Music royalites, AR, AI, industry numbers and more

A lot of different technologies and their potential applications for music are being discussed lately

Author

Matthias Strobel
March 17, 2023

Hi there

I was traveling through Jordan (can highly recommend it) for the last two weeks and therefore didn’t send out this newsletter. Now, I am back, and here comes this week’s roundup of music tech news.

Before you dive in, I want to highlight that I am organizing the first Berlin Music Tech Meetup in 2023 next Monday. This a perfect opportunity to connect with the music tech community here and to get inspired by presentations about AI and music from experts. Please come by and RSVP if you are in town.

Also, if you are running a startup at the intersection of music and tech, make sure to apply for the Wallifornia Music Tech Accelerator. It’s the best accelerator we have in Europe for people who work on innovation for the music ecosystem

Now, enjoy reading and have a fantastic weekend.

Cheers,
Matt

|-MUSIC TECH NEWS-|

Recorded music market 2022 | Reality bites

Following a spectacular year of growth in 2021, global recorded music revenue growth slowed significantly in 2022 due to the combined impact of global economic headwinds and growth slowdown in matu…

Songs in DJ Sets Are Notoriously Hard to Track — How a Dutch Rights Organization Is Paying Royalties

Buma/Stemra has created a progressive system for paying performance royalties for festival sets.

Streaming in the Dark: Where Music Listeners’ Money Goes – and Doesn’t

New paper shines a light on the dysfunction of the music streaming ecosystem while proposing solutions to ensure a more equitable future.

Streaming Brought Record Growth to the Music Business — TikTok and A.I. Need to Get It Right

Today we release recorded music revenue data for 2022 showing a seventh straight year of continued growth – powered by a robust 8% increase in paid subscription streaming revenues which now make up…

TikTok’s AI designer says bots won’t put songwriters out of work

Ed Newton-Rex, TikTok’s AI designer, has argued that AI tech will not put songwriters and musicians out of work, and is a “very good thing”.

Buried on iTunes, Can Music Downloads Ever Make a Comeback?

While physical formats have turned around a decline, paid downloads continue to plummet.

What drum machines can teach us about artificial intelligence

As AI drum machines embrace humanising imperfections, what does this mean for ‘real’ drummers and the soul of music?

Spotify is testing playlists that could be unlocked by NFT holders

Spotify is testing playlists that could be unlocked by NFT holders of certain communities in select countries.

What Music Can Actually Learn From Gaming

This week’s Trapital memo is brought to you by trac. Give fans exclusive access before anyone else In my previous newsletter, I touched on windowing – how it can be a smart tactic for artists and help build the relationship they have with their fans.

AI startup whose chatbot mimics Billie Eilish and Kanye West valued at $1bn

It's been a busy messaging morning for Music Ally. "Who even are you lol?" asked Billie Eilish, before asking us for recommendations.

Artists turn to AR to get music out

Insider reports that artists and labels are creating AR lenses as part of the marketing rollout for new songs.

Coldplay to screen new concert film as multi-sensory cinema experience

Coldplay have announced that they will screen their new live film ‘Music Of The Spheres: Live At River Plate’ in cinemas worldwide on two nights next month.

Psychedelic Sound: Can Binaural Beats Get You High?

Despite a lack of evidence, people seek to alter their mind state using so-called 'digital drugs,' which are often associated with using other psychedelic substances.

Immersion Networks: the future of how audio will be experienced

How the evolution of audio technology will be shaped by software and hardware that reframe the human listening experience.

What will happen to AM and FM broadcasts in the future? It's a tech question that needs to be answered.

AM radio has been around since the beginning of broadcasting. FM was invented in the 1930s and surpassed AM as the band of choice in the 1980s.

|- WEB GEMS -|

Here are three recommendations of great websites I discovered.

backspace: make your website carbon neutral

The internet accounts for 4% of the world's electricity. backspace is the easiest way for developers to remove their website's emissions.

Runway - Everything you need to make anything you want.

Explore more than 30+ AI powered creative tools to ideate, generate and edit content like never before.

The AI-powered storytelling format

Unlock your best work with Tome's AI-powered storytelling format. Type in a prompt and generate entire narratives from scratch within seconds, supported by GPT-3 and AI-generated images from DALL·E 2.

|- GET INSPIRED! -|

Dr. Viskontas is both a neuroscientist and a soprano, in her talk she is sharing how and why she is pioneering with the application of neuroscience to musical training. Combining a passion for music with scientific curiosity, Dr. Indre Viskontas is affectionately known as Dr. Dre by her students at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she is pioneering the application of neuroscience to musical training, and at the University of San Francisco, where she is an Adjunct Professor of Psychology. She received a BSc in psychology and French literature from the University of Toronto, an MM degree in vocal performance at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a PhD in cognitive neuroscience at UCLA.

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