Headlines

Fraudsters Are Releasing AI Music Under Real Musicians’ Names

Usually when AI-generated music rears its head, it usually appears under fake names, or tries to imitate major artists but without actually appearing on their official channels. However, there’s a steadily growing trend of established (but notably not “superstar”) artists being targeted by fake music appearing on their official streaming pages. Even artists who have long since passed away are suddenly having “new” material, generated by AI, appearing on their catalogs.

Source: Fraudsters Are Releasing AI Music Under Real Musicians’ Names

The Weeknd seeks $1B in music-backed financing (Report)

The Weeknd is looking to raise roughly USD $1 billion in financing backed by his music catalog. That’s according to Bloomberg, which reported on Saturday (August 23), citing people familiar with the matter as saying that the Canadian singer would pledge his stake in publishing rights and master recordings. No agreement has been reached as discussions are still ongoing, the report said.

Source: The Weeknd seeks $1B in music-backed financing (Report)

Will AI make language dubbing easy for film and TV?

The audio and video of a recent film, Watch the Skies, a Swedish sci-fi film, was fed into a digital tool called DeepEditor. It manipulates the video to make it look like actors are genuinely speaking the language the film is made into. The English version of Watch The Skies was released in 110 AMC Theatres across the US in May. “To contextualise this result, if the film were not dubbed into English, the film would never have made it into US cinemas in the first place,” says Mr Cottray.

Source: Will AI make language dubbing easy for film and TV?

AI Becomes Hollywood’s New Secret Weapon in Talent Negotiations: ‘The Data Doesn’t Lie’

Where many in Hollywood view AI as something of a bogeyman, fearing widespread job loss, others see opportunity. Acharia, who hails from a tech background as an entrepreneur before pivoting to management, is one of a small but growing legion of talent reps who are harnessing AI data to better advocate for and negotiate on behalf of their clients on future deals.

Source: AI Becomes Hollywood’s New Secret Weapon in Talent Negotiations: ‘The Data Doesn’t Lie’

Authors Guild Urges Members to Register Titles in Anthropic Lawsuit

As the September 1 deadline nears to submit books for consideration in the class action lawsuit against AI company Anthropic, the Authors Guild is advising its members to send their contact information and titles to the court-appointed class counsel for authors. In its post, the Guild advises authors who believe pirated copies of their books may have been unlawfully downloaded by Anthropic to provide the requested information and “to share the website with any other authors you know.”

Source: Authors Guild Urges Members to Register Titles in Anthropic Lawsuit

Brits Are Scoring Big: How U.K. Acts Took Over Hollywood’s Biggest Soundtracks

Hollywood productions are enraptured by the sound of the U.K. scene. Experimentalist Jerskin Fendrix landed an Academy Award nomination for Poor Things (2023), as did Mica Levi for The Zone of Interest that same year. A24’s upcoming The Smashing Machine (Oct. 3), starring Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Emily Blunt, will feature music from London-based alt-jazz star Nala Sinephro.

Source: Brits Are Scoring Big: How U.K. Acts Took Over Hollywood’s Biggest Soundtracks

AI crawler Firecrawl raises $14.5M, is still looking to hire agents as employees

The Firecrawl founders are working on tools to help website owners, publishers, and other content creators “get paid when AI uses their content. We think this is the way it should be,” CEO Caleb Peffer said. While there have been lots of efforts around this idea from big names like Adobe and Getty, Peffer feels that Firecrawl has an edge because it’s already working with those who are scraping data.

Source: AI crawler Firecrawl raises $14.5M, is still looking to hire agents as employees | TechCrunch

ASCAP Settles Lawsuit With Thousands of Radio Stations Over Music Licensing Rates

ASCAP has settled its lawsuit with thousands of radio stations over music licensing rates, the PRO and the Radio Music License Committee announced. Hours after rival BMI announced it had reached such a deal with RMLC, ASCAP said that it, too, had settled its own parallel lawsuit against the radio group. Like BMI’s statement, the announcement from ASCAP said the deal had secured substantially higher rates for songwriters and publishers.

Source: ASCAP Settles Lawsuit With Thousands of Radio Stations Over Music Licensing Rates

BMI Settles With Radio Stations to Resolve License Litigation: ‘Historic Rate Increase’

BMI and the Radio Music License Committee have reached a settlement to resolve three years of litigation over the licensing rates that will be paid by nearly 9000 radio stations to songwriters and publishers – a deal that BMI is calling “a historic rate increase.” According to court filings, the new deal will see rates paid by radio stations jump from 1.78 percent of revenue under the old agreement to 2.14 percent, then slowly increase to 2.20 percent by the end of the term.

Source: BMI Settles With Radio Stations to Resolve License Litigation: ‘Historic Rate Increase’

Senator Begins Child Safety Investigation Into Meta’s A.I. Bot

Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, said on Friday that he was starting an investigation into Meta’s generative artificial intelligence products and whether they posed harms to children, the latest scrutiny of whether the social media giant takes appropriate safety measures when it comes to minors. “Is there anything — ANYTHING — Big Tech won’t do for a quick buck?” Mr. Hawley said in a post on X. “Big Tech: Leave our kids alone.”

Source: Senator Begins Child Safety Investigation Into Meta’s A.I. Bot

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