Stormzy’s Cambridge scholarship program is back. Musicians prepare for the costs of Brexit. Flume drops an open-source sample pack. Beatport culls its back catalogue.
No-deal nightmare. With the possibility of a no-deal Brexit looming larger than ever, the Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM) is demanding that the British government cover additional costs musicians will incur when travelling to the EU. Because temporary international customs documents, known as carnets or merchandise passports, cost around £500-700, the ISM predicts the cost of traveling the EU with an instrument could increase up to £1,000 per year. That’s in addition to addition to private medical insurance costs, musical instrument certificates, international driving permits and visas. “These costs would be impossible for most freelance musicians, who earn on average around £20,000 per year,” Deborah Annetts, Chief Executive of the Incorporated Society of Musicians, said. “They would simply be unable to allocate up to 5% of their earnings to additional costs in the event of a no-deal Brexit.” Read the full report here.
Shesaid.so conference grows. More names have been added to shesaid.so’s first-annual conference. Taking place in Portimão, Portugal, from October 3rd through 6th, MEETSSS will now feature performances from Surma, Delhia de France, RoundHouse Kick, Mafalda and Deena Abdelwahe. CAA agent Maria May, Sonos Communications & Sustainability Manager Shakira Payne, and Facebook/Instagram Client Partner For Entertainment Vanessa Bakewell have been added to the list of guest speakers. Only conference delegates will be able to visit the converences, but the performances will be open to both delegates and the public. To find out more about the conference and tickets, head here.
More rotary bling. Following the announcement of Vestax’s $10,000 Phoenix mixer comes another high-priced rotary mixer. Running $6,000, the Alpha Recording System won’t set you back as much as the Phoenix, but it’s still designed with “purist ideals,” the company says, and features six channels, two VUs (to the Phoenix’s six), a three-band isolator on the master, and each channel has a three-band EQ — low, mid, and high. Like the Phoenix, the Model 9900 keeps its features to only the essentials. What you’re paying for is the “Japanese hand made precision workmanship” that was “a long time in the development phase,” the company stated in an Instagram post. See below.
Flume Sounds. Australian producer Flume has released the first edition of Flume Sounds, an open-source audio loop series for producers. The sounds come straight from the large library of sounds he’s built throughout the years, and Flume has promised more to come. The first pack contains 12 sounds in total. Each release, which will be announced via Flume’s YouTube and other social networks, will feature bespoke art from various visual artists. The first comes via Jonathan Zawada, a long-time Flume collaborator. Listen to the first Flume Sounds below, and download it here.
Stormzy Scholarship. For the second year in a row, Stormzy is continuing his Cambridge University scholarship program, The Stormzy Scholarship for Black UK Students, which will fund the degrees of two students starting school this fall. The funding will cover a full four years of undergraduate study, for a total of £18,000 available to each student, each academic year.
“There are so many young black kids all over the country who have the level of academic excellence to study at a university such as Cambridge – however we are still under-represented at leading universities,” Stormzy said in a statement. “We, as a minority, have so many examples of black students who have excelled at every level of education throughout the years. I hope this scholarship serves as a small reminder that if young black students wish to study at one of the best universities in the world, then the opportunity is yours for the taking – and if funding is one of the barriers, then we can work towards breaking that barrier down.” Head to the Cambridge University website for information on how to apply.
Beatport cleans house. Following last week’s news that Beatport would be entering into a partnership with Loopmasters Beatport has announced that any tracks that haven’t sold a single copy before 2019 will be removed from the store. TraxSource has a similar policy, removing any track that hasn’t been purchased every two years. However, this will be the first of a new “yearly storage clean-up procedure” for Beatport, and will take place before January.
New titles in the Attack store! We’re pleased to announce that three new titles have now arrived in the Attack Store:
- The Second Summer of Love: How Dance Music Took Over The World
- Dust & Grooves: Adventures In Record Collecting
- The Vinyl Frontier
For more information visit the books section and remember its 10% off your first order with us using the discount code ATTACK10%. Look out for our forthcoming interview with Alon Shulman author of The Second Summer of Love: How Dance Music Took Over the World.