ADA, Warner’s independent distribution and label services arm, distributes music for a number of indie labels, and now it will also distribute music from Boomy, a platform that enables artists to create music with the aid of AI. The platform also functions as a label and music distributor. According to California-headquartered Boomy’s website, artists on the platform – which launched in 2019 – have created more than 18.1 million tracks to date.
November, 2023
MEPs call for new music streaming rules in the European Union
How far should politicians and regulators get involved in the business of the music industry, and particularly the music streaming economy? A vote in the European Parliament’s Culture and Education Committee yesterday is raising the question again. In the view of the MEPs on that committee, they absolutely should get involved with new legislation. The vote centered on a report – ‘Cultural Diversity and the Conditions for Authors in the European Streaming Market.’
Source: MEPs call for new music streaming rules in the European Union – Music Ally
Pika Wows in Debut as AI Video Generator Takes Aim at Tech Giants
A $55 million raise allows the generative video startup Pika Labs to compete against giants Meta, Adobe, and Stability AI. Pika is coming out of beta just six months after the company’s inception and serves the company’s vision of enabling everyone to become their own video director to democratize the field of video production. With a growing community of half a million users, Pika has tapped into the growing demand for accessible video creation tools.
Source: Pika Wows in Debut as AI Video Generator Takes Aim at Tech Giants – Decrypt
OpenAI unlikely to offer board seat to Microsoft, other investors – source
ChatGPT owner OpenAI is not expected to offer Microsoft and other investors including Khosla Ventures and Thrive Capital seats on its new board, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. “I do not know that it’s going to be the choice of OpenAI to leave Microsoft off the board,” said Thomas Hayes chairman of hedge fund Great Hill Capital. “Microsoft will have something to say about it, given the amount of money that they have put behind them.”
Source: OpenAI unlikely to offer board seat to Microsoft, other investors – source
Will AI Be Used to Raise Musicians From the Dead?
For many people, 2023 has been the year that artificial intelligence technology left the realm of science fiction and crashed rudely into daily life. And while AI-powered tools have the potential to impact wide swathes of the music industry, they are especially intriguing for those who manage estates or the catalogs of dead artists.
Ruling in the Sarah Silverman case should give publishers pause
The legal framework for generative AI — large language models, or LLMs — is still very much TBD. But things aren’t looking great for the news companies dreaming of billions in new revenue from AI companies that have trained LLMs (in very small part) on their products. While elements of those models’ training will be further litigated, courts have thus far not looked favorably on the idea that what they produce is a copyright infringement.
Sports Illustrated is the latest media company damaged by an AI experiment gone wrong
Sports Illustrated is the latest media company damaged by being less than forthcoming about who or what is writing its stories at the dawn of the artificial intelligence age. Many companies are testing the new technology at a time when human workers fear it could cost jobs. But the process is fraught in journalism, which builds and markets its values-based products around the notions of truth and transparency.
Source: Sports Illustrated is the latest media company damaged by an AI experiment gone wrong
The Future of Generative AI Might Be Smaller Than You Think
The distinguishing characteristic of large language models (LLMs) is, as the name implies, their sheer size. Meta’s LLaMA-2 and OpenAI GPT-4 are each comprised of well more than 100 billion parameters — the individual weights and variables they derive from their training data and use to process prompt inputs. Scale is also the defining characteristic of the training process LLM’s undergo. The datasets they ingest and are almost incomprehensively large — equivalent to the entire World Wide Web — and require immense amounts of computing capacity and energy to analyze.
IMPALA Demands EU Bill Addressing ‘Material Reciprocity’ Ruling
IMPALA and others are calling for EU legislation to address the end of ‘material reciprocity’ for recorded performance royalties. Because the continent’s music professionals (and those in other parts of the world) aren’t compensated for their recordings’ use on U.S. radio, CMOs have long opted against forwarding the corresponding royalties to the States, a practice summarized as “material reciprocity.”
Source: IMPALA Demands EU Bill Addressing ‘Material Reciprocity’ Ruling
Creator payments startup Mozaic·io raises $20m funding round
Startup Mozaic·io describes itself as a ‘global payments platform for co-creators’ that helps people to send, receive and split payments for their work. Now Mozaic has raised $20m of Series A funding to continue growing. The round was from investment firm Volition Capital, bringing the startup’s total raised so far to $27.1m.
Source: Creator payments startup Mozaic·io raises $20m funding round – Music Ally