Making a Scene Presents

Making a Scene Presents - Canada Just Put Money Behind the People Who Build the Stage

FACTOR’s new live music investment is more than a press release. It is a reminder that if you want a real music middle class, you do not just fund songs. You fund the ecosystem that gets those songs in front of people.

There is a big difference between saying you support music and actually building a system that helps music survive.

Canada just gave us a very clear example of that difference. On April 21, 2026, FACTOR announced a $2 million investment in the live music sector through two new initiatives, the Promoter Program and the Festival Program. According to FACTOR, the goal is to strengthen what it called cultural sovereignty by sharing risk with Canadian-owned promoters and festivals that have a real track record of presenting Canadian artists and keeping diverse Canadian voices at the center of the live experience. FACTOR says the guidelines for both programs will go live on April 30, 2026, and applications are due by 5:00 p.m. ET on June 11, 2026.

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Making a Scene Presents - Reverb and Depth: How to Place Sounds in a 3D Space

Flat Mixes Do Not Sound Cheap Because the Song Is Bad

A lot of indie artists think their mixes sound small because they do not have enough expensive gear, enough fancy plugins, or enough studio prestige. That is the lie the old gatekeeper system sold for years. The truth is rougher and more useful. Most flat mixes sound flat because everything is standing in the same spot. The vocal is too close. The snare is too close. The guitars are too close. The keys are too close. Nothing feels near because nothing feels far. Nothing has air around it because nothing has a believable world around it. That is where reverb stops being a decorative effect and starts becoming one of the most powerful tools in a modern mix. Mix depth is the front-to-back dimension that helps make a mix feel lifelike and three-dimensional, and it points out that this sense of dimension is one of the clearest differences between amateur and professional sounding mixes.

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Making a Scene Presents - The American Music Fairness Act Could Finally Make Radio Pay — But Indie Artists May End Up Paying a Different Price

Terrestrial radio is no longer the artist-breaking machine it once was. That is exactly why this bill matters, and exactly why indie artists should be watching it closely.

The Tower That Once Ruled the Music Business Is Not What It Used to Be

For decades, radio was the closest thing the music business had to a national ignition switch. One spin in the right market could move records, change tour offers, wake up labels, and turn a local act into a real conversation. That old story still has power because it used to be true. But in 2026, terrestrial radio is no longer the center of gravity for discovery the way it once was. Edison Research reported that in Q4 2025, radio still held 61% of all ad-supported audio listening time in the U.S., which means it remains a huge medium. But that same broad strength now lives beside a very different discovery landscape, one shaped by streaming, social media, YouTube, and recommendation engines instead of one dominant gatekeeper.

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Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Stacy Mitchhart

Stacy Mitchhart’s musical journey began in Cincinnati, Ohio, in a house where jazz guitar masters like Wes Montgomery and Johnny Smith were always spinning on the stereo. With that kind of soundtrack in the air, it was only natural that he gravitated toward the guitar. But it wasn’t just the notes that grabbed him early—it was the performance. As a kid, he saw Little Richard on television and couldn’t look away. Little Richard’s style, confidence, and larger-than-life showmanship opened Stacy’s eyes to a powerful idea: music isn’t only something you play—it’s something you deliver. That lesson became a lifelong part of Mitchhart’s identity, and today he’s known for a brand of showmanship that keeps audiences coming back night after night.

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Making a Scene Presents - Ticketmaster LiveNation Court Decision -When the Gatekeeper Finally Got Dragged Into Court

In May 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice walked into federal court and said out loud what fans, working artists, indie promoters, and venue operators had been saying for years: the live music business was not just frustrating, it was structurally broken. The government sued Live Nation and its ticketing arm Ticketmaster, alongside 30 state and district attorneys general, and asked for structural relief. That was not some polite regulatory slap. It was the government saying the company’s grip on live music had become so deep that fans were paying more, artists were getting fewer real opportunities, smaller promoters were getting squeezed, and venues were being pushed into fewer real choices. The DOJ said the goal was to restore competition, lower prices, and “open venue doors for working musicians and other performance artists.”

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