The common ground starts with patterns. Actuaries use data to identify patterns in risk and help determine how insurance should be priced. Musicians work with patterns in rhythm, harmony and melody. Akur8 Senior Actuarial Data Scientist Leonardo Stincone sees a particularly direct mathematical link. “Music is math. If you look at it with an actuarial eye, you basically have rhythm, harmonies, they are all based on proportions.”
Disctopia Granted Patent to Tie Creator Payouts to Verified Listening
Disctopia was granted a US patent covering its ability to tie creator payouts to verified listening. Streaming fraud continues to plague artists trying to make their fair share of the payout pool, and it’s getting even worse as artificial intelligence improves. But creator monetization platform Disctopia hopes to change that with a new U.S. patent covering technology that measures whether audiences are actually present and engaged and connects that engagement to a creator’s earnings.
Source: Disctopia Granted Patent to Tie Creator Payouts to Verified Listening
Why the next AI data race will be for human expertise and knowledge
LLMs can process financial reports, legal documents and scientific papers at enormous scale. But access to that material does not reproduce the judgement of someone who has spent years working in the field. Demand for specialized human input is already supporting a substantial commercial market. A fast-growing segment of companies now connects AI developers with doctors, lawyers, scientists and other specialists who can create and evaluate professional tasks.
Source: Why the next AI data race will be for human expertise and knowledge
Rep. Issa Files Competing U.S. Pirate Site Blocking Bill
U.S. Representative Darrell Issa has officially introduced a new bill that aims to block foreign pirate sites in the United States. While the final text has yet to be published, an early draft suggests that both ISPs and DNS resolvers will be covered. The bill has already triggered opposition, while there is also internal competition from competing site blocking efforts on the Hill.
Source: Rep. Issa Files Competing U.S. Pirate Site Blocking Bill
YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon team up to charm Capitol Hill over sports rights
Streaming Access and Choice Alliance is a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying group that says its focus is “promot[ing] high-quality and high-value entertainment experiences for consumers.” What that really means is it’ll chat up Capitol Hill and try to convince U.S. lawmakers that streaming services have the right to sign exclusive air deals with major sports leagues. YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, and other streamers have signed increasingly larger deals to distribute live sports content.
Source: YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon team up to charm Capitol Hill over sports rights
ElevenLabs launched Music v2.5 – shortly after announcing its UMG licensing deal
ElevenLabs has released Music v2.5, the new model behind its ElevenMusic song-generation platform. The model went live on Friday (September 11) and is now the default “for prompted and reference generation” in ElevenMusic, the company said in a blog post.It landed a day after ElevenLabs announced a multi-year licensing agreement with Universal Music Group – a deal the company says is separate from the new model.
Source: ElevenLabs launched Music v2.5 – shortly after announcing its UMG licensing deal
Samsung moves to dismiss Dua Lipa’s $15M trademark lawsuit
Samsung has asked a federal judge to throw out Dua Lipa’s lawsuit over the use of her photograph on television packaging. The brief sets out four grounds. The first is that Lipa cannot sue for trademark infringement over a picture of her own face. Lipa sued Samsung on May 8, seeking at least USD $15 million in damages over an image she owns that was printed on the cardboard boxes of TVs sold across the US.
Source: Samsung moves to dismiss Dua Lipa’s $15M trademark lawsuit
Rightsholders Can’t Use OpenAI and Anthropic to Dismantle Meta’s Seeding Defense
Meta previously argued that uploading pirated books to other BitTorrent users was an unavoidable side effect of downloading them, and therefore fair use. Rightsholders suing Meta in three related cases tried to dismantle this theory by asking OpenAI and Anthropic to reveal how they torrented shadow library data. A magistrate judge denied the request, but that’s not the end of the torrenting dispute.
Source: Rightsholders Can’t Use OpenAI and Anthropic to Dismantle Meta’s Seeding Defense
Publishing’s AI Reckoning
The Big Five have been relatively terse in their public comments about AI. What is known is that each of the Big Five is developing proprietary AI systems for internal use, as proven by the numerous AI-related job openings the companies have posted. Publishers have a strong incentive not to speak too openly about AI, as there is a risk of facing questions for which the industry does not yet have answers.
Source: Publishing’s AI Reckoning
Judge throws out copyright claims in Wixen’s $102M lawsuit against Meta
A federal judge has thrown out the copyright claims at the center of Wixen Music Publishing‘s lawsuit against Meta Platforms. Judge John F. Walter ruled that Wixen has not shown it holds the rights that would let it sue over the 681 works it says Meta used without a license across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The ruling knocks out both of Wixen‘s copyright claims: direct infringement by Meta and contributory infringement for what Meta‘s users did with the music.
Source: Judge throws out copyright claims in Wixen’s $102M lawsuit against Meta