Sharooz Raoofi’s Post

🔊 Should Distributors Ban AI Music? 🎶 As AI-generated music becomes a larger part of the industry and tools like Udio and Suno get more sophisticated, music distributors, including Unchained Music, face unique challenges in vetting releases that are wholly or partly AI-generated. We firmly believe that #musicAI has its place; however, original creators need to be protected, and training data sets need to be disclosed. Ensuring quality and some form of originality while protecting these rights is no small task. On a daily basis, Unchained's QC team must navigate: 1️⃣ Authenticity and Likeness Checks: Differentiating between AI-generated and human-created music requires tools that don't currently exist. A track that sounds like an artist but isn't that artist has likeness issues attached. Is it the place of music distributors to police these soundalike issues? To an extent, yes, but things will inevitably slip through until watermarking AI production becomes commonplace. 2️⃣ Quality Assurance: AI can produce a wide range of music, but not all tracks meet industry standards. While automated systems can help vet music metadata, assessing the music itself requires careful listening to detect signs of AI production. These telltale signs will diminish as AI advances, forcing QC teams to make quality judgments on vocals and production elements. Should music distributors be responsible for this? Some streaming platforms think so, as they prefer not to handle it themselves. This creates a minefield for artists and users alike. 3️⃣ Rights and Ownership: Clarifying the legal standing of AI-generated works to avoid potential intellectual property disputes. Should music distributors handle this? An emphatic "no." We must prevent infringing content from passing QC, but streaming platforms allow AI music trained on probable copyrighted datasets without clear guidance on what is permitted. Until there is a legal judgment or clear platform policies, distributors cannot effectively police content in this way. Properly attributed and legally trained AI has a space in the music industry, and that's why we won't ban it. Don't fight the tech. Protect the creators.

This news is huge! Back when I first dove into AI about 10 years ago, collaborating with the Canadian trade ministers connecting me to the AI super cluster they had developed and supporting those early founders, I dreamt about AI merging with music. Fast forward to just over a year ago, when I met Diaa El All the incredible co-founder behind Soundful. The moment I heard what Soundful was doing, I was blown away. It was like having a super producer at my fingertips. With just a few clicks, I was creating some of the most phenomenal beats imaginable. This dynamic team of musicians and engineers crafted something extraordinary. They achieved what no other music AI platform had managed before: creating top-notch, commercially viable music. I immediately knew I wanted to be part of this, to support and invest in their vision, so innovative client Starrah and I jumped on board. My commitment to the AI landscape goes beyond just technology; it's about the exponential growth and transformation of humanity in every sphere of our lives. Growth often comes with its challenges, and the music industry's journey with AI hasn't been smooth, led by controversy and distrust from the music industry. But progress demands innovation and a shift in mindset. Looking at the industry in 2024, I'm filled with hope for the future of music and A.I, especially about this partnership between Soundful and SoundCloud Soundcloud has been empowering up-and-coming artists for over a decade, and their collaboration with Soundful, a trailblazer in the music AI space, marks a pivotal moment in our industry. This partnership opens doors to more collaborations based on the technological prowess and openness Soundcloud is known for. It's surprising that deals like this aren't more common. The major players in the industry are cautious with AI, but it's partnerships like Soundful and Soundcloud that push the envelope and prove that this is the way forward. We need more of these collaborations to advance the industry and showcase the true potential of AI in music. https://lnkd.in/gAJpvUnw

US$10 Mln Funding I believe AI has the potential to expand musical horizons and enable anyone to create extraordinary music. AI possesses the potential to transform the music industry into a dynamic and technologically driven ecosystem, presenting both extraordinary opportunities as well as challenges. Artificial Intelligence is not just a crescendo, it is a paradigm shift that spans all aspects of the industry. From the way music is created and produced to the way it is consumed and experienced, AI-powered tools are helping musicians to write, record, and mix music more efficiently and creatively. AI is also being used to personalize the music listening experience for fans and to discover new artists and genres. NICHE TO MAINSTREAM The global market for generative AI in music will be worth more than $3B by 2028. It was valued at USD 229 million in 2022 and continue to witness substantial growth in recent years with a remarkable CAGR of 28.6%. Music mastering holds the largest market revenue share in 2022, with a share of 30%, followed by music composition. The software segment dominates the market, holding the largest global revenue share of 55% in 2022, while the services segment is expected to grow fast as well. Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) lead the market, accounting for 41% of the market revenue share in 2022, with transformer-based models expected to grow too. This result shows that there's a massive market opportunity for startups venturing into the segment. One of the startups is Udio. Udio is a company that leverages AI to easily create extraordinary and original music from simple text prompts. The startup proprietary AI makes it easy for anyone to create and share music. In a few steps, users type a description of the music genre they want to make, provide the subject or personalized lyrics, and indicate artists that inspire. In less than 40 seconds, Udio produces fully mastered tracks. Once a track has been created, users can further edit their creations through the app’s “remix” feature. This enables iteration on existing tracks through text descriptors, turning everyday creators into producers. Once finished, users can then share their new creations with the app’s built-in community of music lovers, for feedback and collaboration. With Udio, anyone with a tune, some lyrics, or a funny idea can now express themselves in music. Founded by David Ding, Conor Durkan, Charlie Nash, Yaroslav Ganin, and Andrew Sanchez, Udio has raised $10 million in Seed funding. The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its development efforts. #funding #gen #ai #startup #music #creation #vcdeal

As the music industry sees it, there are Good Eggs and Bad Eggs in the generative-AI world. The Good Eggs want to work with the industry and with musicians, asking permission to train their models on copyrighted music, striking licensing deals, and being transparent about their inputs. The Bad Eggs… don’t. But how to tell the difference? A new initiative called Fairly Trained aims to help with that. It’s a certification program for generative-AI companies “that get consent for the training data they use”. It launched yesterday with a familiar name in charge: Ed Newton-Rex, who recently resigned from his job as head of audio at Stability AI on principle due to its views on training and ‘fair use’. He’s CEO of Fairly Trained, with advisers including Tom Gruber (co-founder of the startup that became Apple’s Siri, as well as AI music startup LifeScore); Elizabeth Moody (partner at law firm Granderson Des Roches, and previously of Pandora and YouTube); Association of American Publishers (AAP) CEO Maria A. Pallante; and musician Max Richter. Oh, and Universal Music Group is one of the launch supporters, alongside Concord, the AAP and the Association Of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP). Fairly Trained launches with nine certified companies, eight of which are music-focused: Beatoven.ai, Boomy Corporation, Endel, LifeScore Music, Rightsify, SOMMS.AI, Soundful and Tuney. The ninth is text-to-image AI BRIA AI, and that’s important: the initiative is for all kinds of generative-AI companies, not just those working in music. Read our full article, including an interview with Newton-Rex about what Fairly Trained is hoping to achieve: https://lnkd.in/eD6TSDcG

In this excerpt from the Dutch Quote magazine, Collabhouse founder Eelko Van Kooten discusses our platform and the use of NFTs in the music industry. He explains how NFTs can help emerging artists generate buzz and revenue at a grassroots level. Read the English translation below: Self-made tinkerer Eelko van Kooten is a Quote 500 member. He earned his fortune with the record label Spinnin' Records, through which he brought artists like Tiësto and Afrojack to an audience of millions. For years, Van Kooten has had a good sense of where the music industry was heading. And even in 2024, he does not blindly focus on house vinyl but closely observes what today's youth are engaged in. This vision is embodied in his Collabhouse, a platform that aims to facilitate collaborations between artists, producers and influencers. NFTs play a role there too, even now that the hype has died down, says Van Kooten. "It was a craze that everyone wanted to be involved with, but now you look much more at what you can and cannot practically do with it." For Collabhouse, which as a startup is still fairly in its infancy, this means that tracks created through the platform (can) be produced as NFTs. "That way, you buy the track as a kind of real thing," says Van Kooten. "If that song later becomes a success, the NFT increases in value and the owner gets something back for it." Van Kooten is enthusiastic about the technology, but does not think it is going to revolutionize the entire music industry. "You still need record companies. They arrange marketing and promotion on a scale that an emerging artist can never manage themselves." But NFTs, as part of a kind of musical platform economy, can help up-and-coming artists generate value at a time when they are still too small for a label. “Young artists in their early twenties understand very well that you have to create buzz around your track. Once it's finally on Spotify, that's when the game starts. Because how do people know where to find you? So they seek collaborations with influencers on TikTok, for example, and then the flywheel starts spinning. NFTs are a part of that. They make that digital way of promoting more tangible and the artist themselves can determine what happens with those NFTs." What you can do with NFTs, according to Van Kooten, is raise money, for example. "As a starting artist you don’t earn much, but by issuing NFTs you can finance yourself. You can then invest that money in a paid collaboration with an influencer, who in turn makes you big." Moreover, artists can work without a label for longer periods if they manage to successfully play the NFT revenue game, says Van Kooten. "At a label you normally hand over 70 percent of your royalties.” #Collabhouse #MusicNFTs #NFT #NFTs #MusicIndustry #Article #Press

Like anyone in music tech I've been excited to try Suno and there's little doubt V3 is incredible. It's a profound technical achievement and those involved deserve significant credit. In yesterday's Rolling Stone article their chief investor is quoted as saying if Suno had deals already in place with labels prior to his involvement he wouldn't have invested, because they "didn't need the constraints". The same article then reveals the team have not disclosed their data input sources. At this juncture, my excitement evaporates. Picture this - some of the greatest brains in the country create an application with demonstrable capacity to upend the music industry in as drastic a fashion as Napster, Spotify and even Edison, but are training from and building with human creator rights being an afterthought. Creators are not luddites. We merely ask that the preservation of copyright is a base consideration, and that a slice of the pie reaches us if our work has been used to develop the technology, and/or is subsequently exploited by public performance. It's not a big ask. As a content creator and a rightsholder I am generally open to licensing to whomever gets this right. But by already shipping the product, charging users for it, profiting from it, and relegating rights consideration to an afterthought, the message I get is "we'll carry on without you, you're getting in the way of our development". It's too early yet to say what problem Suno solves, but it could solve many more, and avoid the ire of potentially fatal legal troubles if it had the backing of the creators it's based its work upon. We celebrated Napster's disruption because it took aim at corporate greed, and paved the way for a wider democratisation of the music industry, but generative AI seems to suggest it's ok to take from the little guy, because hey they're building novel, cool shit. https://lnkd.in/ezvb5izG

New Post: Futureverse Launches Jen, An AI Music Model Focused on ‘Transparency’ - https://lnkd.in/gfuysnPw - Futureverse, an AI music company co-founded by music technology veteran Shara Senderoff, has announced the alpha launch of Jen, its text-to-music AI model. Available for anyone to use on its website, Jen-1 is an AI model that can be safely used by creators, given it was trained on 40 different fully-licensed catalogs, containing about 150 million works in total. The company’s co-founders, Senderoff and Aaron McDonald, first teased Jen’s launch by releasing a research paper and conducting an interview with Billboard in August 2023. In the interview, Senderoff explained that “Jen is spelled J-E-N because she’s designed to be your friend who goes into the studio with you. She’s a tool.” Some of Jen’s capabilities, available at its alpha launch, include the ability to generate 10-45 second song snippets using text prompts. To lengthen the song to a full 3:30-long duration, one can use its “continuation” feature to re-prompt and add on additional segments to the song. With a focus on “its commitment to transparency, compensation and copyright identification,” as its press release states, Jen has made much of its inner workings available to the public via its research papers, including that the model uses “latent diffusion,” the same process used by Stable Diffusion, DALL-E 2, and Imagen to create high quality images. (It is unclear which music AI models use “latent diffusion” as well, given many do not share this information publicly). Related AI Is Coming for the Jingle — And Maybe the Entire Advertising Audio Industry 06/13/2024 Additionally, when works are created with Jen, users receive a JENUINE indicator, verifying that the song was made with Jen at a specific timestamp. To be more specific, this indicator is a cryptographic hash that is then recorded on The Root Network blockchain. In an effort to work more closely with the music business, Futureverse brought on APG founder/CEO Mike Caren as a founding partner in fall 2023. While its mid-2024 release date makes it a late entrant in the music AI space, the company attributes this delay to making sure its 40 licenses were secured. For now, Futureverse has declined to comment on which songs are included in their overall training catalog for Jen, but a representative for the company says that among these 40 catalogs includes a number of production libraries. Futureverse says it is also in talks with all major music companies and will have more licenses secured soon for Jen’s beta launch, expected for September 2024. Some licensing partners could be announ

Futureverse licensed 40 catalogs for their generative music AI product Jen. They also made music industry legend Mike Caren a partner to get deals done and guide the company to behave in a way that is compatible with the industry. This is the right way for a company to do AI music creation. The music industry is very political and deals happen because of relationships. When the leadership teams of tech companies lack music industry experience and respect, they make costly mistakes that could have been avoided. No one is surprised about: https://lnkd.in/gMPiB3yH What happens next for Suno and Udio? More likely than not, a decent chunk of the $125 mil Suno raised will go to settle their (alleged) infringement. They may announce their own partnerships with prominent music people to help soften the blow and get compliant. In the context of music, ethical AI modeling simply means you have the explicit right to train your models on licensed data . Futureverse is setting a good foundation and I'm rooting for their success.

𝐀𝐈-𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 is here to stay 😨. And once again, the 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 by the current AI wave of digitalization, with all of its 𝐈𝐏 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 🧐. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐚 𝐍𝐚𝐩𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭! Watch the video 👇 with sound 🔊 - you will be amazed. Suno CEO makes AI music 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞. Now the music industry has sued the two AI music generators Suno and Udino - they can create songs within seconds 😮. Why is this phase of digital transformation hitting the media industry again 🤔? 📌 Content Nature: Media content is digtial-friendly 📌 Consumer Behaviour: Consumer's expect instant access to content 📌 Technological Advancements: Production and delivery of content has been revolutionized 📌 Disruptive Business Models: Digital platforms and startups introduce disruptive business models that challenge traditional media companies: 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐚 𝐍𝐚𝐩𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 🤯 (again!) 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲. It started with the Internet and digital content and Google. Then came streaming services and disrupted broadcasting and physical media and then came social media and now AI. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫-𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. This is the first major legal action against AI music generators. 💣 It is a test of the 𝐅𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐔𝐬𝐞 𝐃𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐞 in the context of AI-generated content. The outcome could determine whether AI companies can use copyrighted material 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧. 💣 The lawsuit highlights the 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. A ruling against Suno and Udio could impose stricter regulations on AI training practices, potentially slowing down innovation in the AI music industry. 💣 The record labels are seeking substantial damages, which underscores the financial stakes involved. The case 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐀𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬 and set a legal framework for future AI developments. 💣 The outcome of this lawsuit could 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 with AI-generated content, impacting how AI technologies are developed and regulated across various sectors 📣 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 - 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐭? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞? 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬?