Tag Archives: music technology

15 December 2023
2 Comments
Apps, Business

Shifting Priorities: Addressing the Problems with Staff at Spotify

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40+ Spotify Statistics: Users, Revenue, Market Share (2023)

In recent times, Spotify, the popular music streaming platform, has faced significant challenges with its staff. The company’s CEO, Daniel Ek, made the decision to implement mass layoffs, citing the need for a more impactful and efficient workforce. This move was met with mixed reactions from both the employees and the general public. One of the notable departures was that of CFO Paul Vogel, who sold $9 million in shares after the cuts were announced. This raised eyebrows and led to speculation about the motivations behind the layoffs. Vogel’s inclusion among those exiting the company fueled further scrutiny and fueled rumors of internal conflicts within Spotify’s management team. Despite the layoffs, Spotify has seen significant success in recent years. The company’s stock rose by a staggering 130% and it gained 85 million new users in 2023 alone. However, these positive figures were overshadowed by the fact that approximately 25% of the staff were affected by the layoffs. This resulted in a substantial number of people losing their jobs, leaving them unemployed and uncertain about their future. As a historically unprofitable company, Spotify has attributed its financial struggles to various factors, including the high expenses associated with a hiring surge and investments in podcasts. CEO Daniel Ek openly acknowledged the need to address the company’s flawed cost structure and emphasized the importance of cost reduction as a necessity.

Spotify: number of employees 2022 | Statista

In response to the layoffs, analysts have predicted potential profit growth for Spotify. The expectation is that the cost cuts will lead to a 10% increase in the company’s stock value after the announcement. While this may seem promising for the shareholders, it does little to alleviate the concerns of the affected employees and the negative consequences of the layoffs. Moreover, the cost-cutting measures at Spotify have also had a detrimental impact on the company’s content offerings. Several notable podcasts were canceled as a result of the layoffs, leaving avid listeners disappointed and questioning the direction of the platform. This trend indicates a shift in Spotify’s trajectory, moving away from ambitious ventures and more towards cost-cutting measures, price hikes, and even possible exits from unprofitable markets. It is clear that Spotify’s decision to implement mass layoffs has created a significant wave of dissatisfaction within the company and among its users. What was once seen as an idealistic platform for streaming music has now given way to the pragmatism of managing a publicly traded business. The pressures to trim costs and increase profitability appear to have taken precedence over the well-being and job security of the staff. The challenges faced by Spotify’s staff are representative of a larger issue within the corporate world – the prioritization of profit over people. While cost cuts and streamlining operations may be necessary for a company’s financial health, it is imperative that the well-being and livelihoods of the employees are not compromised in the process. In conclusion, the problems with staff at Spotify are indicative of the overarching challenges faced by many companies in today’s corporate landscape. As the company navigates its way towards profitability, it must do so with empathy and sensitivity towards its employees. Finding a balance between cost-cutting measures and maintaining a healthy and motivated workforce is paramount for long-term success. Only time will tell if Spotify can find this delicate equilibrium and regain the trust and loyalty of its staff and users alike.

Sources:

Spotify: number of employees 2022 | Statista

How Spotify won its streaming war but lost a quarter of its staff (ft.com)

https://app.simplified.com/

Spotify lays off 17 percent of workforce in latest round of job cuts – The Verge

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21 November 2023
2 Comments
AI, Bez kategorii, Open Source

NFTs in Music: Transforming the Music Industry.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

A music NFT is a distinct digital asset that is issued on a blockchain and is linked to an individual song, EP, album, or video clip.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have been making waves in the art world, with generative art collections becoming increasingly popular among Web3 enthusiasts and in the traditional art world. However, NFTs as immutable records of ownership for digital items have many more use cases.

While the music industry’s global revenue is expected to surpass $65B in 2023, these earnings predominantly flow into a few large platforms and major record labels. As a result, many artists have started exploring the use of NFTs as a new way of distributing and monetizing music. 

Music NFTs have the potential to revolutionize the way artists create, distribute, and earn income from their music. In contrast to the current model, where artists have to rely on record contracts, brand deals, and extensive touring to advance their careers, music NFTs present artists with the opportunity to generate income solely based on their primary focus—creating music.

In this post, we’ll look at what music NFTs are and how they work and examine how this technology can transform the music industry through improved economics and more immediate fan-artist relationships.

What Is a Music NFT?

First, a quick primer on NFTs. An NFT is a token on a blockchain that is unique. Each NFT has a unique token ID and contract address that sets it apart from other NFTs. While an NFT can be linked to any media, what’s typically associated as the “content” of an NFT is stored in its metadata, which can point to images, videos, music, or other forms of media.

In a nutshell, a music NFT is a distinct digital asset that is issued on a blockchain and is linked to an individual song, EP, album, or video clip. Artists can create unique digital assets as NFTs that represent their music, concert tickets, exclusive merchandise, or virtual experiences, which people can then own, use, or trade. Purchasing a music NFT can be seen as a way of supporting an artist—akin to buying their music directly—while still allowing others to enjoy their work.

Music NFTs enable artists to forge a more direct relationship with their collector community. By helping to circumvent larger platforms, music NFTs give artists the chance to build a more direct connection with their fan base, who can also benefit from new ways of interaction and ownership.

Some music NFTs are generated entirely by an on-chain algorithm with no external dependencies. Generative music posted on-chain empowers artists to create a permanent imprint on an immutable ledger and preserve their creation for future generations exactly as originally intended.

How Do Music NFTs Work?

In essence, music NFTs help shift the ownership of music from companies to individuals. While record labels continue to play an important role in the music industry and can serve several business functions for artists, music NFTs allow artists the option to maintain full ownership of their creations.

Some music NFTs include revenue and royalty-sharing features that can provide a source of income for artists without them having to rely solely on earnings from streaming services, building a large following, or engaging in excessive marketing. Instead, they can rely on a smaller group of highly dedicated fans.

As such, music NFTs can help emerging artists who may not have access to traditional funding or distribution channels. With the rise of Web3 platforms and marketplaces, musicians can independently create and sell their NFTs, giving them greater control over their careers and revenue streams.

Another important benefit is the ability to create token-gated communities that enable fans to participate in exclusive events and promotions, opening up secondary markets for fandom that alter the dynamics of being a fan and enable more integrated fan communities.

How Will Music NFTs Impact the Music Industry?

$0.004 Per Stream Vs. $40 Per Mint

Since the onset of streaming, opportunities for musicians to earn an income have significantly decreased. NFTs turn pieces of music into a commodity, like a piece of art that can be bought and sold, similar to the earlier days of the music industry with vinyl records, cassette tapes, CDs, and MP3s.

Currently, many artists find it difficult to see significant returns on streaming platforms. According to some estimates, one stream on Spotify amounts to about $0.004 paid to the artist, meaning that one million streams net roughly $4000. Getting that many streams isn’t realistic for most independent artists. It’s important to note that the issue here isn’t necessarily with individual companies but more with the underlying economic model. Offering the ability to stream a large portion of the music library of human history for the equivalent of ~$10 a month creates thin margins both for the platforms and the creators, and is likely leading to a race to the bottom.

Real life examples:

  1. Kings of Leon’s NFT Album Release:
    • In March 2021, the American rock band Kings of Leon became one of the first major musical acts to release their album as an NFT. The album, titled “When You See Yourself,” was made available for purchase as three types of NFTs, each offering different perks such as exclusive audiovisual art and a “golden ticket” for VIP concert experiences.
  2. 3LAU’s Ultraviolet NFT Album:
    • Electronic dance music (EDM) artist 3LAU (Justin Blau) released his album “Ultraviolet” as an NFT in February 2021. The NFTs included special edition music and unique experiences, allowing fans to have a more immersive and exclusive connection to the artist.
  3. Beeple’s Collaborations with Musicians:
    • Digital artist Beeple (Mike Winkelmann) has collaborated with various musicians to create NFT-based visual experiences. Notably, his collaboration with EDM artist Deadmau5 resulted in the creation of unique audiovisual NFTs that represented a fusion of music and visual art.
  4. Grimes’ NFT Art and Music Auction:
    • Canadian musician Grimes, known for her experimental music and visual art, auctioned digital art and unreleased music as NFTs. The auction included exclusive pieces of art and audio content, providing fans with a chance to own unique and limited digital assets.
  5. Steve Aoki’s NFT Journey:
    • Renowned DJ and producer Steve Aoki has embraced NFTs as a way to engage with his fan base. He has released NFTs featuring exclusive music, behind-the-scenes content, and virtual experiences. Aoki has also experimented with interactive NFTs, allowing fans to participate in challenges and unlock additional content.

My opinion:

While the potential for NFTs to revolutionize the music industry is evident, it’s crucial to acknowledge the inherent challenges. The tokenization of music rights through NFTs, may introduce complexities in terms of legal frameworks and the fair distribution of revenues.

Additionally, concerns about market volatility and environmental impact raise questions about the long-term sustainability of this trend. While blockchain technology offers direct artist-fan connections, it’s essential to carefully navigate the evolving landscape, considering both the promises and pitfalls of integrating NFTs into the music ecosystem. So, to be honest I’m not a fan of this happening.

Sources:

ChatGpt – version 3.5 ( https://chat.openai.com/share/1086341a-c645-46a5-86e3-9f6049e21891 )

How Music NFTs Can Reshape the Music Industry
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29 November 2022
2 Comments
AI

The Frank Sinatra song that not even Frank Sinatra heard

Reading Time: 4 minutes

As Christmas is fast approaching, we are starting to hear the holiday classics everywhere. From All I Want for Christmas at the Supermarket to Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree on the radio – Christmas songs are virtually unavoidable. 

But I’d like you to think of the artists behind these songs – most of Spotify’s Christmas Hits playlist[1] is comprised of songs recorded or written before the first manned mission to the Moon.

Naturally, many of the authors and performers listed in the credit sections of these songs are long gone – Bing Crosby died in 1977, Nat King Cole passed away in 1965 and Frank Sinatra departed in 1998. 

Frank Sinatra
source: http://enterate24.com/hace-104-anos-nacio-el-cantante-frank-sinatra/

It’s a shame that we won’t be able to hear any new songs from them.

But what if it doesn’t have to be that way?

That’s where OpenAI’s Jukebox comes into play.

Debuted in April 2020, the technology analysed over a million songs[2], along with their lyrics and metadata (release date, genre, mood) and is now capable of generating full tracks in the style of any well-known artist. The company shared a range of demos, designed to resemble artists such as Alan Jackson, Katy Perry, or Elvis Presley. Most notably though, the song that stands out is “Hot Tub Christmas”, in the style of Frank Sinatra. While the “recording” quality might not be perfect, the timbre of the “singer’s” voice is eerily similar to that of the legendary American singer.

Though the lyrics have been co-written by a language model and OpenAI researchers, the chord progressions and instrumental cohesion are very well replicated in the computer-generated mp3s. The team behind Jukebox is aware of the software’s faults, as “[…] the generated songs show local musical coherence, follow traditional chord patterns and can even feature impressive solos, we do not hear familiar larger musical structures such as choruses that repeat.”2

Jukebox doesn’t analyze the actual notes in the songs, but only relations between pitch over time. An upside of such an approach is the possibility of highly realistic human voice creation. For their future endeavors, OpenAI plans to integrate a note-to-MIDI technology which would detect the rhythms and exact notes, which would allow for a deeper, more natural, and precise song creation – perhaps with the use of software instruments or synthesizers for higher file and sound quality.

Jukebox, at this point, is treated by the music industry as a mere curiosity, with no real applications – even despite a new feature of creating an acapella file from user-generated lyrics being introduced. This dynamic might change in a relatively short time if Jukebox becomes able to create classically written songs, providing the notes, rhythms MIDI files behind them. With such possibilities, songwriters and producers could streamline their music creation processes and massively increase their output. 

The current market situation is visualized by the fact that most of the investments poured into creative AI come from Venture Capital and Tech Corporations – not from the Music Industry.[3]

At this point, it does not seem like any songwriter or producer jobs are endangered. High quality audio files have incredibly many timesteps which encode data – a standard 4-minute-long song in a .wav 44.1 kHz file will contain over 10 million timesteps.[4] Currently, a song needs to be almost fully produced and designed by a professional before being rendered into such a complicated audio file.

The process of AI art generation is slowly being integrated into commercial culture, with the generator Midjourney winning the Colorado State Fair Fine Arts Competition.[5] Jukebox and similar technologies are often criticized for taking away the humanity out of art, while some perceive it as an opportunity to augment their creations through technology.[6]

“Théâtre D’opéra Spatial” – the AI-generated, contest winning piece of art
source: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/03/tech/ai-art-fair-winner-controversy/index.html

To me, it seems inevitable that Artificial Intelligence will be widely used in the music industry – major labels will push for anything that can give them a competitive edge in business. 

We must also take into consideration the legal implications of Jukebox.[7] Our laws don’t include AI “artists” and thus, there might be copyright implications. Who is the de facto author of such a song? The AI developer, or the person who entered prompts into the technology to create a specific tune? How do we split royalties for such songs? Furthermore, is it acceptable ethically to expand dead artists’ catalogues?

In conclusion: AI is slowly entering into creative arts, especially the music industry, thus expanding songwriters’ and producers’ output and possibilities. It appears that in this case, the risk of actual people being replaced by technology is lower than in easily automated and routine operations. 

This time, I’ll ask the classic question: do you think that AI art is proper art? Should it be publicly disclosed that a song or a painting was generated through Artificial Intelligence?

Let me know what you think in the comments!

Until next time,

Jan 

[1] https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX0Yxoavh5qJV?si=d4fa601b2c3f4418

[2] https://www.cnet.com/science/these-ai-generated-katy-perry-and-elvis-songs-sound-hauntingly-real/

[3] https://blog.songtrust.com/current-state-of-ai-what-songwriters-need-to-know

[4] https://openai.com/blog/jukebox/

[5] https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/03/tech/ai-art-fair-winner-controversy/index.html

[6] https://fortune.com/2018/10/25/artificial-intelligence-music/

[7] https://themix.musixmatch.com/post/ai-in-songwriting-4-practical-applications

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21 November 2022
3 Comments
AI

Inhuman music

Reading Time: 3 minutes

In the 21st century, artificial intelligence can do everything. Painting pictures, driving cars, helping doctors in medicine, and what about music? Does AI know how to compose music and write lyrics for songs?

In truth, an artificial intelligence can do this, too. Not with a soul, not with such a huge meaning, as a human does, because a robot has no feelings, but still knows how and even writes lyrics for music.

How exactly do neural networks create music? The general principle is that the neural network “looks” at a huge number of examples and learns to generate something similar. But it is impossible to formulate a task for a neural network to write beautiful music, because it is impossible to create a formula that will fulfill this task, since this is a non-mathematical requirement. It is interesting only when the neural network reproduces something that exists. The approach by which this music is created is called an auto-encoder (Generative Adversarial Network). It works like this:
We compress the music at the input into a very compact representation and then expand it back to its original form. A compact representation does not allow you to remember everything completely that was in the music. Therefore, the neural network is forced to put some common properties for music into the software part. And then, when generating music, we take a random sequence of numbers, apply the rules about the knowledge of music learned by the neural network and get a piece of music that looks like a human.

Turing Music Test
How to understand that a piece of music created by a machine is really worthy of our attention? To test the work of artificial intelligence systems, a Turing test was invented. His idea is that a person interacts with a computer program and with another person. We ask questions to the program and the person and try to determine who we are talking to. The test is considered passed by the program if we cannot distinguish the program from a person. For example, the DeepBach algorithm was tested, which generates notes in the Bach style. More than 1.2 thousand were interviewed. People (both experts and ordinary people) who had to distinguish the real Bach from the artificial one. And it turned out that it was very difficult to do this — people can hardly distinguish between music composed by Bach and created by DeepBach.

What about the lyrics?
Well, we’ve sorted out the musical compositions, but what about the lyrics for the songs? Can artificial intelligence compose poetry? Yes, and this task is even easier than writing melodies, although there are also enough difficulties here — the algorithm needs not only to “come up” with a meaningful text, but also to take into account its rhythmic structure.
In 2016, the developers of Yandex released the album “Neural Defense”. It includes 13 songs, the lyrics for which were composed by artificial intelligence. A year later, the album “Neurona” was released with four songs in the style of Nirvana, the verses for which were also generated by neural networks.

Thus, we see that artificial intelligence is able to write even music and lyrics for it, but will it ever replace songs written by a person in which feelings and life situations were invested?

Sources/references:

https://knowhow.pp.ua/ai_music

https://youtu.be/lv9W7qrYhb

https://youtu.be/-yTs58ityvs

https://towardsdatascience.com/generating-music-using-deep-learning-cb5843a9d55e

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31 December 2020
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Bez kategorii

Mischievous AI judges your taste in music

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Do you want to know how terrible your taste in music is to end an already terrible year? Look no further than the “How Bad Is Your Spotify” project on Pudding.cool, that will ridicule your taste in music, in a good way of course.

If you’re a Spotify user you probably got your Spotify Wrapped earlier this month which nicely summed up your music taste for this year. The Pudding’s new AI tool is nothing like that. Besides analyzing your listening history, it interacts with the user in a playful manner.

The app uses artificial intelligence which was trained by by Matt Daniels and Mike Lacher for The Pudding.

Once users visit the website they are asked to grant access to their Spotify to let the “sophisticated A.I” judge their “bad taste in music”.

The bot explains that it has “been trained on a corpus of over two million indicators of objectively good music, including Pitchfork reviews, record store recommendations, and subreddits you’ve never heard of,” when you click on “how do you know what’s good?”

The quiz takes users through a series of amusing questions making you feel like you’re chatting with a passive-aggressive snarky friend. It said things such as: “lol… omg… okay hold up… Do you really listen to [artist name]…?”

After the A.I is done mocking your musical taste with its questions, it analyses your answers and tells you how “bad” your Spotify is.

The AI bot gives a rundown of tracks the users listen to “too much,” artists they listen to “to an uncomfortable extent,” rates how “basic” your musical taste is and highlights the decade you’re “stuck” in.

Mike Lacher, one of the brains behind the witty bot says,”We wanted to make something similar to Spotify Wrapped, but instead of celebrating your music, it would insult it. For us personally, we knew that the stuff we stream privately is often embarrassing, so we thought it would be funny to make a bot that would look through all that stuff and judge you. We wanted it to feel like a judgemental friend, or a snobby record store clerk.”

Many, after using the app, went on social media to share their results. One twitter user commented “the accuracy of the how bad is your Spotify thing is terrifying.” Another user said “I tried the “how bad is your Spotify playlist” AI and I am too embarrassed to share the results…”

It’s all fun and games but it’s important to realize that artificial intelligence and the music industry are incredibly linked together.  The fact that they can store an incredible amount of information for comparison and analyze human taste on a platform like Spotify can open a new era for the music industry.

Go check out “How bad is your Spotify?” on pudding.cool !

References:

https://pudding.cool/2020/12/judge-my-spotify/

https://www.musictech.net/news/how-bad-is-your-spotify/

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1 January 2020
1 Comment
Bez kategorii

Spotify’s Tastebuds tool will enhance your social music discovery

Reading Time: 3 minutesThe new function aimed at Spotify will allow us to slightly broaden our musical tastes. All thanks to our friends from the platform.

New Spotify’s feature logo
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/18/spotify-tastebuds/

 

How music sharing options look like now?

Thinking about what Spotify can offer today, we can mention social media integration. It is a popular feature that enables users to connect their Spotify accounts to their Facebook and Twitter profiles. That lets them access their friends’ favorite music and playlists and share their choices with others as well. Individuals can create, share, and edit playlists with other listeners. If users want recommendations, they can integrate their system with Last.fm, an application that provides music recommendations based on listening history. However, this is an external application that does not belong to Spotify. You can also view a Friend Activity ticker of songs your Facebook friends are currently listening to on the desktop app. You can search for specific users and follow them or view playlists they’ve made public too. Spotify doesn’t promote user search much anyway.

 

Why Spotify need a change?

Sharing playlists on Spotify is not a problem, but when it comes to speeding up the entire algorithm, things get complicated quickly. If we listen to music in a random way, it is known that Spotify will not start sending us recommendations based on it. If that were the case, playlists created using algorithms would not suit certain user’s tastes. Social sharing has never been the main priority for Spotify. The Activity Feed, which shows what your friends are currently listening to, is limited to the desktop version of Spotify. The in-app messenger for sharing music was nixed in favor of letting users share songs on social media or on their Instagram Stories. Apparently, that was a mistake as far as we know that Tastebuds is coming.

Tastebuds feature on Spotify
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/18/spotify-tastebuds/

 

But what will Tastebuds really give us?

As the information on the site is telling: Tastebuds will let your friends discover music that you trust. This description appears in the tab that has not yet been launched, but the developers have already sewn it in the application – in the left column, next to the Home Page, Browse and Radio. The prototype feature was discovered in the web version of Spotify by reverse engineering sorceress Jane Manchun Wong. She gave some more details on how it works. By tapping on the pen icon, users can view information about what their friends have been playing most. Then, they can easily listen along or add songs to their own library.

Tastebuds feature discovered in the web version of Spotify thanks to reverse engineering
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/18/spotify-tastebuds/

Spotify Tastebuds code
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/18/spotify-tastebuds/

 

It remains to wait for deployment

When will the new feature come into effect? There is no official information about it. A Spotify spokesperson confirms that they are always testing new products and experiences, but have no further news to share with the audience. For now, anyone can access a non-functioning landing page for the feature at https://open.spotify.com/tastebuds. Tastebuds could be a rebranded version of the Friends Weekly playlist that was discovered in May 2019. Whatever it may be, the test could be a sign of more social listening features to come.

Social is a huge but under-tapped opportunity for Spotify. Social recommendations could get users listening to Spotify for longer. While competitors like Apple Music or YouTube might offer similar music catalogs, users won’t stray from Spotify if they become addicted to social discovery through Tastebuds.

Do you think Tastebuds is just what Spotify needs? Maybe something else would make the application more user-friendly? Share your opinion.

 

References:

[1] https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/spotify#section-overview

[2] https://rms.pl/aktualnosci/sprzet/3239-spotify-tastebuds

[3] https://www.spidersweb.pl/2019/12/spotify-tasetbuds-czego-sluchaja-znajomi.html

[4] https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/18/21028474/spotify-tastebuds-playlist-friends-music-discovery-social-sharing-feature

[5] https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/18/spotify-tastebuds/

[6] https://www.engadget.com/2019/12/19/spotify-social-music-discovery-tastebuds/

[7] https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/9/17337182/spotify-testing-new-friends-weekly-playlist

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