Music is podcasting’s biggest missed opportunity

While there are plenty of charts that provide insight into the most downloaded podcasts on each platform globally, these data give a very granular perspective on consumer preferences. Podcast platforms, in turn, have access to private user data, but again these data are largely limited to each platform’s own users.

Warner Music partners with STYNGR on ad-free radio for Roblox

The new offering, called “Batteries,” functions as a purchasable in-game item that powers STYNGR’s Boombox product. Boombox, a partnership between STYNGR, Universal Music Group, and Republic Records, functions as an ad-supported music player embedded within Roblox, allowing labels to launch and integrate playlists into the gaming experience.

Sony wants it all in Queen deal, with a cool billion on the table

Sony Music is spending a billion pounds to get its big Queen catalogue deal across the line, according to sources. The deal, in the final stages, will give the major control of the band’s recordings, songs, brand and likeness.

Music platform BandLab CEO says AI is not the enemy: ‘You still need creativity’

Musicians around the world have described artificial intelligence as a threat to creativity, but the CEO of one popular platform told AFP he thinks critics are looking at it all wrong.

TikTok launches interactive Taylor Swift experience celebrating The Eras Tour

Swift's in-app experience is the first and longest-running feature of its kind on TikTok.

Meta’s new generative AI model can take chords or beats and turn them into songs

Meta’s Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) team gave the world its first glimpse of JASCO, a tool that can take chords or beats and turn them into full musical tracks. Meta says this functionality will give creators more control over the output of AI music tools.

ByteDance to spend $2.1bn to develop AI hub in Malaysia

Artificial Intelligence is a major priority for ByteDance. The company was hiring for 252 machine learning-related roles globally. The company runs the popular Doubao AI chatbot in China and operates a range of other AI-driven products, from its AI video-making app Capcut to its flagship social video app TikTok.

Google DeepMind's new AI tech will generate soundtracks for videos

Google's DeepMind artificial intelligence laboratory is working on a new technology that can generate soundtracks, even dialogue, to go along with videos. The lab has shared its progress on the video-to-audio (V2A) technology project, which can be paired with Google Veo and other video creation tools like OpenAI's Sora.

Marveille’s secret to millions of Spotify streams: Unreleased tracks

Discover how Marveille’s strategic use of unfinished songs led to millions of Spotify streams. 

Music journalist Mark Sutherland launches ‘The Money Trench’ music business podcast

Inaugural episode will feature Lorna Clarke, BBC Director of Music.

AI won’t replace music producers anytime soon, but many need to adapt

The CTO of Masterchannel, Simon Hestermann, argues that AI will categorically become part of music production — and that it’s time to embrace it.

FUGA inks global distro, marketing deals with France’s Record Makers and Belgium’s Potion Records

The deals expand Downtown-owned FUGA's presence in the French and Belgian music industries.

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