Drew Thurlow’s Post

Very well articulated article about why the Live Nation Entertainment / U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit is misguided. Read below ⬇️ #musicindustry #musicbusiness #livemusic

⬇️Helpful list of some of the basic AI tools currently available in music. These are all commercially available for consumers. Follow Christopher Wieduwilt (The AI Musicpreneur) for the best ways to use these new tools in your everyday workflow, for both artists & the industry. #musicindustry #musicbusiness #musicAI #musictech

The most successful of these, by far, is The Orchard. It’s the biggest Sony Music Entertainment label, and the one currently experiencing the most growth. The frontline labels can only get so big; the long tail distributors don’t have as many limitations. #musicindustry #musicbusiness #majorlabels #musicacquisitions

What's the physical version of the Turing Test? It's fine. AI inhabiting a body made from human skin cells is just like us, and there's nothing freakish about this at all.

This is worth repeating: it’s best time ever for someone to make a living as an artist. Go back 20 years? Your chance was getting the attention of a gatekeeper, then going in massive amounts of debt while leaving your future in their hands. Go back 120 years? You composed + wrote sheet music. Also you better be a white man in the US or Western Europe. Go back 320 years? I dunno…a court jester? For everyone hating on our current era (streaming) I implore you to consider how it’s actually been. There are many, many more people making a living in music. By *several* factors. #musicindustry #musicbusiness #musichistory #music

The Recording Industry Association of America® (RIAA)'s lawsuit with Suno & Udio mirrors The New York Times vs OpenAI & Microsoft. Current copyright law prohibits the copying, storing, and production of *exact copies*. However, copyright law was written before machine learning-driven AI models were in existence. The way training data is handled in these models is *technically* different. Is it *fundamentally* or *materially* different? That's what the courts need to decide. Suno is betting they are different. See Mikey Shulman's (CEO of Suno) response to the lawsuit: "𝖲𝗎𝗇𝗈’𝗌 𝗆𝗂𝗌𝗌𝗂𝗈𝗇 𝗂𝗌 𝗍𝗈 𝗆𝖺𝗄𝖾 𝗂𝗍 𝗉𝗈𝗌𝗌𝗂𝖻𝗅𝖾 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗒𝗈𝗇𝖾 𝗍𝗈 𝗆𝖺𝗄𝖾 𝗆𝗎𝗌𝗂𝖼. 𝖮𝗎𝗋 𝗍𝖾𝖼𝗁𝗇𝗈𝗅𝗈𝗀𝗒 𝗂𝗌 𝗍𝗋𝖺𝗇𝗌𝖿𝗈𝗋𝗆𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗏𝖾; 𝗂𝗍 𝗂𝗌 𝖽𝖾𝗌𝗂𝗀𝗇𝖾𝖽 𝗍𝗈 𝗀𝖾𝗇𝖾𝗋𝖺𝗍𝖾 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝗉𝗅𝖾𝗍𝖾𝗅𝗒 𝗇𝖾𝗐 𝗈𝗎𝗍𝗉𝗎𝗍𝗌, 𝗇𝗈𝗍 𝗍𝗈 𝗆𝖾𝗆𝗈𝗋𝗂𝗌𝖾 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗋𝖾𝗀𝗎𝗋𝗀𝗂𝗍𝖺𝗍𝖾 𝗉𝗋𝖾-𝖾𝗑𝗂𝗌𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖼𝗈𝗇𝗍𝖾𝗇𝗍." "𝖳𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗂𝗌 𝗐𝗁𝗒 𝗐𝖾 𝖽𝗈𝗇’𝗍 𝖺𝗅𝗅𝗈𝗐 𝗎𝗌𝖾𝗋 𝗉𝗋𝗈𝗆𝗉𝗍𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗋𝖾𝖿𝖾𝗋𝖾𝗇𝖼𝖾 𝗌𝗉𝖾𝖼𝗂𝖿𝗂𝖼 𝖺𝗋𝗍𝗂𝗌𝗍𝗌. 𝖶𝖾 𝗐𝗈𝗎𝗅𝖽 𝗁𝖺𝗏𝖾 𝖻𝖾𝖾𝗇 𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗉𝗒 𝗍𝗈 𝖾𝗑𝗉𝗅𝖺𝗂𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗍𝗈 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖼𝗈𝗋𝗉𝗈𝗋𝖺𝗍𝖾 𝗋𝖾𝖼𝗈𝗋𝖽 𝗅𝖺𝖻𝖾𝗅𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝖿𝗂𝗅𝖾𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗅𝖺𝗐𝗌𝗎𝗂𝗍 (𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗂𝗇 𝖿𝖺𝖼𝗍, 𝗐𝖾 𝗍𝗋𝗂𝖾𝖽 𝗍𝗈 𝖽𝗈 𝗌𝗈), 𝖻𝗎𝗍 𝗂𝗇𝗌𝗍𝖾𝖺𝖽 𝗈𝖿 𝖾𝗇𝗍𝖾𝗋𝗍𝖺𝗂𝗇𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖺 𝗀𝗈𝗈𝖽 𝖿𝖺𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝖽𝗂𝗌𝖼𝗎𝗌𝗌𝗂𝗈𝗇, 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗒’𝗏𝖾 𝗋𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗍𝖾𝖽 𝗍𝗈 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗂𝗋 𝗈𝗅𝖽 𝗅𝖺𝗐𝗒𝖾𝗋-𝗅𝖾𝖽 𝗉𝗅𝖺𝗒𝖻𝗈𝗈𝗄." "𝖲𝗎𝗇𝗈 𝗂𝗌 𝖻𝗎𝗂𝗅𝗍 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗇𝖾𝗐 𝗆𝗎𝗌𝗂𝖼, 𝗇𝖾𝗐 𝗎𝗌𝖾𝗌, 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗇𝖾𝗐 𝗆𝗎𝗌𝗂𝖼𝗂𝖺𝗇𝗌. 𝖶𝖾 𝗉𝗋𝗂𝗓𝖾 𝗈𝗋𝗂𝗀𝗂𝗇𝖺𝗅𝗂𝗍𝗒." #musicindustry #musicbusiness #musictech #musicAI #suno #udio #RIAA #musiclaw

It's notoriously difficult to license content from major labels. I just spoke to a founder (credible with experience & funding) who took four years to get deals done with the three majors. This is why most music startups the last 20 years+ build a product illicitly, get big so the industry has to deal with them, then do a deal after. With the number of people using Suno & Udio it's clear there's demand. And I don't think it would have been possible for them to properly license what they needed. #musicindustry #musicbusiness #musictech #musicAI #musicstartups

In a surprise to no one, Suno & Udio are being sued by the Recording Industry Association of America® (RIAA) for copyright infringement. The RIAA is seeking $150K for every violation. With millions of songs in the catalogs of the majors, you do the math. What's unusual is the consortium who is on board with the lawsuit: the three majors, independent label trade group A2IM, National Music Publishers' Association, SoundExchange, SAG-AFTRA and others. The music industry doesn't usually get a ton done, policy-wise, because there are so many trade groups representing so many various factions. The individual groups are usually at odds in any particular dispute. That's not true here; it's rare to have this consensus. What happens now? Unlike years past (see: file sharing), the industry doesn't want these Gen AI platforms to go away. There's clearly consumer demand. The rights holders just want to be able to control/ influence/ monetize them. But this isn't a straightforward case. It's not at all clear that Suno & Udio's use of music as training data will be considered copyright violation. There are a whole range of outcomes- from complete vindication to the services being shutdown. My guess? They settle in a complicated deal. Even though Suno has reportedly raised $150M, that's not enough to pay for content in a traditional streaming/ social model. And with streaming growth slowing, the rights holders are motivated to find the next growth area. This may be it. #musicindustry #musicbusines #musicAI #musictech