Two artists have sued the United States securities regulator to determine whether non-fungible tokens fall under the commission’s authority. Attorneys representing the plaintiffs — law professor and filmmaker Brian Frye and songwriter Jonathon Mann — sought clarification on which acts could trigger US securities laws when creating and selling NFT art.
Source: Artists sue SEC over confusing security status of NFTs
Reality has hit the AI hype machine. On Alphabet’s recent earnings call, CEO Sundar Pichai touted widespread adoption of Google Cloud’s generative AI solutions, but with a caveat—and a big one. “We are driving deeper progress on unlocking value, which I’m very bullish will happen. But these things take time.” The TL;DR? There’s a lot of generative AI tire-kicking, and not much adoption for serious applications that generate revenue.
The company, whose market value is estimated at $80 billion as of February, is likely to spend as much as $7 billion this year to train and operate its chatbot. That means more money needs to be raised, even as a path to profitability gets murkier, thanks to increasing competition. The OpenAI costs include renting server capacity from Microsoft that’s required to maintain ChatGPT, the report said. That accounts for about $4 billion.
Source: OpenAI, Home Of ChatGPT, May Lose $5B This Year – Report
Investment giant Apollo Global Management is backing Sony Music Group to the tune of $700 million to help the company fund music acquisitions, it was announced Friday (July 26). The deal could provide the financial assistance needed for Sony’s planned acquisition of Queen‘s recording and music publishing catalogs. Sources have told Billboard the band is seeking $1.2 billion for its catalogs and ancillary income stream.
Source: Sony Music Receives $700M from Apollo Global for Music Investments
Major video game makers – like Activision, Warner Bros and Walt Disney – are facing a strike by Hollywood performers over the use of artificial intelligence (AI). It follows a year and half of talks over a new a contract between the companies and a union representing more than 2,500 video game performers.
Source: Video game performers go on strike over artificial intelligence
According to Spotify: “If the MLC were entirely successful in this case, the additional royalties that would be due in relation to the period March 1, 2024 to June 30, 2024 would be approximately €46 million ($49.5 million) of which approximately €35 million relates to the three months ended June 30, 2024, plus potentially penalties and interest, which we cannot reasonably estimate.”
Source: Spotify estimates that it would have to pay out $50m if the MLC wins its bundling lawsuit
On the earnings call Tuesday, Spotify’s Ek argued that, despite there being “things that we’re arguing about,” the company has largely had a healthy relationship with the music business – and it’s in Spotify’s interest to see the industry grow stronger. “We are spending a lot of time and effort in making sure that it keeps growing,” Ek said. “That is our primary thing that we’re doing as a company.”
Less than a year ago, the drive for AI regulation was gaining significant momentum, marked by key milestones such as the AI Safety Summit in the U.K., the Biden Administration’s AI Executive Order, and the EU AI Act. However, a recent judicial decision and potential political shifts are leading to more uncertainty about the future of AI regulation in the U.S.
DJ Calvin Harris sold his catalog that includes more than 150 songs and collaborations with some of the world’s biggest stars, including Rihanna, Dua Lipa, Sam Smith, Frank Ocean, Ariana Grande, Big Sean, Khalid, Pharrell Williams, and Travis Scott. Sony/ATV continued administration services for the catalog. Now more than four years later, Shamrock Capital Advisors has engineered a large deal including film, television show, and song rights from Vine Alternative Investments in New York