The big got bigger and the rich got richer in 2013. In the 57 investment deals totaling over $2.4 billion tracked by Billboard, nearly 9 in 10 dollars invested went to a traditional music company, an EDM concert promoter or a company that streams music. Most of the investments were made in small, digital startups….

After a $100 million refurbishment headed by Madison Square Garden’s James Dolan and manager Irving Azoff, the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., is back in the concert biz. (It bowed Jan. 15 with a six-show stand by Azoff client The Eagles; the red-hot Imagine Dragons play Feb. 14.)…

There are millions – possibly billions, possibly even kazillions – of songs on Spotify. And some have never been played. Forgotify is an amazing website that plays songs at random from Spotify: the only requirement is that they’ve never been played before. Not even once. And sure, so far we’ve had a lot of jazz…

Nestled among tracks from U2, Pharrell, Karen O and a monster Disney ballad was a peculiar addition to the nominees for Best Original Song at this year’s Oscars: “Alone Yet Not Alone,” the theme song to a Christian film of the same name, sung by evangelical author and radio host Joni Eareckson Tada, who is quadriplegic. Now…

I can’t believe that I’m saying this, but I come to praise the Grammy Awards Show, not bury it. It’s easy to criticize the Grammys, and I’ve done my share in the past, but if you take into consideration what this show is trying to accomplish, it’s amazing that it comes off pleasing anyone, let…

In both 2012 and 2013, just three of the top 25 artists on Billboard’s Top Country Songs chart were solo women. In a Billboard Country Update column last fall, we heard what country radio has to say about this, but what do the artists themselves think? Carrie Underwood was one of the artists who made…

It’s been a busy year so far for Grammy executive producer Ken Ehrlich, who is trying to unwind after overseeing the awards show live on Sunday night, then the taping of the gala The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles, which will air Feb. 9 on CBS, 50 years to the…

At the 2014 NAMM Show, Livid Instruments & Dubspot introduced the DS1 MIDI mixing controller. The DS1 MIDI Mixer is a portable solution for computer-based mixing, production and performance. The collaboration grew out of Dubspot’s need for a single controller that they could use in classrooms for teaching mixing, production, sound design and DJing….

When it comes to drum sounds, sometimes the smallest details can make a big difference when you consider that there are usually multiple mics involved. Changing one thing can sometimes make a difference, but sometimes it’s the fact that many small adjustments have a cumulative effective on the overall sound. Here are 7 tips culled…

One of the most important things you can do to prepare for the year ahead is to create a budget for your musical activities. Having a budget will give you a much clearer look at where you want to go financially, how you’ll get there, and what your progress is along the way. We’ve broken…