Streaming
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LONDON — Mariah Carey, Lewis Capaldi and Sam Smith are among the recipients of the new BRIT Billion award, which recognizes artists who have surpassed one billion career streams in the United Kingdom.
U.K. labels trade body BPI, which also runs the Brit Awards, is naming the honorees, using the Official Charts Company to verify the data. Certification is based on tracks being streamed on music services like Spotify and video platforms such as YouTube where an artist has appeared either as the main performer or as a featured artist.
Around 140 acts have passed the one billion U.K. streams milestone to date, but BPI has only named 13 recipients of the award initially, a spokesperson tells Billboard. The other artists are ABBA, Coldplay, Whitney Houston, AJ Tracey, Headie One, Anne-Marie, Ellie Goulding, George Ezra, RAYE and Rita Ora.
BPI says the United Kingdom is the first country in the world in the streaming era to run a certifications scheme that recognizes an artist’s success across their entire career and multiple projects, as opposed to individual recordings.
Carey said in a statement that she was honored to be one of the first recipients of the BRIT Billion award and thanked her U.K. fans “for their endless and enduring support.”
Capaldi said in a statement that he was “buzzing,” adding that “never in a million years did I think any of this stuff would happen, but now [that] it is I will gladly accept each and every award.”
The new sales certification category recognizing one billion career plays reflects how streaming has completely upended the recorded music industry over the past decade.
Previously, the biggest sales awards issued in the U.K. were platinum, granted to albums that sell 300,000 chart equivalent units, and multi-platinum (multiples of 300,000 sales). Below that is gold (100,000 sales) and silver (60,000 sales). For singles, platinum recognizes 600,000 chart equivalent sales. Gold is 400,000 and silver is 200,000.
Those totals are, however, dwarfed by the huge number of streams that the world’s biggest artists increasingly generate with many acts racking up millions and, in some cases, hundreds of millions of streams every year. But artists must generate several multiples of more streams to make the same money they made per unit in the physical era.
In November, Capaldi’s “Someone You Loved” overtook Ed Sheeran‘s “Shape Of You” to become the most-streamed song of all time in the U.K. with over 600 million audio and video streams, according to the Official Charts Company. George Ezra’s “Shotgun” has been streamed just under 500 million times since its release in 2018, reports BPI, which first began certifying silver, gold and platinum-selling records in 1973.
The labels trade body says the number of audio music streams in the U.K. crossed 160 billion last year with streaming now accounting for more than 85% of all U.K. music consumption.
“For a recording artist, there can be few greater sources of pride than having a platinum or gold disc on their wall,” Sophie Jones, BPI chief strategy officer/interim chief executive, said in a statement. “But in an era when success in measured in the hundreds of millions and indeed billions of streams, it was clear that we needed a new and additional way to recognize and celebrate outstanding achievement in recorded music.”
For years, the major labels have been clamoring for streaming services to raise their subscription prices. The publicly stated position of leadership at Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group is that music is undervalued, in part due to artificially low subscription rates. Warner Music CEO Robert Kyncl was recently quoted as saying “We are the lowest (cost) form of entertainment; we have the highest …engagement, highest form of affinity and lowest per hour price. That doesn’t seem right. It should change in an orderly fashion.” As I noted in an April Billboard article looking at both sides of the issue, it’s astounding that I pay about the same amount for my monthly streaming subscriptions as I did for Rhapsody in 2003 — between $9.99 and $10.99 per month. Although Apple and Amazon recently raised prices, even those prices fall below the Rhapsody benchmark of $9.99 per month set in the early aughts once adjusted for inflation. There’s a strong case for price increases.
What if this thinking is wrong, though? Are there reasonable arguments for leaving prices where they are?
In the US music streaming subscription penetration is relatively high, at 41% of internet users over the age of 13. Many who might subscribe have access through family plans while some share account log-ins. Overall about 50% of internet users have access to a paid on-demand subscription music service through direct payment, sharing or trials and that number is even higher if you include SiriusXM.
These statistics are important for two reasons. First, they demonstrate that there is more room to grow music subscriptions in the US. They also reveal an underlying demographic divide. The half without access to on-demand services are older (59% over age 44), less invested in music and likely to be more price sensitive than earlier adopters.
Research that MusicWatch conducted on the economy and music highlighted that younger fans are more stressed about their personal financial situations as well as inflation. Respected music analyst Mark Mulligan of MIDiA Research noted that helping subscribers through difficult economic times might create goodwill for audio services. And he might have a point, especially for the younger demographic who make up a large part of the current subscriber base.
We need to be clear about how this price argument might apply to different consumers. Would services raise prices for current subscribers, who already rate the offer quite highly? What about new subscribers? As pointed out earlier, there is still growth to be had for subscriptions. In the U.S., trials are the primary feeders to paid subscriptions. According to MusicWatch’s Annual Music Study, released in March 2023, the likelihood of moving from a trial to a full paid subscription is slowing. The number one reason triers don’t expect to convert is “I’m watching my money more carefully due to inflation.”
For years the main barrier to converting from a trial to a full subscription has been not using the service often enough. According to MusicWatch surveys, subscribers to paid on-demand services spend 26% more time streaming music than people who are on a trial. They also consider music more important..They are nearly twice as likely to spend money on things like concert tickets, vinyl records CDs and merchandise. And keeping prices low could be more attractive to these potential subscribers now sampling the service through a trial.
There’s also a strong case to be made for increasing audio subscription prices, of course. Stagnant rate adjustments, high loyalty and usage, and outstanding value suggest that reasonable increases would meet modest resistance, if any at all. Those of us with long histories of paying for music subscriptions and passion for our favorite services are unlikely to churn out.
The question is not whether we can grow “ARPU” among current subscribers. It is whether the services can raise prices and continue to grow the subscriber base in the US, especially since that growth would come from later adopters who are older and less committed to music. There are segments of music fans struggling to manage inflation. That may argue for maintaining low prices. It could also argue for a SiriusXM-style strategy that combines low introductory prices with increases upon renewal. Whatever the argument, these questions should be resolved by testing, not proclamation.
Russ Crupnick is the principal at market research firm MusicWatch.
After teeing up Wall Street for a difficult fiscal second quarter, the tech giant Apple beat analyst expectations for the quarter, delivering revenue of $94.8 billion (expectations were for $92.9 billion), down 3 percent year over year, and earnings per share of $1.52, flat compared to last year (expectations were for an EPS of $1.43).
Apple’s services segment, which includes Apple TV+, Apple Music, Apple Arcade and other offerings, continues to grow at a rapid clip, reporting revenue of $20.9 billion, a new record.
The company reported net income of $24.16 billion, down from $25 billion a year ago.
“We are pleased to report an all-time record in Services and a March quarter record for iPhone despite the challenging macroeconomic environment, and to have our installed base of active devices reach an all-time high,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook. “We continue to invest for the long term and lead with our values, including making major progress toward building carbon neutral products and supply chains by 2030.”
Apple also increased its dividend and announced an additional $90 billion in share repurchases.
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
A federal judge in Georgia ordered the hip-hop mixtape site Spinrilla and its founder Jeffery Copeland to pay Universal Music, Warner Music, Sony Music and others $50 million for copyright infringement related to the streaming and downloading of thousands of songs by Bob Marley, Beyonce, Kendrick Lamar and more, according to a settlement agreement filed Wednesday.
As part of the agreement, Copeland is also permanently forbidden from operating Spinrilla or any other website, platform or similar projects anywhere in the world.
The settlement this week stems from a six-year-old lawsuit filed by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on behalf of UMG, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Bros. Records, Atlantic Recording Corporation and LaFace Records, alleging that Spinrilla and Copeland allowed users to stream and download unlicensed content.
Copeland founded Spinrilla in early 2013 as an app for approved users to listen to and discover “independent and emerging hip-hop artists.” When the music industry filed its lawsuit, Spinrilla had 19 million users, including 14,000 who could upload content to the platform, and around 1.4 million songs available on the platform.
Over the course of the case, the RIAA said it identified more than 4,000 songs by Rihanna, Michael Jackson, Kanye West and others that were infringed, and in late 2020, U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg found Spinrilla liable for copyright infringement.
UMG, WMG, Sony Music Entertainment and Spinrilla did not respond to requests for comment.
As part of the agreement, Spinrilla will transfer the domain name for its service to the music industry companies, which they have agreed not to use.
ByteDance is closing the free tier of its music streaming service Resso, the company announced on Wednesday (May 3). The move to premium-only streaming takes place on May 11, according to a statement from ByteDance, and current users on the ad-supported tier will be offered a 30-day free trial of the premium service.
“Resso premium is already a best-in-class music service with ad-free listening and a host of personalized and social features,” Ole Obermann, ByteDance’s global head of music, said in a statement. “Resso’s move to a premium-only service will allow the development of a better user experience for music fans, while increasing opportunities for rightsholders and artists. We are committed to building the world’s leading social music streaming platform and ensuring artists and music creators can rightly benefit from its growing success.”
ByteDance initially launched Resso in March 2020; it is currently available only in India, Indonesia, and Brazil. Last year, ByteDance entered into conversations with major music rights holders about moving its music streaming service into additional countries in Latin America, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.
Those conversations are complicated by the fact that the music industry is hoping for better payouts from another ByteDance company, the massively successful app TikTok.
“No one right now wants to help ByteDance expand into significant material marketplaces without them fixing the TikTok situation,” an executive told Billboard last year. And Sony Music’s contract with Resso expired in September, meaning its catalog, including the music of stars like Beyoncé and Doja Cat, is not available on the service.
Streaming subscriptions are a key driver of music industry revenue. Paid subscription streaming revenue cracked $10 billion in the U.S. for the first time in 2022, according to the RIAA, accounting for 77% of all streaming revenue and nearly two thirds of total revenue. This means it’s likely that the music industry will be heartened by Resso’s focus on growing its premium subscriber numbers.
“Their plans in subscription are something we definitely want to encourage,” a major label executive told Billboard last year. “We love to see that huge funnel of a billion consumers connected to a value-creative experience.”
In 2015, before Luke Combs had broken through, his manager, Chris Kappy, gave fans a merchandise discount at concerts for showing they paid to subscribe to Spotify or Apple Music. “I was trying to push people into the digital age as quickly as I could,” he says. “And the fastest way I knew I could do it was giving them $1 off a T-shirt.”
Combs was one of the first country superstars who built his career digital-first. Though most of the recorded-music industry has been streaming-focused for over a decade, until recently country music — and its fans — have remained driven by radio play and album sales. Thanks to artists like Combs, Morgan Wallen, Zach Bryan and others, from 2019 to 2022, country audio streaming jumped 58%, according to Luminate, outpacing the industry’s 48.5% growth and increasing faster than every other genre besides Latin music. In early March, Wallen’s No. 1 album One Thing at a Time racked up 483 million audio streams in its debut week, according to Luminate — the fifth-largest streaming week ever, after albums by Drake, Taylor Swift and 21 Savage. Later that month, Combs’ Gettin’ Old hit 83.5 million streams.
“Finally! Thank God,” says Tim Foisset, senior vp of commercial partnerships for Warner Music Nashville, which represents Bryan. “The A&R’s really good right now, and it appears to be really sticky with a younger audience.”
New stars who are digital natives — and have careers rooted in the digital world — are one key reason for country’s streaming boom. Combs started out on Vine, and Kappy boosted his profile through a Facebook fan group; one of Wallen’s breakthroughs was 2020’s “Heartless,” with EDM star and social media wizard Diplo; Bryan recorded songs on his iPhone and posted them to YouTube. Whereas pop, dance and hip-hop tracks took off at streaming as early as 2011, the country tipping point from physical to digital didn’t start until roughly 2017, shortly before Wallen released his debut, If I Know Me.
“It was the perfect storm of incredible music, the younger demographic that was already gravitating to Morgan at that time and the audience shifting mediums,” says Patch Culbertson, GM and senior vp of Big Loud Records, Wallen’s label. “That rocket exploded, and he carried that audience with him. We’ve seen a massive move onto streaming.”
Another reason for the growth of country streaming is the COVID-19 pandemic, which pulled older fans and digital holdouts away from terrestrial radio and CDs. “Some of the more mature demographics of country weren’t in their cars, they weren’t going to the office, and they used that time to say, ‘OK, I’m going to figure out what streaming is all about,’” says Randy Goodman, CEO of Sony Music Nashville, which represents Combs. “And there are no more boundaries, genrewise. Kids are listening to Kendrick Lamar and to Morgan. It’s a younger demographic we’re appealing to.”
Both Sony’s Goodman and Warner’s Foisset say radio remains “incredibly important,” but add that country hits now often start on streaming, then take off at radio instead of vice versa. In 2019, Goodman explains, “the world began to change,” and country stars followed their pop, hip-hop and EDM counterparts into YouTube, TikTok and Spotify virality long before radio took notice. “From a record-company perspective, we realized we had to make these shifts,” he says.
Wallen has led this transformation: Dangerous: The Double Album racked up 3.6 billion audio streams in 2021, hitting No. 1 in overall consumption that year, outpacing Olivia Rodrigo, Drake and Adele. Last September, tracks by Wallen, Bryan and Combs hit the top 10 on Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart, the first time at least three non-holiday country songs reached the milestone. That week, 13 of the chart’s 50 songs were country; on the chart dated April 15, Wallen has three tracks, and Bryan’s “Something in the Orange” is No. 14. And there’s more to come: Foisset notes that some of country’s biggest young stars, including Cole Swindell, Bailey Zimmerman and Jelly Roll, are scheduled to release albums in 2023.
Country streaming-music fans are unusually dedicated. According to a new Digital Media Association survey, they spent about 1,270 hours per year listening to music annually, about 1.6 times more than country music fans who do not stream. Which is not surprising to Emily Cohen Belote, principal music curator for Amazon Music. The service has emphasized country for years through Country Heat, including a playlist and an online radio station and hit 13 billion streams in 2021. “We’ve been doing this for a while, and it’s not just a flash in the pan,” she says. “Country music is happening in streaming in a really big way.”
Sony Music Entertainment notched one of its most profitable years on record in 2022, as strong growth in streaming subscriptions and a favorable exchange rate propelled the company’s revenue from chart-topping artists like SZA, Harry Styles and Miley Cyrus.
SME’s reported revenue rose by nearly 24% to 1.38 trillion yen ($10.16 billion) and operating income rose nearly 25% to 263 billion yen ($1.94 billion) for the fiscal year 2022, making it the most profitable of the six companies under Sony’s umbrella.
“We have steadily improved our ability to continuously create hits,” Sony chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki said on a webcast, calling out Cyrus’ Flowers release in January. “In Recorded Music, an average of 43 songs ranked in the Spotify weekly global top 100 songs in FY22, increasing our market share significantly year-on-year.”
For the most recent quarter, Sony reported that overall revenues rose 19% to 341.89 million yen ($2.5 billion). Recorded music streaming revenue grew by 23% to 148.9 billion ($1.093 billion) from a year ago. Publishing income rose by 22% to 65.96 million yen ($485 million). SME’s revenues also benefitted from an exchange rate during that period that favored its Japanese parent company’s accounting in yen.
“In recorded music and music publishing, we aim to continue to grow faster than the market and maintain a higher growth rate and profit margin than our competitors by strengthening relationships withinfluential artists, discovering and nurturing new talent, expanding our lineup through The Orchard and AWAL, and growing our business in emerging markets,” said Totoki, who also serves as Sony’s president and chief operating officer.
Executives said on Friday they expect revenues in Sony Music to grow by 2% overall to 1.41 trillion yen ($10.37 billion) for the fiscal year 2023.
The All Access Audio Summit 2023 began Wednesday (April 26), and is set to run through Friday (April 28). Bringing together leaders in radio, podcasting and more, the virtual convention is sparking conversation aimed at optimizing the impact of audio in multiple commercial forms.
Here’s a rundown of highlights from the gathering’s first day (as panels were introduced by Premiere Networks host Angela Yee).
‘What in This Day and Age is Free?’
In the day’s first session, All Access president and publisher Joel Denver chatted with Ginny Morris, Hubbard Broadcasting chairman and CEO, who highlighted a radio air talent’s value as an “entertainer, informer and connector,” with “the ability to move an audience.”
Mused Morris, “Localism and local autonomy are key tenets of what we do. We’re adding local talent in every market we’re in. Without our talent, we’re just another ubiquitous commodity. Those [broadcasting companies] that are committed to talent seem to outlast those that aren’t. And we know we’re not alone, thankfully.”
Morris also touched on AM radio, amid news that the band will not be available in certain vehicles going forward, prompting U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to weigh in on AM’s “important role.”
“I think we’re a long way from it disappearing from cars,” Morris said. “I’m involved with the NAB to see to it that all of America has access to all the ways that we’ll provide service in case of an emergency: foreign-language programming… a local baseball or hockey game… or news.”
Denver and Morris also discussed the amount of commercials on radio – a challenge, obviously, that streaming services don’t face with paid subscribers. Per Denver, “We’ve been running radio the same way the last 50, 60, 70 years.” Morris conceded, “We have to make payroll and keep the lights on,” while pointing out that Hubbard stations limit hourly commercials to 12.
“I personally love commercials,” she said, citing financial benefits for both radio and advertisers. “I wish they were more entertaining. We’ve tried to work on our creative and commercial content – it works better for clients, and their business grows.”
Morris reinforced the century-plus history of radio’s “no-trial, no credit-card” model: “What [else] in this day and age is free?”
As for maintaining the medium’s overall place in audio, “Super-serve your local community,” she offered. “We’re making sure we’re earning our place in the lives of our listeners.”
‘Art and Science’
After Jacobs Media president Fred Jacobs presented the results of the company’s Techsurvey 2023, the newest edition of the spotlight on core radio listeners’ media consumption habits, a panel discussed streaming metrics and radio’s traditional reliance on callout research – and where the two meet.
Sean Ross, Ross on Radio editor, advised radio programmers to “listen to music” and “don’t let TikTok have it all,” when it comes to exposing rising songs. “Top 40 is too narrow” in its variety of sounds, he said. “I just don’t think TikTok should be the decider for everybody. It’s one great source, but I don’t think it should be everything.”
Mark Adams, iHeartMedia vp of CHR and program director of KIOI and KYLD San Francisco, echoed Morris’ view that radio, with its air talent, boasts an advantage over streaming. “Listeners are bombarded with choice,” he said. “We have the ability to curate a better experience. It’s about the content, stupid. Are we providing a companion-based music experience?”
The panel also featured Louie Diaz, Cumulus vp of top 40 and rhythmic formats; Alissa Pollack, iHeartMedia executive vp of global music marketing; and Amie Vaughan, 300/Elektra executive vp of promotion and streaming.
“Art and science,” Vaughan marveled. “What a great business we have.”
AI: ‘We Have To Be Careful How We Use It’
Tim Clarke, Audacy senior vp of audio content, led a panel that covered multiple topics, including mulling uncertainties “as we go through the forest with a machete” regarding artificial intelligence.
“The cons are pretty frightening,” admitted Jon Zellner, iHeartMedia president of programming operations, digital music, citing that AI could, among other downsides, lead to higher unemployment. He feels that AI’s most important risk to radio is that it jeopardizes “discovery, surprise, trust and companionship. There are ways we can use it, but it should never be at the expense of a human voice.”
Smith-Richards Collective partner Tim Richards believes that AI can be helpful during a public emergency if air talent is unavailable, by creating familiar-sounding and comforting audio from prior recordings, à la voice-tracking. Still, he cautioned, “We have to be careful how we use it.”
All Access urban/R&B format editor likened the current stages of AI to “the wild, wild west.” He praised that radio programming and sales departments can use it to find out more about audiences, while engineering departments can employ it for technological advances. “The good thing about AI is we can pull the data a little quicker,” he said. Still, “That human factor will always be a part of everything we do.”
The group also discussed radio’s place in breaking new music.
“You just have to be paying attention all the time. There are so many places hit music can come from,” said Rich Davis, iHeartMedia director of CHR and KDWB Minneapolis PD.
Zellner noted research revealing that over 50% of people say that they discover music from radio – a higher share than that of streaming. While he found that stat “surprising,” he feels that listeners like hearing a DJ tell the story of a new song, as “there’s a trust factor.”
Instead of waiting for streaming to introduce hits, “Sometimes you can try to create the story, as well,” said Richards.
Again referencing radio’s role as more than a music service, Zellner directed to air talent that one break in an entire shift might be the only one that a listener hears that day, so make it count. “Make sure everything you’re doing sounds entertaining,” he said. He also advised that a morning show promo that runs throughout that day is essentially a “power song” and should be treated as importantly, by being specific and representative of members’ appeal. “More people will hear the promo than your actual show,” he said. “So make the promo kick-ass.”
“You’ve got to work harder than you ever have before,” offered Richards about radio’s current challenges among so many listener options. “The human attention span is more fractured today than it has been in the history of mankind.”
‘Great Programmers Always Find a Way’
A session on audio production continued the All Access Audio Summit’s first day (with Kelly “K3” Doherty, president and founder of Imaging House, sharing a tip that if anyone looking to record audio can’t get to a studio, solid soundproofing can be found … in a car), followed by a closing segment focused on radio programming.
Moderator James Howard, iHeartMedia regional senior vp in Chicago, declared, “Today is the good old days” for radio, and that programmers should consider “not a wish list, but a ‘can’ list.”
Greg Strassell, Hubbard Radio executive vp of programming, said, “I always quote Steve Rivers, one of my mentors: ‘Great programmers always find a way.’ ”
On recruiting the next generation of air talent, Chris Eagan, Cox Media Group vp of audience and operations, said, “It’s everywhere. We’re a lot more open to letting someone on a radio station than we were 20 years ago. We’re a lot more flexible. If someone shows the talent, or ability, there’s a lot less, ‘Bring me a tape.’ The relationship has sort of flipped.”
The panel, which also included Reggie Rouse, Audacy vp of urban programming and WVEE Atlanta PD, and Tony Gray, president and founder of Gray Communications, cited eager board ops and personalities on TikTok and Instagram, among other social media, as potential on-air voices. Howard suggested bartenders, as they can multi-task and “are great storytellers.”
As for finding hit songs, Eagan cited the importance of simply loving music, as how could one be a chef without liking food? “Be a scholar of music,” he asserted.
Replied Howard, “People love music and animals. If you don’t, you’re a serial killer.”
Meanwhile, as talk turned back to streaming’s place among programmers’ menu of song options, fellow panelist Beata Murphy, PD of iHeartMedia’s KIIS Los Angeles, recalled how the station helped make Encanto’s “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” an unlikely radio hit last year.
“I like to look at streaming, Shazam, other stations,” she said. “But then there’ll be a song every once in while … [“Bruno”] was the No. 1 streaming record, by four times, in Los Angeles. LA is the home of Disney, and it’s a Hispanic-leaning song. We tried it, the jocks set it up properly, it started a conversation, we played the record and then it started testing. That’s something I grabbed from streaming. We set it up properly so it didn’t sound crazy. It worked.”
Murphy further noted, with pride, listener response about “two favorite brands” – Disney and KIIS – “colliding.”
Summed up Strassell about radio in 2023, “Especially coming out of the pandemic, create that awareness. Hopefully your products are great and people will find you. Let’s remind people how great we are.”
Universal Music Group chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge took aim at artificial intelligence again on Wednesday (April 26), this time blaming AI for the “oversupply” of “bad” content on streaming platforms and pointing to user-centric payment models as the answer.
AI tools have exploded in popularity in recent months, and Grainge has been an outspoken critic of generative AI being used to mimic copyrighted works, as with the song “Heart on My Sleeve,” which used AI to generate vocals from UMG artists Drake and The Weeknd.
In fervent comments Grainge made during a call discussing UMG’s earnings Wednesday, the executive said AI significantly contributes to a glut of “poor-quality” content on streaming platforms, muddies search experiences for fans looking for their favorite artists and generally has “virtually no consumer appeal.”
“Any way you look at it, this oversupply, whether or not AI-created is, simply, bad. Bad for artists. Bad for fans. And bad for the platforms themselves,” Grainge said.
The head of the world’s largest music company specifically called out the role of generative AI platforms, which are “trained” to produce new creations after being fed vast quantities of existing works known as “inputs.” In the case of AI music platforms, that process involves huge numbers of songs, which many across the music industry argue infringes on artists’ and labels’ copyrights.
Grainge argued that “the flood of unwanted content” generated by AI could be reduced by adopting new payment models from streaming platforms. UMG is currently exploring “artist-centric” models with Tidal and Deezer, while SoundCloud and Warner Music Group also announced a partnership on so-called user-centric royalties last year.
“With the right incentive structures in place, platforms can focus on rewarding and enhancing the artist-fan relationship and, at the same time, elevate the user experience on their platforms, by reducing the sea of ‘noise’ … eliminating unauthorized, unwanted, and infringing content entirely,” Grainge said on Wednesday.
While UMG continues exploring alternative streaming payment models with partners Tidal, Deezer and others on what form alternative streaming payment models should take, an analyst on Wednesday’s call asked Grainge if, in the meantime, the company would ever consider licensing songs to an AI platform.
“We are open to licensing … but we have to respect our artist and the integrity of their work,” Grainge said. “We should be the hostess with the mostest. We’re open for business with businesses that are legitimate and (interested in) partnership for growth.”
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said Tuesday (April 25) that, contrary to the widespread backlash artificial intelligence (AI) tools have faced, he’s optimistic the technology could actually be a good thing for musicians and for Spotify.
While acknowledging the copyright infringement concerns presented by songs like the AI-generated Drake fake “Heart on My Sleeve” — which racked up 600,000 streams on Spotify before the platform took it down — in comments made on a Spotify conference call and podcast, Ek said AI tools could ease the learning curve for first-time music creators and spark a new era of artistic expression.
“On the positive side, this could be potentially huge for creativity,” Ek said on a conference call discussing the company’s first-quarter earnings. “That should lead to more music [which] we think is great culturally, but it also benefits Spotify because the more creators we have on our service the better it is and the more opportunity we have to grow engagement and revenue.”
Ek’s entrepreneurial confidence that AI can be an industry boon in certain instances stands in contrast to a steady campaign of condemnation for generative machine learning tools coming from Universal Music Group, the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) and others.
At the same time, companies including Spotify, Warner Music Group, HYBE, ByteDance, SoundCloud and a host of start-ups have leaned in on the potential of AI, investing or partnering with machine learning companies.
The industry is still sorting the ways in which AI can be used and attempting to delineate between AI tools that are helpful and those that are potentially harmful. The use case presenting the most consternation uses a machine-learning process to identify patterns and characteristics in songs that make them irresistible and reproduce those patterns and characteristics in new creations.
Functional music — i.e., sounds designed to promote sleep, studying or relaxation — has become a fertile genre for AI, and playlists featuring AI-enhanced or generated music have racked up millions of followers on Spotify and other streaming services. This has led to concerns by some record executives who have noted that functional music eats into major-label market share.
For Spotify’s part, in February the platformSpotify launched an “AI DJ,” which uses AI technology to gin up song recommendations for premium subscribers based on their listening history, narrated by commentary delivered by an AI voice platform.
“I’m very familiar with the scary parts … the complete generative stuff or even the so-called deep fakes that pretend to be someone they’re not,” Ek said on Tuesday’s episode of Spotify’s For the Record podcast. “I choose to look at the glass as more half-full than half-empty. I think if it’s done right, these AIs will be incorporated into almost every product suite to enable creativity to be available to many more people around the world.”