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Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl has a message for a music industry facing disruption from artificial intelligence that’s often likened to the rise of file-sharing a quarter century ago: “You have to embrace technology, because it’s not like you can put technology in a bottle,” he said during an onstage interview at the Code […]
On a trip to visit his mother in Israel last year, Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s global head of music, asked her one of those big life questions that’s impossible to answer with anything but a big answer.
“She has 16 grandchildren and four sons, she’s 92 years old, and she is moving around this world by herself and still enjoying her grandchildren, healthy,” said Cohen. “And I said to her, ‘You’re a very, very lucky person.’ And she said, ‘Yes, I know that.’ And I said, ‘So, why are you so lucky?’
Without hesitation, she replied, “The more you give, the more you receive.”
At 63, with three kids and an illustrious career in music, Cohen said it’s this giving spirit that inspired him to accept this year’s Spirit of Life award from City of Hope, one of the country’s leading cancer treatment and research centers.
“We’re in the giving business and so we’re grateful to be here and to have the privilege,” said Cohen. “It’s a privilege to do it, but you have to get out of your normal grind to recognize that.”
Dr. Joseph Alvarnas speaks to a group on a tour of City of Hope on April 17, 2023.
Ryan Hartford
The honor, bestowed by City of Hope’s music, film and entertainment industry (MFEI) fundraising group, is reserved for entertainment industry titans and has helped the MFEI group raise $150 million since launching in 1973. Now in its 50th year, recent recipients in music include Republic Records founders/chief executives Monte and Avery Lipman (2022), Epic Records chairperson/CEO Sylvia Rhone (2019) and Sony Music Publishing chairman/CEO Jon Platt (2018). As such, the events around them are regularly a who’s-who of industry heavyweights and well-wishers leading up to the gala dinner where the award is presented, which this year will take place Oct. 18 at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles.
In April, before the monthslong rollout of events including the All In For Hope Poker Tournament in May and the Music Trivia Bowl in July began, Cohen and seven of his staff members woke up early to drive over 100 miles from the Coachella Valley in rush hour traffic for a tour of the City of Hope campus in Duarte, Calif., just outside Los Angeles. It was the morning after the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival’s first weekend, where Cohen’s team oversaw what was likely the largest festival livestream event ever, broadcasting to more than 45 million people worldwide, according to the company. Many of them noted they hadn’t even had a cup of coffee yet.
Cohen, the tallest of the bunch, dressed in all black with a scarf around his neck, led the group, which also included Universal Music Publishing Group, North America president Evan Lamberg, entertainment lawyer Dina LaPolt, Culture Collective founder/CEO Jonathan Azu and Spirit Music Group chairman David Renzer — all of whom are on the City of Hope MFEI Board — as they followed City of Hope staff around the expansive 100-plus acre grounds.
There, they spoke with doctors and scientists to better understand the organization’s research efforts and care services. One of the key advantages City of Hope has in the field, several staff members explained, is that the proximity of scientists, treatment staff and manufacturing facilities, all of which are on-site, allows cross-collaboration that brings their research — seeking cures for cancer, HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening diseases — directly to patients without delay. Throughout, Cohen listened closely and expressed an intent to focus on how to address health disparities for Black people in the United States to create more equitable access to healthcare and establish greater trust in the system.
“I’ve made a living on Black music,” he said, “and what I’m particularly interested in is figuring out how the Black community could demystify getting early treatment and understanding about cancer and how they get the opportunity to help educate and eradicate cancer in these communities.”
Dr. Debbie Thurmond speaks on a tour of City of Hope on April 17, 2023.
Ryan Hartford
Cohen launched his career in the 1980s New York hip-hop scene as a road manager for Russell Simmons‘ Rush Productions before going on to manage the label. He later headed up Def Jam and then Warner Music Group before co-launching 300 Entertainment and, in 2016, joining YouTube. He had a hand in the careers of Public Enemy, DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, De La Soul, Eric B. & Rakim, A Tribe Called Quest, Jay-Z, DMX, Ja Rule and Ludacris. He acknowledges this is an opportunity to support the people and culture that built his success.
Supporting economically disadvantaged and racially diverse communities facing barriers that limit their ability to find and sustain specialized care was the focus of City of Hope’s Closing the Care Gap event on Aug. 29 and has been at the center of the organization’s MFEI fundraising since 2018. According to City of Hope, only 20% of cancer patients in the United States are treated at National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers, which can sometimes mean the difference between life and death. It’s something the City of Hope treatment and research center is addressing through community partnerships, government policy, expansion and diversifying its own workforce.
“My big takeaway is that there are so many people that have committed a lifetime to helping others that are selfless, that are so enthusiastic about solving some of these big problems,” Cohen said after the tour. “I saw and met many of the doctors here that loved the fact that they were in an organization that’s biased to speed of getting things done, and breaking the code and making things happen. I felt like this is a joyful place to work and a joyful place to solve these problems.”
Jordan Schepps, Jonathan Azu, Ali Rivera, David Renzer, Waleed Diab, Dina LaPolt, Stephen Bryan, Vivien Lewit, Jake O’Leary, Lyor Cohen, Evan Lamberg, Zach Horowitz, and Loren Fishbein on a tour of City of Hope on April 17, 2023.
Ryan Hartford
Lyor Cohen discussed “a future where generative AI has a profound impact on music” at the annual Made on YouTube event on Thursday (Sept. 21). YouTube’s longtime global head of music is nothing if not enthusiastic about artificial intelligence and its potential ability to supercharge music-making. Cohen told the attendees that “AI tools are opening up a new playground for creativity;” AI “can be used by artists to amplify and accelerate their creativity;” and AI can usher in “a new era of musical creativity.”
Cohen was joined by Charlie Puth, who played some piano and showed off his beatboxing, and Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl. Kyncl acknowledged that not everyone in music is as excited about AI as Cohen seems to be: “Change is unsettling; we are in that period of change.” He proposed charting a path forward where AI enthusiasts can gain from the technology while artists who are wary of it are somehow shielded from its impacts.
Artists “will create and they will use all kinds of tools to create… that’s their job,” Kyncl said. “It’s our job, the platforms and the music industry, to make sure that artists like Charlie who lean in [to AI] benefit. It’s also our job together to make sure that artists who don’t want to lean in are protected.” He pointed to the success of YouTube’s Content ID system, which helps the platform track user-generated content, as a potential model, because creators can choose to monetize that UGC or block it depending on their preferences.
YouTube previously signaled its interest in being part of music’s AI-driven future in August when it announced an “AI Music Incubator” that will include input from Anitta, Juanes, Ryan Tedder, Rodney Jerkins, and many others.
“This group will explore, experiment and offer feedback on the AI-related musical tools and products they are researching,” Universal CEO Lucian Grainge wrote in a blog post. “Once these tools are launched, the hope is that more artists who want to participate will benefit from and enjoy this creative suite.”
At the Made on YouTube event, CEO Neal Mohan also discussed a suite of new tools for creators that aim to put “the creative power of AI into the hands of billions of people.” These include Dream Screen, which “lets you create AI-generated video or image backgrounds for Shorts by typing in an idea,” and a search function that “will act like a music concierge” when it comes time to find a track to place into a video. “Our creator can just describe her video, and if she wants she can even include information about the length or type of song she’s looking for, and Creator Music suggests the right track at the right price,” Mohan explained.
Jade Beason, a YouTube creator, told the crowd she “spend[s] a lot of time trying to find the right music for videos” and is sometimes “guilty of actually just using the same song [over again] because I just can’t find the right one.” “Music has the ability to change how your audience actually feels when they’re watching your content,” she continued. “It’s the difference between someone seeing a video of yours and laughing or crying… so the idea that we can do this easily amongst everything else is actually quite wild.”
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Universal Music Group announced on Monday (Aug. 21) a partnership with YouTube to create a set of principles and best practices around the use of artificial intelligence within the music community, as well as a Music AI Incubator bringing together several UMG artists and producers to help study the effect of the technology, including Anitta, Juanes, Yo Gotti, Louis Bell, ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus, Ryan Tedder and the estate of Frank Sinatra, among others.
In announcing the new incubator and the three principles — which boil down to embracing the new technological possibilities while protecting creators and establishing content and safety policies — UMG chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge penned an op-ed for YouTube’s blog, in which he acknowledged both the possibilities and the potential dangers of AI.
“Given this tension, our challenge and opportunity as an industry is to establish effective tools, incentives and rewards – as well as rules of the road – that enable us to limit AI’s potential downside while promoting its promising upside,” Grainge writes. “If we strike the right balance, I believe AI will amplify human imagination and enrich musical creativity in extraordinary new ways.”
In reference to the collaboration with YouTube, Grainge points to the video streamer’s development of its ContentID system, which helps screen user-generated content uploaded to the service for copyrighted works, and helps get creators (and copyright owners, such as UMG) paid for their use on the platform. That type of collaboration between DSP and music companies is foundational to the work YouTube and UMG are beginning with respect to AI, Grainge says.
“The truth is, great entertainment doesn’t just reach audiences on its own,” he writes. “It also requires the global infrastructure, new business models, scaled distribution, innovative partnerships and effective safeguards that enable talented artists to create with freedom and receive fair compensation. … Today, our partnership is building on that foundation with a shared commitment to lead responsibly, as outlined in YouTube’s AI principles, where Artificial Intelligence is built to empower human creativity, and not the other way around. AI will never replace human creativity because it will always lack the essential spark that drives the most talented artists to do their best work, which is intention. From Mozart to The Beatles to Taylor Swift, genius is never random.”
Read his full op-ed here.
YouTube announced a new initiative with artists and producers from Universal Music Group on Monday (August 21): An “AI Music Incubator” that will include input from Anitta, Juanes, Ryan Tedder, Björn Ulvaeus from Abba, Rodney Jerkins, d4vd, Max Richter, and the estate of Frank Sinatra, among others.
“This group will explore, experiment and offer feedback on the AI-related musical tools and products they are researching,” Universal CEO Lucian Grainge wrote in a blog post. “Once these tools are launched, the hope is that more artists who want to participate will benefit from and enjoy this creative suite.”
Grainge added that “our challenge and opportunity as an industry is to establish effective tools, incentives and rewards — as well as rules of the road — that enable us to limit AI’s potential downside while promoting its promising upside.”
In a statement, Ulvaeus said that “while some may find my decision controversial, I’ve joined this group with an open mind and purely out of curiosity about how an AI model works and what it could be capable of in a creative process. I believe that the more I understand, the better equipped I’ll be to advocate for and to help protect the rights of my fellow human creators.”
Juanes noted in a statement of his own that “artists must play a central role in helping to shape the future of this technology” so “that it is used respectfully and ethically in ways that amplify human musical expression for generations to come.”
This sentiment was echoed by Richter: “Unless artists are part of this process, there is no way to ensure that our interests will be taken into account,” the composer said in a statement. “We have to be in this conversation, or our voices won’t be heard.”
Neal Mohan, YouTube’s CEO, also published the company’s “AI music principles” on Monday. The company promised to “embrace” AI “responsibly together with our music partners” and noted that any AI initiatives “must include appropriate protections and unlock opportunities for music partners who decide to participate.”
YouTube’s “AI music principles” as posted:
AI is here, and we will embrace it responsibly together with our music partners.
AI is ushering in a new age of creative expression, but it must include appropriate protections and unlock opportunities for music partners who decide to participate.
We’ve built an industry-leading trust and safety organization and content policies. We will scale those to meet the challenges of AI.
Webster “Yenddi” Batista Fernandez, one of the leaders of the largest-known YouTube music royalty scam in history, was sentenced to nearly four years in prison on Tuesday (Aug. 15). The court documents were made publicly available on Friday.
According to court documents, Batista is ordered to serve 46 months in prison for one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy. Upon his release from prison, he will be placed on supervised release for 36 months.
From about 2016-2021, Batista and his partner, Jose “Chenel” Teran, ran MediaMuv, a music company that claimed ownership of and collected YouTube royalties from over 50,000 songs, despite not having legal rights to nearly any of those works. The victims were primarily from Latin genres and ranged from hobbyist musicians to global superstars like Julio Iglesias, Don Omar, Anuel AA, Prince Royce and more.
Batista and Teran were ultimately indicted on 30 counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft in November 2021. Six months later, Batista accepted a plea deal, admitting to one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy. His partner, however, did not plead guilty and accept a plea deal until just before the start of his Jan. 17 trial date. Ultimately, Teran admitted guilt to single counts of conspiracy, wire fraud and transactional money laundering.
Teran was given a heftier sentence than his counterpart — in late June, he was sentenced to nearly six years in prison for his involvement in the scheme. According to the government’s sentencing memorandum, Teran’s sentence was “undoubtedly substantial” but reflects a desire to “deter future conduct” similar to the MediaMuv scam. The document adds that Teran is at high risk to re-offend, given his interest in returning to the music business after prison and the sheer scale and savviness of his scam.
“In particular, the government is alarmed that even news of his indictment did not stop Teran,” says the court document. After his indictment, the document revealed that Teran siphoned another $190,000 of stolen royalties and moved those funds to a bank account “out of the government’s reach.”
A court document filed on Aug. 7 claimed that Batista is working toward rehabilitation and should receive more leniency in his sentence as a result. “He wanted to rehabilitate his life” since his arrest in November 2021, says the sentencing memorandum. “[He] participated in Hustle 2.0, which is a self-directed learning program designed for incarcerated individuals to give them the tools for rehabilitation.” On May 3, 2023, Batista received a certificate for completing its “pre-season program.”
Many of the artists whose works were claimed and stolen from by MediaMuv are still unaware. To check and see if you are a victim, please click here and contact victim witness specialist Todd McKenney, todd.mckenney@usdoj.gov.
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