As everybody is no doubt aware, there’s a million custom firmwares popping up for things. I’ve been tracking one in particular for my Polyend Tracker devices, not least because they had a long-standing bug where they didn’t export at exactly 44,100 Hz. That caused a load of clock drift issues when attempting to migrate stems into your DAW.

Anyway, whilst custom firmwares have abounded, I’ve not yet seen a company really respond officially to that. Today, though, Polyend have just sent an update out with what they’re calling a community firmware. It basically seems like it’s pinched all the best features from the community mods that they’ve seen and rolled it into one official update.

Crucially, as well as adding a couple more synths and direct SD card streaming, it also fixes the export bug that was principally the reason I’d abandoned using the devices. Also, though, I note that they have now made the firmware open source on GitHub, so that essentially anyone can do anything they want with it from here on.

I think it’s the smart response, and I suspect it will generate a whole new wave of interest in the Tracker devices. Curious to see how other companies respond as I’d imagine at this point it would be madness NOT to post the firmware, especially if the devices are no longer supported (as is the case with the OG Tracker and the Mini).

Back on the 16th of October I questioned whether Meta's new terms of business (that it announced it was automatically rolling out) would give it carte blanche to train on music or other IP hosted on any website.

Clearly I was not alone in that concern, as the Copyright Alliance, which comprises bodies like the RIAA and the NMPA, has now issued a statement calling the terms “unconscionable”.

Things have not turned legal yet, as Meta has pushed back its plans to roll out the new terms, but don't be shocked if it still goes that way…

Music Business WorldwideCopyright Alliance – whose members include the RIAA, NMPA, and UMG – calls Meta’s proposed business terms ‘unconscionable.’ Now Meta says the rollout could be delayed again. - Music Business WorldwideThe updates are currently scheduled to apply to commercial accounts across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Threads, and WhatsApp from November 20.

I’d heard about this lost DJ mix that was only recently unearthed; I think there was a good amount of press covering the decision to post it up. Either way, I highly recommend it. This is a DJ set that is very much in that chaotic, live, play-whatever-you-want kind of mode, and it’s a true gem because of it.

Take a listen:

I will keep saying it: there was FAR too much music being released long before AI rocked up. Now though, it is just turbo-charging a shit machine such that more than 50% of all uploads to DSPs are AI slop.

Obviously Suno has now doubled down on this by launching an MCP so you can create even more dross from within Claude, OpenAI or your LLM of choice.

Urgh.

Music Business WorldwideSuno’s new MCP tool lets users make songs inside ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini – as its developer API gets a sign-in portal but remains in beta - Music Business WorldwideSuno has unveiled a tool that lets users create songs from inside AI assistants including ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. The tool, Suno MCP, is in beta and was announced in Suno’s release notes on…

Yesterday I published a piece over on Network Notes, examining what is going on with Universal Music and its attempts to move back into private ownership, which - for now anyway- appear to be floundering.

One observation was that the share price is continually dropping (down about 33% YoY), so I was curious to see how the share price would respond after the company reported its Q3 performance last night. The report basically confirmed better earnings, fuelled by faster growth in streaming revenues and its continued cost-cutting drive.

Share prices appeared to rebound upon the news, going up 12% as the markets opened again this morning. As the day has progressed however, the price is slowly coming back down again. Not great:

For now, this seems to confirm my suspicion that investors are just losing interest in Universal's ability to deliver meaningful returns to them. That is the reason the company is looking to go back into private ownership. Per my article, however, I suspect they may struggle to achieve that. If they do not succeed, then they find themselves in a very risky position where they will be attempting to cut even more in order to increase profit, which I suspect will end badly.

A story to keep tracking, no question.

I’m loving these plugins from Ebb & Flow. Just a fantastic sound to each of them. For me the mark of a great plugin is when you get super inspired within seconds of using it, and all three here do not disappoint on that front.

Highly recommended!

ebbandflowebbandflowCreators of innovative virtual instruments.

I am genuinely starting to think that a viable solution to ticket sales being overrun by bots is to revert back to selling paper ones from a kiosk. That or ticket sellers integrate the ID checking functions that exist when undertaking legal matters etc, which involves scanning your passport and doing full face scans etc.

This problem is only going to get worse, after all…

TicketNewsGarth Brooks Halts Kansas City Ticket Sale, Claiming "Out of Hand" Bot IssuesGarth Brooks halted ticket sales for his third Kansas City concert, blaming bots. The shutdown follows a similar disruption involving SeatGeek.

If you missed it, Sony and Universal are attempting to get a social post from a Suno investor in which she wrote “I’ve personally shifted most of my listening to Suno. I was so tired of Spotify giving me the same overplayed recommendations.”

Their point is that this demonstrates Suno’s desire to replace Spotify et al - something it always said was not the case.

For me though, what this really shows is this deluded position Silicon Valley tech people seem to hold, namely that all music and art is easily replaced by AI. It says so much more about them than it ever does anything else.

Music Business WorldwideUniversal and Sony cleared to depose ex-Menlo Ventures exec over deleted post: ‘I’ve personally shifted most of my listening to Suno’ - Music Business WorldwideIn March, MBW pointed to the potential legal significance of Gong’s post in an open letter to Suno CEO Mikey Shulman…

With it being a windy, grim Sunday I thought it was a fine time to pen another Missed Listen, this time about Swell’s exquisite album “Well?”.

Read the full article here:

missedlistens.substack.comSwell - Well?Timeless genius that damn-near pulled off a perfect three album run

It is an eternal regret of mine that I never got to see Sufjan Stevens live on the Illinois tour. This bootleg, compiling various soundboard recordings from his shows on that run, is therefore a real treasure.

The quality is amazing, the songs are utterly beautiful, and, trivia fans, the female performer you hear alongside him is a pre-St Vincent Annie Clark. Glorious.

Dive in:

I’ve been a user of Arc browser since it launched. It was far more capable than Chrome and soon became an essential part of my workflow. It annoyed me then, when the makers basically mothballed it in favour of a new AI-infused browser called Dia. Earlier this week, they went even further and basically announced the browser was being fully shut down.

Enter Crest. I installed it last night and so far it’s been a like-for-like replacement. It even has a migration feature to import your Arc spaces, extensions and history. Very effortless. Worth a look if you’re also an Arc user wondering where to go next.

CrestCrest Browser for Mac, iPad, and iPhoneAn independent browser made with a love for Arc's best ideas, including Spaces, a calm sidebar, and Peek.

My colleague Harry shared this in our company Slack: Dortmund FC are rewarding fans with loyalty points for keeping their phones locked during a game.

“Dortmund are offering signed jerseys and gift cards for club merchandise to fans who use an app which measures how often they unlock their phones at their stadium.”

Could bands adopt this? In theory, yes. I love it as a concept.

espn.co.ukespn.co.uk

One issue that keeps coming up for me as a business owner employing 30+ people is how you control the use and deployment of AI, and equally, how you understand exactly what people are using tokens for.

Currently, it feels woefully underserved across the major AI providers, so this concept from the team at Make strikes me as very much recognising the gap in the market. Worth a look.

The part I am still not quite figuring out here is how all these parts hang together. At some point I assume One Platform To Rule Them All will emerge, but until then this all remains quite a messy area in terms of governance.

make.comIntroducing MakeOS | MakeThe place where AI agents do your company's work reliably. You see all of it, orchestrate how it's done, and stay in control. | Make

• 40% of Gen Z say that they wish social media had never been invented.
• 63% of Gen Z adults now intentionally unplug—the highest rate of any generation
• 44% of the time, when people go online, they get sucked into scrolling and end up somewhere they didn’t intend to be

I love this line: “Don’t reinforce the loop. Design the exit.”

I couldn't agree more. It's why here at Motive Unknown we're focusing far, far more on elevating experiences that live on the artist's own website, and ideally tying those to IRL experiences where there is infinitely more value and connection attributed to it.

PinterestWhy brands need to fuel a life, not fill a feedGen Z wants their time online to be in service of their life, not a distraction from it. See how your brand can help to turn their inspiration into real-world action on Pinterest.

UPDATE: I wound up writing a longer piece about marketing, stemming from this article. Read that here.

Loving the new material from Bicep. This has been on repeat. Love the video too! Feels like classic Bicep to me, which as a massive fan of their first two albums, is a welcome thing indeed.

Really keen to see how the SLUG album lands; I have high hopes for this one!