July, 2023

Hollywood’s Fight: How Much AI Is Too Much?

Entertainment executives say bots won’t be penning scripts soon, calling such fears overblown. But big companies across Hollywood, including Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount Global and NBCUniversal, are already using AI tools in other ways and are actively exploring new applications, from summarizing scripts to special-effects to promotional marketing, people familiar with the situation say.

Source: Hollywood’s Fight: How Much AI Is Too Much?

Spain’s Unison launches global management platform for digital rights, SOLO

Barcelona-based private music copyright management organization Unison has introduced SOLO, a global management platform for digital rights. SOLO will provide artists and creators with professional tools to manage their digital rights, offering solutions for both copyright and master rights, all without intermediaries, according to a press release last week (July 26).

Source: Spain’s Unison launches global management platform for digital rights, SOLO

Better (AI) Licensing Through Metadata

EXTRA With political pressure mounting over the head-snapping advances in generative artificial intelligence technology, on both sides of the Atlantic, a group of leading AI companies last week unveiled a new industry-led initiative to develop safety and transparency standards for the design and use of generative AI models.

While the new Frontier Model Forum is not primarily intended to address the controversies swirling around intellectual property and AI, some of what is expected to come out of the effort could, at least incidentally, help advance what copyright litigation and agitation have so far failed to achieve, or even articulate: a plausible means by which the the use of copyrighted material to train generative AI systems, and the copyrightability of their output, could be subject to workable licensing regimes. Among those is the expected introduction of a method for identifying and flagging AI-generated works for users.

Outcry Against AI Companies Grows Over Who Controls Internet’s Content

Authors, artists and internet publishers demand compensation for the alleged use of their work to train generative-AI systems sweeping the globe. OpenAI and Google have both said they train their AI models on “publicly available” information, a phrase that experts say encompasses a spectrum of content, including from paywalled and pirated sites.

Source: Outcry Against AI Companies Grows Over Who Controls Internet’s Content

Superplastic Records Launches With Support From UMG’s Virgin

Five-year-old Superplastic, which bills itself as the creator and manager of “a roster of world famous synthetic artists and influencers,” recently emailed DMN about the Virgin tie-up and the resulting label. Two of the business’s ostensibly world-famous synthetic artists, “brothers Filth-E and Lil’ ILL,” make up “the first 3D animated hip-hop duo,” Ghost Kidz, according to Burlington, Vermont-headquartered Superplastic.

Source: Superplastic Records Launches With Support From UMG’s Virgin

Songtradr partners with Twitch to bring licensed music to Twitch streamers

This partnership brings Songtradr’s music service, Pretzel, to Twitch streamers, offering what it says is “a treasure trove of licensed music to enhance their streams”. Through this partnership with Songtradr, Twitch streamers will have access to Pretzel’s Premium Subscription tier for 90 days until September 15, giving them free trial access to over 550,000 “Twitch-safe” tracks.

Source: Songtradr partners with Twitch to bring licensed music from Pretzel to Twitch streamers

Protecting your content in the age of AI 

Generative AI poses a major threat to visual content. The issue isn’t simply that fake images could be mistaken for real ones. It’s actually more concerning that real images could lose their credibility. The former issue can lead to deception, while the latter can foster distrust. Distrust is particularly problematic because, unlike deception, distrust undermines the very foundation of a relationship and is essentially irreversible.

Source: Protecting your content in the age of AI – Kaptur

‘Super listeners’ make up 2% of artists’ monthly listeners but 18% of streams: Spotify

According to Spotify’s new study, averaged across all artist sizes, ‘super listeners’ on the platform make up 2% of an artist’s monthly listeners, but account for over 18% of monthly streams. Spotify also indicates that so-called super listeners make “an XL number” of merch purchases. According to the study, on average, 2% of an artist’s monthly listeners account for more than half of their merch purchases.

Source: ‘Super listeners’ make up 2% of artists’ monthly listeners on Spotify, but account for over 18% of monthly streams

AI companies form new safety body, while Congress plays catch up

Leading artificial intelligence companies on Wednesday unveiled plans to launch an industry-led body to develop safety standards for rapidly advancing technology, outpacing Washington policymakers who are still debating whether the U.S. government needs its own AI regulator. Google, ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, Microsoft and Anthropic introduced the Frontier Model Forum, which the companies say will advance AI safety research and technical evaluations for the next generation of AI systems.

Source: AI companies form new safety body, while Congress plays catch up

Music rights giant BMI in renewed talks to sell itself 

Broadcast Music Inc (BMI), the music rights company representing top songwriters such as Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and Rihanna, is once again exploring options including a sale after it ditched its non-profit model, people familiar with the matter said. BMI has turned to Goldman Sachs Group the investment bank that also advised it on deal discussions last year, for guidance as it fields interest from potential acquirers.

Source: Exclusive: Music rights giant BMI in renewed talks to sell itself -sources

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