Our proposal is simple. When Big Tech companies produce output from generative AI that was trained on public data, they would pay a tiny licensing fee, by the word or pixel or relevant unit of data. Those fees would go into the AI Dividend fund. Every few months, the Commerce Department would send out the entirety of the fund, split equally, to every resident nationwide. That’s it.
June, 2023
AI-Generated Books of Nonsense Are All Over Amazon’s Bestseller Lists
Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited young adult romance bestseller list was filled with dozens of AI-generated books of nonsense on Monday and Tuesday. As of Wednesday morning, Amazon appeared to have taken action against the books, but the episode shows that people are spamming AI-generated nonsense to the platform and are finding a way to monetize it.
Source: AI-Generated Books of Nonsense Are All Over Amazon’s Bestseller Lists
Podcast Audiences Think AI Will Improve The Experience
Audiences believe AI will help podcast producers improve their craft, resulting in a better, more holistic listening experience, judging by a new study by Acast. The surprising thing is “just how open listeners are to AI infiltrating nearly every aspect of their current listening experience and for the technology to mold new ways for them to engage with the medium,” says Tommy Walters, director of insights at Acast.
Source: Publishers Daily: Podcast Audiences Think AI Will Improve The Experience
Big News Publishers Look to Team Up to Address Impact of AI
Source: WSJ News Exclusive | Big News Publishers Look to Team Up to Address Impact of AI
Warner to fund Web3 music projects via new accelerator in partnership with Polygon Labs
Warner Music Group and Polygon Labs, a growth and development team in support of the Polygon network, have launched what they call a “groundbreaking” music accelerator program. The companies say that the accelerator aims to power “the next generation of innovation at the intersection of Web3 and music” by supporting developers launching music-related projects and dApps on the Polygon network.
Source: Warner to fund Web3 music projects via new accelerator in partnership with Polygon Labs
Mixtape Sites Like DatPiff Propelled Rap. Can They Be Preserved?
Websites offering up free — and not always legal — music flourished in the gap between the fall of the CD era and the rise of streaming. That freedom unlocked an era of unfettered creativity for a generation of artists and built a critical digital-first audience that would later lead to rap’s dominance in streaming. It also led to the current dilemma: How do you preserve a part of hip-hop history that isn’t necessarily legal?
Source: Mixtape Sites Like DatPiff Propelled Rap. Can They Be Preserved?
Snafu launches AI-powered ‘Snafu Song Fund’ for indie artists backed by $7m funding round
The new funding round was led by Pophouse Entertainment and also brought along music manager Marc Jordan through his investment fund Blue Amber Investments, multi-platinum artist LP, Supercell co-founder Mikko Kodisoja, and Danish VC firm Blackwood Ventures. Sweden-based Snafu uses an AI A&R tool dubbed ‘EMMA’ which it says has been trained to “find undervalued artists based on a wide range of metrics”.
YouTube Fraudster Sentenced to Nearly 6 Years in Prison for $23M Royalty Scheme
Jose “Chenel” Teran, a leader in perhaps the largest known YouTube music royalty scam in history, was sentenced to 70 months in prison on Monday. Though the official legal document has yet to be made publicly available, the news was verified by an IRS agent who worked on the case. Teran claimed approximately 50,000 song titles that he and his company MediaMuv had no ownership rights to over the course of about five years.
Source: YouTube Fraudster Sentenced to Nearly 6 Years in Prison for $23M Royalty Scheme
Viberate launches Independent Artist platform offering advances up to $1m
The newly launched Viberate for Artists offers music distribution to all major streaming platforms, including Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Tencent Music. Viberate for Artists also provides booking and promotion tools, playlist and festival pitching a free one-sheet tool, and professional artist analytics covering streaming and social media channels.
Source: Viberate launches Independent Artist platform offering distribution and advances up to $1m
SAG-AFTRA and Studios Still at Odds Over Higher Residuals for Hit Streaming Shows
With four days to go before the contract deadline, SAG-AFTRA and Hollywood studios are at odds over the issue of higher pay for hit streaming series. One of the key stumbling blocks is the issue of a viewership-based streaming residual, which was also on the list of demands from the Writers Guild of America, which has been on strike against AMPTP companies since May 2.
Source: SAG-AFTRA and Hollywood Studios Still at Odds Over Higher Residuals for Hit Streaming Shows