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Founded in 2017, Techstars Music was known as the premier music technology accelerator, providing funding and support to now-thriving companies like Endel, Splash, Hello Tickets, Community and Replica Studios. The company chose 10 startups each year and provided $120,000 to each, along with mentoring from its network of 316 music and entertainment executives from HYBE, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, Concord, Quality Control and more.
Of the 70 startups that Techstars selected, the most successful 21 have gone on to raise over $263 million in follow-on funding since. Despite those successes, managing director Bob Moczydlowsky says that the company chose its final class this past summer — but his career as an investor is far from over.
Why is Techstars Music shutting down?
Even though the way we have been investing has been working, it has been held back by the constraints of an accelerator, which we feel is an outdated model. The amount of capital we can provide is limited. It is also held back by the constraints of labeling it “music.” We want to invest in companies solving problems for music, not music tech companies, but the reality is that founders see “Techstars Music” on the door and they bring us their startup to help kids learn to play a violin. We actually believe instruments will become irrelevant and software will mainly replace them. Our thesis now is we want to fund the future of entertainment, self-expression and live events. This changes almost nothing in how we have already been operating and evaluating companies, but we want this thesis publicly understood.
Why are accelerators outdated?
The accelerator is a great product. It was designed around the time of the financial crisis of 2008. Because angel and pre-seed investors largely disappeared, accelerators fit a need and had great returns. Plus, it helped new companies get the mentorship they needed. Now the cost of running a business — talent, travel, etc. — has grown. Smart founders can now find online most of the information accelerators provide on how to structure a company. The economic deal that accelerators offer to founders has not evolved in that time, so every year, the accelerator is providing the same amount of capital investment, buying the same amount of equity from founders, but that capital is buying fewer and fewer things … We need to make more investments and do it on a rolling, year-round basis. We need to provide more capital too so companies can better leverage the connections we can give them.
What does the future of your investing look like post-Techstars Music?
The goal is to be the best investor in this category. To do so we need to make more investments and do it on a rolling, year-round basis. We need to provide more capital too, so companies can leverage the connections we can give them better.
You’re not trying to invest in music companies but “invest in companies solving problems for music.” Can you explain what that means?
Music startups typically do not generate venture returns … You also have competitors like Apple, Amazon and Google that use music as a loss leader for other products. That makes investing in that sort of music startup very difficult, especially a pre-seed investor like us.
Because streaming has become the dominant way we are listening to music, it has altered a lot of other habits around it as a consequence … I want to invest in companies solving problems for music, like Community, a direct-messaging service. It’s not musical at all, but it is used by artists and enables them to connect to their fans directly better than ever.
Do you think it is helpful, given investors know how tough music businesses are to run, to define themselves as something besides primarily a music company?
Let me be clear: You cannot change how you define your company to make investors happy, or you will not raise capital, but you need to be savvy as a founder about how you present your business and find investors who are looking for you. One of the myths about raising venture capital is that founders persuade investors to invest in them. Investors are out there looking for companies to invest in all day long, every day. We are just trying to find companies that match our thesis.
We think about it like this: we see the problems the music business has. We see how music and entertainment are going to change over the years, so let’s invest in the things that solve the problems or get us closer to those new realities, not just saying “Hey, let’s see all the music tech startups.”
Do you think this is a particularly fruitful time for investors, given the rapid rise of AI, the maturation of streaming, etc.?
There is more opportunity and more radical change coming in the next five to 10 years than we’ve had in the last decade. The last 10 years were about maturing the streaming market and putting rights owners and artists on stable financial footing. The music business is now as big as it has ever been by revenue, but growth is slowing in the number of new subscribers. We’re at a point where music streaming 1.0 is perfected — what does streaming 2.0 look like? We’re shutting Techstars Music down so that we can come back with the right vehicle for the next 10 years.
In your crystal ball, what do you think Streaming 2.0 looks like?
If Streaming 1.0 was about making all the music play, Streaming 2.0 should be about being able to play with all the music.
Your thesis focuses not just on music now, but live events, self-expression and entertainment altogether. Do you see these sectors converging?
Absolutely. What is the difference between an athlete, a musician, a TV star at this point in terms of the media they deliver? They all have podcasts, documentaries, merchandise, fashion lines — of course, they all have their specialty, but I think it is evident that there will be even more convergence coming soon.
This story will appear in the Oct. 21, 2023, issue of Billboard.
Mike Shinoda has long incorporated new tech into both his solo work (like the Beat Saber VR pack and sci-fi/horror web video game that helped launch his recent single “Already Over”) and his music with Linkin Park (like the AI-generated visuals used in the recent music video for unearthed band demo “Lost”). But the artist-producer has also become a key investor in music technology — starting with Linkin Park’s Machine Shop Ventures, which launched in 2015 as a mix of venture capital projects and live-music activations, and now more recently on his own. Since April 2022, he has also served as community innovation adviser for Warner Recorded Music, providing a forward-thinking artist’s perspective on subjects like Web3 and AI.
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“With labels and future tech, I feel like doors are opening to new types of artists,” Shinoda says. “At a certain point, you wouldn’t have considered a content creator on a social platform to be a music artist. Now you can! In the future, those doors might also be open to nontraditional projects that are pushing the boundaries of what it is to be an artist.”
Have you been surprised by the degree of industry focus on AI this year, or did you see it coming?
Unless you were already deep in the trenches, I think AI hit everybody in a similar way — it blew up very big, very fast — but part of that is people developing complex things behind the scenes. Once some of the general concepts about how one could use AI became more widely known — and the concerns and the creativity, all the different positive and negative sides of it — people started releasing things, and you started getting a sense of how fast it’s moving and all the things we could do.
It’s exciting and it’s new, but you know, I come from an illustration background, and that artist community was up in arms immediately, saying, “Hey, guys, this technology is stealing from us. These are copyrighted images, and it’s pulling them and riffing off of them to make new things.” That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
How much has being an artist informed how you interact with these new technologies and potentially invest in them?
Being an artist, there are times when you are relied on to develop a vision of something, and it needs to come from you — you are responsible for it, you curate it, you collaborate with other people to make it the best it can be. And as part of that, you’re also in charge of communicating it, of accepting criticism and sorting through ideas. Whether as a kid growing up doing drawing and painting and graphic design, to everything with the band and all of our releases, that skill set carries over to a lot of the founders that I’ve worked with and had the chance to meet over time.
What is an early highlight of your own investing career?
I was one of many investors and advisers when Spotify came to the U.S. To be honest, it wasn’t a lot of money — but it was fascinating to talk with Daniel [Ek] and his team as they were in the midst of the huge cultural shift that happened.
Which areas of music tech are you most interested in right now?
One thing that has been on my mind is that with new technology comes new responsibilities. Historically, artists have been on the end of this equation where their work gets treated like it doesn’t have very much value. When you’re a smaller artist, you go, “Well, this is just the way it is. This is how I get to the point where people hear me for the first time, so I’m going to give away everything for free and just play that game.” And then when you get to a certain point, you realize, “Oh, my gosh. My stuff really does have value. How do I capture that value?”
Because of the changes in technology, different companies developing new things are trying to take a big bite out of the apple that is the artist’s intellectual property. For any artist that hears me talking about this, I hope that it occurs to them: It’s your job to protect the work, to put a value on it, and that value might actually be higher than other people might say it’s worth.
Additional reporting by Kristin Robinson.
This story will appear in the Oct. 21, 2023, issue of Billboard.
Whether they’re angel investors offering startups tens of thousands or venture capital power players with hundreds of millions, some of the shrewdest minds in and around the music business are using their expertise to reinvest in the tools of its future. The investors profiled here are just a sampling of the many focusing on new music technology right now; some of their peers prefer to keep their dealings private, while plenty more music executives turned investors have bet on areas other than music technology. Others are interested in music tech but aren’t actively investing. But with generative artificial intelligence, virtual reality and advancements in live-music technology on the horizon, the thought leaders highlighted here see the industry at a “tipping point” — and the next generation of companies may fundamentally change the way the music business works.
The Majors
The Big Three music groups have invested in tech platforms tied to fashion, gaming, music creation and even battling dementia — and executives say there’s more to come.
In February, on his first quarterly earnings call as the new CEO of Warner Music Group (WMG), Robert Kyncl laid out a future of “meaningful upside” for the music business: “As technology opens up emerging economies, the industry’s addressable market will continue to expand even further,” Kyncl told analysts. On top of that, he added, “innovation is constantly creating new-use cases for music, giving us the opportunity to diversify our revenue sources.”
As the major labels navigate a landscape increasingly dominated by streaming platforms and digital creation apps like BandLab and Boomy, it’s not surprising they have eagerly invested over $1 billion, according to label sources, in the nascent technology companies that have the potential to help them diversify and increase their revenue sources.
In the last four years, WMG has invested in gaming platform Roblox, digital fashion retailer DRESSX and music generator Lifescore, which is powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Sony Music Entertainment has backed another music creation (and collaboration) platform, Tully; social platform Fave; and Techstars Music, an accelerator program that provided funding and mentorship to promising music technology startups. (It was quietly shuttered after this summer’s class, according to managing director Bob Moczydlowsky.)
“It is always a highlight for us to support visionary entrepreneurs in developing innovative music tech and to help drive experimentation with new products and revenue models that enhance creativity, consumer experiences and overall value and utility for our creative partners and artists,” SME senior vp of strategy and investments Angela Lopes says.
Universal Music Group eschews venture capital investments, preferring to offer seed money, mentoring and other support for startups. The company has gotten behind two health-related music apps: Endel, which creates personalized AI-generated soundscapes to foster focus and sleep, and Music Health, the company behind Vera, which is designed to help those suffering from dementia, as well as next-generation radio broadcasting toolkit Super-HiFi. UMG senior vp of digital innovation strategy and business development Kristen Bender said in a statement that the company’s “music DNA — incubation, connectivity, mentorship [and] strategic partner network — is the greatest asset we can provide early-stage companies.”
It’s likely that the volume of these investments will only increase. Lopes says, “We continue to focus on strategic investment opportunities” in the tech sector. And on the earnings call, Kyncl said WMG will be “reallocating our internal resources in order to invest in technology and drive not only more tools for monetization for creators but also greater efficiencies for us.” —ELIAS LEIGHT
Music Companies
Willard AhdritzFounder/chairman, Kobalt; CEO, Ahdritz & Co.
Willard Ahdritz
Paul Brissman
Recent investments: Dice, un:hurdInterests: Mobile ticketing, data-driven marketing
As founder and chairman of Kobalt — a publishing administration company that used a technology-first approach to disrupt the world of music publishing — Ahdritz has always had a forward-thinking approach to the music business. In recent years, he has been investing in other newcomers using technology to power music innovation, including popular mobile ticketing app Dice, and he has taken on an investment and advisory role in un:hurd, which uses data to help artists run successful digital marketing campaigns.
Mike CarenFounder/CEO, Artist Partner Group/Artist Publishing Group
Mike Caren
Elisabeth Caren
Recent investments: beatBread, Sound.me, Release.GlobalInterests: AI, music production tools, label tools
The label/publishing entrepreneur entered investing by acquiring music catalogs, but in recent years has expanded his focus to music technology and related startups. He says various forms of music tech are worthwhile “for both financial growth and for the good of the industry.” Caren hopes that the new companies he backs can “unleash creativity for those with huge imagination and limited knowledge” as well as economic and relationship-based limitations. But whether these results come through AI, augmented reality, traditional or currently unheard-of means “is less important for me.”
Startup red flag: “I try to avoid great decks without functioning software. I want to invest in companies with a minimum viable product I can use immediately and a clear road map for their future development.”
Neil JacobsonFounder/CEO, Hallwood Media; partner, Hallwood Media Ventures
Neil Jacobson
Clay Wescott
Recent investments: Disco, Splice, SoundfulInterests: AI, music production tools, creator services, marketplace platforms
Jacobson, former president of Geffen Records and founder of songwriter-producer management powerhouse Hallwood Media, brings decades of experience at labels and publishers to investing. Hallwood Media Ventures was born out of a special purpose acquisition company Jacobson launched in February 2021 with partner Todd Lowen, raising $230 million for a publicly listed vehicle with the intent of merging with a high-growth, music-related business. Now, almost three years later, Hallwood is unencumbered by the restrictions of a SPAC and looking to invest “in the range of $25 million for minority stakes, up to $250 million for larger stakes or full takeouts,” says Jacobson, who adds that though the firm is seeking companies throughout the music sector, “music technology seems to be where we are spending a lot of our time.” Still, as technology evolves, Jacobson envisions that great managers, like those on staff at Hallwood, will be “more critical than ever. The world, especially music, is changing at a pace we’ve never seen before. The need for management teams to react quickly and intelligently will only be amplified.”
Words an investor should live by: “ ‘Show me the money!’ We say that half-jokingly, but companies need to demonstrate the ability to generate EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] … We look for businesses that are executing on a responsible plan that is ready to be scaled with our help — both financially and strategically.”
Nick JarjourFounder/CEO, JarjourCo
Nick Jarjour
Dan Franco
Recent investments: Soundful, mayk.it, HIFI, Xposure, TrillerInterests: Music and gaming, livestreaming, virtual concerts, AI, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), fintech
Jarjour, an entrepreneur and manager for songwriter Starrah, says his first mentor told him: “Don’t just invest in companies. Advise them, consult them, sit on their boards.” So when he provides funding to a startup, he often assumes an advisory role too, as he did with mayk.it, HIFI, Xposure and more. He likens the role of an investor in a fledgling company to A&R, where his career began, and he aims to spot “hit companies” much as he would a song.
In the next five years, music tech will…: “See more artists and celebrity investors, more music and gaming partnerships, more growth in VR/AR music experiences … [There will be] a digital transformation for labels, funds and publishers propelled by breakthroughs like AI and the democratization of things.”
Andrew KahnHead of Crush Ventures
Andrew Kahn
Crush Ventures
Investments: Splice, Audioshake, Sound.xyz, CreateSafe, Rhythm.fmInterests: Fan technology, music production tools, creator tools
Alongside colleagues Aaron Matusow and Dan Kruchkow, Kahn leads the venture capital division for longtime independent management company Crush Music. With Crush Ventures, Kahn and his team make investment decisions that align with the overall company ethos: “We look to invest in building companies that could impact how we manage and grow the careers of Crush Music artists, who are also pop-culture brands,” Kahn says. That’s why the team is so interested in working with companies that create tools empowering artists, like Splice, Audioshake and CreateSafe. In the next five years, Kahn says he sees these companies “narrowing the gap between novice and pro.”
Startup red flags: “We try to avoid founders who are not living the culture of the market they are trying to enter or feeling the pain acutely of the problem they are trying to solve. Other nits are requests to sign [nondisclosure agreements] too quickly and early-stage companies using agencies to build core products.”
Naoki OsadaCEO, Avex USA; founder, Future of Music Fund
Naoki Osada
Caris Yeoman
Recent investments: Wave, Endel, Liminal Space, Strangeloop StudiosInterests: Metaverse, 3D, live experiences, virtual artists, music production tools
When he’s not running label and publishing operations at Avex USA, the thriving American outpost of the Japanese entertainment company, Osada is vetting emerging companies to invest in through Avex USA’s corporate venture capital division. Called the Future of Music Fund, Osada says he invests “in a selective, boutique way” in companies he feels build “immersive multisensory experiences of music” — like Endel’s personalized soundscapes that promote relaxation and Wave’s high-tech virtual concert production tools. So far, the fund has invested about $5 million and has now expanded to $25 million “based on the past successes.” Still, Osada notes that due to saturation in the market, he doesn’t “see quite as many mind-blowing early-stage companies these days as five years ago.”
Words an investor should live by: “In general, [our] motto is ‘innovate or die.’ We must constantly become different for the better in aspects of business/life to survive.”
Hazel SavageAngel investor; vp of music intelligence, SoundCloud
Hazel Savage
Alison Emerick
Recent investments: un:hurd, AudioShake, mayk.itInterests: AI and “all areas of deep tech in the music industry”
After building her own successful startup, Musiio, which SoundCloud acquired in 2022, Savage says she is “proud to invest in exceptional founders” as an angel investor. “I am looking for a founder or co-founders I believe in. They need that magic spark where when I look at them, I just know I could be working for them in 10 years and whatever they do, they will be successful,” she says. Since getting started, Savage has invested just shy of $1 million, the bulk of which has gone toward forms of AI that can ease pain points in the music business. She says she “learned from [her] own cap table about the kind of investor [she] wanted to be.”
In the next five years, music tech will…: “I think generative AI is here to stay … If we learn how to harness the tech and make it work for the musicians and the industry, it will be a net win all ’round. I also think we are evolving out of the existing stage of music streaming and into a new era where we all learn and figure out how to make sure the money fans want to spend goes directly to the artists they want to support.”
Agencies
Phil QuistInvestor, Connect Ventures; music/emerging tech agent, CAA
Phil Quist
Courtesy of CAA
Recent investments: Royal, Deep VooDooInterests: AI, music production tools, smart ticketing, live-concert experience enhancements
Kendrick Lamar’s innovative music video for “The Heart Part 5” — which used AI to morph the rapper’s face into the likenesses of Kanye West, O.J. Simpson, Kobe Bryant, Nipsey Hussle and Will Smith — was made possible by Deep VooDoo, an AI visual effects company and one of Quist and Connect Ventures’ recent investments. Since Connect’s establishment, Quist and his colleagues have invested “eight figures” into music-related technology that empowers creative innovation (like “The Heart Part 5”) because Quist feels “we are nearing a tipping point in the music industry” and a coming decade that’s “transformative and full of opportunity.” He believes the greatest opportunities in music lie in evolving the live-concert experience, investing in the fan-artist relationship, AI and the democratization of music creation, and he envisions a future where the Internet of Things finds its place in music, “transforming everyday objects into musical instruments or interfaces.”
Words an investor should live by: “Warren Buffett once said, ‘Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.’ This quote reminds me to approach both investing and life with a contrarian mindset, not being swayed by the prevailing market sentiment or popular trends, but to rather look toward the future.”
Sam WickPartner, UTA; head, UTA Ventures
Sam Wick
UTA
Recent investments: Moment House, Stem, CameoInterests: AI, livestreaming, e-commerce, distribution
As head of UTA Ventures, Wick consistently asks founders the same five questions: “What is the problem? How big is the market? How are you solving it? Why are you the right team to solve it? What is your competitive advantage?” UTA Ventures’ portfolio includes startups from industries as diverse as its client roster, which ranges from music to film/TV to gaming and sports, but it has dipped into music technology with investments in Moment House and Stem. One of the most important considerations for investing in music, Wick says, is remembering that “music defines culture and is continually at the forefront of technological disruption and innovation … Any trend that impacts the arts more broadly will impact music first.”
Words an investor should live by: “A venture investor will make hundreds of investments throughout their career. When all is said and done, your relationships and reputation are paramount … Conduct yourself with integrity.”
Finance
Fred Davis and Joe PuthenveetilPartners, The Raine Group
Joe Puthenveetil (left) and Fred Davis photographed on March 21, 2023 at The Raine Group in London.
Paul Stuart
Recent investments: SoundCloud, Firebird, Amuse, Rock the BellsInterests: Decentralized distribution, streamlining royalty collection, generative AI
Raine Group partners Davis and Puthenveetil combined their backgrounds — Davis’ as a longtime music attorney, with generational music expertise imparted by his father, Clive Davis, and Puthenveetil’s in advising and investing for Grail Partners and 13 years helping steer Raine’s music and entertainment efforts — to become a dominant music business force. Apart from investing in some of the industry’s fast-growing new music technology firms, they have also had their hands in facilitating many of the industry’s biggest music technology transactions, such as the sale of tech-focused publisher Kobalt to Francisco Partners and the sale of AVL Digital (CD Baby) to Downtown.
In the next five years, music tech will…: “Platforms and distribution will evolve to connect artists directly with fans and unlock opportunities for engagement and monetization beyond streaming,” Puthenveetil says. “Music discovery and consumption will continue to integrate more deeply into other forms of entertainment, particularly in gaming. Music rights management will continue to get more complex and, hopefully, more transparent and efficient for rights holders.”
Bob MoczydlowskyManaging director, Techstars Music
Bob Moczydlowsky
Jen Hall
Recent investments: Endel, Triller, Tribe XR, Strangeloop Studios, Amper MusicInterests: Streaming, music production tools, AI
As the managing director for premier music technology accelerator Techstars Music, Moczydlowsky facilitated 70 pre-seed investments in startups like Endel, Community, Triller and Tribe XR for a total of $8.2 million during the existence of the program that started in 2017 and ended this year. Techstars connected founders not just with money but with mentors from many of the other investors and companies mentioned on this list, including Sony Music Entertainment, HYBE and Warner Music Group. “I invest at the earliest possible stage,” Moczydlowsky explains. “So 90% of my process is about the team … At the early stage, what matters are the people and their passion for the market and the problem.”
In the next five years, music tech will…: “I’m most interested in what comes next in this mature streaming market we’re entering. If music streaming 1.0 was about solving the problem of ‘make all the music play,’ I think music streaming 2.0 is going to be allowing fans a way to ‘play with all of the music.’ ”
Shachar OrenFounder/CEO, Sound Media Ventures
Shachar Oren
Courtesy of Shachar Oren
Recent investments: Boomy, Tribe XR, Dance FightInterests: Generative AI, blockchain, user-generated content, streaming, metaverse
For 18 years, Oren was CEO of the startup he founded — business-to-business music licensing platform Neurotic Media — which Peloton acquired in 2018. After the sale, he moved to Peloton as its vp of music before founding Sound Media Ventures, where he applied the skills he learned as an entrepreneur to invest in other founders’ businesses. Since then, Sound Media has invested about $500,000 in total seed funding for music-related startups like Boomy, Tribe XR and Dance Fight in addition to significant investments in other areas of entertainment and technology. As Oren puts it, his firm offers founders more than money: “Our experience and expertise in the music space, along with our relationships, give us the ability to drive growth for our founders.”
Startup red flag: “Testing the product and getting a feel for the market fit it can find, or better yet, interviewing customers and assessing how passionate they feel about the solution is key. If one can’t establish a clear market fit for a product or service, that’s a clear warning.”
Guy OsearyCo-founder, Maverick Management; co-founder, Sound Ventures
Guy Oseary
Amanda Edwards/Getty Images
Recent investments: Community, SeatGeek, Shazam, OpenAI, Stability AIInterest: AI
After making his name as a superstar manager and music executive, Oseary has more recently turned his attention to venture capital and funding the future of innovation, both inside and outside music. In 2015, he and co-founder Ashton Kutcher launched Sound Ventures, where he says he leans on his skills at spotting talent as a former A&R executive to find the next big company. At the National Music Publishers’ Association’s annual meeting this year, Oseary gave a keynote address that focused on AI: “There’s a whole new wave that’s happening, and it’s happening very quickly. That means things can scale quickly,” he said. He has two funds dedicated to AI; one has raised $200 million to make investments specifically in “foundational AI models,” which Oseary feels will be the bedrock of all companies in the future. “Our thesis is that everyone is going to plug into one of these foundational models. In a few years, I’m going to ask whatever company I’m working with, ‘Which one do you use?’ And they’ll say Google or OpenAI or Anthropic — it’ll be one of five or six companies that you’re going to put all your information into and use that model to help run your business.”
Shara SenderoffCo-founder, Born Ready; co-founder, Raised in Space
Shara Senderoff
TCK Photo
Recent investments: Audigent/Music IQ, Songclip, The WaveXR, Spatial Labs, Altered State MachineInterests: AI, blockchain, royalty collection, music production tools, AR
Through funds Born Ready and Raised in Space, Senderoff has invested approximately $30 million into music tech startups during her career. These days, she is most interested in the evolution of the creator economy and how generative AI tools will affect it, but her investments range widely, from blockchain-based solutions for royalty collection to generative music to virtual reality. “I’m relentlessly focused on viability of a business model and its alignment with market timing and demands,” she says.
Startup red flag: “Consistently investing in cutting-edge technologies, such as blockchain and AI, before they hit the mainstream has made it easy for me to spot hype cycles while also enabling efficient discernment of innovation from buzzwords. I pride myself on deep diligence.”
Matt SpetzlerPartner/co-head of Europe, Francisco Partners
Matt Spetzler
Courtesy of Francisco Partners
Recent investments: Kobalt (acquisition), AMRA (acquisition), Native Instruments, iZotope, Plugin Alliance, Brainworx, JKBXInterests: AI, music production, royalty collection, business-to-business music licensing
It has been a landmark year for Spetzler and his colleagues at Francisco Partners, which purchased tech-focused music publisher Kobalt and its global digital collection society, AMRA. The team also has invested significantly in music creation tools because, as Spetzler puts it, “technology has been, and will remain, a driving force behind empowering independent artists and creators.” His goal is to make Francisco Partners “one of the top technology and media investors” globally — and given that its last three years of investment into its audio portfolio has led to a combined value of over $4 billion, the company is well on its way toward that goal.
In the next five years, music tech will…: “I believe the power and economics will shift toward the artist/creator, and this empowerment will be driven by technology and increasing transparency.”
This story will appear in the Oct. 21, 2023, issue of Billboard.
TikTok has launched TikTok Music, its new premium-only music streaming service, in Australia, Singapore and Mexico. The news arrives just months after the company announced its closed, beta version of the streamer for those three territories in July.
As part of the launch, TikTok Music is adding in new features like Party It (a personalized collaborative listening feature), FYP Tuning (swipable music discovery tool, letting users choose different musical scenes and moods), and Tonik (a music discovery personal assistant that is powered by Open AI’s ChatGPT).
With Tonik, users can search for an artist, track or playlist, ask about concerts and music news, learn about the stories behind the music and more.
The new streaming service has not yet made it to most of the major music markets around the world, including the U.S., but its interest in combining social media savvy with music listening could make it a strong new competitor to the established services like Spotify, Apple and Amazon as it expands worldwide.
Already, TikTok as a social platform has wielded great influence over the incumbent streamers. For example, Spotify announced earlier this year that they would integrate a new vertical, swipe-able discovery feed into their app, sparking comparisons to the short-form video app. Spotify also recently recruited some of TikTok’s most popular music influencers – like Ari Elkins and Dev Lemons – to help popularize its now-defunct live audio app, Spotify Live.
Other new features on the app include:
Sync With TikTok: sync your TikTok and TikTok Music accounts to enjoy songs from the social app
Play TikTok Hits: Stream the full versions of TikTok viral songs
Seamless Music Discovery With TikTok: Record your music discovery journey in TikTok and explore the songs in TikTok Music
Discover More Personalized Music: Swipe up and down to explore songs just for you
Discover New & Emerging Artists: Find your new favourite artist
Find Your Music Community: Express yourself through comments, enjoy behind-the-scenes stories, and connect with like-minded music lovers
Sing Along With Real-Time Lyrics: Sing and rap with built-in lyrics that play automaticallyCo-create collaborative Playlists with Friends: Making music better together
Import your Music Library: With just one click, import external playlists and play them through TikTok Music
Name That Song: identify any song you’re listening to with Song Catch
“We are pleased to publicly launch TikTok Music, a new kind of service that combines the power of music discovery on TikTok with a best-in-class streaming service. TikTok Music will make it easy for people to save, download and share their favourite viral tracks from TikTok,” says Ole Obermann, global head of music business development, TikTok. “We are excited about the opportunities TikTok Music presents for both music fans and artists, and the great potential it has for driving significant value to the music industry.”
YouTube is planning to roll out a new artificial intelligence tool that will allow creators to make videos using the voices of popular recording artists — but inking deals with record companies to launch the beta version is taking longer than expected, sources tell Billboard.
The new AI tool, which YouTube had hoped to debut at its Made On YouTube event in September, will in beta let a select pool of artists to give permission to a select group of creators to use their voices in videos on the platform. From there, the product could be released broadly to all users with the voices of artists who choose to opt in. YouTube is also looking at those artists to contribute input on that will help steer the company’s AI strategy beyond this, sources say.
The major labels, Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group, are still negotiating licensing deals that would cover voice rights for the beta version of the tool, sources say; a wide launch would require separate agreements. As label leaders have made public statements about their commitments to embracing AI in recent months, with UMG CEO Lucian Grainge saying the technology could “amplify human imagination and enrich musical creativity in extraordinary new ways” and WMG CEO Robert Kyncl saying, “You have to embrace the technology, because it’s not like you can put technology in a bottle” — some music executives worry they’ve given up some of their leverage in these initial deals, given that they want to be seen as proponents of progress and not as holding up innovation. Label executives are especially conscious of projecting that image now, having shortsightedly resisted the shift from CDs to downloads two decades ago, which allowed Apple to unbundle the album and sent the music business into years of decline. Some executives say it’s also been challenging to find top artists to participate in the new YouTube tool, with even some of the most forward-thinking acts hesitant to put their voices in the hands of unknown creators who could use them to make statements or sing lyrics they might not like.
The labels, sources say, view the deal as potentially precedent-setting for future AI deals to come — as well as creating a “framework,” as one source put it, for YouTube’s future AI initiatives. The key issues in negotiations are how the AI model is trained and that artists should have the option to opt-in (or out); and how monetization works — are artists paid for the use of their music as an input into the AI model or for the output that’s created using the AI tool? While negotiations are taking time, label sources say YouTube is seen as an important, reliable early partner in this space, based on the platform’s work developing its Content ID system that identifies and monetizes copyrighted materials in user-generated videos.
Publishing, meanwhile, is even more complicated, given that even with a small sampling of artists to launch the tool at beta there could be hundreds of songwriters with credits across their catalogs — which would be sampled by the model. Because of this, a source suggests that YouTube may prefer paying a lump sum licensing fee rather that publishers will need to figure out how to divide among their writers.
As complicated as the deal terms may be, sources say music rights holders are acting in good faith to get a deal done. That’s because there’s a dominant belief this sort of technology is inevitable and if the music business doesn’t come to the table to create licensing deals now, they’ll get left behind. However, one source familiar with the negotiations says this attitude is also putting music companies at a disadvantage because there is less room to drive a hard bargain.
For months, AI-soundalike tools that synthesize vocals to sound like famous artists have been garnering attention and triggering debate. The issue hit the mainstream in April when an anonymous musician calling himself Ghostwriter released a song to streaming services with soundalike versions of Drake and The Weeknd on it that he said were created with artificial intelligence. The song was quickly taken down due to copyright infringement on the recording, not based on the voices’ likenesses, but in the aftermath a month later Billboard reported that the streaming services seemed amenable to requests from the major labels to remove recordings with AI-generated vocals created to sound like popular artists.
In August, YouTube announced a new initiative with UMG artists and producers it called an “AI Music Incubator” that would “explore, experiment and offer feedback on the AI-related musical tools and products,” according to a blog post by Grainge at the time. “Once these tools are launched, the hope is that more artists who want to participate will benefit from and enjoy this creative suite.” That partnership was separate from the licensing negotiations currently taking place and the beta product in development.
On Wednesday, UMG, Concord Music Group, ABKCO and other music publishers filed a lawsuit against AI platform Anthropic PBC for using copyrighted song lyrics to “train” its software. This marked the first major lawsuit in what is expected to be a key legal battle over the future of AI music, and as one source put it a signal that major labels will litigate with AI companies they see as bad players.
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Prime Big Deals Day may be over, but Amazon is still dancing away with sales — including discounting a Monster portable speaker for 43% off. It’s never too early to start your holiday shopping, and rather than wait until Black Friday or Cyber Monday, the retailer is treating you to a major early deal that’ll make the perfect gift for music lovers, or you can treat yourself to an upgraded speaker.
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From hosting dinner parties, game night or a backyard barbecue, this portable speaker will help keep the tunes going without tying you down to an outlet. One full charge can last up to 12 hours straight and the built-in indicator light will help you track how much battery is left. Did we mention it’s also waterproof? Yep, now if your friend accidentally spills their drink on your precious speaker, it won’t die.
Plus, Prime members won’t have to wait the typical seven-day shipping period to receive the speaker. With a membership, you’ll get free, one-day shipping on practically all items sold on the site. Not a Prime member? Launch your 30-day free trial here.
Keep reading to shop the Amazon deal.
Amazon
Monster Blaster 3.0 Portable Speaker
The portable speaker comes in three shades to choose from including black, white and red. When you’re on the go, the top handle makes it easier to move the speaker from place to place while its Bluetooth capabilities mean you can connect it to most smart devices like your phone, tablet and laptop. If you love a strong bass output, then you’ll most likely enjoy the 60W powered subwoofer. Plus, at 43% off it’s dropped to under $200!
Reviewers can’t get enough of Monster’s speaker giving it a 4.5 star rating with one shopper describing it as a “piece of art” while another claimed it’s “worth every penny” for its sound quality and portability.
For more product recommendations, check out our roundups of the best wifi extenders, karaoke microphones and bluetooth earbuds.
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Source: NurPhoto / Getty / PS5 / PlayStation 5
Cloud streaming on the PS5 is finally here, and it could alleviate one major headache when utilizing space on your console.
In a recent blog post, Sony broke bread about the cloud streaming feature now available for PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers.
Information about the new feature, including bandwidth recommendations, stands out the most and is not as demanding as some believed it would be.
Per the blog post, Sony recommends 52Mbps for 4K, 38Mbps for 1440p, 23Mbps for 1080p, and 13Mbps for 720p. The recommended settings sit at HDR or SDR at 60Hz; at minimum, the bandwidth drops to 5Mbps for 720p and 38Mbps for 4K.
Another notable tidbit from the blog post is the information we were already privy to: you can only stream PS5 games on your PS5 console.
No games can be streamed on the soon-to-be-released PlayStation Portal companion device, which only allows you to play games over Wi-Fi locally.
Cloud streaming is currently available in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Cyprus, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers in Japan enjoy the new features, while European subscribers will see it go live on October 23, and folks in the United States have to wait till October 30.
This could be a helpful game-changer for PS5 console owners and make the PlayStation Plus Premium subscription look even more attractive and worth its asking price.
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Photo: NurPhoto / Getty
One of the key themes to emerge from Billboard Latin Music Week in Miami earlier this month was the undeniable and unstoppable rise of Mexican music — a trend that’s being powered by the TikTok generation.
In an era marked by a global surge in music consumption, the revival of Latin music in the United States is nothing short of spectacular. Data from the RIAA paints a compelling picture, showing U.S.-based Latin music revenues have increased by 15% year on year to reach a record high of $627 million in the first half of 2023, accounting for 7.5% of market share. When we reflect on numbers from the first half of 2021, the leap of 52% over these two years is particularly striking. The primary impetus for this is the growing audience tuning in to Latin music on ad-supported on-demand music streaming services. This is remarkable growth in a genre characterized by non-English language songs.
The rise of reggaeton in particular has been nothing short of meteoric. The commercial success of the likes of Bad Bunny, J Balvin and Karol G has left an indelible mark on the Latin music landscape. However, it’s important to note that Latin music’s appeal isn’t confined to a single genre.
TikTok has evolved into a hub for music discovery for millions of fans worldwide, with many trending songs on the platform often ending up on the Billboard Hot 100 or Spotify Viral 50. According to Luminate, 67% of the app’s users are more likely to seek out songs on music streaming services after hearing them on TikTok.
So what trends are we now seeing in Latin music? The short answer: Mexican music is leading the charge.
Over the past 12 months alone, Mexican music has experienced more than 83 billion views on TikTok worldwide, with a third of these coming from the United States, according to hashtag research the team and I have conducted in-house at Round. In that time, Mexican music has emerged as the fastest-growing genre on the platform with an astounding 322% surge in popularity, compared to electronic music (122%), rock/indie (96%), reggaeton (90%) and rap/hip-hop (87%). Mexican music stands as the third-largest genre on TikTok in terms of viewership in the U.S., with more than 27 billion views over the past 12 months, behind only rap/hip-hop and K-pop.
Artist after artist has emerged from the Mexican music scene to take TikTok by storm — from Natanael Cano and Yng Lvcas to Fuerza Regida and Grupo Frontera. However, one in particular is paving the way: Peso Pluma.
Thanks to Eslabon Armado’s viral TikTok hit “Ella Baila Sola,” on which Pluma is featured, the rising star has emerged as one of Mexico’s most exciting breakthrough artists. The track not only hit No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 chart, where it held for six weeks, but it also secured a No. 4 spot on the all-genre Hot 100 — an unprecedented feat for a regional Mexican song. Plus, it dominated Hot Latin Songs for 19 consecutive weeks, the longest run at No. 1 for a regional Mexican track since the tally’s inception in 1986. The song has generated 525.5 million on-demand official streams in the United States to date, according to Luminate. Moreover, “Ella Baila Sola” reached No. 1 on the overall Streaming Songs chart, becoming the first regional Mexican song to lead the list and the first No. 1 on the chart for both acts.
The undeniable catalyst in this success story has been TikTok, where Pluma has gained over 30 billion views in just 12 months and inspired over 5 million creations on the platform. In April, four of Pluma’s tracks dominated the list of top trending Latin songs on the platform in the United States.
The appeal of regional Mexican music is further broadening as tastemakers continue to upload educational videos about the genre to TikTok and Instagram Reels. That trend is helping to nurture a deeper connection to the genre, fostering long-term engagement and powering it to new heights.
So what lies on the horizon?
Round’s analysis of TikTok hashtags reveals a treasure trove of uncharted music cultures and sub-genres waiting to be discovered. For example, views of #sertanejo, a Brazilian sub-genre of traditional music, have doubled from 15 billion to 30 billion over the last 12 months globally. That nearly rivals #reggaeton, which received 33 billion views globally across TikTok over the same period.
As new trends arise, one thing remains certain: TikTok is a powerful force for promoting diversity in music and opening up international markets for local sounds. Its global reach has ushered in an era where artists can easily have their music heard by millions. Now, it’s no longer a question of if artists, record labels, brands and influencers are on the app — it’s about how they maximize its power to the fullest. The stage is set, and the world is listening.
Ray Uscata is managing director of Round, North and South America. Round is a tech-enabled digital agency using content, creators and communities to place the world’s leading brands and artists at the center of culture.
SINGAPORE — BandLab Technologies has pledged to engage responsibly and ethically with AI, part of a “strategic collaboration” with Universal Music Group.
Announced today (Oct. 18), Singapore-based BandLab becomes the first music creation platform to throw its support behind the Human Artistry Campaign (HAC), a global coalition devoted to ensuring fair and safe play with AI technologies.
“As the digital landscape of music continues to evolve,” reads a joint statement, “this collaboration is designed to be a beacon of innovation and ethical practice in the industry and heralds a new era where artists are supported and celebrated at every stage of their creative journey.”
Led by CEO Meng Ru Kuok, BandLab Technologies operates the largest social music creation platform, BandLab. Among the service’s breakouts is Houston artist d4vd (pronounced “David”), who, in July 2022 as a 17-year-old, released “Romantic Homicide,” a track he had made using BandLab. After going viral on TikTok, the song entered the Billboard Hot 100 (peaking at No. 45) as d4vd signed to Darkroom/Interscope. He’s one of a growing number of BandLab users who’ve developed deeper ties with UMG.
“We welcome BandLab’s commitment to an ethical approach to AI through their accessible technology, tools and platform,” comments Lucian Grainge, chairman & CEO, Universal Music Group, in a statement. “We are excited to add BandLab Technologies to a growing list of UMG partners whose responsible and innovative AI will benefit the creative community.”
Further to Grainge’s comments, Michael Nash, executive VP and chief digital officer at UMG, points to an expanding relationship with BandLab, noting “they are an excellent partner that is compelling for us on multiple fronts.”
BandLab Technologies’ assets are grouped under the holding company of Caldecott Music Group, for which Meng serves as CEO and founder. ““BandLab Technologies and our wider Caldecott Music Group network is steadfast in its respect for artists’ rights,” he comments in a statement, “and the infinite potential of AI in music creation and we believe our millions of users around the world share in this commitment and excitement.”
Meng showed his support in August at Ai4, an AI conference in Las Vegas, by way of the presentation “Augmenting the Artist: How AI is Redefining Music Creation and Innovation.” During that session, he discussed the importance of ethical AI training and development and showcased the company’s AI music idea generator tool SongStarter.
New technologies promise “unbelievable possibilities to break down more barriers for creators,” he notes, but “it’s essential that artists’ and songwriters’ rights be fully respected and protected to give these future generations a chance of success.”
The Human Artistry Campaign was announced during South by Southwest in March along with a series of seven key principles for protecting artists in the age of AI. More than 150 industry organizations and businesses have signed up.
UMG’s AI collaboration with BandLab follows separate arrangements forged with Endel and YouTube.
This “first of its kind” strategic partnership with BandLab Technologies, say reps for UMG, align the “two organizations to promote responsible AI practices and pro-creator standards, as well as enabling new opportunities for artists.”
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Source: NurPhoto / Getty / Grand Theft Auto
Finally, there is some Grand Theft Auto news; unfortunately, it has nothing to do with GTA 6.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Netflix Games is trying hard to secure a Grand Theft Auto game on its service in an attempt to bolster its lineup of original games after acquiring several development studios.
The WSJ reports that Netflix Games “discussed plans” to drop a Grand Theft Auto game on its service by securing a licensing deal with Rockstar Games parent company, Take-Two Interactive.
What would that game look like? That remains to be seen, but according to IGN, it will likely be a mobile title.
Per IGN:
As things now stand, any GTA spin-off that ended up on Netflix would inevitably be a mobile game, as currently the only way to play Netflix’s portfolio is through its mobile app. The report suggests that Netflix hopes to eventually expand its library to include games that can be streamed from TV or PC.
According to one analyst speaking to the WSJ, Netflix has spent about $1 billion on games so far. And it seems to be aiming to hire more game executives to oversee a foray into AAA titles. But there’s currently no good way to tell exactly how well that investment is paying off for the company, or whether it ever will.
Netflix Games Is A Pure Struggle
It’s clear Netflix is looking for a win for its Netflix Games service. Since launching in 2022, the service has yet to take off. IGN reports that 20 games on the service have been downloaded 70.5 million times.
That’s a drop in the bucket compared to other mobile game downloads. Apptopia claims only 1% of Netflix subscribers enjoy Netflix Games daily.
We shall see if Netflix Games can land its golden goose.
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Photo: NurPhoto / Getty