Rare Bits wants to be eBay for the blockchain, where you buy, sell and trade non-fungible crypto-goods. After CryptoKitties raised $12 million from Andreessen Horowitz last month for its digital collectibles game, there’s been an explosion of interest in the space. But without a popular marketplace, it’s hard to find the goods you want at the right price.
Source: Crypto-collectibles and Kitties marketplace Rare Bits raises $6M
There is an enduring fear in the music industry that artificial intelligence will replace the artists we love, and end creativity as we know it. But AI’s long-term impact on music creation isn’t so cut and dried. In fact, if we as an industry are already thinking so reductively and pessimistically about AI from the beginning, we’re sealing our own fates as slaves to the algorithm.
Source: How Music Generated by Artificial Intelligence Is Reshaping — Not Destroying — The Industry
2017 was a stellar year for the recorded music business. Global recorded music revenues reached $17.4 billion in 2017 in trade values, up from $16 billion in 2016, an annual growth rate of 8.5%. But perhaps the biggest story of all is the growth of artists without labels. With 27.2% year-on-year growth this was the fastest growing segment in 2017.
Source: Artists Without Label Revenue Up 27%, Industry +$1.4B [Mark Mulligan]
Nowadays, robots are painting pictures, writing poetry and making music thanks to creative computing and although most of the professionals dedicated to the study of creative software, share that the copyright of the works would actually belong to the person who created the software, the possibility that robots become more independent entities and that develop intentionality is also being opened to debate.
It was recently reported that the meditation app Calm had published a “new” fairytale by the Brothers Grimm. However, The Princess and the Fox was written not by the brothers, who died over 150 years ago, but by humans using an artificial intelligence (AI) tool.
Source: Are AI fairytales the future?
VEZT, the blockchain powered marketplace that lets fans share ownership with artists in their favorite songs, has announced an advisory board packed with music industry leaders and the hiring of Swedish producer and music tech investor Andreas Carlsson as Chief Strategy Officer.
Source: Blockchain Music Startup VEZT Adds All Star Advisors, CSO
Comcast and Netflix representatives stridently denied a Digital Music News report that the cable company used threats of paid prioritization charges to push Netflix into expanding the pair’s integration deal. A Comcast representative said yesterday’s report was completely inaccurate. Netflix released a statement saying, “These claims are entirely false.”
According to online reports citing PRS data, back in December 2010, BBC Radio 1 was paying out £16.84 per minute to songwriters. By December 2013, that had fallen to £14.91 per minute. And even in July 2016, Radio 1 was paying out £13.63 per minute. Network is now paying PRS £10.98 per minute of music played.
Source: BBC Radio 1 is paying songwriters 26% less per minute than it was 5 years ago
YouTube says it’s rolling out more tools to help its creators make money from their videos. The changes are meant to address creators’ complaints over YouTube’s new monetization policies announced earlier this year.
Source: YouTube promises expansion of sponsorships, other monetization tools for creators
Apple Inc. plans to integrate recently acquired magazine app Texture into Apple News and debut its own premium subscription offering, according to people familiar with the matter. The move is part of a broader push by the iPhone maker to generate more revenue from online content and services.
Source: Apple Is Planning to Launch a News Subscription Service