News/Music
Udio 1.5 Just Dropped with Enhanced Audio, New Music Gen Features, and Expanded Language Support
Udio, the AI music generator, has received a significant upgrade, introducing several new features and audio improvements that enhance the quality and versatility of its music creation capabilities. Enhanced audio quality and clarity: Version 1.5 of Udio brings notable improvements to the generated tracks, resulting in a more authentic and polished sound: The update promises 48kHz-stereo tracks with better clarity, instrument separation, transients, coherence, and overall musicality. Examples provided by Udio showcase warmer vocals compared to the previous version, as well as a more natural sound that feels closer to the speakers and less echo-y. New features for expanded creative...
read Jul 22, 2024AI in Music: Balancing Innovation and Human Creativity
The rapid advancements in generative AI are sparking both excitement and concern in the music industry, as AI-powered tools promise to democratize music creation while potentially displacing human musicians and creators. AI's limitations in creating truly meaningful music: While AI can replicate musical patterns and generate convincing clips, it lacks the human elements that make music resonate with listeners on a deep level: Successful music depends on an artist's unique voice, life experiences, and the ability to break rules and subvert expectations, qualities that algorithms struggle to replicate. The shared cultural experience of people connecting with the same songs is...
read Jul 18, 2024YouTube Music Launches AI-Powered Features to Enhance Discovery and Compete with Rivals
YouTube Music is introducing AI-powered features to enhance music discovery and personalization, positioning itself to compete more effectively in the streaming market. Key features rolling out: YouTube Music is launching two major AI-driven features - custom radio stations based on text prompts and a Shazam-like music recognition tool: The AI radio feature allows users to generate personalized radio stations by entering text prompts like "summertime jams" or "catchy pop choruses," similar to the AI playlist tools recently introduced by Spotify and Amazon Music. The music recognition feature enables users to search for songs by singing, humming, or letting the app...
read Jul 18, 2024Deezer Launches AI-Powered Playlist Creator to Rival Spotify, Amazon, and YouTube Music
Deezer's new Playlist with AI feature allows users to generate personalized playlists by inputting text prompts describing musical preferences, moods, or activities, offering a novel approach to music discovery and curation. The feature is currently in beta, with 5% of Deezer's subscribers randomly selected to test it out. Playlist with AI utilizes an AI model to interpret user prompts and curate a list of songs from Deezer's vast music library, including tracks the user has never played before. The AI-generated playlists can be based on a wide range of criteria, from musical genres and time periods to current emotions and...
read Jul 11, 2024K-pop Fans Clash Over AI’s Role in Beloved Genre
The use of AI in K-pop music and music videos has sparked a divisive debate among fans, as leading groups like Seventeen and Aespa experiment with the technology. Fans divided on AI's role in K-pop: While some fans appreciate AI's potential to help artists overcome creative blocks, others worry it could diminish the personal connection between fans and their favorite musicians: Seventeen member Woozi admitted to "experimenting" with AI for songwriting on their latest album, stating that it's a "technological development that we have to leverage, not just be dissatisfied with." Fans value K-pop artists who are hands-on with choreographing,...
read Jul 10, 2024will.i.am on AI: Revolutionizing Music, Empowering Youth, Solving Global Challenges
The interview with will.i.am at the Imagination In Action conference provided fascinating insights into the evolution and potential of AI in music and beyond. Key takeaways: will.i.am's early exposure to AI and his investments in companies like OpenAI and Anthropic have positioned him as a visionary in the field: He is now the CEO of FYI.AI, a company focused on creating AI personas that engage in authentic, relatable conversations. FYI's "secret sauce" involves using natural speaking voices and conversational training data to create AI that feels like a real "superstar" rather than a bland tool. Analyzing the impact of technology...
read Jul 9, 2024YouTube’s AI “Erase Song” Tool Aids In Copyright Claims and Empowers Creators
YouTube introduces AI-powered "Erase Song" feature to remove copyrighted music from videos without disrupting the rest of the audio, offering creators more options to deal with copyright claims and maintain video monetization. Key takeaways from the new feature: When a video receives a copyright claim for music, YouTube will offer editing options in YouTube Studio, including the enhanced "Erase Song" tool powered by AI. The AI-based tool allows for precise identification and removal of copyrighted songs, leaving the rest of the video's audio intact. Previously, creators had limited options like muting the entire video or replacing the song, which often...
read Jul 4, 2024AI Music Generator Jen Launches, but Struggles to Impress Professional Musicians
The AI-powered music generator Jen has launched, claiming to be an ethical alternative to other AI music tools. However, testing by professional musicians reveals significant limitations in its current capabilities: Jen struggles to generate compelling or inspired music: Despite being trained on licensed material, Jen's output is described as bland, generic, and lacking the warmth and character of human-created music: Musicians found it challenging to coax Jen into producing anything they found genuinely interesting or worth pursuing further, with one tester stating, "I always thought, 'I could have come up with something cooler on my own.'" The tool seems to...
read Jun 27, 2024YouTube Pursuing AI Song Deals, Prompting Debate Over Music’s Future
YouTube is negotiating with major record labels to license music for its AI song generation tools, aiming to launch new features this year despite many artists' opposition to AI-generated music. Key Points: YouTube needs labels' content to legally train AI song generators and is offering upfront payments to convince more artists to participate. The company tested a limited AI tool called "Dream Track" last year with only 10 artists, and now wants to sign up "dozens" for a broader rollout in 2024. The deals would apply to select artists rather than being blanket licenses, with labels encouraging their stars to...
read Jun 26, 2024AI Music Startup Udio Fights Back Against Record Labels’ Copyright Lawsuits
Udio, an AI music startup, has responded to copyright infringement lawsuits filed by major record labels, asserting that its AI model does not reproduce copyrighted works and instead creates new musical ideas. Udio's mission and impact: Udio aims to empower artists and musicians to create extraordinary music using AI technology, and has already seen its platform used in various ways: Musicians who have lost the ability to use their hands are making music again with Udio's technology. Producers have sampled AI-generated tracks to create hit songs like 'BBL Drizzy'. Users have expressed a wide range of emotions through the music...
read Jun 25, 2024Record Labels Sue AI Music Startups Udio and Suno Over Alleged Copyright Infringement
Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group are suing generative AI music startups Suno and Udio over alleged copyright infringement, with the lawsuits including examples of AI-generated songs that closely resemble the work of human artists. Key Takeaways: The lawsuits filed by major record labels against Suno and Udio underscore the growing tension between the music industry and AI companies: The plaintiffs, which include Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group, claim that Suno and Udio have infringed on their copyrights by using their music to train AI models without permission. Examples of AI-generated...
read Jun 24, 2024RIAA Sues AI Startups Over Copyrighted Music, Highlighting Growing Tensions in Creative Industries
The Recording Industry Association of America is suing two AI startups, Suno and Uncharted Labs, alleging they used copyrighted music to train their AI systems without consent from the record labels, highlighting the growing tensions between the music industry and AI developers. Key Details: The lawsuits target Suno, which raised $125 million last month, and Uncharted Labs, the developer behind Udio, known for the viral AI-generated "BBL Drizzy" song: Suno and Udio are accused of training their AI models with the labels' unlicensed sound recordings to enable users to create songs with just a few prompts. Udio relies on OpenAI's...
read Jun 21, 20245 AI Tools Transforming Journalism: Realistic Images, Videos, Music, and More
Generative AI has become a transformative force across industries, enabling the creation of realistic images, videos, music, and more. As an AI journalist, I use five key AI tools daily to enhance my work and explore the potential of this technology: Leonardo AI: A versatile platform for generating photorealistic images; Leonardo AI offers a user-friendly interface with granular control over image generation, allowing users to create high-quality, customizable images across various styles and genres. The platform's custom styles and fine-tuned models, such as the impressive Phoenix, enable the creation of images that rival those produced by industry leader Midjourney. Leonardo...
read Jun 19, 2024Google’s AI Breakthrough: V2A Generates Stunningly Realistic Audio for Videos, Hinting at a New Era in Content Creation
Google DeepMind's new AI tool, V2A, shows promise in generating realistic audio for videos, potentially filling a gap in current generative video technology. Here's a summary of the key points: Introducing V2A: Google's AI laboratory has unveiled a new video-to-audio tool that uses AI to create audio matching the content of a video: V2A can deliver convincing audio like footsteps or drum strokes that sync with the video's timing. The technology aims to address the lack of audio in current generative video tools like OpenAI's Sora, Luma AI's Dream Machine, and Google's Veo. Capabilities and potential: V2A demonstrates impressive audio...
read Jun 19, 2024DeepMind’s AI Breakthrough: Generating Soundtracks and Dialogue for Videos
DeepMind unveils AI tech that generates soundtracks and dialogue for videos, potentially reshaping the AI-generated media landscape and raising concerns about the impact on creative industries. Key aspects of DeepMind's V2A technology: DeepMind's new AI model, called V2A (short for "video-to-audio"), can generate music, sound effects, and dialogue that match the characters and tone of a given video: V2A takes a description of a soundtrack paired with a video to create audio that syncs with the visuals, using DeepMind's deepfakes-combating SynthID technology to watermark the generated content. The underlying diffusion model was trained on a combination of sounds, dialogue transcripts,...
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