After securing $22.5 million in funding in 2024, AI-powered self-publishing platform Spines has deployed the funds to introduce author voice cloning for audiobooks, expand translation services to seven languages, and grow its author base to more than 6,000 users. The platform published more than 2,000 titles in 2024, up from 400 titles in 2023, and anticipates it will reach 8,000 titles by the end of this year.
Source: Spines Adds AI Audiobook Voice Cloning, Translations
The partnership, announced Tuesday (December 2), gives the startup access to recordings from Merlin‘s membership of independent labels and distributors spanning more than 70 countries. Combined with its June licensing deal with Warner Music, Singa is assembling a catalog of original masters and “not reproductions or soundalike versions.” Previously, karaoke companies relied on recreated versions of popular songs due to licensing restrictions with major labels.
Source: Karaoke startup Singa strikes licensing deal with indie music rep Merlin
The track, credited to Haven (the project of producer Harrison Walker), went viral on TikTok in October and was on course to chart in both the UK and US before being removed from streaming services following takedown notices alleging artist impersonation. In a statement published via Instagram, FAMM alleged that Walker “used AI to make his voice sound like Jorja’s and had used Jorja’s name (without permission) suggesting to the public that it was actually Jorja singing.”
In a recent study by the streaming platform Deezer and market research company Ipsos, 97% of respondents could not tell the difference between music tracks made entirely by artificial intelligence and those made by humans. At first glance, it might seem that listeners are welcoming AI-generated music with open arms and ears. But the truth is muddier. The same Deezer study found that 52% of respondents were uncomfortable about not being able to tell the difference between human and AI music.
News Corp Australia has launched a licence agreement to give corporate Australia new confidence to download, share and copy content from across the publisher’s professional and extensive news, information and entertainment network, helping reduce the legal and financial risk copyright infringement poses. Importantly, given the rise of artificial intelligence, the licence also caters for copyrighted content to be used as a prompt in AI tools as well as delivering predictable value and ease of compliance.
Source: News Corp Launches Downloadable Copyright Licence Agreement – Content + Technology
WhoSampled offers an extensive database of songs, samples, covers, remixes, artists, and more. According to its website, it’s now tracking more than 1.2 million songs and nearly 622,000 samples. That data is powering Spotify’s latest features, like its upcoming music discovery tool SongDNA. However, WhoSampled was known to Spotify for some time, as it had partnered with the streamer back in 2016 to allow its users to access their Spotify playlists and saved tracks in its app
Source: Spotify acquires music database WhoSampled | TechCrunch
A legal battle that began over a Sarah Connor album posted on a German pirate site has escalated into a landmark case that will shape EU copyright law. The lawsuit between Universal Music and Cloudflare has reached the highest German court, which recently asked the EU’s top court to step in. At stake is the legal definition of “temporary caching” and whether CDNs face the same liability risks as content platforms.
Founded in Montreal in 2021, Xposure Music is described as a “technology-driven financing and investment platform for independent music rights”. Xposure Music says on its website that it has deployed funding to nearly 100 artists in the past 18 months, and that with this new infusion of capital, the company plans to “scale its efforts, funding additional artists and acquiring catalogs at a larger volume”.
Source: Xposure Music secures $42.5m in fresh capital for indie catalog acquisitions
The latest industry entity to have its say on the recent spate of major-label deals with AI-music companies is ECSA. “So far, both UMG and WMG have underlined that their recently announced agreements with Udio and Suno – which appear to cover both rights over the recording as well as the song rights – will empower and protect artists and songwriters, but provided very little detail about the involvement, consent and remuneration of music authors and artists,” The European Composer and Songwriter Alliance said.
Source: ECSA warns majors off ‘undervaluing song rights’ in AI deals
Visits to Forbes.com were down 59% year on year and 4% month on month in October to 75.4 million visits, according to Similarweb. Phillips attributed the traffic decline to the rollout of Google’s AI Overviews in 2024, providing lengthy answers at the top of many types of search results (especially for evergreen content) meaning users may not feel the need to click through to the original source. “We’re losing that attribution of, you know, who’s the richest person in the world, according to Forbes, it’s Elon Musk.
Source: Interview: How Forbes CEO Sherry Phillips is responding to Google challenge