Are you still on Clubhouse? The social platform has downsized, dropping 50% of its workforce to reset its purpose, and will use a “smaller, product-focused team.”
According to Music Business Worldwide, Clubhouse founders Paul Davison and Rohan Seth shot an email on the decision to lay off workers.
“Today we announced that we’re scaling back our org by over 50% and saying goodbye to many talented, dedicated teammates in the process. We’re deeply sorry to be doing this, and we would not be making this change if we didn’t feel it was absolutely necessary,” the founders said.
In their email, Clubhouse acknowledged how their platform was impacted by a post-COVID world, forcing an evolution. You can learn about the development here.
Get ready to pay a bit more to stream your favorite songs. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek revealed on Tuesday (Apr. 25) his desire to raise prices for American subscriptions for the first time.
“I think we are ready to raise prices, I think we have the ability to do that, but it really comes down to those negotiations,” Ek said.
“We did raise prices in 46 different locations and markets last year, and even in those markets we were still outperforming,” said Ek. “I feel really good about our ability to raise prices over time and we have lots of data now that backs that up. We may have been marginally helped by being a lower-cost provider, but it isn’t a primary part of our strategy and it’s not something that we’re thinking about.”
According to TechCrunch, Spotify currently boasts over 515 million monthly active users, an increase of 5% from the previous quarter. The number is also a 22% increase from the last year. Of that number, 210 million are premium subscribers.
At a private celebration at Mel’s Drive-In in West Hollywood, Nick Cannon and Amp, the live radio app from Amazon, toasted the impending premiere of The Daily Cannon, a new morning program hosted by Nick Cannon, live on Amp every Monday through Friday starting April 24, at 9 a.m. EDT.
Along with brunch-inspired cocktails and shared breakfast fare, the event also featured a performance by DJ Skratchy, an update from Nick about his plans for his new daily program, and brunch-style beverages.
Rapper NLE Choppa will be Nick’s first guest visiting him live from The Daily Cannon studio on the launch program on April 24th, he said before getting into the DJ booth.
“I’m excited to be joining the next generation of live audio entertainment on Amp. Having a place where I can directly connect with listeners five days a week to spotlight the hottest emerging artists, chat about the latest and greatest in music and entertainment, and share real-time announcements in my world and beyond will make The Daily Cannon a show you don’t want to miss,” said host Nick Cannon. “There’s a magical thing that happens when entertainment is unedited and live, and I am excited for our journey ahead.”
Courtney Bee_Mason Moussette_Abby De La Rosa_ Amp The Daily Cannon Launch Party
Courtney Bee Mason Moussette Abby De La Rosa Amp The Daily Cannon Launch Party
The Daily Cannon, a new morning program presented by Nick Cannon, will debut on Amp on Monday, April 24, at 9 a.m. EDT, according to an announcement made by the live radio app from Amazon. The multidimensional talent will serve as a cultural ambassador as he headlines each raw and uncensored show with personally selected new R&B, hip-hop, and pop songs; the inside scoop on celebrity and culture news; and conversations with today’s best musicians, newsmakers, and Amp innovators.
The Daily Cannon on Amp is a cutting-edge radio show that has been redesigned for a live audience that is primarily social. With Amp, listeners can ring in and have live chats with Cannon on the app, allowing him to interact with them in real-time.
Programs on Amp feature a diverse range of emerging and established hosts across the talent spectrum, including artists Nicki Minaj, Halsey, NBA YoungBoy, Joe Budden, NBA star Draymond Green, and artist, producer, and TV personality Kandi Burruss. Anyone can create their own live shows using just their phone.
Ncredible and Justin “Freeze” Fostar are responsible for producing The Daily Cannon. Ben Sumpter and Nick Cannon are the executive producers. The Weiss Agency’s Heather Cohen, Michael Goldman’s management, Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein’s legal counsel, and Michael Goldman are members of Cannon’s team. Bobb & Lezcano Lezcano.
The Amp app can be downloaded in the U.S. iOS App Store here.
With Raggaeton remaining a dominant force on TikTok, Karol G, and Shakira’s “TQG” found a way to break through and become the top trending Latin song on the platform last week. Traditional and regional Latin genres that don’t get as much radio airplay have seen improved commercial success because of TikTok.
Regional Mexican music, a catch-all word that incorporates genres like norteo, corridos, and banda, is leading the charge. This genre went from being absent to a mainstay on the Billboard charts, in part due to the success of regional songs on TikTok. Both “Soy Él Unico” by Yahritza y Su Esencia and “Botella Tras Botella,” which first gained popularity as an original sound on TikTok, debuted at #20 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2021. “Botella Tras Botella” (344k video productions) by Christian Nodal & Gera.MX was the first regional Mexican hit to chart on the Hot 100.
Mexican regional music is having a big year on TikTok, and Peso Pluma, a 23-year-old singer, is leading the push. Peso Pluma, who has over 1.6 million TikTok followers, is behind some of the year’s biggest hits, such as the Natanael Cano collaboration “PRC” (261k video creations), which gained popularity thanks to a dance that utilizes the song’s distinctive trumpet hook, and the Eslabon Armado and Peso Pluma joint effort “Ella Baila Sola,” which generated over 470k video creations.
Peso is currently in the spotlight thanks to his collaboration with Yng Lvcas, “La Bebe,” which generated over 40k creations and peaked as #2 on TikTok’s list of the week’s most popular songs. Peso Pluma has five singles that have reached the Billboard Hot 100 as a result of TikTok, including “PRC” (#64), “La Bebe” (#26), and “Ella Baila Sola,” which recently reached the highest-charting position for a regional Mexican song in chart history at #17.
Nick Cannon is turning his talents to radio, specifically Amazon’s live radio app Amp.
The Daily Cannon, a new morning program presented by Nick Cannon, will debut on Amp on Monday, April 24, at 9 a.m. EDT, according to an announcement made by the live radio app from Amazon. The multidimensional talent will serve as a cultural ambassador as he headlines each raw and uncensored show with personally selected new R&B, hip-hop, and pop songs; the inside scoop on celebrity and culture news; and conversations with today’s best musicians, newsmakers, and Amp innovators.
The Daily Cannon on Amp is a cutting-edge radio show that has been redesigned for a live audience that is primarily social. With Amp, listeners can ring in and have live chats with Cannon on the app, allowing him to interact with them in real-time.
“I’m excited to be joining the next generation of live audio entertainment on Amp. Having a place where I can directly connect with listeners five days a week to spotlight the hottest emerging artists, chat about the latest and greatest in music and entertainment, and share real-time announcements in my world and beyond will make The Daily Cannon a show you don’t want to miss,” said host Nick Cannon. “There’s a magical thing that happens when entertainment is unedited and live, and I am excited for our journey ahead.”
Programs on Amp feature a diverse range of emerging and established hosts across the talent spectrum, including artists Nicki Minaj, Halsey, NBA YoungBoy, Joe Budden, NBA star Draymond Green, and artist, producer, and TV personality Kandi Burruss. Anyone can create their own live shows using just their phone.
Ncredible and Justin “Freeze” Fostar are responsible for producing The Daily Cannon. Ben Sumpter and Nick Cannon are the executive producers. The Weiss Agency’s Heather Cohen, Michael Goldman’s management, Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein’s legal counsel, and Michael Goldman are members of Cannon’s team. Bobb & Lezcano Lezcano.
The Amp app can be downloaded in the U.S. iOS App Store here.
Even though April Fools Day was over a week ago, the jokes apparently have not stopped for Elon Musk. Over the weekend, the eccentric Twitter CEO apparently defaced…his own business’s sign.
For reasons completely unclear, Musk had covered up the “w” on the company’s sign outside of its headquarters in San Francisco. While some assumed that it was a routine maintenance or repair issue, it appeared that Musk had done it….just because.
Elon Musk, in a remarkable show of maturity, has removed the “w” from Twitter’s logo outside their San Francisco HQ. The company now reads as “Titter” pic.twitter.com/0i914uEygX
However, while some fans thought that the stunt was funny, the building’s landlord was apparently not having it, stating that the sign could not be altered from its previously-approved design.
Apparently Musk (or one of his staff) may have found a loophole in the contract that allowed them to paint the “w” the background color of the sign (white). While some people were unsure whether the painting was the work of vandalism, Musk proudly took credit on Sunday on (where else?) Twitter, showing off the new sign.
Our landlord at SF HQ says we’re legally required to keep sign as Twitter & cannot remove “w”, so we painted it background color. Problem solved! pic.twitter.com/1iFjccTbUq
The tech industry is getting another hit. Amazon has announced the intention to lay off 9.000 additional employees. According to Variety, that number will be on top of the 18,000 jobs that were announced to be cut on Monday.
Among the divisions that will be impacted is Twitch. Amazon is also said to be ready to downsize the Amazon Web Services (AWS), People, Experience and Technology (PXT), and advertising areas. Last week, Twitch CEO Emmett Shear resigned following a 16-year leadership tenure.
The final call for job cuts will be mid to late April, according to CEO Andy Jassy. The job cuts are reportedly fueled by economic “uncertainty.”
“This was a difficult decision, but one that we think is best for the company long term,” Jassy wrote.
The full Amazon memo from CEO Jassy can be read here. Layoffs are also hitting Meta, Facebook’s parent company. You can read that here.
OpenAI unveiled GPT-4, which according to them, is capable of performing well on standardized tests. OpenAI further reveals that the updated technology passed a law school bar exam with a score in the top 10% of test takers. The older version, GPT-3.5, scored around the bottom 10%. Equally impressive, GPT-4 can also read, analyze or generate up to 25,000 words of text, and write code in all major programming languages, according to the company.
GPT-4 is a multimodal large language model, which means it can respond to both text and images. “Give it a photo of the contents of your fridge and ask it what you could make, and GPT-4 will try to come up with recipes that use the pictured ingredients. It’s also great at explaining jokes, says Sutskever, OpenAI’s Chief Scientist. “If you show it a meme, it can tell you why it’s funny.”
Within hours after its release, several users said they created computer games in less than a minute by simply asking the chatbot to generate code, resulting in near-perfect renditions of Tetris and Connect Four.
We are happy to confirm that the new Bing is running on GPT-4, which we’ve customized for search,” Microsoft said. “If you’ve used the new Bing preview at any time in the last five weeks, you’ve already experienced an early version of this powerful model.” According to CNN, while ChatGPT has impressed many users with its ability to generate original essays, stories and song lyrics in response to user prompts since its November 2022 launch, it has also raised some concerns. AI chatbots, including tools from Microsoft and Google, have been called out in recent weeks for being emotionally reactive, making factual errors and engaging in outright “hallucinations,” as the industry calls it.
To use GPT-4, users have to subscribe to ChatGPT Plus, which has a $20 monthly subscription, for premium access to the service.
TikTok is on the clock. The Biden administration has warned the tech giant that it is facing a ban in the United States if its Chinese owners do not sell their stakes in the social media platforms.
The order was given by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), highlighting China and the social media app having nearly 100 million users in the United States.
CNN notes TikTok confirmed receiving the request but denied the possibility of providing details.
“If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn’t solve the problem,” TikTok spokesperson Maureen Shanahan said in a statement. “A change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access. The best way to address concerns about national security is with the transparent, US-based protection of US user data and systems, with robust third-party monitoring, vetting, and verification, which we are already implementing.”
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin stated America has “failed to produce evidence that TikTok threatens US national security.”
In 2022, Congress and Joe Biden passed legislation blocking TikTok from US Government devices, which the European Union and Canada followed.
Wyclef Jean had his first-ever stay in the hospital, but he is delivering a message to fans that he is doing ok.
Speaking with TMZ, Wyclef Jean stated he felt numb on the right side of his face and went to a doctor immediately. That doctor then sent him to the ER.
On Instagram, Wyclef wrote, “Sometimes we forget our body is our temple. Be back soon.”
Sending prayers & healing to @wyclef who has checked himself into a hospital for undisclosed medical reasons. pic.twitter.com/8QnQsE3Eeo
Wyclef stated Dr. Waleed Lashin let Wyclef know the hospital stay and numbness resulted from exhaustion and stress-related. Wyclef is now back at home, and more tests are scheduled.
Wyclef Jean has always had his hands on many different things. Now, the former Fugees member is taking his talents to the automotive industry. On Monday (March 6), Jean showed off his new electric vehicle in an Instagram post. The caption read, “U S A premier Attucks Apex AP0 welcoming my Electric SuperCar…. Little Haiti We Up!!!!”
His new vehicle is the Attucks Apex AP0, a two-seat lightweight supercar. It is said to be the lightest electric supercar in the world, weighing less than 2,700 pounds. The car was designed in the United Kingdom but built in the United States. Jean called it his dream car on Twitter. It was first revealed at The Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island Country and Golf Course this past weekend in Florida.
Though the Attucks Apex has been released, consumers won’t be able to purchase it until the Winter of 2024. The electric vehicle is set to be priced at $350,000 with a high speed of 190 miles per hour. The car has the capacity to reach 60 miles per hour in 2-3 seconds! The “Sweetest Girl” rapper continues to help improve his birth nation, Haiti. With this new vehicle, Jean has plans to have its headquarters right in Little Haiti, Miami.
Wyclef spoke about his new supercar on Twitter.
“Attucks Apex AP0 EV Supercar also marks the launch of my new platform, #AttucksFuture and technology; we will voice and create dreams in the community.”
Attucks Apex AP0, el Supercoche eléctrico más ligero de la historia, ¡se ha lanzado oficialmente en EE.UU.! Conozca el Supercoche EV diseñado en el Reino Unido y fabricado en EE.UU., acelera de 0 a 100 km/h en 2,3 segundos, ¡el coche de mis sueños! pic.twitter.com/utiv2yjEeT
Attucks Apex AP0, el Supercoche eléctrico más ligero de la historia, ¡se ha lanzado oficialmente en EE.UU.! Conozca el Supercoche EV diseñado en el Reino Unido y fabricado en EE.UU., acelera de 0 a 100 km/h en 2,3 segundos, ¡el coche de mis sueños! pic.twitter.com/utiv2yjEeT
(@williamlegate) 
& healing 
to