A Little Knowledge... #65

Welcome to A Little Knowledge #65 – our free weekly LinkedIn newsletter.

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???BULLETIN NEWS:?AI music startup Suno raises?a $125m funding round

US AI music startup Suno?launched its service eight months ago, and it has already been used by more than 10 million people to make music. What does the $125m funding round mean for Suno, for the wider AI music sector, and for the music industry?

• Suno and rival Udio have emerged as the new disrupters in the AI music sector in recent months, with Udio recently touting its own 10m milestone (in its case, that’s ‘tracks created per second’).?
• They have real momentum in terms of users / use, but the quality of their output is also a big step up from their predecessors.
• However, both have also sparked debate within the music industry, with AI veteran Ed Newton-Rex questioning (here ?and?here ) whether both companies have trained their models on copyrighted music without licensing deals.?
• Suno can now splash some cash in order to accelerate its momentum still further, and will have plenty of cash to pay for lawyers if and when it needs to. But we can look at this another way: $125m means it has the funds needed to potentially strike the kinds of licensing deals that rightsholders are agitating for. So this funding round could be a springboard to partnerships, not court battles.
• However,?Newton-Rex has a different opinion , describing Suno’s funding round as “depressing” and “a very bad day for both tech and music” because of the example it sets to other early-stage AI music startups considering their strategies.

???Read our analysis and further thoughts in full?here .

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???MUSIC ALLY ON WHATSAPP

Our WhatsApp Channel is a simple way to stay on top of music business news: every afternoon (UK time), we post the lead story, and links to the rest of the day’s news. Click here to sign up .

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???MUSIC ALLY?FOCUS PODCAST:?Recent episodes you may have missed

The?Music Ally Focus?podcast?discusses interesting topics from across the music industry with?a?host?of?experts - and all?in just?30 minutes. There are?a wealth of interesting discussions?for you to?explore ?in the archive! Here’s a selection of?recent?episodes?you may have missed:

• Episode #151?focuses on?mental health, as music industry psychologist and therapist?Anne L?hr?gives us her interpretation of how well the industry has supported the people within it -?and?whether things are changing fast enough .
• Episode #152:?Young Voices arranges huge choir performances for school children. Their CEO?Ben Lewis?and violinist?Anna Phoebe?join us to speak about the state of music education, the importance of encouraging children, and?the unifying effect of their shows .
• In Episode #153?of the Music Ally Focus podcast, we wonder:?what's the health of the music festival ecosystem like??Nick Morgan?and?Yasmin?Galletti?of UK festival company The Fair join us?to talk? about the challenges , and what the UK's Association of Independent Festivals is campaigning for.

?? Get stuck in! Listen to all these?episodes?here .

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?? MUSIC ALLY JOBS

The latest and best jobs for the global music business, trusted by both top music industry companies and experienced professionals on top of their game.

Are you looking for a job? Click here to see the full list of vacancies!

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?? A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA...

?And finally… our daily Bulletin newsletter is loved by subscribers for its instant industry analysis - but secretly, the part they like most is the ‘A Little Something Extra’ section at the bottom of the email. Here's a few of the best recent links:

• We all love merch right? Here's how?intensely awful ?much of it – and all fast fashion – is for the environment.
• A loving (we think) tribute to?every DJ on radio station BBC 6 Music .
• 'Smoke on the Water' -?if The Doors had written and recorded it ?rather than Deep Purple.

This is only a glimpse into this week's The Knowledge newsletter – subscribe for FREE ?and every Friday it’ll arrive in your inbox with:

??? The best new platforms in TOOLS; ??Highlights from our latest COUNTRY PROFILE REPORTS; ?? Some great and/or strange music in SOMETHING 4 THE WEEKEND; ?? A look back in TIME MACHINE; ?? The Music Ally Focus PODCAST; and ?? more links to our favourite unusual stuff in A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA.