How OpenAI’s Sora Impacts The Future Of Music Marketing

Following the launch of OpenAI’s text to video tool—Sora, technology enabled creator tools have never been closer. At the onset of this latest artificial intelligence innovation, the questions arise, how will AI impact the integration of brands and audiences and will this shift define a new age of marketing, specifically within the music industry?

According to OpenAI, Sora is described as being “capable of generating entire videos all at once or extending generated videos to make them longer. By giving the model foresight of many frames at a time, we’ve solved a challenging problem of making sure a subject stays the same even when it goes out of view temporarily.” The ability to weave technology with what was once film, then became videos and are now virtual moving imagery is striking for someone who grew up a product of the MTV generation.

This was a time when music videos like Madonna’s “Vogue,” Paula Abdul’s “Opposites Attract” and the Beastie Boy’s “Sabotage” both interpreted pop culture for audiences while also inspiring the possible through integrating music and storytelling by making visual style and culture accessible.

It was also a moment when entertainment marketing met it’s perfect match. With audiences having always looked to musicians for style and influence, the music video age was the first time they were so close with such regularity and smart brands invested in product placement within music videos that could impact massive growth potential well before social media been established.

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So at this cultural inflection point, where OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman put the call out on X for people to share: “captions for videos you’d like to see and we’ll start making some,” what is the potential impact for marketers, and savvy CMOs, tasked with connecting the brands they lead with audiences as this newly introduced technology to reimagine what is possible?

To answer this question, let’s look the impact that AI had at the 2024 Grammy Awards. With over 16.9 million viewers celebrating key moments in the music industry there is seemingly no better display of the tools and tactics that connect musicians with fans and grow new audiences than this annual homage to an industry where live music is projected to make over $30 billion by 2025 — according to Statista.

In the wake of the current climate of perpetual technological evolution, the buzz following this year’s Grammy’s could be summarized as an exercise in looking back. Key moments included Oprah’s fierce introduction to a Tina Turner tribute, Tracy Chapman’s rare performance of “Fast Car” alongside Luke Combs and Joni Mitchell’s moving performance of her classic, “Both Sides Now.” The opportunity to feature these artists who are pillars that the music industry has stood on for generations was rich in sensory sentimentality, however noticeably absent from the event were signals of the massive emerging technology evolution that have clearly made an impact across both the music and entertainment worlds.

Maybe this was due to a caution around AI-generated explicit photographs of Taylor Swift that circulated online close to the lead up of the awards show, prompting law makers to propose the (DEFIANCE) Act to “hold accountable those who are responsible for the proliferation of non-consensual, sexually-explicit ‘deepfake’ images and videos.”

It could have been due to the inability of TikTok to reach a deal to renew licensing rights with Universal Music Group, due in part to concerns around AI generated content and artists pay, which host Trevor Noah touched upon in his monologue sharing: “Shame on you, TikTok, for ripping off artists. That’s Spotify’s job!”

Or quite possibly there may have been concern around the steep competition that AI generated moments and influencers have enabled within the music industry itself.

However, in 2023, brands leveraged technology in their marketing and creative plays to a previously unwitnessed degree.

Warner Music Group signed Noonoouri, an AI generated model designed by Joerg Zuber, the first digital only pop star to ink a record deal. Noonoouri celebrated this moment on Instagram, sharing, “Music plays a big role in my life since the beginning. It sets me into the mood and nourishes my visions and ideas to bring them to life as a driving force inside of me.”

The Beatles released ‘Now and Then’ advertised as their remarkable ‘last song’ thanks in part to the development of AI technology that enabled audio from deceased band members to be repurposed into this new song. “My dad would’ve loved that because he was never shy to experiment with recording technology,” Sean Lennon shared in a documentary.

With these and many more integration points across music and AI introduced, why then were the Grammy’s somewhat devoid of a nod to emerging technology crossovers that took place in the music space? Could it be that the cultural moment surrounding artistry and digital innovation have reached their apex?

It’s hard to make that call after looking at Apple’s sponsorship for the Super Bowl halftime show, which they took over from Pepsi in 2022. A key player in the music meets technology space, their Vice President of Apple Music and Beats, Oliver Schusser, shared with AP, “We’re trying to extend the campaign to more than just a show on a Sunday afternoon.” While not launching their AI approach at this event, they certainly understood the cultural relevance of the entertainment industry cross-market billing.

One can see the potential marketing value of having Apple’s featured half-time performer Usher’s white outfit made complete with their Vision Pro Headset as a crowning jewel accessory. Or the opportunity to leverage it to enhance the viewing experience, like The Weeknd’s 2021 half time performance which while panned as “claustrophobia and vertigo and Zoom-debacle chaos,” could certainly have been an opportunity to showcase the immersive 3D capabilities of spatial computing in 2024.

This year’s Superbowl halftime performance occurred just one week after the Grammy’s and in the same month that Apple released its Vision Pro Headset, which certainly provided a variety of opportunities to promote the connectivity of music with emerging technology.

However this did not occur, and the bulk of the hype around AI at this year’s Super Bowl was driven by ads, which leveraged the technology, but didn’t overtly link it’s value to an appreciation of creator tools impact.

So where does this leave marketers, who remain swimming in the realm of possibility, with new AI tools and business ready technologies dropping as they endeavor to envision how they can leverage them to connect with audiences, in the music, entertainment and sports industries and beyond?

With the launch of Sora, the question becomes even more unclear, as we wait to understand the potential that this technology has and the impact it will make across a variety of channels that marketers and creators tend to play in.

Grimes, offered her perspective on X in response to user concern around how the Sora launch will impact the film industry, “The majority of young people entering cinema have their dreams broken and end up doing lighting on music videos and stuff. Music videos are basically impossible to monetize and one of the greatest expenses to artists, and film ppl usually have to take pay cuts to do creative jobs like that.”

So even if Sora is not yet capable of building the music videos that define the ways audiences connect with artists and subsequently the brands they choose to partner with, it is at least brokering the conversation around enhanced creativity. It’s launch inspires the opportunity for artistic collaboration across film, music and technology that can set the stage for marketers to collaborate with audiences to co-create this new content channel pathway. And as marketers, it is our role, at very least to listen, but certainly at best to help shape the way we leverage these ever-evolving tools to bring creativity and connection to our audiences.