Prof Snyder's Music Biz News

Will AI Finally Be Able To Scuttle That Pesky Copyright Thing? (Update: There is an article today on The Verge entitled "Elon Musk’s Apparent Power Play at the Copyright Office Completely Backfired: Ripping off content to train AI wasn't going to fly with either MAGA populists or MAGA media". So while there is absolutely still no reason given to fire the director who is most qualified to guide the...

The Dead Internet Theory: "AI-generated material will eventually flood the internet so thoroughly, that nothing human can be found. " The ocean of music is filling with AI slop. Major artists flood the streams with tons of remixes, altered versions, and clips of the same song/album. New artists try to get attention by posting 100s of Tik-Tok videos of the same song hoping just one will go viral. W...

Revivification. The groundbreaking tech that will shape the future of music production! An Art Gallery in Australia is featuring NEW music being composed years after the passing of the composer, Alvin Lucier, with a process known as revivification. "“One of the concepts we are exploring is whether an artist could continue to create work after they have passed away.” Stem cells developed from Lucie...

"The more [artists] that stick their head in the sand, the more likely it's gonna go to the people who are doing it for profit and won't be thinking about them." Heap "Actors can make good money licensing their images to AI companies, but many are later shocked to see where their digital clones turn up". As artists like Grimes allows use of her AI voice, and Imogen Heap allows the use of "...the v...

Anybody who uses AI to create anything, whether it's art or music, should know about this decision: • "Up until January 2025, the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) had rejected all AI-generated works on the basis that they lacked sufficient human authorship" • "This landmark decision sets a precedent for future AI-assisted artworks, highlighting the importance of human creativity and guidance in the cr...

"One artist should not push another artist to the brink of a financial collapse." So says the lawyer for Vince Vance who sued Mariah Carey for copyright infringement, and lost. He wanted $20M and all copies of her evergreen, 'All I Want for Xmas', to be destroyed. But instead, he now owes her reimbursement for over $180,000 in legal fees.

"One artist should not push another artist to the brink of a financial collapse." So says the lawyer for Vince Vance who sued Mariah Carey for copyright infringement, and lost. He wanted $20M and all copies of her evergreen, 'All I Want for Xmas', to be destroyed. But instead, he now owes her reimbursement for over $180,000 in legal fees.

"One artist should not push another artist to the brink of a financial collapse." So says the lawyer for Vince Vance who sued Mariah Carey for copyright infringement, and lost. He wanted $20M and all copies of her evergreen, 'All I Want for Xmas', to be destroyed. But instead, he now owes her reimbursement for over $180,000 in legal fees.

As Jonesy opines, "It’s bad enough that humans, 100% humans, have to compete with AI generated fake artists and music on Spotify, now the animal kingdom is elbowing in???" Meet HorsegiirL, a German DJ who has created a persona as a horse, both while performing and in character during interviews. Rather it's brilliant, or just another gimmick, either way it's working!

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 generate...

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 su...

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 art...

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 so...

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 e...

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 des...

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 des...

SONY announced that it will no longer produce recordable Blu-Ray and Mini-Discs. Recording studios still using Mini-Disc should load up now on blank media. Rock and Roll Photogs are ripped off more than most and file copyright lawsuits. But some seem to have made the lawsuits their primary revenue leading judges to call them copyright trolls. Streamer Deezer created AI detection tools to find and...

00:01 - Intro 00:10 - Artificial Intelligence may rely on organics to exist. Creating strands of DNA to store data will become the new way AI will preserve and use data - forever. 06:28 - Papering the House. There are companies that can be called to 'paper the house', the filling of empty seats to create the false impression of a 'sold-out' concert or event. 9:21 - Bundling. Why Apple only seems t...

00:01- Intro 00:10 - Artificial Intelligence may rely on organics to exist. Creating strands of DNA to store data will become the new way AI will preserve and use data - forever. 06:28 - Papering the House. There are companies that can be called to 'paper the house', the filling of empty seats to create the false impression of a 'sold-out' concert or event. 9:21 - Bundling. Why Apple only seems to...

IntroYoutube has little known settings with options to allow AI to use your content for training, and to what extent. Some disturbing data about mental health issues in the live event industries, and the difficulty in addressing them For the past 2 years, the Live Event industries have increasingly come to rely on Tik-Tok for marketing...how would a Tik-Tok ban affect them? Rappers, like Drake, ar...

intro - Daisy Is Spotify creating and/or purchasing music and promoting fake artists, with bios, to stuff in playlists to avoid paying royalties? How does this affect 'real' musicians hoping to get into playlists to make a living from royalties and streams? Are you listening to 'Ghost Musicians'? How can 1 song be credited with 100s of titles and composers? Do people care who composes their workou...

EP 9 https://youtu.be/O_xuVgd-tEQ Spotify is moving into Audiobooks. Will this expand consumer demand and maybe more work for studios? But...Book Publishers Both Fear and Embrace AI in Writing, Translating, and Recording Audiobooks. Quantity over quality in the audiobook world, like music? Used to be that an artist with 100 loyal fans, could make $100,000 a year if each fan bought $100 a year in r...