A Little Knowledge… #33

Welcome to A Little Knowledge #33 – our free weekly LinkedIn newsletter:

?? BULLETIN NEWS: US and UK see new efforts to ensure AI doesn’t harm musicians

There are new moves afoot this week on both sides of the Atlantic to avoid some of the negative impacts that creative AI technologies might have on musicians:

• In the US, a revised version of the?Protect Working Musicians Act?was introduced. The?original version?focused on codifying a right for “working artists and independent musicians to band together to negotiate with dominant streaming platforms”. Representative Deborah Ross, working with the Artists Rights Alliance and A2IM, has?expanded the details to include AI.?
• The bill would also make it clear that “antitrust laws are no obstacle to these negotiations”, and would enshrine the right of these musicians to “collectively refuse to license their music to a dominant online music distribution platform that refuses to pay market value rates”.
• In the UK, the Council of Music Makers (the umbrella body for The Ivors Academy, the Featured Artists Coalition, the Musicians’ Union, the Music Producers Guild and the Music Managers Forum) has published ‘five fundamentals for music AI’. The principles boil down to consent, respect and remuneration. More specifically, that means individual artists, songwriters and producers consenting to any use of their work to train AI models, rather than having that consent “inferred by rights-holders or technology companies”.
• Among other things, The Council also wants musicians to “share fairly in the financial rewards of music AI”; to have a say in how the licensing models and revenue sharing from AI music evolve; and other key requests –?read our full analysis here. ?

Labels body the BPI?issued a statement by its CEO, Dr Jo Twist, in response to the Council’s announcement. “Safeguarding human artistry and the interests of creators is front and centre in all of this, and the BPI and its members look forward to maintaining open discussions with our colleagues across the music sector as we navigate the dynamic landscape of AI opportunities.” Twist said. ? We think that putting words into action now will be the best path forward to negotiate the challenges (and take advantage of the opportunities) in AI – not just in the UK, but across the global music industry.

?? Music Ally archive: Artificial Intelligence.

???BEAT CHECK: Spending a?week with Spotify's new 'daylist' playlist feature

Beat Check is Music Ally’s new regular opinion column, offering a more personal take on music-tech news, trends and technologies. The first one sees our Head of Insight, Stuart Dredge, spending a full week listening to the music recommended in?Spotify's new ‘daylist’ feature, which was launched last week.? "daylists" (yes, with a lower-case "D') are?personalised playlists that refresh?every few hours,?with a new selection of tracks based on your past listening at that time of day. Stu decided to?spend a week with ‘daylist’ to see what it says about him –?but more importantly, what it says about Spotify’s ability to understand its listeners. Spoiler: he found himself discovering a lot of different music,?regularly tapping through to explore further niche mixes.

???Read the?full Beat Check piece here, and discover?your own "daylist" here.

??? 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!

?? 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:

• This may be old news, but we are enjoying searching for 'cat' or 'dog' on?Google, then clicking (or tapping) on the paw button...
• We have?a new favourite BLToilet.
• A?strong new contender?for World's Most Embarrassing Dad. Although his daughter is a potential future World's Funniest Deed-Poll Name-Change.

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:

?? Exclusive access to selected courses in our LEARNING HUB, ????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.