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Reddit in AI content licensing deal is with Google

Social media platform Reddit has struck a deal with Google to make its content available for training the search engine giant’s artificial intelligence models, three people familiar with the matter said. The contract with Alphabet-owned Google is worth about $60 million per year, according to one of the sources. Bloomberg previously reported Reddit’s content deal without naming the buyer.

Source: Reddit in AI content licensing deal with Google

Hipgnosis Completes 20,000-Song Selloff — At a Steep Discount

Hipgnosis Songs Fund has completed a 20,000-song selloff, but the involved price tag represents a steep discount to the works’ valuation. In an announcement to the market on Monday (December 11), HSF said that “these non-core songs, which are a subset of those identified as the Second Disposal as set out in September, were bundled with the iconic Songs acquired by the Company in 2020 as part of Kobalt Fund One“.

Source: Hipgnosis Completes 20,000-Song Selloff — At a Steep Discount

As AI Battle Lines Are Drawn, Studios Align With Big Tech in a Risky Bet

Experts question why studios aren’t siding more with actors and writers and against AI companies to oppose what could constitute the mass pilfering of their closely guarded intellectual property. “Studios should be protecting their copyrights,” a WGA member tells The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s shortsighted, because it demotes them to another source of content for these AI firms.”

Source: As AI Battle Lines Are Drawn, Studios Align With Big Tech in a Risky Bet

Spotify changing how it pays artists starting in 2024

Spotify is planning to make significant changes to its royalty payout model in Q1 2024 – with the intent to move USD $1 billion in royalty payments over the next five years to ‘legitimate’ artists and rightsholders. Spotify has been discussing details of its blueprint for the new royalty model with various music rightsholders in recent weeks.

Source: Spotify is changing its royalty model to crush streaming fraud and introduce a minimum payment threshold. Its plan? To shift $1 billion in payouts towards ‘working artists’ over the next 5 years.

Streaming’s problems will not be fixed by royalties alone: MIDiA

A brutal assessment of streaming would be that no one is happy. Every stakeholder, except perhaps, the consumer, has a beef with how streaming operates. All of which means that any fixes (at least those that will succeed) will need to deliver some form of benefit to all stakeholders, big and small. And that means tackling the underlying behavioral dynamics of streaming, from which today’s royalty issues come.

Source: Streaming’s problems will not be fixed by royalties alone

2 Senators Propose Bipartisan Framework for A.I. Laws

The leaders of the Senate judiciary’s subcommittee for privacy, technology and law said in interviews on Thursday that their framework will include requirements for the licensing and auditing of A.I., the creation of an independent federal office to oversee the technology, liability for companies for privacy and civil rights violations, and requirements for data transparency and safety standards.

Source: 2 Senators Propose Bipartisan Framework for A.I. Laws

The Battle Over Books3 Could Change AI Forever

Books3 started as a passion project by a Midwestern guy going through a weird time. “I poured my soul into the work,” he says. He saw it as aligned with the open source movement, a way to democratize access to the kind of data sets OpenAI was already using. Copyright activists are on a mission to wipe the popular generative AI training set from the internet. Success could alter the industry—and who controls it.

Source: The Battle Over Books3 Could Change AI Forever

Microsoft is developing an AI rap generator, DeepRapper 

According to Microsoft, ‘Muzic’is a “project on AI music that empowers music understanding and generation with deep learning and artificial intelligence.” Of all the projects in the works at Muzic, this one might make a few music rightsholders spit out their coffee. In 2021, Muzic researchers developed an AI-powered ‘rap generator’ called DeepRapper.

Source: Microsoft is developing an AI rap generator, DeepRapper – trained on a large set of songs ‘crawled’ from the web

YouTube Opens More Pathways for Creators to Make Money on the Platform

The Google-owned company plans to let more video creators earn money from the platform, lowering the barriers to entry for its partner program, according to audio from a YouTube all-hands meeting on Thursday. YouTube is expected to make the announcement at an event on Tuesday. It “is the largest expansion we’ve done in several years creating new ways for creators to join the program,” Amjad Hanif, vice president of product management and creator products, said in the staff meeting.

Source: YouTube Opens More Pathways for Creators to Make Money on the Platform

Warner Music’s Acquisition Group Raises $535 Million to Buy…Something 

Warner Music announced early Wednesday morning that its acquisition group has raised $535 million in a secured senior notes deal. What it intends to do with those funds, which now add up to nearly a billion dollars on hand, remains to be seen.

Source: Warner Music’s Acquisition Group Raises $535 Million — and They Could Spend It on Any Number of Things

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