Headlines

Google Books reportedly indexing bad AI-written works

The AI books could make studying language patterns harder. 404Media reports Google Books included several books that AI could have written. The publication searched Google Books with the term “as of my last knowledge update,” a common phrase chatbots like ChatGPT use. You can search Google Books for specific sentences or terms, and it will normally send back written works with those phrases.

Source: Google Books reportedly indexing bad AI-written works

IATSE Sees Fears and Promise of Artificial Intelligence: ‘We Want the Spoils’

AI is high on the agenda as IATSE looks to set a new three-year contract with Hollywood’s major studios and streamers before the July 31 expiration of its current deal. Like the other unions that have struck new contracts over the past year — the WGA, SAG-AFTRA, the Directors Guild of America and the American Federation of Musicians — IATSE is seeking “guardrails” on AI use.

Source: IATSE Sees Fears and Promise of Artificial Intelligence: ‘We Want the Spoils’

DiMA CEO Graham Davies: “We’ve got to be careful with streaming’s success story.” 

Where the money goes in the music business has always been an issue of towering importance, but it has never been under greater scrutiny, both within the industry and publicly. “[Regarding] educating on where the money goes, I think there’s a lot to do there,” says Davies. “There is a lot of miscommunication and misunderstanding.” Key to this, he says, are DiMA’s efforts around “modernizing of licensing and operations”.

Source: DiMA president and CEO Graham Davies: “We’ve got to be careful with streaming’s success story.” – Music Ally

Kiss Sells Catalog, Name, Likeness and More to Pophouse Entertainment for $300 Million

Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Kiss have sold their music catalog, name, image and likeness — including their iconic makeup designs — to Pophouse Entertainment, the Sweden-based music investment firm behind ABBA’s “Voyage” hologram show. While terms of the deal were not officially announced, Bloomberg and Associated Press said it was worth upwards of $300 million.

Source: Kiss Sells Catalog, Name, Likeness and More to Pophouse Entertainment for $300 Million

Billie Eilish, Pearl Jam, 200 artists say AI poses existential threat to their livelihoods

On Tuesday, the Artist Rights Alliance (ARA) announced an open letter critical of AI signed by over 200 musical artists, including Pearl Jam, Nicki Minaj, Billie Eilish, Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello, and the estate of Frank Sinatra. In the letter, the artists call on AI developers, technology companies, platforms, and digital music services to stop using AI to “infringe upon and devalue the rights of human artists.”

Source: Billie Eilish, Pearl Jam, 200 artists say AI poses existential threat to their livelihoods

AI’s quiet creep into music punctuated by ‘SpongeBob’ voices and a secretive artist called Glorb

SpongeBob, the title cheery yellow character, appears outside his pineapple-shaped home, while Mr. Krabs, SpongeBob’s cranky boss, is at the Krusty Krab restaurant he runs. But unlike in the show, the characters in the videos aren’t singing jolly songs about life in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom. Instead, they’re rapping about drugs and guns.

Source: AI’s quiet creep into music punctuated by ‘SpongeBob’ voices and a secretive artist called Glorb

The Intersection Of Human Creativity And AI: A Legal Renaissance

In this era, where AI capabilities seem boundless, human time emerges as a finite, invaluable resource. As AI assumes responsibility for routine and complex tasks alike, the focus shifts to the essence of human input — creativity, ethical reasoning, and innovation. This recalibration signifies a deeper appreciation for human attributes, underscoring the irreplaceable nature of human time and insight in a digitized world.

Source: The Intersection Of Human Creativity And AI: A Legal Renaissance

Ed Newton-Rex: Suno is aiming to generate $120 billion per year. But is it trained on copyrighted recordings? 

When an AI company doesn’t reveal its training data sources, the best chance we have of working out those sources is to use the model and see whether we can find output that resembles copyrighted material. Output that resembles copyrighted material is a strong indicator that that material was part of the training data. I, and others, have found that Suno regularly outputs music that closely resembles copyrighted material.

Source: Suno is a music AI company aiming to generate $120 billion per year. But is it trained on copyrighted recordings?

Stability AI Launches Stable Audio 2.0 With Audio-to-Audio Generation Feature

Stability AI has launched Stable Audio 2.0, adding key new functions to the company’s text-to-music generator. Stable Audio 2.0 features audio-to-audio generation, allowing users to manipulate any audio sample they want using text-based AI prompts. Its terms of service, however, requires that any audio uploaded to this tool is free of copyrighted material, with the tool employing a content recognition filter to ensure compliance.

Source: Stability AI Launches Stable Audio 2.0 With Audio-to-Audio Generation Feature

Changes to Spotify’s royalty model, including the 1,000 annual streams royalty policy, are officially live as of April 1

Changes to the way Spotify calculates recorded royalties went live on the platform as of Monday. Spotify says it won’t share the number of unique listeners required to become eligible for royalties “to prevent further manipulation by bad actors”. Spotify said in a blog post that “99.5% of all streams” on its platform “are of tracks that have at least 1,000 annual streams”, and that “each of those tracks will earn more under this policy”.

Source: Changes to Spotify’s royalty model, including the 1,000 annual streams royalty policy, are officially live as of April 1

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