YouTube is currently in talks with record labels to launch a new artificial intelligence tool that will allow creators to make videos using voices of popular musicians, according to Billboard .
The trade publication reports that YouTube had hoped to introduce a beta version of the tool with a small selection of artists to a “select group” of creators during its Made On YouTube event in September, but reached licensing deals with major labels: Universal Music. Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group – delayed those plans (a wide release would require new deals).
Additionally, it has apparently been “challenging” to find big names to participate in the AI tool, as artists are concerned about how creators could use their voices to convey messages or sing lyrics they don’t approve of.
According to the sources of Billboard , the labels see this deal with YouTube as a vital “framework” for the use of AI, with some key points in the negotiations. In addition to questions about how the AI model is trained and whether artists will have the option to participate (or not), determining monetization is a complicated task. While YouTube’s Content ID system can already identify and monetize copyrighted works in user-generated videos, the deal will have to determine whether artists will be paid for using their music as “an input” fed through the model. of AI or the “output” created by the tool.
And, of course, figuring out how publishing rights factor into the equation is even more complex. YouTube would have to pay hundreds of songwriters whose work would be sampled for the beta tool and would likely prefer to pay a lump sum for the license, which publishers would then have to divide among their writers.
Despite all of these factors, record label executives are interested in the idea of closing a deal because they want to be seen as “advocates of progress.” In April, the use of AI-generated voiceovers came to the fore when an artist called Ghostwriter released a song titled “Heart on My Sleeve” that imitated the voices of Drake and The Weeknd. After the track went viral, UMG issued a statement criticizing the “infringing content created with generative AI.”
Since then, however, major record labels have taken a softer stance as streaming services have acceded to requests to remove recordings using AI-generated voices designed to sound like popular musicians. In recent months, Warner Music CEO Robert Kyncl acknowledged what The industry would have to “embrace the technology, because it’s not like you can put the technology in a bottle,” while UMG CEO Lucian Grainge shared your belief that AI has the potential. to “amplify the human imagination and enrich musical creativity in new and extraordinary ways.”
Meanwhile, musicians’ reactions to the use of AI have been mixed. Queen’s Corey Taylor, Nick Cave and Brian May aren’t fans, but Paul McCartney and David Guetta have already embraced it in their work.
2023-10-19 21:41:11
#YouTube #develops #artificial #intelligence #voices #famous #musicians
