Google’s AI Overviews are reducing traffic to review content and buyers’ guides by up to 50%, according to an affiliate marketing specialist. Paul Cunliffe, who works with publishers on their affiliate channels, described the arrival of AI Overviews as a “real challenge at the moment in the affiliate space”. Publishers can earn affiliate revenue by linking to products and services, taking a commission when readers make a purchase by clicking through a link.
Source: Google AI Overviews ‘leading to affiliate revenue drop of 20-40% at some publishers’
Lyrics and music data company Musixmatch says it has signed AI licensing deals with the publishing arms of all three major music companies. The deals with Sony Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group and Warner Chappell Music give Musixmatch access to catalogs of over 15 million musical works, with which the company plans to develop new analytical tools and “non-generative AI services.”
A leader in funding for independent labels and musicians, beatBread has announced the launch of the Global Independence Fund (GIF), a new $100 million fund designed to provide independent labels and distributors with flexible financial support. The fund aims to ensure that independent music businesses have access to capital on terms that align with their needs, allowing them to grow, compete more effectively to sign new artists, and maintain control of day-to-day decision making.
Italian news publishers are calling for an investigation into Google’s AI Overviews, arguing that the search engine’s AI-generated summaries feature is a “traffic killer” that threatens their survival. FIEG, the Italian federation of newspaper publishers, said it has submitted a formal complaint to Agcom, Italy’s communications watchdog. Similar complaints have been filed in other EU countries.
As machine-made books flood online marketplaces, a new UK initiative is introducing an Organic Literature stamp to help readers identify books created by real authors. The scheme will involve Organic Literature stamps being placed on books written by humans, with only limited AI use permitted for tasks such as formatting or idea generation.