The democratization of music has transferred a significant amount of power from record labels into the hands of artists. And as the music industry grows into a more advantageous landscape for newcomers on the scene, rapidly evolving technologies and fan expectations call for an evolution of creativity.
From social media-music company partnerships and the pandemic’s demand for virtual performances, to the advent of genre fusion, co-creation and NFTs, artists are reaching unprecedented levels of output. AI is also gaining a deeper foothold in the music space, driving music production, personalized recommendations and new collaborations. And Forbes reports that upskilling for the AI revolution will be vital for success across industries in 2024.
Award-winning singer and songwriter Grimes, known for albums Visions (2012), Art Angels (2015) and Miss Anthropocene (2020), has taken on projects including a WarNymph NFT
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Grimes collaborates with Los Angeles-based CreateSafe, an applied research studio that builds tools and protocols for artists to automate the creation, distribution and marketing of music IP. Working to create and empower a more transparent music industry, the duo is building Triniti API, a generative AI music production platform that artists use to create and distribute music.
Australian DJ and producer Kito used Elf.tech to create “Cold Touch,” which features Grimes’ voice on the demo. The artist says, “Using AI to create this song has provided me with a new sense of creativity and opportunity. Grimes is both a visionary and a pioneer, and the ability to have her voice included is a collaboration only made possible by this cutting edge technology.”
Rights-holders of music IP can license their assets, name, image and likeness for pay when their data is used in Triniti’s models. And artists can distribute their work using DSPs like Spotify, Apple
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CreateSafe recently partnered with Slip.stream, a music technology platform that provides a licensing platform for its more than 300,000 users to download and safely use 70,000 tracks and 60,000 sound effects from leading labels and artists alongside AI tools to discover the best music for their content. The new partnership allows Slip.stream creators to choose from more than 200 GrimesAI tracks and safely use the beats in their videos, posts, live streams and podcasts on any platform.
“AI is obviously transforming every industry, even just in terms of its potential,” says Daouda Leonard, co-founder and CEO of CreateSafe. “If you bring together the most exciting aspects of music like user-generated content, and mix that with dark technologies like AI, VR and cloud computing, you get an entirely new artform, and potentially an entirely new industry. Grimes is constantly asking, ‘What’s out there, and how can I use technology to change the way I make art and how it is perceived?'”
With music discovery and marketing now largely driven by user-generated content on TikTok and YouTube, artists like Grimes are taking on new opportunities for creative fan engagement. Downloads on Slip.stream increase discoverability of an artist’s music by spotlighting it across top social platforms at scale. And in the process, the new partnership is reversing the music industry’s traditional label-publisher dynamic that made music inaccessible to the masses for use in videos and social posts.
As creators reach new levels of creativity by enhancing their videos with GrimesAI music, Leonard says that musicians will gain access to the burgeoning creator economy at unprecedented scale. Digital royalties are generated based upon the subscription revenue that Slip.stream collects so that creators can safely monetize their content. Grimes, for example, splits royalties in half for AI-generated tracks featuring her voice.
Jesse Korwin, CMO and co-founder of Slip.stream, says, “For content creators, Slip.stream is about bringing known artists and bridging them into the world of creators. We see the creator economy as an inclusive place on Slip.stream where we want not just the top one percent of creators, but also anyone who is aspiring to build their craft and audience the best possible music to use to elevate that content.”
Slip.stream also recently launched a new suite of AI tools to stretch creativity even further. An AI-powered Video Soundtrack Genie scans video to instantly generate musical soundtrack options. Similarly, an Audio Content Genie analyzes voice overs to generate multiple soundtrack options. And an AI Song Extender lengthens any song to fit custom video and podcast segments.