Marketplace

Publishers urged to embrace future where bot readers provide majority of revenue

AI agents and bots will become the “primary” revenue source for the publisher websites they visit, the co-founders of AI monetization company Tollbit believe. “It’s not happening overnight,” Olivia Joslin said. “It’s not going to make their year this year in terms of the revenue that’s flowing through the pipes. But this is certainly going to be the primary mode of revenue. It’s going to have to come from AI visitors.”

Source: Publishers urged to embrace future where bot readers provide majority of revenue

MPA Boss Says AI Can ‘Bolster the Art of Storytelling’ and ‘Improve the Fan Experience’

Motion Picture Association Chairman Charles Rivkin walked a fine line at CinemaCon on Tuesday morning, acknowledging concerns about artificial intelligence, while also stressing its creative and commercial potential. “We’ve entered the era of AI,” Rivkin told cinema operators at the exhibition industry conference taking place this week in Las Vegas. “None of us should ignore its potential dangers. Nor should we dismiss its possibilities. 

Source: MPA Boss Says AI Can ‘Bolster the Art of Storytelling’ and ‘Improve the Fan Experience’

Canada’s SOCAN warns AI is ‘placing mounting pressure’ on livelihoods

A 2025 survey conducted by SOCAN and Pollara found that 81% of Canadians believe supporting local music creators is essential to the future of Canadian culture. SOCAN says it has mobilized a national campaign that generated 8,700 letters to government urging policymakers to block any exception that would allow unlicensed use of music for AI training purposes.

Source: Canada’s SOCAN warns AI is ‘placing mounting pressure’ on livelihoods

Patreon Says Podcasters Earned $629 Million in 2025, Platform’s Biggest Content Category

On Patreon, podcasts have become the largest content category in terms of revenue and they’ve continued their upward trajectory, says chief operating officer Paige Fitzgerald. “Podcasts are a resonant medium,” she says. “They work well for multihyphenate creators who want to leverage several types of media formats to connect with their fans.”

Source: Patreon Says Podcasters Earned $629 Million in 2025, Platform’s Biggest Content Category

Hollywood Assistants Are Using AI Despite Their Better Judgment

And, as with previous introductions of new technology into Hollywood, from digital film to email, AI is percolating from the bottom up, starting with the assistant class — on track to become industry standard as today’s underlings (those that survive the continual layoffs, that is) rise to positions of power. Confronted with larger workloads and a shrinking headcount, AI — both the kind officially approved by companies and more surreptitious uses — has made its way via support staff into essential Hollywood workflows.

Source: Hollywood Assistants Are Using AI Despite Their Better Judgment 

IMPALA says WMG’s Revelator acquisition is ‘bad news for artists, fans, and Europe’s diversity’

The statement, published on Thursday (April 2), came one day after WMG announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the independent music platform, which specializes in digital music distribution, rights management, royalty accounting, and real-time analytics. IMPALA acknowledged that the deal reflects well on the independent sector’s capacity for innovation, but argued that it continues a pattern in which independent infrastructure is absorbed by major label groups

Source: IMPALA says WMG’s Revelator acquisition is ‘bad news for artists, fans, and Europe’s diversity’

ElevenLabs releases a new AI-powered music-generation app

Voice AI company ElevenLabs has quietly released an iOS app called ElevenMusic that can be used to create music with AI and discover AI-generated music. The new app, which was listed on the App Store for a few weeks and finally released on April 1, suggests ElevenLabs wants to be more than just a voice model company. The company sees tools that use AI to create music and other mediums as a way to grow and protect itself from the eventual commoditization of AI audio models.

Source: ElevenLabs releases a new AI-powered music-generation app

See How Hollywood’s Job Market Is Collapsing

The early 2020s marked the apex of a production boom known as “peak TV,” during which streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and HBO Max tried to add subscribers as fast as possible. By the time strikes by actors and writers ended in 2023, Wall Street was demanding that streaming services give priority to profits over growth. The easiest way to get into the black was to cut production spending. 

Source: See How Hollywood’s Job Market Is Collapsing

Commentary: The Disney/Sora fiasco shows the limits of the AI craze

Sora’s demise points to more than the collapse of a big-media financial deal. It’s yet another indication that the allure of AI-created content for paying customers has been vastly overestimated. So too have been the ostensible efficiencies that AI brings to businesses. For example, Walmart has reportedly found that conversion rates — the percentage of consumers who complete an online transaction after an online search — are appreciably lower for consumers who attempt to complete the purchase through ChatGPT.

Source: Commentary: The Disney/Sora fiasco shows the limits of the AI craze

‘Soon publishers won’t stand a chance’: literary world in struggle to detect AI-written books

An editor at one of the “big five” publishing houses said a “cold shiver went down my spine” when the Shy Girl story broke. “It really is a case of ‘there but for the grace of God go I,’” they said. “It’s an issue publishers are keenly aware of. We make it very clear to authors what we expect, we get them to sign contracts and we run their work through multiple AI detection tools, but we know all this is fallible. “Hence the cold shiver: if an author is determined to use AI, then cover their tracks, there’s very little we can do.”

Source: ‘Soon publishers won’t stand a chance’: literary world in struggle to detect AI-written books

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