Music

My Sunday essay was about Generative Synthetic Media. If you don't know what that is, have a quick look at the post, then go play around (pun intended) with some examples you'll find in this Google Research paper: MusicLM: Generating Music From Text. Continue Reading →

Holly+, the AI-generated digital twin of experimental musician Holly Herdon, does a pretty good job singing "Jolene," Dolly Parton's country classic. Continue Reading →

The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), the Nashville Songwriters Association International, and the Digital Media Association announced a settlement with streaming services for certain mechanical streaming rates in the U.S. for the years 2023-2027: 15.35%. Continue Reading →

While reading this story on vice.com about Universal Music Group (UMG) -- the powerhouse label that represents Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, and Jay-Z -- forming an NFT band made up of cartoon ape JPEGs “owned” by some guy, it has become clear that the NFT hype bubble has inflated beyond anyone's wildest expectations. Continue Reading →

MODA DAO is the kind of project that has the potential to change our fundamental assumptions about how the music industry (or any content-based industry) functions. Continue Reading →

As out of control as everything feels today, we do have control over one thing: how we spend our time. Time is a currency. So much so that we call the use of it “spending” time. Today, while some are forced to put themselves in harm’s way to do what needs to be done, many of us will have the shared experience of being alone. How will you “invest” your alone time? Here are a few ideas. Continue Reading →

At one of the pre-Grammy parties I attended, I was asked about controversy surrounding the way the Recording Academy (the organization that produces the Grammys) categorizes music for the show. This led to some very interesting questions: Who (or what) will be eligible to win a Grammy in 2030? What will the categories evolve into? Will music need to be recorded at all? Continue Reading →

Amazon announced a new services called Amazon Music HD. It will offer more than 50 million songs at CD quality and millions more tracks at even better than CD quality as part of a new tier to its streaming music service and cost $14.99/mo, or $12.99/mo for Prime members. Before you jump on this “incredible” Continue Reading →

The lawsuit filed against Amazon’s Alexa Voice Services this past Tuesday fascinates me. It alleges that Amazon is recording children who use Alexa without parental consent. Excuse me? Mom or Dad bought the Echo, put it in the house, and taught the kids to talk to it. How much more parental consent do you need? That said, there is more to the story. Continue Reading →

Everyone was tweeting their #firstsevenjobs the other day. As I thought back on my job number 7, I remembered a traumatic lesson in the power of trust and truth. I named it "The Honesty Paradox." Continue Reading →