Prof Snyder's Music Biz News

Audio Data Is In Big Demand Not Just for Music. Alexa is Feeding Your Voice to AI!!!

Feeding AI audio is big business. Know the difference between LLM and RAG data collection. Record labels buy up indie labels to wall off their audio data, while Amazon announces everything you say to Alexa is now saved, it's always listening. Don't be surprised if one day you hear your voice singing an AI generated song.

Feeding AI audio is big business. Know the difference between LLM and RAG data collection. Record labels buy up indie labels to wall off their audio data, while Amazon announces everything you say to Alexa is now saved, it's always listening. Don't be surprised if one day you hear your voice singing an AI generated song.

"The music industry has fallen in love with the dead and dying." Old songs now represent almost 75% of streams. Tribute bands are now the rage, while defunct bands like Van Halen put out new albums using AI to replace missing members. Some artists like Luna Del Ray are writing into their wills to not release any music after they die, but the record labels own the sound recordings, and they (and surviving family members), using AI, can smell the gold. So will the music landscape begin to be filled with AI assisted zombie musicians? Is being dead a good career move for musicians?

It was bound to happen.

The first all AI created album, certified by Spotify, was released by Spanish AI artist Pedro Sandoval.

Meet AI Singers ZKY-18 and Dirty Marilyn, "...their voices so real they could perfectly match those of any singer currently recording."

Will AI generated albums begin to populate and push out human-made albums?

Is it true that "Spotify is despised in the songwriting industry"? Universal Music Group (UMG) signed a new agreement with Spotify announcing Streaming 2.0. What does that now mean for royalties for artists, bundling with non-music content, etc.?

Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Spotify Agree Premium Subscriptions Are The Future. Following the Netflix model of increasing the number of subscription tiers and prices, and believing ‘high-value’ subscribers will gladly pay more for exclusive perks and content, Streaming 2.0 offers more bundles with more content, access, and perks to connect fans and artists. Cash grab or will artists truly benefit?

Two singles mark AI music production history:

• Randy Travis, who can't speak or sing since a 2013 stroke, released another single. His first was the "very first artist-sanctioned commercially released song to feature their own artificially-generated voice'. Is this is just the beginning of artists and labels using 'sanctioned' artificially generated vocals? Could we expect to hear a much younger sounding Paul McCartney, and other aging artists, releasing new music using this AI tech?
• The Beatles won a Grammy for 'Now and Then,' the first for an AI Restored song. Will there be a deluge of AI 'restored' music released from the label's archives of unreleased material?

00:01 Opening sound is a small sample from the new album 'Is This What We Want?'

00:24 Amazon is adding SUNO AI to Alexa + so that anybody can create a new song, who needs human songwriters?

04:18 Used to be labels used human A&R scouts to find new talent. Now Artists hoping to be 'discovered' and become the next big hit, need to impress AI.

16:30 AI is already being used in live concerts to enhance performances for the audience. Face recognition and other AI tools make it so no 2 concerts are the same.

24:06 Jonsey's Cat-Shit Crazy Pick is a new album by 1,000 artists that consists of recordings of ambient sounds of empty recording studios. 'Is This What We Want?' is a protest album protesting laws concerning AI replacing human artists.

25.50 Tag sound is small sample of what the album sounds like.

00:01 Intro

00:18 Congress has asked the Copyright Office to look into aggressive tactics Performance Rights Organizations are now using to get money from small venues, restaurants, bars, etc. Changes in non-profit status and the addition of 3 more pros may cause live music to dry up.

10:46 The Copyright Office just released its determination (1 of 3) about AI and Copyright protection.

13:09 A description of the 3 common uses of AI in music production

20:06 Jonesy's Cat-Shit Crazy Pick is how AI can be used to write love songs for Valentines, or to just impress your mate. This includes an AI generated song written about Jonesy.

22:09 AI Generated Song for Jonesy

00:01 Intro

00:18 Congress has asked the Copyright Office to look into aggressive tactics Performance Rights Organizations are now using to get money from small venues, restaurants, bars, etc. Changes in non-profit status and the addition of 3 more pros may cause live music to dry up.

10:46 The Copyright Office just released its determination (1 of 3) about AI and Copyright protection.

13:09 A description of the 3 common uses of AI in music production 20:06 Jonesy's Cat-Shit Crazy Pick is how AI can be used to write love songs for Valentines, or to just impress your mate. This includes an AI generated song written about Jonesy.

22:09 AI Generated Song for Jonesy