Music

Canadian musician Grimes has expressed her willingness to share 50% of the royalties from her upcoming album with an AI program known as "WarNymph." The AI was created by Grimes's ex-partner, Elon Musk, and features on her album, producing some of the music. Continue Reading →

It seems history is repeating itself. Remember when the RIAA thought it was a great idea to sue music lovers who used Napster? Well, now they are at it again. It may be a synthetic singer, but it's an old song. Here's the refrain. Continue Reading →

As I think about the issues that artists and creators of every kind are having with the way their works are being used to train AI, I'm wondering if a version of "ASCAP for AI" or "ASCAP for the web" is something we should be thinking about. Continue Reading →

My Sunday essay was about Generative Synthetic Media. If you don't know what that is, have a quick look at the post, then go play around (pun intended) with some examples you'll find in this Google Research paper: MusicLM: Generating Music From Text. Continue Reading →

Holly+, the AI-generated digital twin of experimental musician Holly Herdon, does a pretty good job singing "Jolene," Dolly Parton's country classic. Continue Reading →

The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), the Nashville Songwriters Association International, and the Digital Media Association announced a settlement with streaming services for certain mechanical streaming rates in the U.S. for the years 2023-2027: 15.35%. Continue Reading →

While reading this story on vice.com about Universal Music Group (UMG) -- the powerhouse label that represents Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, and Jay-Z -- forming an NFT band made up of cartoon ape JPEGs “owned” by some guy, it has become clear that the NFT hype bubble has inflated beyond anyone's wildest expectations. Continue Reading →

MODA DAO is the kind of project that has the potential to change our fundamental assumptions about how the music industry (or any content-based industry) functions. Continue Reading →

As out of control as everything feels today, we do have control over one thing: how we spend our time. Time is a currency. So much so that we call the use of it “spending” time. Today, while some are forced to put themselves in harm’s way to do what needs to be done, many of us will have the shared experience of being alone. How will you “invest” your alone time? Here are a few ideas. Continue Reading →

At one of the pre-Grammy parties I attended, I was asked about controversy surrounding the way the Recording Academy (the organization that produces the Grammys) categorizes music for the show. This led to some very interesting questions: Who (or what) will be eligible to win a Grammy in 2030? What will the categories evolve into? Will music need to be recorded at all? Continue Reading →