Why Fake Streams Hurt Every Developing Artist

fake streams

A while ago an article about a website promising a free money scheme popped into my inbox.

The point of the scheme was to get an AI to make an album with royalty-free samples that you could upload to Spotify in your name.

The website pointed out that you may distribute your album to Spotify and play it in the background 24/7 to collect streaming payments.

Sounds great, right?

Questionable makes use of Spotify like this take away from the already small pool of money available to artists that distribute their music on Spotify.

Now, using an AI to write an album for you with royalty-free samples so you’ll be able to distribute it and personally stream it to earn money is definitely a grey area—and it’s pretty silly.

But similar schemes that promise to improve your stream counts on Spotify are much more dangerous—and they hurt developing artists more than you might think.

To keep your tracks safe on Spotify and other streaming websites, here’s how you can protect yourself from fake streams.

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5 Free Music Plugins to Get in February

free music plugins

Free plugins are one of the greatest things about being a music producer in 2021. High-quality music production tools have never been more accessible for the average musician. However, with more freeware plugins showing up on the scene daily, understanding which ones work for your music production isn’t easy. That’s why we’re introducing you to the most useful and creative free music plugins in this article.

Creative developers will never stop releasing amazing tools for music production.

Plugins like EQ, compression, reverb, and synths have been around forever, however, there’s always a fresh new take on the core concepts to discover.

This month we take a look at some extraordinary approaches to plugin design that you’ll need to download right away.

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Why Streaming Stats Don’t Define You as an Artist

streaming stats

2021 is finally here. It’s pretty difficult to ignore the statistics behind your music.

Building your music online and making it viral on Spotify and YouTube means being exposed to the number of times your tracks have been listened to.

While these statistics could be useful to you as an artist to some degree, they’ll additionally do lots of harm.

It’s natural to think that views and stream statistics could totally represent a track’s value, however, that isn’t true at all.

The truth is that streaming stats can’t start to define you or your music. Focusing on them too much will hurt your creativity and make it tougher to reach your goals.

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7 Creative Ways to Use Pitch Correction on Vocals

pitch correction

Vocal pitch correction is a controversial topic in music production.

It’s been an essential production technique for many years, however, skeptics still believe using it means you’re a bad singer.

For those who’ve never tried pitch plugins before, or you think vocal tuning is cheating, you’re missing out on the huge creative potential of this powerful software.

If you’re willing to experiment, plugins like Auto-Tune Access make it possible to bend and form the human voice to design a completely new instrument.

In this article, we’ll explain everything you need to know to start using pitch correction creatively in your workflow.

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Everybody Uses Vocal Pitch Correction. Is It True?

vocal pitch correction

Every recording engineer has to work with the equipment available to them at the moment. Those recording tools and technologies put a distinctive stamp on the music they record. An album from 1955 sounds completely different than an album from 1985. The modern era of recording is no different. Developments like DAWs, compact audio interfaces, and plugins all contribute to the sound of modern music. What has changed is the pace of technology.  Things that were impossible in the past are trivial for modern producers. One of those main breakthroughs is vocal pitch correction. This powerful technology may seem like cheating, but it’s just another tool modern engineers have at their disposal—it can be used well, or poorly. Here we have a hard truth for you: everyone uses vocal pitch correction, even the pros. We’ll explain why.

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22 Rap Genres That Define the New Evolution (1/2)

rap genres

Just about 40 years ago, hip-hop was born. Ever since rap has expanded into tons of subgenres and styles. Today every hip-hop and rap subgenre has a completely different sound, even if they still follow the core tenants of rhyme and beat. From the early days of underground New York hip-hop to the twisted sound of UK Drill, the only thing that’s been constant in the genre is change, especially with the evolution of technology. In this article we’ll briefly explore each genre that matters, so you know what’s out there to explore in-depth. Here are 22 rap genres that stick out to us.

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How to Choose A Reference Track For A Better Mix

choose a reference track

No mixing environment is perfect.

Even when you have acoustic treatment, quality monitors, and great headphones, there’s always a bit of guesswork in the final stages of your mix process.

To get good results you should know what you’re up against—and the right way to work around it.

Reference tracks are how you get that perspective. They’re an incredibly useful tool that will help you decide your mix objectively.

However, what is reference tracks? Which ones should you use, and how to work with them?

In this article, we’ll explain what reference tracks are, how to choose a reference track for a better mix, and some of my tops pick for different mix situations.

Let’s get started.

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