News Round-Up: 20/10/2018

Point Blank goes East. Deadmau5 apologizes. Brexit, Brexit and more Brexit.

PrintOUT. The German magazine Spex will publish its last print issue in December. Faced with declining advertising and sales revenue, Spex follows Groove after it too revealed earlier this month that they would cease printing. Read more here.

Problematic. In the case of a No Deal Brexit, British citizens may not be able to access their Netflix or Spotify accounts in the EU. The government revealed the possible change to the copyright law earlier this week. It also states that if Britain were to split with the EU next year, without successfully agreeing to a deal, then 70 free trade agreements would be lost. Read more here.

More artists, more music. Point blank has partnered with NetEase FEVER’s to open its first branch in China. The electronic music school will open in Hangzhou and hopes to capture the growing local interest in music production. It will open in the summer of 2019. Read more here.

Un-plugged. Pioneer DJ have unveiled the HDJ-X5BT over-ear headphones. Revamping the original HDJ-X5 models, the new version offers Bluetooth connectivity. They come in various colours and have the same sound quality as the HDJ-X5. They are priced at £139. Read more here.

Strings attached. Expanding Sound are offering a free Martin HD28V Open String Ableton Guitar Instrument through their website. Read more here or discover how it sounds in the video below.

Think before you speak. A video of Deadmau5 playing video games, and insulting fellow artist Slushii, has surfaced online. The EDM artist referred to Slushii’s music as “autistic”. Slushii took to Twitter to voice his disappointment over the comments and revealed that he is on the autism spectrum. Read more here.

Sound on. Akai have blended a MIDI controller with a sound module in their new MPK Mini Play. The portable device boasts 128 sounds, drum pads and even a built-in speaker. The product retains the same functions as their popular MPK Mini Midi Controller and is priced at $129 (£95.58). Read more here.

Rebuilding the Earth. Spitfire Audio have reintroduced the eDNA Earth with a whopping 1,900 instruments compiled into 1000 custom presets divided into sound types. The product costs £149. Read more here or watch the video below.