The parade of second quarter earnings reports for major showbiz conglomerates made it crystal-clear that there is no more avoiding the 800-pound gorilla on the balance sheets of Big Media. It’s been a long time coming that the valuations long applied to old-fashioned cable channels have to be slashed by double digits.
Source: Hot August Write-Downs: Big Media Can’t Hide From Hard Decisions on Cable Valuations Any More
The collaboration will integrate AudioShake’s tech into Synchtank’s platform, enabling creators to produce stems directly within their workflow. AudioShake uses AI to break down music tracks into individual stems, which can then be used for remixes, sampling, and other purposes. This technology allows for the separation of vocals or dialogue from instruments, particularly in older recordings where the original multitrack files are not accessible.
Artists have long criticized Spotify for its meager royalties system and its questionable content moderation practices. Now artists must contend with an entirely different problem: increased competition from AI-generated tracks, some of which have gained hundreds of thousands of listens.
Source: Spotify is full of AI music, and some say it’s ruining the platform
SAG-AFTRA’s strike against video game companies over the use of AI presents new concerns over digital replicas and synthetic performances. The guild’s position is actors aren’t defined by the medium. Whether it’s film, TV, or video games, AI and other rights should be consistent; video game studios, to put it mildly, disagree.
Source: SAG-AFTRA vs. AI: Why the Video-Game Strike Impacts All Actors
Imagine scrolling through your feed, uncertain whether the product images from your favorite brand are genuine, or if news photos accurately depict world events. The solution, surprisingly, may not lie in cutting-edge technology, but in our most fundamental human characteristic: trust. At its core, trust is a relationship between people, not machines. We don’t truly trust software or algorithms; we trust the individuals and organizations behind them.
Associations worldwide representing authors’ collective management organizations in the music and visual arts sectors — including CISAC, EVA, IFRRO, GESAC, and the SAA — have responded to Finland’s recent cut to its private copying compensation plan, urging the country to reverse the decision. The organizations have joined forces to express “great concern on behalf of both the Finnish authors and all European/international authors.
Source: Finland Slashes Its Private Copying Compensation Plan
It was 2022. Layoffs, cost-cutting and what appeared to be an inevitable strike from writers was looming and the industry was in flux. That fall, OpenAI released an early demo of ChatGPT in what became the first momentous moment of the tech entering the public consciousness. Everything changed, starting with “Heart on my Sleeve,” a song that used AI versions of voices from Drake and the Weeknd.
Source: Hollywood’s Divide on Artificial Intelligence Is Only Growing
The new model does distribute royalties according to titles or hours listened, dividing the value of a member’s plan and any additional audiobook credits used “among the titles the member listened to over the course of the month.” Audible’s new royalty model is a response to Spotify’s encroachment into the audiobook space but it is also an early statement to the publishing world about how the company plans to account to publishers and authors.
Source: What Audible’s new royalty model means for its audiobook battle with Spotify
Many AI developers use architectures that include more than one model. These models serve different functions in the AI technology the company is building. So far, Fairly Trained has offered developers certification badges based on specific models they use. Now, however, the non-profit will be issuing new badges to certified companies, and those companies “will be required to be transparent with users about which elements of their architecture are and are not certified.”
AI-generated music forces us to reconsider fundamental concepts of authorship, creativity and intellectual property rights. As AI systems produce new compositions based on vast datasets of existing music, the boundaries between human and machine creativity blur. Who holds the rights to AI-generated songs that draw inspiration from copyrighted works? How do we fairly compensate the original human creators whose material formed the basis of the AI’s learning?
Source: Council Post: Harmony Or Discord? The Impact Of Generative AI On Music Copyright