Hi everyone,

A lot of changes since the last edition of the newsletter. I’m changing the name from What’s Going On? to Curious Listener, with a new design and an adapted structure. You’ll now find 2 parts: a Music Industry News part and in a second part, a Story behind either an album, a sample, a company or someone in the industry.

Today, we’ll first focus on the hot topic of Artificial Intelligence in music and how it is impacting the industry. Then, we’ll tell the story of Japanese pop songs from the 1980s that are coming back in fashion and are being sampled by the biggest American artists.

Hope you’ll enjoy the new design and this week’s content!

Music Industry News

The Challenge of AI in Music Production

Artificial Intelligence is trending topic in the music industry, with many touting its potential to revolutionise the way music is produced. While some see it as a threat to artists, others view it as an opportunity for innovation.Let’s explore how AI can be used in music production and examine the challenges it poses for the industry.

A growing number of AI models and tools

As of 2023, the market for music-related AI tools has expanded significantly with over 10 different tools being released by various companies and researchers. Some examples include Amper Music (acquired by Shuterstock), Endel, AIVA and even Google’s MusicLM, which can generate music from text. In addition, AI tools for songwriting such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT or LyricStudio are gaining popularity. With ongoing investments in this field, the list of available AI tools is expected to grow even further in the coming weeks and months.

AI as a collaborative tool for artists

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to democratize music making by making it more accessible to novice artists. Just like technology in music production and tools such as FL Studio or ProTools have helped both professional producers and newcomers become experts and produce professional songs, AI-based music creation tools such as Amper or Endel can enable non-musicians to create music by selecting parameters such as genre, mood, and tempo. Although such tools have found applications in various industries, including podcasts, commercials, and videos for companies, they are still far from replacing artists. In fact, with the growing demand for personalized background music, these tools can help create music in a matter of minutes, answering the needs of the market.

While some influencers have managed to combine lyrical AI models and voice replication to create viral videos, it is unlikely that artists will instantly use AI to generate lyrics. For instance, according to an artist who wrote for Vice, LyricStudio could be used as a partner to write a song, but it might be more helpful to complete a line or find the right rhyme. Nonetheless, if artists use AI tools for inspiration, it wouldn't be a completely new concept. For example, in the 1990s, David Bowie used a digital lyric randomizer for experimentation and inspiration. Similarly, some artists such as Post Malone or Childish Gambino even found their artist names on name generators before AI was widely available.

Copyright, ownership challenges and over profusion of music on streaming platforms

There are some who are using AI to create music that mimics popular genres, but this can lead to copyright issues if the music is too similar to existing tracks. For instance, Tencent, China's leading streaming platform, uploaded thousands of tracks generated by AI, and one song managed to accumulate 100 million streams. Although it is hard to determine if people actually like AI-generated songs, it seems like curiosity as well as the big names behind the remixes, from Michael Jackson to Drake that are the main drivers for people to listen to AI remixes. Besides copyright concerns, questions about ownership of AI-generated music are also arising. If an AI system is owned by a company, does the company own the rights to the music it creates, or does the creator of the AI system own the rights? These questions remain unanswered, and there may be legal battles in the future over ownership and copyright infringement.

Furthermore, Universal Music Group (UMG) has voiced concerns about how AI-generated music released on streaming platforms is diluting the market, making it harder to find songs from real artists. This is already a challenge, as 60,000 songs are published every day. UMG has urged streaming companies not to publish AI-generated songs and is seeking to prevent AI models from using their existing catalog to train them. The need for new legislation on this topic is being discussed in other creative industries, as Getty Images is accusing Stability AI of using their images.

Once there is more clarity regarding AI legislation for music, there will still be a debate around whether artists who use it are cheating. This can remind us of sampling, which was sometimes viewed as cheating but became totally mainstream. In fact, 1 out of 5 songs in the top 100 in the US were sampled. Perhaps there will be similar debates around AI, but for now, let's wait and see when the next song created with the help of AI will top the charts.

A story behind a Sample

🎌 Japanese City Pop Samples

If you're a fan of The Weeknd, you may have noticed that his song "Out of Time" features a sample of a Japanese pop hit from the 1980s. The song in question is called "Midnight Pretender" and was originally performed by Tomoko Aran. Listen to both tracks and you’ll clearly see the resemblance. The song was originally released in 1984, during the height of Japan's "City Pop" era. City pop was a genre that emerged in the late 1970s and was characterised by its smooth and funky sound, often incorporating elements of jazz, funk, and soul.

Fast forward to 2017, and the song began to experience a sudden surge in popularity outside of Japan. The song was rediscovered by a new generation of music fans thanks to social media, and it quickly became a viral sensation. In 2022, The Weeknd decided to sampled "Midnight Pretender" on his song "Out of Time" from his (great) album "Dawn FM". The funny thing is that The Weeknd is far from being the only artist sampling city pop. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in this genre and other Japanese genres among Western audiences. This has led to a wave of artists sampling and remixing Japanese music in their own work, from J.Cole to Jenevieve sampling “Last Summer Whisper” by Anri.

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Thank you for reading, we will leave you this week with the updated playlist with my favorite tracks recently released 😃 

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