![]() For platforms like Spotify and Deezer, AI music is a double-edged sword: for all the downsides of potential fakery and non-musical flotsam and jetsam, it offers them the opportunity of expanding available product and cutting deals outside the remit of record labels.Īnd for musicians who aren’t part of rock’s aristocracy, cutting through the noise is going to get a lot harder in an industry that’s already winner-takes-all: some 95 per cent of streaming royalty payouts are generated by the top 15 per cent, or 200,000 artists. Where things get less clear-cut are what it means to everyone else. ![]() The start-up’s ambient soundscapes are composed by software but based on the musical building blocks, or stems, of songs created by human artists the UMG deal opens up an Ali Baba’s cave of those stems for AI consumption.Įndel co-founder Oleg Stavitsky tells me: “I hope this is a new chapter that shows how music companies can embrace and use AI.” He’s keen to stress that this will be done in partnership with artists, whether they’re actively involved in the composition or not, although ultimately, it looks like rights-holders like Hipgnosis Songs Fund will have a big say. ![]() Releasing a “sleep” or “chill-out” version of Taylor Swift or Drake’s latest album could enhance their star power, not rob artists of their royalties.Īnd from Endel’s point of view, it’s recognition that even a machine able to spit out infinite music can do far better with the (authorised) star power of a human. Why not partner with a company that’s willing to play by the rules? Endel has already made a soundscape album with songwriter James Blake, and an alliance could help UMG get a slice of a “functional” music market that’s already delivering 10 billion streams a month. Tech is improving at a rapid pace and looks like another competitive threat in a market where indie labels and DIY artists account for about 35 per cent of the available music, with UMG at 30 per cent, according to research firm MIDiA. The deal suggests a growing recognition that a purely hostile strategy against AI won’t work. UMG has this year been particularly outspoken in cracking down on the excesses of machine-made music, pushing Spotify and other streaming platforms to do more to fight audio deepfakes, AI data-scraping and a deluge of non-musical music from whale song to white noise that’s eating into labels’ market share. This clearly marks a “can’t beat ’em? Join ’em” chapter in the race to contain AI disruption. It’s a truce rather than a lasting peace, and one with potentially noisy consequences. The software will be allowed to use Universal’s catalogue of existing albums and artists to produce these functional soundscapes. In a new twist in the music streaming wars that’s seen record labels fight the encroachment of artificial intelligence on pop stars’ turf, Universal Music Group on Tuesday announced it would partner with Berlin-based artificial intelligence start-up Endel to craft soundscapes designed as background listening for activities such as sleep, relaxation or increased focus.ĪI start-up Endel has made a soundscape album with songwriter James Blake. ![]() What kind of music will Spotify’s suggestion algorithms serve its millions of subscribers on a rainy Sunday afternoon: A Lana Del Rey ballad, or machine-generated ambient noise? Well, eventually, maybe a combination of the two.
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