On April 1, more than 200 music notables (including Billie Eilish, Stevie Wonder, 3 Balvin and Jon Bon Jovi) of the Artists Rights Alliance issued an open letter warning against the “predatory use of AI” in the music industry. The letter cites AI’s capability to steal professional artists’ voices and likenesses, violate creators’ rights and “destroy the music ecosystem.” The letter further calls on tech companies, AI developers and digital music services to pledge that they won’t develop or use AI-powered technology the undermines songwriters and artists or prevents them from earning compensation for their art. What are your views and/or concerns relative to artificial intelligence and its impact on music and sound?
There is a wave of music focused AI tools coming our way now. As an industry, we all need to do our part and adhere to a code of ethics and copyright laws while using these platforms. Unfortunately, as we all know, there will be many out there that don’t, which will spark legal responses for years to come. It will be important to work with responsible platforms that follow the guidelines of copyright law and ethically utilize AI tools in our processes. Our industry is one of constant change and for us to evolve as a company we cannot ignore the impact of AI and how it effects authentic artistry.
How do new technologies, markets and platforms figure in your creative/business plans. For example, with NFTs gaining momentum, do you foresee related music and sound work resulting? Same for VR/AR? Will increased content spurred on by the emergence of additional streaming platforms open up music and sound opportunities for you? Any growth prospects in the advertising and/or entertainment industry?
We are constantly exploring new ways of creating and expanding our business through technology, global markets and new forms of entertainment. There are many new tools available to push innovative ideas with music from gaming engine software to AI to immersive audio platforms. We’re actively applying them to our work flow for real projects in the worlds of brand marketing and location-based entertainment. The world of brands and entertainment are colliding. The opportunity to push brands into the entertainment space is more attainable than ever with programmed sound and creative tools. People are craving new ways to interact with brands which will continue to become one of the biggest growth paths for our company.
How has your role–or that of your business or company–evolved in recent years? What do you like most about that evolution? What do you like least?
We are always looking for new ways to adapt in both creative and process. On the creative front, we’ve pushed our involvement in the entertainment industry which has been a lucrative creative outlet for exciting sonic storytelling. This has in turn brought us back to our commercial roots where we have been able to forge brands into innovative entertainment spaces. The industry continues to evolve in thrilling and imaginative ways! The most challenging part is undoubtedly constraints with budget, resources and time.
What was the biggest creative challenge posed to you by a recent project? Tell us about that project, why the challenge was particularly noteworthy or gratifying to overcome, or what valuable lesson you learned from it.
More and more projects have a technology component attached and we are constantly in learning mode. We recently collaborated on a technology driven project for Schweppes with the teams at Grey New York. It included creating a game engine programmed audio software that could lead people through the streets of Cape Town solely by binaural audio navigation in headphones, as opposed to a visual map navigation system. We had less than two months to pull the concept off with our technology partners at Subvrsive. We overcame immense tech challenges with patience, communication, and perseverance. We delivered something not only revolutionary, but the first of its kind. Now that’s exhilarating!
What recent work are you most proud of and why? Or what recent work (advertising or entertainment)–your own or that of others–has struck a responsive chord with you?
There are many examples of exceptional work coming from all corners of the world. We recently completed a campaign for Coca-Cola called “Masterpiece”. Art work in a museum came to life through our music, sound design and mix. We were fortunate that the teams at Blitzworks/London brought us in during the very early concepting stage so that sound was part of the initial ideas presented. That early involvement gave us the chance to work hand in hand with the director, animators, editors and producers to create a sonic palette that was collaborative and integrated from the start. This made the entire process even more fulfilling, not to mention it is doing fantastic in the awards circuit.
A growing number of superstar artists and songwriters have been selling their music rights/catalogs in megabuck deals. What will be the ripple effect of this on music creatively and from a business standpoint relative to the advertising, film, TV and streaming platform markets?
Honestly, we hope it will open up the ability to create new arrangements/covers of songs. Sometimes songs are not attainable because of costs, artist willingness to license or held up by family estates. Publishers and labels will be interested in maximizing these songs for commercial and entertainment placement. This could make catalogs more accessible than ever.