Lionsgate Inks Deal With AI Firm to Mine Its Massive Film and TV Library

In a significant move, Lionsgate and the video-focused artificial intelligence research firm Runway have inked a deal that will see Runway train a new generative AI model on Lionsgate content, and will see the entertainment company use the tech as it produces future film and TV projects. While details are scarce, the companies say that the new model will be “customized to Lionsgate’s proprietary portfolio of film and television content,” and exclusive to the studio.

Source: Lionsgate Inks Deal With AI Firm to Mine Its Massive Film and TV Library

This AI can remake a song in any genre you like

AI music maker Suno has released a new feature called Covers that reinterprets your songs in new genres, almost like a photo filter or asking ChatGPT to mimic an author’s style, but for audio. Currently in beta, the feature transforms audio inputs, whether it’s you singing in the shower or produced tracks, into multiple musical forms while preserving the original melody.

Source: This AI can remake a song in any genre you like

Google will begin flagging AI-generated images in Search later this year

In the next few months, Google will begin to flag AI-generated and -edited images in the “About this image” window on Search, Google Lens, and the Circle to Search feature on Android. Similar disclosures may make their way to other Google properties, like YouTube, in the future; Google says it’ll have more to share on that later this year. Crucially, only images containing “C2PA metadata” will be flagged as AI-manipulated in Search.

Source: Google will begin flagging AI-generated images in Search later this year

UMG CEO: ‘Streaming will continue to propel many years of industry growth.’

Universal Music Group hosted its 2024 Capital Markets Day in London on Tuesday at the iconic Abbey Road Studios (which is owned by UMG). The event was kicked off by UMG Chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge. “Fact number one”, according to Grainge, is that “streaming has resulted in a quantum leap forward in music access and monetization and streaming will continue to propel many years of industry growth.”

Source: Read Sir Lucian Grainge’s Universal Music Capital Markets day opening address in full: ‘Streaming will continue to propel many years of industry growth.’

Could a new remuneration right be the key to AI music licensing?

The music industry has been clear on its views about training musical AIs: licensing deals are required. But what should those licensing deals look like? A new white paper written by Professor Daniel J. Gervais of Vanderbilt Law School offers some ideas on that. “The best way for creators to generate a decent stream of ongoing revenue for the use of their copyrighted works by GenAI applications is to be paid when the datasets used to train GenAI containing their works are used to create new ‘content’.”

Source: Could a new remuneration right be the key to AI music licensing?

Web3 music streaming platform Tune.FM raises $50m in funding

The company has now raised $80M in its efforts to cut out the middleman between artists and music streamers. Unlike traditional platforms where artists receive a fraction of streaming profits, Tune.FM claims to pay artists 90%of their streaming revenue through its JAM token. This stands in contrast to industry giants like Spotify, which distributes “nearly 70%” of its music revenue to rightsholders, who then further distribute it to artists and songwriters.

Source: Web3 music streaming platform Tune.FM raises $50m in funding

Meta to resume AI training in UK after regulatory pause

Meta will begin using publicly shared content from adult users in the UK on Facebook and Instagram to train its artificial intelligence models. The company will use publicly available information, such as adult users’ posts, comments, photos, and captions on both platforms. In July, Meta paused AI releases in the European Union following the Irish Data Protection Commission’s orders to halt its AI assistant rollout in the EU due to data privacy concerns.

Source: Meta to resume AI training in UK after regulatory pause

Spotify Video Buildout Continues With Seven-Figure Offers: Report

This newest indication of an aggressive video embrace just recently came to light, though in many respects, Spotify’s visual-media ambitions have long been clear. A growing selection of video podcasts, short clips, and music videos are already live on the platform, which is also placing a greater emphasis than ever on profitability and operational efficiency.

Source: Spotify Video Buildout Continues With Seven-Figure Offers: Report

House Judiciary Committee Asks Copyright Office to Examine ASCAP, BMI

House Judiciary members sent a letter to the Copyright Office requesting an examination of concerns related to performing rights organizations (PROs). In the letter, signed by the committee’s chairmen Rep. Jim Jordan and Rep. Darrell Issa as well as member Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, two particular areas of concern are addressed: the “proliferation” of new PROs and the lack of transparency about the distribution of general licensing revenue.

Source: House Judiciary Committee Asks Copyright Office to Examine PROs, Citing ‘Difficult to Assess’ Royalty Distributions

White House gets voluntary commitments from AI companies to curb deepfake porn

The White House released a statement today outlining commitments that several AI companies are making to curb the creation and distribution of image-based sexual abuse. The participating businesses have laid out the steps they are taking to prevent their platforms from being used to generate non-consensual intimate images (NCII) of adults and child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

Source: White House gets voluntary commitments from AI companies to curb deepfake porn

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