A Little Knowledge... #98

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???BULLETIN NEWS: DeepSeek’s rapid rise has the US AI industry in a mighty flap

This won’t sound like a music story initially, but bear with us. The rapid rise to prominence of AI startup DeepSeek in the US is a fascinating story that has properly put the cat among the pigeons.

• DeepSeek is a Chinese startup that has developed an AI model –?called ‘R1’ – at a tiny fraction of the costs incurred by the big US AI firms. R1’s first showcase is a ChatGPT-style consumer app called ‘DeepSeek – AI Assistant’.
• Released on 11 January, it has shot to the top of the US App Store’s free chart, unseating ChatGPT and sparking a sell-off of US tech stocks in the process.
• The next phase of this news cycle will partly be about the big US AI firms scrambling to respond
• So what's the music angle??DeepSeek springing from stealth mode with a cheaper, arguably-better model?is something that can happen in the AI sector.?
• The next DeepSeek-style seemingly-overnight success in AI music could be a model that’s quietly hoovered up the entire history of songwriting and recorded music, operating from a country where legislation may not be as sympathetic towards copyright as our industry would like...

?? Read more in our DeepSeek coverage?here.

?? EAMONN FORDE MEETS:?Warner Music UK COO, Isabel Garvey: “We will tolerate the red for a long time”

Each month, the veteran music business journalist and author speaks to a senior industry figure about the topics that really matter?–?and gets the opinions of the people who make the decisions that count.

In the age of LPs and CDs, if your album went to number 1 on the charts, that was the apex of success. Today, however, success has to be measured in different ways. For the major label, the existential question arises: if success is not one single thing, which combinations of the multiple iterations of success now pass muster? Isabel Garvey talks to Eamonn Forde about:

• What “success” is and what it isn’t in 2025
• How long “unsuccess” will be tolerated for
• How failure now manifests itself?- and what steps can be taken to mitigate against it
• Why creative success and commercial success can run at very different velocities, but only for so long.

?? Read the interview in full?here

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?? A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA...

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 like the cut of the jib of the person trying to raise $10k on Kickstarter to build an app mapping paranormal encounters around the world. And yes,?he only has two backers so far, but with 29 days to go, there are more potential supporters to wooooOoOOoooOooooOooo!
• There’s no Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Dough or Norwegian Wood-fired stuffed crusts in this Beatle's life...?Ringo Starr has never eaten a pizza.
• What happens if you only eat YouTubers’ own-brand food products for a week??This unfortunate soul found out.

?? 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.

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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:

• ?? 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.