Masterworks, the “elite alternative asset” that allowed investors to buy fractional shares of high-end paintings, scrapped a funding round amid concerns it could face regulatory scrutiny in the coming months, a source familiar with Masterworks’ thinking told On The Money. The company was valued at $1 billion in its Series A funding in October 2021, but faced an uphill battle to raise more money as the economy slows.
Source: Masterworks’ fractional art sales getting the brush off
Book.io and the Algorand Foundation will create 10,000e-book NFTs of Aldous Huxley’s ‘Brave New World,’ each with 500 AI-designed covers of varying rarity. The NFTs can be read on Book.io’s web reader or mobile app and can be gifted, sold, or traded. Book.io co-founder Ben Illian says that Algorand was chosen for its scalability, minimal transaction fees, decentralized platform, and near-zero carbon footprint.
Source: Book.io Releases ‘Brave New World’ as an NFT E-book on the Algorand Blockchain
Although Epidemic Sound has been making waves for years, it’s been a slow road to profitability for the Sweden-based music production house. That story seems finally to be turning around, as the company announced on Tuesday (April 25) that it swung to a positive EBITDA – albeit a small one – last year. However, the company’s operating profit (EBIT) was still in the red.
Source: With 2bn plays on YouTube per day, Epidemic Sound swung to positive EBITDA in 2022
Meta’s Q1 2023 saw sales up 3% with its $28.65 billion revenue beating Wall Street analysts’ expectations. But a quick peek into the breakdown showcases staggering losses within Meta’s metaverse-focused Reality Labs division. Reality Labs cost Meta $3.99 billion this quarter alone. Last year, it lost $14 billion as Zuckerberg focused on developing a metaverse to supplement the new work from home culture that has arisen after the pandemic.
Source: Meta’s Reality Labs Losses Total $30 Billion — $4B This Quarter
After months of negotiations and two years after a draft rules were proposed, EU lawmakers have a draft of the Artificial Intelligence Act. The European Parliament confirmed previous proposals to put stricter obligations on foundation models, a subcategory of “General Purpose AI” that includes tools such as ChatGPT. Under the proposals, companies that make generative AI tools such as ChatGPT would have to disclose if they have used copyrighted material in their systems.
Source: EU lawmakers pass draft of AI Act, includes copyright rules for generative AI
Spotify is taking concerns about the impact of AI-generated music on entertainment rightsholders seriously, CEO Daniel Ek told analysts. “[T]he AI pushback from the copyright industry, or labels and media companies, is really [concerned with] issues like ‘name and likeness’, what is an actual copyright, who owns the right to something where you upload something and claim it to be Drake [when] it’s really not, and so on,” Ek said. “Those are legitimate concerns.”
Source: Spotify confirms it’s working with labels to quell copyright threat from AI music
DSPs are already being flooded with new tracks – nearly 100,000 new tracks per day, according to a recent estimate. Much of it, say critics, is low quality, and given the trend of uploading random noise files to generate plays, some of it isn’t even music at all. “We want to give our customers a high-quality experience and relevant content, so obviously getting AI to flood our catalog is not something we’re super keen on, and we’re working on that,” Jeronimo Folgueira, CEO of Deezer told analysts.
If you apply Gartner’s famous hype cycle methodology to web3 technologies and music, where do we stand in 2023? The peak of inflated expectations was some time ago, but are we still mired in the trough of disillusionment? Or, perhaps, are we making our way up the slope of enlightenment, with well-calibrated bullshit meters helping us to figure out how web3 can really help artists, fans and the music industry?
Source: web3 music in 2023: experiments, communities… and weirdness – Music Ally
Independent publisher Primary Wave Music has partnered with leading Indian record label and music publisher Times Music. Terms of the deal involve Primary Wave’s significant capital investment in the company, providing resources for further Indian catalog investments to help accelerate the company’s global expansion. A subsidiary of the Times of India Group, Times Music is regarded as a local major in India.
Source: Primary Wave Bets Big On Bollywood with Times Music Deal
Italy’s competition watchdog has taken interim measures against Facebook and Instagram parent, Meta, over its alleged abuse of position in the country in relation to music rights. The move is part of an investigation by the Italian Competition Authority or AGCM into Meta’s conduct in the market. AGCM believes that Meta may have unfairly disrupted negotiations for licensing the use of musical rights on its platforms, “abusing SIAE’s economic dependence.”
Source: Italy’s competition watchdog orders Meta to resume negotiations with collecting society SIAE