State Champ Radio Business
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Seeing is believing for some investors in Sphere Entertainment Co., the developer of the new state-of-the-art venue, The Sphere, in Las Vegas. Shares of Sphere Entertainment soared 22.7% this week after the world saw the first videos of the dazzling display created by the 580,000 square feet of programmable LED “pucks” on Exosphere, the exterior […]
From ChatGPT writing code for software engineers to Bing’s search engine sliding in place of your bi-weekly Hinge binge, we’ve become obsessed with the capacity for artificial intelligence to replace us.
Within creative industries, this fixation manifests in generative AI. With models like DALL-E generating images from text prompts, the popularity of generative AI challenges how we understand the integrity of the creative process: When generative models are capable of materializing ideas, if not generating their own, where does that leave artists?
Google’s new text-based music generative AI, MusicLM, offers an interesting answer to this viral terminator-meets-ex-machina narrative. As a model that produces “high-fidelity music from text descriptions,” MusicLM embraces moments lost in translation that encourages creative exploration. It sets itself apart from other music generation models like Jukedeck and MuseNet by inviting users to verbalize their original ideas rather than toggle with existing music samples.
Describing how you feel is hard
AI in music is not new. But between recommending songs for Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlists to composing royalty free music with Jukedeck, applications of AI in music have evaded the long-standing challenge of directly mapping words to music.
This is because, as a form of expression on its own, music resonates differently to each listener. The same way that different languages struggle to perfectly communicate nuances of respective cultures, it is difficult (if not impossible) to exhaustively capture all dimensions of music in words.
MusicLM takes on this challenge by generating audio clips from descriptions like “a calming violin melody backed by a distorted guitar riff,” even accounting for less tangible inputs like “hypnotic and trance-like.” It approaches this thorny question of music categorization with a refreshing sense of self awareness. Rather than focusing on lofty notions of style, MusicLM grounds itself in more tangible attributes of music with tags such as “snappy”, or “amateurish.” It broadly considers where an audio clip may come from (eg. “Youtube Tutorial”), the general emotional responses it may conjure (eg. “madly in love”), while integrating more widely accepted concepts of genre and compositional technique.
What you expect is (not) what you get
Piling onto this theoretical question of music classification is the more practical shortage of training data. Unlike its creative counterparts (e.g. DALL-E), there isn’t an abundance of text-to-audio captions readily available.
MusicLM was trained by a library of 5,521 music samples captioned by musicians called ‘MusicCaps.’ Bound by the very human limitation of capacity and the almost-philosophical matter of style, MusicCaps offers finite granularity in its semantic interpretation of musical characteristics. The result is occasional gaps between user inputs and generated outputs: the “happy, energetic” tune you asked for may not turn out as you expect.
However, when asked about this discrepancy, MusicLM researcher Chris Donahue and research software engineer Andrea Agostinelli celebrate the human element of the model. They describe primary applications such as “[exploring] ideas more efficiently [or overcoming] writer’s block,” quick to note that MusicLM does offer multiple interpretations of the same prompt — so if one generated track fails to meet your expectations, another might.
“This [disconnect] is a big research direction for us, there isn’t a single answer,” Andrea admits. Chris attributes this disconnect to the “abstract relationship between music and text” insisting that “how we react to music is [even more] loosely defined.”
In a way — by fostering an exchange that welcomes moments lost in translation — MusicLM’s language-based structure positions the model as a sounding board: as you prompt the model with a vague idea, the generation of approximates help you figure out what you actually want to make.
Beauty is in breaking things
With their experience producing Chain Tripping (2019) — a Grammy-nominated album entirely made with MusicVAE (another music generative AI developed by Google) — the band YACHT chimes in on MusicLM’s future in music production. “As long as it can be broken apart a little bit and tinkered with, I think there’s great potential,” says frontwoman Claire L. Evans.
To YACHT, generative AI exists as a means to an end, rather than the end in itself. “You never make exactly what you set out to make,” says founding member Jona Bechtolt, describing the mechanics of a studio session. “It’s because there’s this imperfect conduit that is you” Claire adds, attributing the alluring and evocative process of producing music to the serendipitous disconnect that occurs when artists put pen to paper.
The band describes how the misalignment of user inputs and generated work inspires creativity through iteration. “There is a discursive quality to [MusicLM]… it’s giving you feedback… I think it’s the surreal feeling of seeing something in the mirror, like a funhouse mirror,” says Claire. “A computer accent,” band member Rob Kieswetter jokes, referencing a documentary about the band’s experience making Chain Tripping.
However, in discussing the implications of this move to text-to-audio generation, Claire cautions the rise of taxonomization in music: “imperfect semantic elements are great, it’s the precise ones that we should worry about… [labels] create boundaries to discovery and creation that don’t need to exist… everyone’s conditioned to think about music as this salad of hyper-specific genre references [that can be used] to conjure a new song.”
Nonetheless, both YACHT and the MusicLM team agrees that MusicLM — as it currently is — holds promise. “Either way there’s going to be a whole new slew of artists fine-tuning this tool to their needs,” Rob contends.
Engineer Andrea recalls instances where creative tools weren’t popularized for its intended purpose: “the synthesizer eventually opened up a huge wave of new genres and ways of expression. [It unlocked] new ways to express music, even for people who are not ‘musicians.’” “Historically, it has been pretty difficult to predict how each piece of music technology will play out,” researcher Chris concludes.
Happy accidents, reinvention, and self-discovery
Back to the stubborn, unforgiving question: Will generative AI replace musicians? Perhaps not.
The relationship between artists and AI is not a linear one. While it’s appealing to prescribe an intricate and carefully intentional system of collaboration between artists and AI, as of right now, the process of using AI in producing art resembles more of a friendly game of trial and error.
In music, AI gives room for us to explore the latent spaces between what we describe and what we really mean. It materializes ideas in a way that helps shape creative direction. By outlining these acute moments lost in translation, tools like MusicLM sets us up to produce what actually ends up making it to the stage… or your Discover Weekly.
Tiffany Ng is an art & tech writer based in NYC. Her work has been published in i-D Vice, Vogue, South China Morning Post, and Highsnobiety.
TikTok and a group of five content creators who are suing the state of Montana over its first-in-the-nation law to ban the video sharing app are now asking a federal judge to block implementation of the law while the case moves through the courts and before it takes effect in January.
The separate requests for preliminary injunctions were filed Wednesday in federal court in Missoula. The cases challenging the law were filed in May and have since been consolidated by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy.
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen had the bill drafted over concerns — shared by the FBI and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken — that the app, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, could be used to allow the Chinese government to access information on U.S. citizens or push pro-Beijing misinformation that could influence the public. TikTok has said none of this has ever happened.
The motions for injunctions make the same arguments as the cases against the state — that the ban is an unconstitutional violation of free speech rights and that the state has no authority to regulate foreign affairs.
Attorneys on both sides have agreed to a schedule that calls for the state to respond to the motions by mid-August and for the plaintiffs to file their replies by mid-September, court records state.
The company and the Montana content creators argue a preliminary injunction should be granted because the plaintiffs are likely to succeed in their challenges to the law and if the ban took effect it would cause irreparable harm by depriving them of the ability to express themselves and communicate with others.
TikTok has safeguards to moderate content and protect minors, and would not share information with China, the company has argued. But critics have pointed to China’s 2017 national intelligence law that compels companies to cooperate with the country’s governments for state intelligence work.
“TikTok users don’t use the app – the app uses them and turns them into a spying apparatus for the Chinese Communist Party,” Emily Flower, a spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s Office, said in a statement that also noted recent reporting that TikTok is paying for the lawsuit filed by the content creators. “TikTok’s ‘support’ is bought and paid for – Montanans recognize the threat that the app poses to their privacy and national security.”
More than half of U.S. states, including Montana, and the federal government have banned TikTok from government-owned devices.
Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the bill into law in May, saying Montana was taking “the most decisive action of any state to protect Montanans’ private data and sensitive personal information from being harvested by the Chinese Communist Party.”
As of June 1, Gianforte also prohibited the use of any social media apps tied to foreign adversaries on state equipment and for state businesses. Among the apps he listed are WeChat, whose parent company is headquartered in China; and Telegram Messenger, which was founded in Russia.
Vinyl Me, Please, the ebullient record of the month club (and pressing plant) based in Denver, hired creative veterans Rob Jones and Alan Hynes to add some rocket fuel to VMP’s product line. In their new roles (Jones as executive creative director and Hynes as senior creative director), the duo will help guide VMP’s artistic direction and work alongside existing creatives on custom record packaging designs for releases. They’ll also work with studios and composers to bring movie scores to vinyl as part of its new Soundtracks offering, beginning with a new pressing of Dave Grusin’s score for The Goonies later this summer. Jones joins VMP after a successful couple of decades as co-founder of Mondo, the maker of pop culture collectibles (including vinyl records and posters) that was acquired by Funko last year. Hynes also arrives from Mondo, where he played an integral role in its design department for years — creating original record packaging for films like Fight Club, Eyes Wide Shut and others.
“Bringing joy to people through tangible, transcendent experiences with music is what VMP is about and what we’re always striving to offer our customers,” said Cam Schaefer, CEO of VMP. “The addition of Rob and Alan to the team takes us to the moon creatively and fills out a 1992 Olympic Dream Team of art and design. Their experience, mind-bending creativity, and passion for exploration will allow them to make a deep impact within VMP and help us to elevate and expand our product line for customers. We’re lucky to have them.”
Liliahn Majeed exited her post as Universal Music Group‘s first global chief diversity, inclusion and belonging officer for a similar DEI role at L’Oréal. During her three years at UMG, Majeed led a team focused on boosting the label giant’s inclusion and equity efforts, and she notably co-chaired one of the committees of UMG’s high profile “Task Force for Meaningful Change.” Before Majeed traded the globe’s No. 1 music company for the No. 1 beauty firm, she held senior marketing and diversity roles at the NBA and earlier, at Frito-Lay. Majeed moves into the chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer, North America role at L’Oréal following the retirement of Angela Guy.
Warner Music Latina appointed Andrés Shaq as A&R director. He’ll be based in Miami and report to Hector Ruben Rivera, senior vice president and head of A&R Latin Music. Shaq was previously senior A&R manager at Warner Music Colombia, where he spent three years and played a key role in the careers of artists like Piso 21, Mike Bahía and Blessd. He also signed notable Colombian producers such as ICON, DJ MAFF, and SOG. “Colombia and the Andean region have an abundance of incredible talent waiting to be discovered. I’m fully committed to discovering and fostering future Latin superstars,” said Shaq. –Leila Cobo
Sony Pictures Television tapped Palash Ahmed to lead new efforts to develop more music-connected projects at the studio. As head of music development — a newly created role — Ahmed will work with studio president of international production Wayne Garvie on synergistic pairings with obvious partners (Sony Music’s recorded music and publishing divisions), as well as with non-Sony artists and labels. In announcing Ahmed’s new role, studio chairman Ravi Ahuja said film and TV content with a music tie-in “comes with a built-in, highly engaged fanbase, and we are excited to begin leaning in to opportunities to develop projects with musical artist connections.” Ahmed, who is based in Los Angeles, joined Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2017 and most recently held the title of senior vp of corporate development.
Tim McGraw‘s management and marketing company, EM.Co, appointed Doug Phillips as vp of marketing and digital. Phillips has previously worked at companies including Q Prime South, Universal Music Group and Sony Music Nashville. Concurrently, EM.Co vice president Brian Kaplan joins McGraw’s media venture Down Home as co-founder and chief strategy officer. Down Home launched earlier this year with partners Skydance and social content studio Shareability. –Jessica Nicholson
Faryal Khan-Thompson joined Downtown-owned music distributor CD Baby as senior vice president of marketing and community engagement, responsible for strategy around the disciplines in her job title, as well as branding initiatives, artist education efforts and growing the company internationally. The NYC-based Khan-Thompson was previously vp of international at TuneCore. “I am committed to building on the great work that has been done and positioning CD Baby as the leading provider of music distribution services for independent artists,” she said. CD Baby recently made headlines by sunsetting most of its physical distribution business — namely, that it will no longer warehouse or distribute the CDs that it makes for artists.
ICYMI: Big Machine Music elevated Mike Molinar to president of the publishing company.
Justin Chacona was named vice president of brand & marketing at Stockholm-based production music company Epidemic Sound, where he’ll lead a team of 40-plus staffers working on marketing and PR initiatives, social media strategy and consumer relations as the company eyes expansion into new markets. Launched in 2009, Epidemic offers a catalog of restriction-free music for use in videos, podcasts and other content. Chacona joins from Polar Electro where he’s been group chief marketing officer since 2020. Earlier in his career, Chacona worked at Rovio Entertainment, where he led marketing efforts surrounding the video game developer’s hit movie for Angry Birds. Chacona’s appointment follows the hiring of Rob Bullough as global brand director earlier this year.
Vickie Nauman was appointed to the advisory board of Interstellar Music Services, a specialist digital rights management company. Based in Los Angeles, Nauman is the founder and CEO of music and tech consultancy CrossBorderWorks and before that held executive roles at 7digital and Sonos. Interstellar, which launched in January, works to maximize the collection of royalties via a suite of services that includes digital distribution, brand partnerships, metadata cleaning, neighboring rights, publishing administration and detailed analysis/reporting. “The Company sits right at the intersection of music and innovation,” said Nauman, “so I hope that it will benefit from my experience as it enters its next phase of growth.”
Youth-focused social media platform Zigazoo hired Joe Kelley as director of music partnerships. In his new role, Kelley will lead outreach efforts with the music industry at large as the short video app looks to build on the recent launch of its product for kids 13 and up. Kelley had plenty of experience connecting with music acts during his four years as Billboard‘s head of artist relations — booking talent for a wide swath of events and other branded franchises. After leaving Billboard, Kelley worked as an artist manager and, more recently, as head of artist partnerships at music impact events platform WithOthers.
The Royal College of Music has enlisted James Williams to be only its 11th director since the prestigious school, located in South Kensington, London, was founded in 1882. Williams will join RCM on Sept. 1, 2024, succeeding current director Colin Lawson, who is retiring. Williams is managing director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, a position he has held since June 2016.
Nashville Bites: Universal Music Group Nashville hired Charlene Bryant as senior vp of business development and strategy. For the last five years, she ran her own company, Riveter Management, a multigenre firm whose clients have included hip-hop artist Trippie Redd… Rachel Burleson was promoted to Big Machine Label Group director of streaming from Big Machine Records project manager… SMACKSongs promoted Sam Sarno to creative director from creative manager… Mark Turcotte starts July 18 as Nashville-based Outback Presents senior vp of marketing. He arrives from Cox Media/Atlanta, where he was general sales manager. –Tom Roland
Kanye West is facing another lawsuit about unsafe conditions at his Donda Academy, including that the bizarre allegation that the school lacked windows because the embattled rapper “did not like glass.”
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In a lawsuit filed Thursday (July 6) in Los Angeles, former Donda Academy gym teacher Isaiah Meadows says he was unfairly fired after he raised concerns about inconsistent pay and serious health and safety issues — allegedly including overflowing sceptic tanks and dangerous electrical fires.
The new case came just three months after a group of other former Donda employees filed a similar case against West (who legally changed his name to Ye) and his private school, alleging they had been terminated after complaining about shoddy pay and bad conditions.
Like the previous case, the new lawsuit paints a strange picture of life inside West’s school and the Yeezy Christian Academy that preceded it. In one accusation, Meadows says students were left “exposed to the elements” because the rapper refused to allow glass to be placed in the building’s window frames.
“In the middle of the main classroom, a skylight was left without glass inevitably allowing rain to fall directly inside, where water would soak into the floor, which would lead to a moldy smell for the next few days,” Meadows’ lawyers wrote. “The skylight was intentionally without glass because WEST expressed that he did not like glass.”
He also claims that the school had “serious wiring issues,” leading to an incident in which an electrical fire was sparked “near the student eating area where wire was laid atop the ground, exposed.” Plumbing was allegedly also a problem, including a sceptic tank that would “overflow every other day, causing a terrible smell.”
In a statement announcing the new case, attorney Ron Zambrano called the conditions at Donda Academy “absolutely egregious” and said he and his client “plan to hold them accountable.”
“The unlawful and retaliatory behavior by Mr. West and the school directors have now been documented multiple times by other former employees who never even worked together but all experienced the same horrendous treatment and witnessed the same serious health, safety and education code violations, while all were subjected to the same fate,” Zambrano said.
In technical terms, the lawsuit accuses West, Donda Academy and others of breach of contract and of violation of several California labor laws, including wage rules, wrongful termination, and improper classification.
Donda Academy did not immediately return a request for comment on the lawsuit. A representative for West individually could not immediately be located for comment.
Much like the new claims about glassless windows, the earlier case against Donda included its own allegations about conditions at the school. The former teachers claimed that students were allowed to only eat sushi; that all students were required to wear black; and, oddest of all, that students were also not allowed on the second floor because West was “reportedly afraid of stairs.”
That case, filed by the same attorneys on behalf of former teachers Cecilia Hailey, Chekarey Byers and Timanii Meeks, is still pending.
Dutch producer AFROJACK has signed with Moe Shalizi and The Shalizi Group for management. The Grammy-winning electronic artist joins a stacked dance roster that includes Alesso, Jauz and Marshmello, witih Shalizi guiding the career of the latter artist from unknown producer to global brand. “Moe Shalizi’s past work speaks for itself, excited to see where […]
Live Nation’s next venture is less about staging rock, pop and hip-hop extravaganzas, and all about mindfulness.
The live entertainment giant today (July 6) launches the Mindful Nation app, an online space where music meets meditation for a necessary mental health break.
Mindful Nation goes wide with over 1,000 meditation classes featuring special beats curated by leading producers and independent artists, including Janax Pacha, Mose Musica and Chris IDH.
According to LN, users of the app can expect to tap into daily trainer-led classes tuned to “various vibes, on-demand classes for mind, sleep, and day-to-day life, music playlists” and “breathe with the beat” exercises.
Noel Gallagher, leader of the British rock outfit the High Flying Birds and Oasis co-founder, has tested the app and given it a resounding thumbs-up.
“Writing music and albums is one kind of meditation,” the legendary Manchester artist explains, “you have to go into a particular state to do it. Music is meditation to me so for Niamh to create Mindful Nation makes so much sense. Music is the gateway to finding that higher place of peace and this platform will allow for more people to access meditation in a way that makes sense to them. It’s really cool.”
The mindfulness platform is the brainchild of Niamh McCarthy, a former artist manager who worked for Madonna and U2’s management team at Maverick. McCarthy, like so many others in the business, experienced burnout on the road. She unlocked some of the solutions through meditation, breathwork, and yoga, and “made it her mission” to share those self-help gifts with the wider music industry.
The in-app classes “are like a timeless album, never out of date,” she explains. “Users can keep going back to these resources again and again to support themselves through the highs and lows of life.”
Mindful Nation is part of LN’s commitment to supporting mental health for music industry professionals, many of whom work long hours, well after dark, and spend long stretches on the road – a long way from their comfort zones. Factor-in the pandemic, and it’s a business that can take a toll.
“We first launched Mindful Nation as a program for our employees,” says Michael Rapino, CEO and president of Live Nation, “and it’s great to see Niamh now bringing the benefits of mindfulness to touring artists and crew across our industry, as well as music fans.”
Live Nation has also invested in mental health support for the broader industry, including Music Industry Therapist Collective and Tour Support, and by raising money for Support Act, Australia’s music industry charity.
Download the app via the Apple App Store.
Deadmau5 has regained control of back catalog recordings in North America from his former label, Ultra Records. The term of this deal, which includes the classic LPs Random Album Title from 2008, For Lack of a Better Name from 2009, 4×4=12 from 2010 and >album title goes here
The Raine Group has raised $760 million for investments in fast-growing start-ups in the telecommunications, media and technology space, the London-based investment and advisory firm said on Thursday.
Raine Group raised the money for the new Raine Partners IV fund from public pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, family offices and others. The fund’s first investment was the mobile games developer Tripledot Studios, according to a statement.
With nearly $4 billion in assets under management, Raine Group has grown since its 2009 founding to serve as an adviser or investor in some of the biggest deals in sports, media and entertainment.
Earlier this year, it advised pro wrestling giant WWE on its $21 billion combination with Endeavor and on the estimated $300-million sale of Quality Control to HYBE America.
The Raine Group’s music investment and advisory team — Fred Davis, Joe Puthenveetil and Rob Frech — have invested in SoundCloud and Firebird Music Holdings, and also worked as advisors to Francisco Partners when it acquired Kobalt and helped Larry Jackson raise $1 billion in capital for his new venture, gamma.
The Raine Group also owns stakes in DraftKings, Moonbug, Imagine Entertainment, TelevisaUnivision and VideoAmp.
Similar to its predecessor funds, Raine Partners IV will invest in growth-stage media and technology companies, with a particular focus on sports, media, entertainment and gaming.
The Raine Group co-founder and partner John Salter said they chose Tripledot Studios for the fund’s first investment because it’s “one of the strongest (companies) in casual gaming.”
“As a highly profitable business with more than 400 staff and about 50 million monthly active users, we look forward to actively working with their team to drive continued growth in the casual gaming market,” Salter said in a statement.
R&B singer 6LACK has partnered with Endel to create alternate versions of his latest album Since I Have A Lover that is specially formulated to promote “restorative rest and mental balance” as part of BIPOC Mental Health Awareness Month. One alternate version is designed to promote sleep, out July 8, and the second will promote focus, out July 24.
To promote the collaboration, 6lack will host a live pre-listening session on the Endel app on July 6, and two in-person events will take place in LA and Berlin that same day.
Endel is a start-up that creates what it calls “functional sound,” a form of ambient music that supports listeners day-to-day wellness needs, including sleep, meditation and focus. While Endel’s proprietary music-making technology is powered by artificial intelligence, Endel does not create new songs out of thin air. Instead, it generates ambient soundscapes by rearranging pieces of music provided by artists in ways that Endel says promotes specific wellness goals.
6lack joins the likes of other artists like Grimes and James Blake who have partnered with the soundscape start-up in the past, however, the alternate version of Since I Have A Lover is a new kind of partnership for the wellness brand because it is the first full album Endel has remixed and released on streaming services.
In March, Oleg Stavitsky, co-founder and CEO of Endel, told Billboard he felt this was a way for the soundscape company to help major labels evolve. “We can process the stems [the audio building blocks of a track] from Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue and come back with a functional sleep version of that album,” Stavitsky said, adding that Endel was in talks with all the major labels about trying this at the time.
Since then, Endel has partnered with UMG to do just that, and Since I Have A Lover marks the companies’ first attempt. Their partnership came as a surprise to some, given UMG chief Lucian Grainge‘s negative recent remarks about AI and functional music. Lamenting that functional music drives streaming dollars away from pop music and towards rain sounds, white noise, and other ambient recordings, he said in a memo to staff in January that “consumers are increasingly being guided by algorithms to lower-quality functional content that in some cases can barely pass for ‘music.’”
But at the time the partnership was announced, Michael Nash, UMG evp and chief digital officer, praised Endel for “utiliz[ing] their patented AI technology” to create ambient music because it is “anchored in our artist-centric philosophy” and “powered by AI that respects artists’ rights in its development.”
Endel’s ambient soundscapes have been on streaming services since 2019, thanks to UMG competitor Warner Music Group. Known to be bullish in its investment and partnership strategy with emerging music tech companies, WMG signed Endel to a 20-album distribution deal.
“This is about letting people experience my music in a new way,” 6LACK says of his collaboration with Endel. “These sounds can be for rest and relaxation, or for helping you feel inspired and creative. It’s for finding a sense of balance in life. Since I Have a Lover has plenty of magical sounds, and combined with Endel’s AI and science, it was easy to create something that felt healing.”
“Using AI to reimagine your favorite music as a functional soundscape, designed to help solve the biggest mental health challenges we’re facing as a species, is our mission. 6LACK’s openness to experimentation and his ability to let go and trust the process was crucial to the success of this project,” says Stavitsky. “We’re extremely proud of the result and can’t wait for millions of people to experience the healing power of these soundscapes.”
