Spotify valued at over $23 billion despite major losses. Behringer teases Roland Jupiter-8 clone. Google launches new Song Maker tool.
Spotify goes public. After lots of speculation, Spotify finally announced this week it is going to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The IPO values the company at over $23 billion, despite the fact it made a loss of $1.5 billion in 2017. More here.
Shitter. Twitter has revealed that almost all of the $66.4 million it invested in SoundCloud has been lost. Further details here.
At it again. Uli Behringer has teased a clone of the Roland Jupiter-8. Originals cost around $20k, but Behringer’s loving tribute/shameless ripoff (delete as appropriate) will be much more affordable. Limited extra info here.
The sound of silence. “Britain’s music industry is worth £4.4bn a year and projects soft power around the world… but the industry faces an existential crisis.” Fewer and fewer students are studying music GCSE in British schools. The Economist investigates here.
Vanessa’s vision. PRS Foundation CEO Vanessa Reed has spoken about her hopes and ambitions for the Keychange initiative on gender parity in 2018. The campaign hopes to encourage festivals and industry events to “achieve or maintain a 50:50 balance by 2022”. Read more here.
‘Fun.’ Google have created Song Maker, which allows anyone to make a song. Whether that is a good or bad thing, decide here.
Update. Bitwig have announced a third major update since the launch of version 2. It includes plenty of new features. You can read more here.