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Feb 27 2023

🔵 Snapchat unveils AI assistant. Should DSPs take a leaf from Snap's book?

The latest news from the music and tech industries
Hi there -

Snapchat has today announced an integration that essentially places ChatGPT within its app for users - albeit with some restrictions to ensure the AI does not breach Snap's own T&Cs around content.

This caught my attention though, as it's quite a bold move for an app generally associated with photo sharing and direct messaging. Is this where social apps might finally start to evolve?

In countries like Korea some apps have become quite the one-stop shop for service provisions, covering anything from music streaming to shopping to messaging. Could Snapchat move in the same direction?

Equally though, this had me wondering whether DSPs might evolve their own apps, integrating AI to both provide a smarter approach to things like discovery.

Think about it, how cool would it be to say "Hey Spotify, show me all the albums produced by Jack Antonoff", or "which records were engineered by Bob Clearmountain"? (Granted, the latter is a fairly niche request, but you get my jist!)

Right now all AI uses feel a little more obvious, but I think there's a chance for it to provide a much deeper level of connection with music if allowed to.

That's why Snap's move caught my eye. No, it isn't the most obvious integration, and yes, cynics might accuse the company of jumping on the bandwagon. That's as maybe, but I still like the curveball approach here.

Never mind AI DJs; what could an AI assistant with Spotify/Apple Music/Tidal etc. do for us?

I'd love to find out.

Have a great evening,

D.

🎶 written whilst listening to this DJ set from Charlotte de Witte B2B Enrico Sangiuliano at Burning Man 2022. Techno at the trance-ier end of the scale, but excellent throughout. Hat-tip to Mark Mulligan for sending it over! 
Stories from the Music Industry:
David Lowery raises the alarm over state-level ticketing bills
“Simply a Trojan horse bill that seems to limit artist fan clubs, indie venues and others to sell face value non-transferable tickets to fans,” is how he described it in a blog post on The Trichordist. “Those pre-sales of tickets at face value by artists directly to their fans are technically resales, because artists generally buy them upfront from the concert promoters. This extraordinarily cynical bill would essentially end this long standing part of the artist-fan social contract.”

👆🏻Hot take: a worrying development here and one we can only hope gets shot down very soon. I only hope others join this fight to stop the bill going through. 
Speaking with analysts on the company’s earnings call, Live Nation President and CEO Micahel Rapino, said: “We invested $9.6 billion in putting artist shows on in 2022, working with the largest superstars to artists just getting started and all those in between. “This is up 45% and further reinforces our role as the largest contributor to artist income. As part of this, we helped shift $700 million to artists with more market value ticket pricing, even as the entry price to a show stayed below $35 in the U.S.

👆🏻Hot take: the assertion here is correct, but I'm not entirely sure I agree with the way it is spun into a kind of benevolent gesture towards artists. Whatever Live Nation has invested, it has also profited from. 
Something else jumped out at us from Aimi’s announcement of the channels: a line promising that “Aimi’s machine learning models have been trained ethically and legally”. With music rightsholders having delivered warnings about AI music models trained on commercial music without a licence, it’s interesting (and encouraging) to see startups openly talking about not doing that.

👆🏻Hot take: I don't feel the YouTube channel move is all that interesting, but the fact AiMi has trained itself on legitimate data sets might yet prove to be a very, very smart move in time. 
Spotify’s heart icon is changing to a “plus” button that lets you save music and add songs to specific playlists. The music streaming app announced the change in a post on its blog, noting that you’ll now have to tap the new “plus” icon once to save a song or podcast to your library and then tap it again to add it to a playlist of your choosing.

👆🏻Hot take: not a massive story in itself, but certainly a sign that Spotify is finally focusing on its user interface, something that is long overdue IMO. 
Stories from the Broader World of Tech:
Snapchat releases My AI chatbot powered by ChatGPT
At launch, My AI is essentially just a fast mobile-friendly version of ChatGPT inside Snapchat. The main difference is that Snap’s version is more restricted in what it can answer. Snap’s employees have trained it to adhere to the company’s trust and safety guidelines and not give responses that include swearing, violence, sexually explicit content, or opinions about dicey topics like politics.

👆🏻Hot take: smart idea here from Snapchat. It's an interesting potential step toward a space where the app becomes functional in ways beyond just posting photos and messaging. 
Apple has made a notable hire that could signal its intent to move into ads on Apple TV Plus. The company has hired advertising exec Lauren Fry to “to help build a video advertising business for its Apple TV Plus streaming service,” according to The Information.

👆🏻Hot take: I am curious to see what ad business Apple builds, both across TV and its devices. It's most definitely coming, without a doubt. 
If we want to get serious about protecting national security, we have to get serious about data privacy. Today, data surveillance is the business model of the Internet. Our personal lives have turned into data; it’s not possible to block it at our national borders. Our data has no nationality, no cost to copy, and, currently, little legal protection.

👆🏻Hot take: I found this a welcome reminder that whilst TikTok certainly has its issues, making out that it is the only company mining data and potentially housing it in China (or offshore from the nation states using it) is naive at best. 
Need something else to read? Here you go:
No, ChatGPT and Bing AI Are Not Sentient
Debunking the popular AI theory that GPT is sentient

👆🏻Hot take: I find myself saying this a lot to people of late. Ai is basically doing an impression of a sentient. That's 100% different to actually BEING a sentient being. 
Deliberation is an admirable and essential leadership quality that undoubtedly produces better outcomes. But there comes a point in decision making where helpful contemplation turns into overthinking.

👆🏻Hot take: a timely article to add at a point where everyone is perhaps overthinking AI's means to, among other things, bring about armageddon 😵‍💫
Disney CEO Bob Iger says it must ‘get better at curating’ its sprawling output, which could signal thinner pickings for the geek community

👆🏻Hot take: Disney may well prove to be a case study for the future in how not to handle one's IP, if recent box office performances (and Disney+ subscriber numbers) are anything to go by.  
The latest from Motive Unknown:
YUNGMORPHEUS is back and has announced his new album 'From Whence It Came' with a banger of a track "Layman's Terms" 🔥

We're working with Lex Records on the digital strategy for the album which is out in April, so mark your calendars! ✏️
Layman's
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