NY-Lon Connect 2023: Is The Future of Music AI?

20 Jan 2023

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NY-Lon Connect Global Music Summit is an annual gathering of thought leaders in music and technology to discuss pertinent industry issues and solutions that will impact the business in the years to come. Last week in London marked the first in-person summit in two years. Powered by Music Biz and Music Ally, the conference has become a critical driver for change in the ever-changing music landscape.

This year, a myriad of panels discussed various topics that will help shape the conversation around music and technology for years to come.

THE CHANGING NATURE OF MUSIC FORMATS

This is one of the most riveting tracks in this year'syear's NY-Lon Connect Summit, as it challenges the role of humans in the creative process. Yes, almost everything has gone virtual, especially during the pandemic, creating a market that music and technology companies will try to capitalize on for years to come. Web 3 is in full swing, and who knows what's next for music consumption? We've already seen exclusive concerts in virtual worlds and new music launches via digital collectibles. So, what's next? If anything, music will go deeper into the rabbit hole of the metaverse.

"For me, change always happens in this space with a combination of technology putting the business model under threat," said Simon Scott, CEO of Cirkay." If technology puts their business model under threat, they really react because fundamentally they're good business people."

Streaming companies have been constantly under fire for their minuscule payment scheme for artists and rights owners. It'sIt's gotten so severe that artists and publishers have completely pulled their music from streaming platforms to focus on marketing their assets via the metaverse.

"When you put those things together as being the drivers of change, my general view would be if you start assuming it is it's going to change a lot more than you really think it will, and then work back from there, you've got a chance of being successful," Simon added.

AI is another piece of technology that will dictate the future of media. ChatGPT created a storm a few weeks ago with its ability to write consistent, accurate, and compelling copy. The same will be true for music.

"Creatives will use it as they see fit. That'sThat's someone taking the technology and being creative. There'sThere's going to be a lot of that. Creative people will be as creative as the technology at their disposal allows them to be," Scott said.

For Alex Kisch, EVP of business development & affairs and general counsel at Vevo, there are many reasons to celebrate AI and be frightened by it.

"There are certainly some great, helpful, efficient toolsets that could be useful going forward for things like production music libraries. It creates tremendous efficiencies there," he said. ""But as Simon says, it disintermediates a whole slew of creatives who are producing those libraries."

AI composers like Amper Music, AIVA, Ecrett Music, and Aiva have been around but haven't really created much noise. Most of the music these robots produce sounds stale and cold compared to the 100% human-made composition, which may not be as precise as the mechanical outputs of AI composers but contain enough inaccuracies to make it more alive and relatable. So, while AI has proven that it can write a tune, the quality of the song still needs to improve, if not millions of software updates away from competing against human composers. But the frightening thing really is AI does not give up.

Nikisha Bailey, GM of Nvak Collective, then raised the topic of AI Virtual Artists and commented that it's far from being lucrative.

"Your fans aren't AI. Your fans are real people! At the end of the day, people want to be connected to real music," Baily said."People weren'tweren't ready for that [FN Meka]. If we're creating these AI artists, there are actually real artists behind the music who have real lives and real experiences that come through in the music. There'sThere's a way until we see that."

The rest of the NY-Lon Connect 2023 tracks included the following: