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Feb 22 2023

🔵 Spotify's AI DJ, YouTube Music's personal radio station... spot a theme here?

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

It has long been an observation on streaming music services that - unlike their video counterparts - there was little to truly differentiate between them all.

Audio quality was the most recent point of difference, and as The Verge notes below, it has now been two years since Spotify announced its HiFi tier delivering lossless audio, never to actually appear. With Apple launching its own lossless (and spatial audio) upgrades at no extra cost, it seems like Spotify were blindsided, as one assumes its intention had been to charge extra for this.

Various bits of news and commentary today all focus on this topic. Spotify is likely to be the main headline-grabber, with its new AI DJ feature that will let you create your own personalised radio station.

Meanwhile over on YouTube Music, personal radio stations is also the order of the day, allowing you to create a playlist that provides more leverage over algorithms, thus providing a deeper experience for you as the listener.

So - which do you prefer? Whilst I can't say Spotify's DJ feature is something I'm likely to use, I can see how some might love it. Equally though, a counter-argument in favour of YouTube's approach is that it might not provide the AI DJ element, but it may just provide a superior stream of music given the extra control over how it selects songs.

Amid all of this, it is timely to have Mark Mulligan writing about "Music+", his mythical offering drawing upon the ethos of Disney+, that would provide a deeper dive into music, expanding upon the songs with features and offerings tailored far more to the super fans.

Of course there is another critical difference here. The "Music+" concept speaks to the concerns voiced by Lucian Grainge about the failure of DSPs to differentiate between premium music and things like sleep sounds. These new radio functions, on the other hand, arguably go in the opposite direction, continuing that focus on a lean-back experience of sorts.

Right now, that feels like a risky move given this increasing discomfort with precisely that type of experience - one that might work for the DSPs, but which might increase the dissatisfaction rights holders have with their deals in general.

Have a great evening,

D.

🎶 written whilst listening to The Avalanches Big Tent set from 2006 over on SoundCloud. Is this a contender for "greatest DJ set of all time"? Maybe! Bouncing through genres without a care, anything from The KLF to Def Leppard to ABBA gets a look in here but all with absolutely slamming beats over them. If you want a go-to party starter mix, begin here. It never, ever fails to make me smile. Crank it up whilst cooking dinner tonight and tell me it ain't a gem. Enjoy!! 
Stories from the Music Industry:
Spotify launches DJ, a new feature offering personalized music with AI-powered commentary
Ahead of Spotify’s upcoming Stream On event, where the company is expected to announce a redesigned home feed and other updates, the company today launched a new AI feature called “DJ” to better personalize the music listening experience for its users. Similar to a radio DJ, Spotify’s DJ feature will deliver a curated selection of music alongside AI-powered spoken commentary about the tracks and artists you like, using what Spotify says is a “stunningly realistic voice.”

👆🏻 Hot take: definitely an impressive feature, but it will be telling to gauge usage. The real question is whether this will be perceived as having genuine utility, or if it will be seen as a gimmick. 
YouTube Music is now giving its listeners more agency to create their own stations with a feature called ‘Your Music Tuner’ in its mobile app. It involves choosing up to 30 artists, then choosing settings including artist variety (low, medium or high) and song selection (familiar, blend or discover) to tune what the station will play. Filters including ‘popular’, ‘deep cuts’, ‘new releases’, ‘chill’ and ‘pump-up’ can also be applied to tweak what will be chosen for the stations.

👆🏻 Hot take: I like this feature. More than a playlist, and likely to see solid engagement IMO. Just as with Spotify though, the question is whether this will see mass adoption. 
Music+ would not be a mainstream proposition, but that is entirely the point. It would be an additive proposition for fans. If priced at a modest cost (say $4.99) and got enough support and input from artists and rightsholders, then it would have a good shot at developing a content library that would deliver real value to fans, and in doing so, plug the fandom hole that Western streaming has never seemed to be able to fill.

👆🏻 Hot take: I agree with Mark here that services could do a lot more to super-serve the hardcore music fans. 
But for every month that we keep awaiting HiFi, Spotify is sacrificing the opportunity to be the one destination that covers all the bases. So far, it’s also missing the boat on spatial audio and Dolby Atmos music. Again, plenty of people will dismiss spatial audio as gimmicky, but having the option has quickly become the norm for Apple and Amazon customers.

👆🏻 Hot take: I would argue that far from just failing to launch a HiFi offering, Spotify's audio quality appears to have been dropping. Even YouTube (also not lossless) seems better quality to my ears. 
The conclusion of all of this activity? After the interest rate-driven ‘big freeze’ of massive-money music rights acquisition stories, rhythm seems to be picking back up out there. That rhythm will turn from a canter into a gallop if that Michael Jackson sale is pulled off at anywhere near $900 million. That would be around double the size of the Bruce Springsteen rights sale to Sony in 2021 – at $500m-plus, currently the all-time biggest single-catalog music acquisition.

👆🏻 Hot take: MBW is echoing my own sentiments of late, namely that any concerns around a slowdown in this space have been allayed by all the recent acquisitions going on. Slowdown? Not yet! 
Stories from the Broader World of Tech:
Google Warns Of A Horror Show If It Loses Supreme Court Internet Case
Chief Justice John Roberts asked Google’s attorney Lisa Blatt. “Would Google collapse and the internet be destroyed if Google was prevented from posting what it knows is defamatory?” “Not Google,” she said, but other, smaller websites, yes. She said if the plaintiffs were victorious, the internet would become a zone of extremes – either The Truman Show, where things are moderated into nothing, or like “a horror show,” where nothing is.

👆🏻 Hot take: definitely a story to track, as the implications of a ruling against Google in this trial are massive. 
The first two tests of the tools will roll out in the coming weeks: a tool to make “generative AI materials from a text prompt” and a tool for generative AI to complete code, according to a blog post from Daniel Sturman, Roblox’s chief technology officer.

👆🏻 Hot take: expect AI to penetrate every corner of culture soon, and this is the latest example. All that said, it does make a lot of sense. 
Microsoft today announced that the new Bing is now also available in the Bing mobile app and through Microsoft’s Edge browser for Android and iOS. With that, you can now also use voice input to interact with Bing’s chat mode. Also new is an integration with Skype, Microsoft’s messaging app, which will now allow you to bring Bing into a text conversation to add additional information.

👆🏻 Hot take: it certainly looks like the two parties in the AI war will be Google and Microsoft, with both working hard to iterate their products in this space. It also begs the question "where's Apple in this?". Historically it has never been first - but it has often been the best. 
Need something else to read? Here you go:
A New Drug Switched Off My Appetite. What’s Left?
Mounjaro did what decades of struggle with managing weight couldn’t. Welcome to the post-hunger age.

👆🏻 Hot take: heaven knows obesity is a massive global issue now.... so could this be the answer? 
We answer every emigrating family's top question: where are the best places to raise children – or, for that matter, to be a child?

👆🏻 Hot take: looking to emigrate? Here's the five countries most favoured by those moving overseas from the UK. 
Martial arts moves can seem magical, but maybe they just display a mastery of physics.

👆🏻 Hot take: a little nerdy, yes, but still a brilliant explanation of the physics behind "that" punch.
The latest from Motive Unknown:
Music-makers! 🎧 The latest release from our client UJAM is out today! Beatmaker CIRCUITS brings the analog warmth and classic grooves you need to let the good vibes through. More info here! 🎶
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