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  SoundCloud CEO Alexander Ljung. Flickr/Sorosh Tavakoli Spotify isn't making any money. It's not even close to profitability. Its most recent accounts show it made a $194 million (�149 million) loss in 2015. And if you thought that was bad, German music streaming startup SoundCloud's finances may make you wince . It lost �39.1 million (�33 million) on revenues of just �17.3 million (�14.9 million) in 2014. It's no surprise, then, that The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that Spotify is in advanced acquisition talks with SoundCloud. Spotify has a business model that's all about hooking in free users through its ad-supported tier, and then (hopefully) converting them into paying every month for the service. SoundCloud could help funnel more people into Spotify, while keeping itself as a slightly more niche streaming site focused on original content by DJs and smaller artists. There have bee...

I f you never heard of Rick Fairless before, we�ll tell you he�s one of the most colorful characters in the biking scene. He owns Strokes Dallas motorcycle shop and has been a Victory advocate for some time now, his joint being also a dealership. His latest work is named Ethel - a mean custom Octane inspired by his dog. �Ethel, the Evil Octane � is a bit off compared to his previous custom jobs. It features aggressive lines and is finished in gray and brown accents, all contributing to a mean, dark look. �I wanted to make Ethel a tough, street-fighting broad! I love the lines of the Octane, so I wanted to make one mean and nasty,� he explains. �My wife and I own three Old English sheepdogs. The youngest one is six months old, and she is extremely cute and lovable, but she is wild and crazy, like a demon dog. Her name is Ethel, and that�s why I named this bike �Ethel, the Evil Octane.� It took Rick four months to built Ethel in his workshop and mostly used parts that are al...

(IBMA/YouTube) Raleigh will host the largest urban bluegrass festival in the world this week. The International Bluegrass Music Association's World of Bluegrass is an annual homecoming for the bluegrass music community. Taking place September 27 through October 1, it consists of three separate events: the IBMA Business Conference , the International Bluegrass Music Awards , and Wide Open Bluegrass . This is its fourth year in the Capital City. In addition to the three main events, bluegrass-related shows and attractions can be found scattered throughout Raleigh all week. A mix of free and ticketed events are available for bluegrass players and fans to expand professional networks, learn the latest about industry practices, and discover new music. Watch footage from last year's Wide Open Bluegrass festival: The IBMA kick-off will be held Monday evening at 7 p.m. in Market Hall in downtown Raleigh. It's free to IMBA volunteers, but will cost $10 for other attendee...

Hear the sounds of prehistoric times. Architect Ammar Khammash made an instrument entirely from foraged flint stones from the deserts of Jordan.

Image courtesy of Curtis Godino   The hype over plain wax is over. Vinyl can be made out of chocolate, or filled with blood, leaves, glitter, oils, human ashes , and even decorated with wax and hair. Usually aimed at hardcore collectors, these distinct records are frequently produced in limited batches and, with the collaboration of artists, can be shaped into any design and tailored to hold a range of materials. Recently artists have mastered a sealing technique that involves trapping liquids inside vinyl, allowing them to flow and spin as the record is playing. Take Mondo�s Aliens record, for example, filled with fluorescent yellow �Xenomorph blood,� an imaginative retake on James Horner�s classic 1986 score and limited to only 75 copies.   Image courtesy of Lissette Emma Commissioned by Waxwork Records, FRIDAY the 13th is a clear-pressed vinyl filled with 'blood.' Talking about the record, CEO and Founder of Waxwork Records, Kevin Bergeron, tells The Cre...

Display celebrates company's rich history of innovations in electronic music products From left: Sandra Jordan, Education Consultant; Stephen Schmidt, Vice President of Casio's Electronic Musical Instruments Division; and Carolyn Grant, Executive Director of MoMM, attend the debut of the Spotlight on Casio display at NAMM's Museum of Making Music (MoMM). (Photo Credit: Tim Whitehouse) CARLSBAD, Calif. , Sept. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On Saturday, September 10 , NAMM's Museum of Making Music (MoMM) celebrated the debut of Spotlight on Casio, the latest addition to the museum's many exhibits and musical instrument collections. Open now through January 29, 2017 , the new display chronicles Casio's 35 years of electronic music product innovations and features notable instruments including its first keyboard, the Casiotone CT-201; the AZ-1 classic "keytar"; the popular Privia digital piano (PX-560); a full 88-key Grand Hybrid action sample...

Emma McIntyre/Getty Images Honoree Max Martin arrives at the 2016 ASCAP Pop Awards at the Dolby Ballroom at Dolby Theatre on April 27, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Along with pop songwriter Niclas Molinder, the three founders aim to educate with a grassroots approach. The international debate over creators' rights will soon have a new player, run by songwriters who understand it from the inside. Swedish hitmaker Max Martin, ABBA member Bj�rn Ulvaeus and pop songwriter Niclas Molinder are forming Music Rights Awareness, an organization that will work to educate musicians about their rights. Each will serve on the board of directors. Music Rights Awareness will work internationally, and its first project, Music Rights In Africa, will aim to educate songwriters in Rwanda, Malawi and Tanzania. �It�s so important to spread this knowledge about what rights creators have,� Ulvaeus tells Billboard . Although many organizations adv...

After music exports rose in 2015, trade group says politicians must take notice of economic and cultural contribution. UK Music says popular artists such as Sam Smith help raise Britain�s profile around the world. Photograph: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images The music industry has issued a plea to politicians to protect the UK�s status as one of the world�s biggest exporters of new music during negotiations to leave the EU . New figures show UK music enjoyed another strong year for exports in 2015, prompting the industry�s main trade group to warn that politicians must recognise both its contribution to the economy and its power to raise Britain�s profile around the world thanks to the popularity of artists such as Adele and Sam Smith . There was a surge in foreign sales of British music and in ticket sales to overseas residents for events in Britain in 2015, according to the umbrella group UK Music , which represents the commercial music industry, including artists, songwriters an...

Music is changing at a breakneck speed in today�s modern culture. Spurred by new technology and increased access via the internet, new genres are popping up nearly every day. EDM has influenced the popular music sphere, rap has gone mainstream, and thumping bass seems to be creeping its way into all sorts of music. If someone just a few decades ago flipped through today�s radio channels, they would be utterly confused by the futuristic qualities of the music. However, if a denizen of perhaps the 1940�s or 50�s flipped to a modern alternative channel, they would recognize something very familiar: the loud twang of a banjo. To understand the banjo, we must first look at its history. It started as an African folk instrument fashioned out of a hollow gourd and sticks. Slaves brought the instrument over to the America�s where it slowly evolved. These slaves taught their masters to play the banjo and soon the instrument caught on in the popular culture of the South. In the mid-...

In a city dedicated to beauty, style, and magnificent art, the arrival of a new kind of museum is sure to attract people, even the ones who would never set foot inside a traditional museum - they will go and see this one. The concept is not new in France, a majestic cave in Provence has had digital shows for years, and the sheer splendor of the location has much to do with the exhilarating novelty of the viewing - as the Carri�res des Lumi�res is located inside an old limestone quarry in a tiny village of France. The gigantic tall walls of white stone are covered with vibrant images of such artists� works as Matisse, Chagall and others. The grandiose view of such masterful paintings makes is almost overwhelming to walk the caves. The multiple cavernous rooms stay at a very cool temperature, no matter the outside heat. From the outside, there is nothing to see. It�s all in the belly of the rock. A parking lot in front allows visitors to walk to the entrance and be vis...

Luke Hemmings of the band 5 Seconds of Summer at the Pandora Summer Crush concert last month in Los Angeles. How much are people willing to spend for streaming music? For years, thanks to rigid pricing structures at streaming services, the answer has been stuck at $10 a month or nothing. But that model may soon be challenged by two giants of online media: Amazon and Pandora Media . Both companies are set to introduce new versions of their streaming services in coming weeks, charging as little as $5 a month, according to multiple people with direct knowledge of the plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the process was ongoing. The plans will put pressure on incumbent players like Spotify and Apple Music and offer the music industry a major test regarding the value of streaming music � including the crucial question of whether discounts will be enough to entice people to pay anything when virtually every song is also available free. The pricing model of $10 ...

In 1901, 20-year-old William S. Harley drew up plans for a small engine with a displacement of 7.07 cubic inches (116 cc) and four-inch (102 mm) flywheels. The engine was designed for use in a regular pedal-bicycle frame. Over the next two years, Harley and his childhood friend Arthur Davidson worked on their motor-bicycle using the northside Milwaukee machine shop at the home of their friend, Henry Melk. It was finished in 1903 with the help of Arthur�s brother, Walter Davidson. Upon testing their power-cycle, Harley, and the Davidson brothers found it unable to climb the hills around Milwaukee without pedal assistance. They quickly wrote off their first motor-bicycle as a valuable learning experiment. Work immediately began on a new and improved second-generation machine. This first �real� Harley-Davidson motorcycle had a bigger engine of 24.74 cubic inches (405 cc) with 9.75 inches (25 cm) flywheels weighing 28 lb (13 kg). The machine�...

The Eventide H910 is an incredibly faithful recreation of the legendary H910 Harmonizer used on countless records by John Lennon, U2, Frank Zappa, Led Zeppelin, Bon Jovi, AC/DC, David Bowie, Van Halen and much more. The Eventide H910 Harmonizer, part of the Anthology bundle, is now available as a separate Native plug-in ready to be enjoyed for its unique combination of pitch shifting, modulation and delay. The H910 is useful to double and spread out guitars and vocals, fatten snares, de-tune synths or add harmonies or slapback delays to vocals. It�s easy to get freaky mechanical sounds, drone effects or robotic language using self-oscillation, delay and anti-feedback controls as found on the original hardware unit. You also get the H910 Dual Harmonizer, which recreates the popular technique of running two H910 units in parallel with their outputs panned left and right to create lush doubling and stereo-widening. There is also the MIDI mapped H910-EKD version that has an o...