lists the members of Congress and shows a little caricature of each or one that features a crying baby? You shake the iPhone to get it to stop. The Apple Store approved the baby-shaking app but vetoed the ode to Congress.  The reasoning?  No one seems sure, and that’s the problem.  The unclear, inconsistent, and mostly arbitrary review process is leaving many baffled – and they in turn are leaving the iPhone app business.

Rogue Amoeba is abandoning ship after months of delays as they tried to update the Airfoil Speakers Touch app (this app lets you stream audio from your MAC to iPhones, iPods, AirPort Express units, and more.  There is also a Windows version).  The app was rejected again and again because Rogue Amoeba used official Apple images of products like the iMac, MacBook Pro, and Safari.  The problem?  The images were supplied by Apple and were included in the original, approved version.  These were removed by Rogue Amoeba in the update, but not without protest.

Rogue Amoeba CEO Paul Kafasis wrote, “In the future, we hope that developers will be allowed to ship software without needing Apple’s approval at all, the same way we do on Mac OS X. We hope the App Store will get better, review times will be shorter, reviews will be more intelligent, and that we can all focus on making great software. Right now, however, the platform is a mess.”

Besides taking ideas for any new apps with them, Rogue Amoeba and other developers may also refuse to offer updates to existing apps, like Lineln, Audio Hijack Pro, and Pulsar.  That limits music fans ability to access online satellite radio, stream live music, digitize analogue music, and more.  There are other developers, but the current review process is alienating many of them and may deter others from contributing.

Joe Hewitt said, “I respect their right to manage their platform however they want, however I am philosophically opposed to the existence of their review process.  I am very concerned that they are setting a horrible precedent for other software platforms, and soon gatekeepers will start infesting the lives of every software developer.”

But the problem is more than just over-regularization; it’s the lack of consistency.  Apple does prohibit the use of its logos or images in apps, but they approved the original Airfoil.  Reject Congressional caricatures but keep the shaking baby.

With over 100,000 apps and scores of developers willing to endure the absurd review process, there is little chance that you will run out of iPhone music apps anytime soon.  But it may hasten the rise of freemium apps where developers are given more freedom.  We may have to put up with more junk like the shaken baby but we also will see better quality from developers who are sick of the Apple Store process.

More Music News From Around the Web Today . . .

Zenph Gets $10.7M For Musical Re-Performances

Jack White To Produce Wanda Jackson’s New Album

Paper Bag Recs Turns 7 With Covers Comp

The Roots Cover Bob Dylan: “Masters of War” mp3…

Danny! “Get Down”

Posted in: iPhone, iPhone Apps

Don’t confuse Apple Corps. with the Apple Company that makes the iPhone, iPod and the Mac computer. Apple Corps. is a company that was created to handle all of the Beatles business, whether music-related or not. The Beatles have been at the forefront lately, partly due to the recent release of the Beatles Rock Band game for Nintendo Wii. As a result, Apple Corps. and EMI Music are releasing an apple shaped USB stick containing 14 of the Beatles’ albums in digital format. How cool is that?

The USB is metallic green in color and shaped just like an apple. Just remove the “apple core” and insert the USB into any portable music device or computer to access the music. It’s an innovative idea to reconnect new and old Beatles fans with some of the Beatles most famous music selections.  According to the product description, there is only a limited edition of 30,000 apple-shaped USB drives that loaded with the re-mastered audio for The Beatles’ 14 stereo titles, as well as all of the re-mastered CDs’ visual elements, including 13 mini-documentary films about the studio albums, replicated original UK album art, rare photos and expanded liner notes. These limited edition USB devices contain 16GB of memory and “the music will come in FLAC 44.1 KHz 24 bit and MP3 320 Kbps formats. FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is a lossless audio format, which means that during compression, FLAC does not lose quality where as MP3 does.” The good news is that FLAC is open source and also royalty-free.

The following 14 Beatles albums are included on the USB device:

Please Please Me

With The Beatles

A Hard Day’s Night

Beatles For Sale

Help!

Rubber Soul

Revolver

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

Magical Mystery Tour

Yellow Submarine

The White Album

Abbey Road

Let It Be

Past Masters

Look for the “apples” this Christmas, as they will be released in the United States on December 8^th. The price is based on 200 pounds, which will average out to almost $500.

More Music News From Around the Web Today…

Paying for MySpace

Jason Karaban’s Succeed 101: Single Review

New Rain Machine Video – “Give Blood”

New Soft Pack Video/MP3: “Answer To Yourself”

Jimmy Fallon Features “Soul Food”

Posted in: Apple, Beatles

The results are in. After a recent poll by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), most Americans are against a proposed royalty rate for radio airplay. The poll was conducted over the summer and published in The Wall Street Journal to emphasize the point that royalty fees are getting a bit out of hand.

The Wall Street Journal article reported that the proposed legislation “would force radio companies to pay royalties [fees] of as much as $500 million a year to record labels and artists whose music they play.” The article also stated, “any additional expenses could send [radio companies] one step closer to financial restructuring.” After being provided with such facts, individuals participating in the poll were then asked whether they would “favor or oppose the performance fee, requiring local radio stations to pay a fee for every song they play.”

The results were quite telling, as 60 percent of the poll participants strongly opposed the royalty fee, 12 percent were probable and 3 percent were leanly opposed. Radio has been a royalty-free haven, because it is known to drive music sales of popular artists. So, essentially music artists are already benefiting financially from radio airplay — the more music is played, the more money they stand to make. It’s been like this for a long, long time. Why do “the powers that be” suddenly want to change it around? Simple. It all comes down to money. With the Internet age and music sharing websites, record sales aren’t what they used to be. As a direct result, numerous recording artists and labels are coming up with every solution they can in order to pad their pockets. It used to be that all you had to do was have one hit record on the radio and your album would rise to the top of the charts. Now, one hit record results in a 99-cent purchase on ITunes instead of boosting whole album sales.

It’s a sticky situation, but the message is quite clear. The public does not agree with radio royalty fees, and firmly believe that many radio stations will end up losing money and going off the air instead. Everyone knows that taxes and fees always end up trickling down until they eventually come out of the public’s pocket. And the public is already financially strapped as it is.

Posted in: copyright, royalty free music

According to a recent press release, CSS Music, a Los Angeles-based royalty free music library, has upgraded its entire collection of music tracks for the film, video, television and digital media industry to a superior quality .mp3 320 kbs file format. The 12,000 tracks are now available for digital download in the new upgraded format.

Michael M. Fuller, president and owner, had this to say about the upgrade, “When you’re talking about compressed files in an .mp3 format, the gold standard without a doubt is 320 kbs. While our 160 kbs files were excellent, taking our royalty free music downloads up to .mp3 320 kbs was a necessary move. Today’s clients are looking for ways to stretch their dollars and at the same time they’re looking for quality. They demand quality. Now because of this upgrade, our mp3 files will sound smoother with a more transparent high frequency response.”

Sounds like a pretty good upgrade, doesn’t it? It’s top-quality royalty free music without higher fees. You can download the new tracks either on a single-track basis or through a bulk download package. When you purchase a download bulk package, you can expect to save anywhere from 30 to 90 percent off. That’s more than an upgrade — that’s a bargain. CSS Music offers three independent search systems. Each track in a search result can be reviewed in its entirety in full 44.1khz sound quality. Site users can also use a “Playlist Tool” to create an unlimited number of playlists for different projects, scenes, etc. Playlists can be e-mailed to clients or associates.

CSS Music was founded in 1982 in Los Angeles, CA and is the oldest US based royalty free music library under original management. CSS has more than 300 CD volumes and 12,000 downloadable music tracks in its 17-library package. CSS Music is intended for use in AV/Video, Film, Television, Multimedia and Internet applications. Delivery formats include CD, Custom CD-R, Single Track Download, Downloadable CD, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM and Hard Drive. Popular CSS libraries include Super Themes, Target Trax and Repro-file. For more information, visit www.CSSmusic.com.

Posted in: mp3, music, royalty free music

There’s a new royalty free music site moving into town. It’s called Qtrax, and it will be available in the United States early 2010. Qtrax is based out of New York City and Australia, and is a subsidiary of Brilliant Technologies Corporation, a technology holding company devoted to research and development leading to commercialization of innovative, proprietary technologies.

Like many other royalty free music sites, Qtrax is based on person-to-person technology. But they are ahead of the game, as they have signed deals with Universal Music Publishing, Sony/ATV, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, The Orchard, EMI Music Publishing and EMI Music, TVT Records, Go Digital, ASCAP and BMI. China also has plans to launch Qtrax on December 10^th of this year.

Qtrax President and CEO, Allan Klepfisz had this to say about their arrival, “Our vision is clear and our team highly skiled. We are dedicated to providing the best music service to consumers worldwide while creating substantial revenues for rights-holders and our shareholders.”

We’ll have to wait and see how well Qtrax performs and if enough people will want to use their services. They promise free and legal download from all of your favorite artists, unlimited downloads and unlimited plays, high speed and high quality downloads, no subscriptions and no hidden fees, and no viruses — just free music. That’s a lot to be excited about. Let’s hope that Qtrax can deliver. Promises are one thing, and results are another. A lot of music-sharing websites, like Napster, were forced to go the pay-per-download or subscription route and it hurt their business. Maybe Qtrax has a new game plan? We will have to wait and see, but there’s a lot of potential there.

According to Qtrax.com, music lovers can discover new music and legally download full-length, high-quality versions of their favorite songs while compensating both the artists and the record labels through non-intrusive and relevant advertising. Qtrax has the unparalleled support of the major record labels and all of their respective publishing divisions. For more information about Qtrax, visit www.qtrax.com.

AudioMicro user C Pic Michael was kind enough to share this wonderful video of her students who had recently completed a project on light and shadow masks. The video incorporates music licensed from AudioMicro and chosen by the students themselves to highlight their creations.. If you are working on any non-profit or education related projects, please be sure to contact us to enquire about royalty free music for educational use packages, specials, and discounts.

Posted in: educational royalty free music, non-profit discounts, specials

Ready for some free classic synth samples? MusicRadar.com is celebrating “synth week” and they want you to come along to the party. The powers-that-be at the popular royalty free music website are giving you a selection of classic synth sounds. The sounds come from ARP’s Odyssey and Solina instruments, and Roland’s System 100. As a fun and additional bonus, you can also download single hits from some of the finest drum machines throughout history, including Roland’s TR-909 and 808 beatboxes.

All you need to do is download the samples and get to work using and mixing them. According to MusicRadar.com, the samples are split into four different folders. Three folders cover the featured synths, and the fourth folder contains all of the drum machine content. There are riffs, multisamples and single hits available. All the music samples are supplied as WAV files, so they can be imported directly into your DAW or sampler of choice. The best part is that the samples are royalty free music, so you can use them however you like. MusicRadar.com’s only stipulation is that you do not redistribute the music samples. All of the classic synth samples are supplied in a zip file, so you will need to download and remove them before they will show up on your computer. You can listen to some of the synth samples that are available at MusicRadar.com.

MusicRadar.com is part of a consortium of royalty free music websites, and is a subsidy of Future Publishing. Created by musicians for musicians, MusicRadar.com is the number one website for guitarists, drummers and producers. Check out their latest gear updates and artist news through one of their many music-related publications. You can also read expert reviews on the best new kit, play along with their expert video lessons, or try out handy tips and projects suggested on the website. They also offer numerous music-related blogs, podcasts, competitions and a vibrant forum full of hungry royalty free music users. Visit www.musicradar.com to start using their free classic synth samples today. What are you waiting for?

Posted in: classic synth samples, royalty free music

PrimeLoops.com is considered to be the “definitive new supplier of modern, cutting edge sound suites.” Their website promises users a wealth of highly flexible and unique music samples, in all the latest formats. An independent music team based out of the United Kingdom, PrimeLoops.com has brought together talented musicians, experienced sound technicians, DJs and studio engineers in order to create a new dimension in pro-audio development, resulting in crystal clear audio fusion covering the entire spectrum.

The latest sample products offered by PrimeLoops.com, include R&B Progressions and Dubhop Scores. Here’s the information provided by the press release:

R&B Progressions — This is a new addition to the Core Series. It’s 600mb in size, and contains over 180 “distinguished piano progressions, inspirational string arrangements, and sexy synth hooks” tempos ranging from 75-125 bpm, bringing you a selection of luscious instrumental loops in many R&B styles. Some styles include Smooth Ballads, Funky Vibes, Oldskool Classics and Contemporary Pop. Music formats are available as Wav, Acid Loops, Apple Loops, Rex2, Reason Refill, Ableton, Akai MPC and many others. They have all been professionally recorded, mastered, and are completely royalty free. These riffs and chord sequences have been engineered for all producers seeking to capture legendary sounds from the evolving R&B scene, taking influences from Destiny’s Child to Jodeci, Mary J. Blige to Usher, Brandy to Alicia Keys and from Akon to Ne-Yo, Beyoncé, Ciara and Rihanna.

Dubhop Scores — Dub has influenced every dance music genre around, and now Dubhop Scores is here to continue the tradition, providing you with the synths, basses, guitars scores influenced by the likes of legendary engineers such as King Tubby, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Adrian Sherwood, Prince Far-I, Mad Professor, Massive Attack and many more. The Dubhop Scores sample pack is suited to breakbeat, upfront hip hop, drum n’ bass, trip hop, dubstep and other modern forms of electronic music, and has been engineered with authentic analogue warmth from deep within the PrimeLoops.com dub lab. With 80 catchy dubbed out riffs ranging from 70-90 Bpm, over 20 hardware synthesizers and several tape delay units have been used to create this authentic Fusion Series release.

Visit www.primeloops.com for more information on these royalty free music products.

Posted in: Prime Loops, R&B Progressions, royalty free music

Looking for a new royalty free music player? Check out Themusicase.com. Themusiccase.com has one of the largest royalty free music libraries, and now they are offering an innovative new tool for developers, flash designers and websites owners who need quality music background on their projects. Without any pay-per-track fee, the new music player introduces a new model in the royalty free music industry. You’ll also get unlimited royalty free music when you download the player at www.themusiccase.com.

There is no cost to download the music player, and users can listen to royalty free music simply with the use of the embed code. There are no pay-per-track fees. The program for the music player is extremely compatible and the interface connects with each user’s “favorites” section in order to create a playlist. The music player can be used in HTML websites, Flash Actionscript 2 websites, and Flash Actionscript 3 websites. Users may select any genre of music from the 15,000 royalty free tracks library. Experienced producers have handpicked each track, so you’ll definitely find a unique selection of all music styles. Enjoy all classic composers available in commercial cuts (featuring 30 sec, 60, sec, underscores, etc.). The only drawback is that playlists may have to be reorganized every time users wish to change their music background page.

According to their website, TheMusicCase.com is a leading world class music provider for producers. Representing some of the most experienced music producers from all over the world, we provide our clients with high quality production tracks and songs covering a wide list of musical styles and genres. All music is designed for professional users such as: Directors, Advertisement producers, Web-designers, Television and radio stations, Video art creators, Music Supervisors and Record companies (tracks for mechanical reproduction for use in compilation CD’s). Users can locate database music themes that work best with their project, and purchase the relevant license in real time.

Visit www.themusicase.com for more information about the music player and royalty free music services.

Posted in: flash, royalty free music players, website design

Enjoy a new sample pack of free royalty music from Xylote.com, featuring 10 sample packs. The Super Discount Bundle will be available for 14 days only, and includes a unique package full of sounds, samples, construction kits, royalty-free music loops and sound effects for creative music producers, aspiring DJs, web designers and individuals in the film industry.

The Super Discount Bundle is available for download with only 30 credits and features titles like Urbanstrasse, Modern Kits for PRH, Web Series, Crazy Humans, Nuclear Fx and more.

Some features include: Urbanstrasse, which is a mixture of Hip Hop and R&B. Choose from eight different professional construction kits that are ready to use from 85 to 120 BPM over 75 new percussion sounds, 5 EXS Drum Kits and 30 drum loops; music Loops over 170 music loops that are ready to use from 5 to 57 seconds long in the following genres — Jazz, Hip Hop/R&B, Techno, House, Orchestral, Pop, Acoustic, Eurodance, Minimal, Film/Action, Electronic, D&B, Medieval, Pop Rap and more. Producer beats include 538 professional drum loops compatible with software like ACID Pro, Pro Tools, SONAR, GarageBand, Nuendo, Logic, Cubase, Reason, Digital Performer, Session, Sequel, Live, FL Studio. Also enjoy 50 different and unique sound effects of human sounds, which were recorded with 24-bit technology for an incredible stereo sound, and 160 spoken word sound effects featuring numbers, days of the week, surround speakers, and the alphabet letters from A to Z.

You can easily listen and download every sound from the entire library available on this bundle pack at Xylote.com.  You can also choose to download samples, pro audio loops, royalty free music for YouTube videos, music loops for web templates, button sounds and much more.

Xylote.com is a web-based company that was built on futuristic ideas, matching a large variety of styles and sound effects from the smallest clicks/buttons for web utilities to sci-fi/drones and special effects for film productions.  Professional producers carefully selected each available selection, with an extensive background in creating original music for almost any type of music projects from jingles to commercial music and sound for picture.

Posted in: royalty-free music loops, Sound Effects, YouTube videos

Spotify is Europe’s biggest and most recognizable subscription music service, with over 8 million users. Part of Spotify’s service includes the ability to share music through different transporting networks, offering users the option to choose how they want to access royalty free music. According to Spotify’s website, “there are no restrictions in terms of what you can listen to or when. Forget about the hassle of waiting for files to download and fill up your hard drive before you get round to organizing them. Spotify is instant, fun and simple.”

Daniel Ek, owner founder of Spotify, recently pleaded with the Swedish music industry not to charge high royalty fees for streaming music services, but to try and plan a system where money is made through a number of different routes, instead. According to IBTimes, Ek suggested such feasible routes as music downloads, advertising, merchandising and tickets to live events. Ek’s fear is that high royalty music fees would cause online music businesses, such as Spotify, to fail.

Right now, royalty free music services are relying mainly on advertising revenue in order to survive. Spotify’s future looks “spotty” at best, and is going down the same road as Napster did 10 years ago. Napster was the original royalty free music pioneer, offering free music downloads and music-sharing capabilities between users. Music executives and artists from all over the world joined in the fight to shut Napster down. Eventually, Napster became a paid-subscription service but lost out to bigger and more powerful services such as Itunes. Unlike Napster, Spotify cleared the rights to all of the music it offers online. But, the royalty fees are a heavy price to pay.

Spotify does not want to become the next Napster, and Ek is fighting hard to keep royalty free music alive and well. There are a variety of royalty free music services available online. But if royalty fees increase and regulations intensify, you will see those services decline and eventually they will cease to exist.

Posted in: music downloads, Spotify, Swedish music industry