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Feb 20 2023

🔵 Why Amazon's AI music deal might just help artist remuneration

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

Does anyone remember Spotify Running? It popped up (somewhat briefly) around 2015, and the concept was that Spotify would provide music that matched its tempo to your running speed.

Spotify Running came and went without much fanfare, but one might argue that in 2023, with AI seemingly proliferating every last corner of our existence (if you believe what you read), the concept now seems both logical and compelling.

The reason I mention this is because Amazon has announced a partnership with AI music company Endel, that will see the latter providing the former with "music" to aid sleep.

The playlists Endel will provide should scientifically lull you into deeper sleep, and will last for 8 hours, or until you wake. Quite whether this is music, or simply noises and ambience, is TBC.

To me, this is a smart use of AI. This is where music (or just 'sounds') could evolve and potentially even respond dynamically if connected to a smart device measuring your sleep state.

However I would also argue that this confirms that there are many types of engagement with 'music' on streaming platforms, lending weight to the notion that 'premium' music should be compensated differently to, for example, the music created by Endel's AI engine.

Ironically then, this is a good thing. I honestly think AI would do a better job of helping me sleep. I don't think music is needed either; it has already been proven that delta waves most commonly heard in 'pink' noise/static helps you sleep more. But could a DSP provide this? Absolutely - it's a logical progression.

Equally though, it does play to Lucian Grainge's argument that there is high quality engagement with music, and low quality engagement - in this case, the bulk of which you are asleep for, making you literally the antithesis of an active listener.

Proof, perhaps, that not all AI is bad - especially if the irony is that it winds up playing a part in ensuring artists are better remunerated by perfectly demonstrating Lucian Grainge's point. 

Have a great evening,

D.

🎶 written whilst listening to 'Ali' by Vieux Farka Touré and Khruangbin. This is a collaboration that definitely brings out the best from both parties, combining an unmistakeable Mali sound with that loose funk that Khruangbin deliver so effortlessly. I feel like this album got seriously slept-on, so be sure to check it out. Terrific stuff.

Stories from the Music Industry:
Amazon Music strikes playlist partnership with generative AI music company Endel
Now, Endel is partnering with Amazon Music to produce a sleep playlist using its extensive research into the neuroscience of sleep. The playlist lasts about eight hours or until the listener awakens. Amazon Music released it on Friday (February 17). The playlist, titled Sleep Science, opens with an Amazon Original track featuring electronic duo Kx5 (Kaskade and deadmau5). The track was produced using the hit track, Escape and released through AWAL.

👆🏻Hot take: I would argue this is a demonstration of a more nuanced take on AI music. It also further highlights that not all music listens are the same. 
Bloomberg has reported that a “vertically swiped homepage” will be unveiled as one of Spotify’s new features at its ‘Stream On’ event in Los Angeles next month. “Instead of selecting from a long list of carousels featuring static cover art, the interface allows listeners to swipe vertically through content recommendations that play automatically,” claimed the report, suggesting that the feed may also pull in podcasts and audiobooks.

👆🏻Hot take: this seems like a smart - if unoriginal - move, but this is how things go in the world of tech. Everyone chases the latest hot feature by cloning it. 
Bandcamp has begun a stint curating Fortnite’s ‘Radio Underground’ in-game radio station, with its takeover running until the end of the game’s current season on 8 March. Artists featured include The Beths, Starflyer 59, Gladie, Pow Wow!, Ronnie Martin, P.E., De Lux, Pale Blue Eyes, Pool Kids, Jungle Rat USA and Ginger Root. “From rock and pop to disco and synthwave,” as Epic Games put it in its announcement.

👆🏻Hot take: great to see, though as Music Ally points out, it might raise some questions about per-stream payments.
Deezer has announced that it now has a “long-term partnership” with Sonos to power both of its streaming radio services, starting in April. The partnership will cover 16 countries including the US, UK, France and Germany, with Deezer providing the music catalogue, metadata, licensing, reporting and royalty management, and “ongoing innovation to develop and expand the Sonos music experience”. It’s a coup for Deezer’s B2B business, which in the first nine months of 2022 (according to its financial results) accounted for 26.3% of the company’s revenues.

👆🏻Hot take: curious whether this is Deezer's slow pivot to a more B2B DSP position, powering other people's services.
A recently published report by Activate Consulting, focusing on the US market, offers the latest insight. The company interviewed 4,001 Americans about which free or paid music services they had used at least once in the last month, and according to the findings for music listeners, Amazon’s services are level-pegging with Spotify on 35% penetration. This includes listeners to Amazon’s bundled Prime Music service as well as its paid Music Unlimited tier, and both the free and premium tiers of Spotify.

👆🏻Hot take: IMO this arguably might highlight the different nature of music consumers. Are Amazon Music subscribers as 'lean in' as Spotify? These are the critical details, not just overall user figures. 
Stories from the Broader World of Tech:
Meta to sell blue badge on Instagram and Facebook as Zuckerberg borrows Musks playbook
Facebook-parent Meta has launched a subscription service, called Meta Verified, that will allow users to add the coveted blue check mark to their Instagram and Facebook accounts for up to $15 a month by verifying their identity, its chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said on Sunday, tapping a new revenue channel that has returned mixed success for its smaller rival Twitter. The subscription service, first rolling out in New Zealand and Australia starting this week, is priced at $11.99 per month on the web or $14.99 on Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.

👆🏻Hot take: as sure a sign as any that perhaps ad revenues are waning for the likes of Meta (and Twitter). For me this price seems absurdly high though. Fine if you're Kim K but for the more average musician, $180/yr feels steep. 
The company says it developed the new program based on feedback from creators on its current earning opportunities, including its Creator Fund. The fund, which rewards creators for popular videos, launched in 2020 with a $1 billion commitment over three years. Its model has been criticized by creators who have complained about low payouts, with some saying they earned a few dollars for videos that got millions of views. TikTok is now acknowledging these concerns with the launch of the new program.

👆🏻Hot take: can TikTok get it right this time around. It claims it has learned from its mistakes, but only time will tell. 
Reuters has a helpful roundup of the other platforms’ announcements. Meta said that Facebook now averages 255 million MAUs in the EU, while Instagram averages 250 million. Twitter’s figure is 100.9 million; Snapchat’s is 96.8 million; while YouTube has 401.7 million signed-in MAUs, but more than 500 million once signed-out visitors are counted. Music services fall under these reporting requirements, although with a minimum threshold of 45 million MAUs, if they’re under that (like any platform) they can be vaguer.

👆🏻Hot take: this was most interesting to me as a means to compare YouTube (455M DAUs) to TikTok (150M DAUs), 
Need something else to read? Here you go:
How to keep your Twitter secure without giving Elon Musk any money
Twitter said it will remove SMS 2FA for non-paying accounts

👆🏻Hot take: something of a PSA for you all here. In short, switch to using an authenticator app. 
Artificial intelligence has implication across the board, solving problems and raising others

👆🏻Hot take: a fine roundup of the various ways in which AI is being implemented beyond the more obvious tech scenarios you read about. 
How Susan Faludi’s feminist classic predicted this moment.

👆🏻Hot take: a great - if unsettling - reminder that there's a rising backlash against the Me Too movement which shows no signs of slowing down. Consider this piece a warning.

The latest from Motive Unknown:
It’s looking like an exciting year ahead for the art-rock quintet Squid, who have just released a killer new single, ‘Swing In A Dream’, along with a mind-bending music video. We’ve been working with Warp Records on the digital strategy and spend for this project.q
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