Seeking closer artist-fan connections, TikTok has introduced verified “Artist Accounts” offering musicians promotional tools and resources to showcase their creative process and new releases. Available to all artists who have released songs, these shop window-style accounts provide a suite of features to drive music discovery and engagement.
In a resounding call for nationwide protective measures, Dennis Kooker, President of Global Digital Business at Sony Music, has urged congress for a comprehensive US-wide publicity right. This initiative aims to shield artists from the unauthorised replication of their vocal identities by AI. Kooker disclosed that Sony Music has issued nearly 10,000 takedown notices in its relentless pursuit to eradicate unapproved voice clones, underscoring the industry’s battle against the proliferation of AI-generated replicas.
The UK’s communications regulator, Ofcom, has recently contributed to the influx of AI cultural conversation with a study shedding light on its usage among different age groups. The study uncovers that a substantial 79% of online individuals aged 13-17 in the UK are actively engaging with generative AI tools and services. This embrace of AI extends to 40% of 7-12 year-olds. In contrast, only 31% of adult internet users in the country partake in the AI revolution.
Anthropic, the Amazon-backed AI company, have pushed to quash a copyright lawsuit advanced by a consortium of music publishers. A noteworthy distinction surfaces as the grounds for this dismissal motion rest on the future of jurisdictional intricacies that currently surround the world of music in AI.
When OpenAI fired CEO Sam Altman, Microsoft sought to hire him. With billions invested in the firm, Microsoft is deeply embedded in OpenAI’s fate and though negotiations continue, the turmoil may actually enhance Microsoft’s progress . If OpenAI crumbles further, a staff exodus could benefit Microsoft and other firms like Meta.
Google’s DeepMind unveiled a sophisticated AI model called Lyria to generate music alongside experiments on YouTube, seeking responsible innovation. Lyria promises more coherent compositions from sparse inputs like humming. This aims to capture AI’s creative potential while avoiding distorted surrealism over long exposures. Initial applications focus on shorter YouTube snippets as tests.
Renowned musician Holly Herndon, a trailblazer in AI exploration, not only harnessed these technologies for her music but crafted her own tools, notably Spawning. Following the debut of her ‘deepfake twin,’ Holly+, in 2021, she has now evolved this venture into a dedicated startup named Spawning, heralded as the architect of the “consent layer for AI.” Spawning’s initial offering, ‘Have I Been Trained?‘, empowers visual artists and writers to discern their presence in popular AI training datasets. With a recent $3 million funding injection, the company gears up to unveil Source+, a marketplace envisaged as a transformative hub for AI-generated content transactions.
The recent introduction of an ad-free subscription option on Meta, priced at €9.99 per month, comes with a significant caveat for users in the EU. While the absence of ads in personal feeds is the touted benefit, the obscured detail reveals that subscribers lose the ability to run ads or boost posts for themselves or their businesses, particularly if their linked pages are involved.
TikTok has launched “Add to Music App”, allowing users to save songs found on its platform directly to streaming services. Users in the US and UK can now add TikTok tracks to Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music with a single click. The feature provides a seamless bridge between viral discovery on TikTok’s social video app and full listening on dedicated streaming platforms.
With private messaging gaining ground over public social posts, Meta is spotlighting its lead generation ads to drive direct outreach. A new guide covers Meta’s full range of options to convert followers into customer leads via messaging. Performance stats and implementation tips aim to show the potential, as social interaction shifts to private chats. Already, Meta’s click-to-message ads have seen major growth in India, where WhatsApp dominates.
