According to a new study from Pex, which monitors and analyzes copyrighted content on digital services, TikTok has the most modified audio of all major UGC platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. Pex estimates that comfortably more than a third (38.03%) of all songs found on TikTok were speed or pitch-modified in 2023. Not only that, but Pex estimates that the share of tracks on TikTok that are modified is increasing – up from 24.55% in 2022 to 38.03% in 2023.
Data
OpenAI is adding new watermarks to DALL-E 3
OpenAI’s image generator DALL-E 3 will add watermarks to image metadata as more companies roll out support for standards from the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA). The company says watermarks from C2PA will appear in images generated on the ChatGPT website and the API for the DALL-E 3 model. Mobile users will get the watermarks by February 12th.
Meta Calls for Industry Effort to Label A.I.-Generated Content
The standards could allow social media companies to quickly identify content generated with A.I. that has been posted to their platforms and allow them to add a label to that material. If adopted widely, the standards could help identify A.I.-generated content from companies like Google, OpenAI and Microsoft, Adobe, Midjourney and others that offer tools that allow people to quickly and easily create artificial posts.
Source: Meta Calls for Industry Effort to Label A.I.-Generated Content
Luminate acquires artist data identification service Quansic
Luminate, the entertainment industry data company responsible for powering the Billboard Charts, has acquired Quansic, a global music artist identification service. France-headquartered Quansic claims to operate the world’s largest artist identification database which includes over 2.5 million ISNIs (artist identifiers) and 200 million asset identifiers.
Source: Luminate acquires artist data identification service Quansic
Music Reports Acquires Licensing & Data Platform Blokur
Independent music rights admin platform Music Reports has announced the acquisition of music licensing and data platform Blokur. The deal will leverage the strengths of both entities to provide a more robust set of services to a wider array of clients. Founded in 2015, Blokur is a music data and licensing platform centered around connecting music to “the next generation of online experiences.”
Source: Music Reports Acquires Licensing & Data Platform Blokur
The incredible shrinking podcast industry
Apple has quietly tightened its reporting of how many people listen to podcasts, sending shock waves through an embattled audio industry still reeling from the end of the COVID-era production bubble. The shift, Apple wrote in a blog post, was technical: The dominant podcasting platform had begun switching off automatic downloads for users who haven’t listened to five episodes of a show in the last two weeks.
158 million tracks had 1,000 plays or fewer on music streaming services last year
According to Luminate’s 2023 Year-End Music Report, fully 158.6 million tracks each received 1,000 or fewer plays on audio streaming services in 2023. That number amounts to a whopping86.2% of the 184 million music tracks that Luminate measured on audio streaming services at the close of last year via ISRCs. Even more tellingly, a total of 45.6 million tracks received zero plays in 2023.
How Nikon, Sony and Canon are fighting deepfakes with new technology
The three camera giants have agreed on a global standard for digital signatures, which will make them compatible with a web-based tool called Verify. This tool, launched by an alliance of global news organizations, technology companies, and camera makers, will allow anyone to check the credentials of an image for free. Verify will display the relevant information if an image has a digital signature.
Source: How Nikon, Sony and Canon are fighting deepfakes with new technology
Netflix Takes Big Data Transparency Step, Releasing Viewing Numbers for 18,000 Titles
Netflix has taken its biggest step toward data transparency yet with the release of an exhaustive list of viewing time on the platform in the first half of 2023. Original series and movies dominate the top of the chart, but Smith said the split between original and licensed titles was more even: About 55 percent of viewing was for originals and 45 percent was for licensed shows and films.
Source: Netflix Takes Big Data Transparency Step, Releasing Viewing Numbers for 18,000 Titles
Mechanical Licensing Collective Debuts Royalty ‘Matching Network’
The Mechanical Licensing Collective has debuted a ‘Supplemental Matching Network’ through which five companies will help match royalties. The MLC says it chose these businesses – London-based Blokur, credits database Jaxsta (now part of the overarching Vinyl Group), Too Lost-partnered Pex, Session parent Salt, and SoundExchange’s SX Works – based upon the results of a “comprehensive selection process” that encompassed pilot programs.
Source: Mechanical Licensing Collective Debuts Royalty ‘Matching Network’