The market for music download may be taking a hit, but TuneCore’s payouts are still climbing. The self-serve music distribution platform announced it paid out $34.1 million to artists in the first quarter of this year.  The revenue was generated from nearly 1.3 billion downloads and streams, a 75% increase over the same period in…

REVOLT TV will air a 24-hour Beats Music marathon highlighting the star-studded 2014 concert that marked the official launch of their mobile app. The special, titled “It Was A Good Day, Beats Music Presents: The Live 90’s Hip Hop Playlist,” is an instant classic, headlined by and impressive lineup of industry icons. Performances include Dr….

Back in 2008, a program called I Want To Work For Diddy made its debut on VH1. As its title suggests, the program follows a handful of Millennials as they perform outrageous tasks in order to win approval—and, eventually, employment—from Sean “Diddy” Combs. The contestants had plenty to worry about, given the difficulty of Diddy’s…

French prosecutors have dropped the charges levelled at Bob Dylan last year after the singer made comments about Croatians that were alleged to violate the country’s anti-discrimination laws, the Wall Street Journal reports. Instead, law officials are looking to looking to indict Rolling Stone’s French edition for printing the remarks in the first place. In…

Justin Smith, known as music producer Just Blaze, who produces for artists such as Jay-Z and Eminem, talks with Lee Hawkins about his role in VH1’s DJ show, “Master of the Mix” and the lucrative business of beat-making and production. Plus he shows step-by-step how he built the beat for hit song “Higher.” [WSJDigitalNetwork]  

Childish Gambino isn’t too happy with his record label, Glassnote Records. Soon after releasing the video for his latest “Because The Internet” single, “Sweatpants,” Gambino took to Twitter to express his frustration with the label, which he’s worked with for two albums to date (“Camp” and “Because The Internet”). “so this sweatpants video and blog…

Mastering engineering Ian Shepherd takes a look at studio acoustic treatment in the latest of his video series on Building a Home Mastering Studio. While Shepherd’s goal is to be able to do useful mastering tasks in his home studio, much of the information will be useful to anyone planning a home studio….

Google has bought Titan Aerospace, a maker of solar-powered drones, saying it could help bring Internet access to remote parts of the world as well as solve other problems. Financial terms were not disclosed. Google Inc. said Monday that atmospheric satellites could also be used in disaster relief and assessing environmental damage….

  It’s been several years since St. Louis, Missouri rapper Chingy was accused of having relations with Sidney Starr, a transgender model. And during an interview with Vlad TV, Chingy revealed that rumors of his relationship with Sidney Starr injured his music career and resulted in the loss of his record deal due to the…

Toronto has banned electronic dance music. The Toronto Star reports that city-owned buildings at Exhibition Place will no longer host electronic dance music parties, as a result of a 4-3 board vote on Friday. Advocates of the ban argue that it will make young people safer, saying that ‘drug and alcohol abuse among minors is…