The Music Umbrella Consulting Co.

14/12/2023

Incredible ..

I put 200 tracks on YT which weren't uploaded before and that wasn't easy 😥. Now I decided to upload some songs I really like and are already on YouTube. Si...

07/12/2023

02/12/2023

So much fun

02/12/2023

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=michelle+fabre

30/11/2023

What with A I and humanoid robots , why not?

Official Video for “Houdini” by Foster The PeopleListen to Foster The People: https://FosterThePeople.lnk.to/listenYDSubscribe to the official Foster The Peo...

23/11/2023

Follow me on LinkedIn:

20/11/2023

I wonder how A I is a factor with these cut backs ?
Gotta think the executives are looking of ways of cutting costs..

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The modern record industry is moving into its 'cut to grow' phase.
For the past five-plus years, all the blockbuster record industry has known, thanks primarily to the explosion of music streaming revenues, is bountiful growth.

That doesn't only refer to growth in income (although, as MBW readers will know, that's certainly been spectacular). It also refers to growth in headcount.

During the summer, MBW crunched publicly reported numbers to show that the three major music companies – Universal Music Group, Sony Music Group (plus Sony's music operations in Japan), and Warner Music Group – cumulatively employed 27,292 people in 2022, up by 6,600 employees versus 2017.

Yet now some of music's largest rightsholders appear to be moving into a new era – one encompassing judicious hiring policies, tweaked allocation of resources, and, at least in the short-term, trimming costs.

This has been seen recently with layoffs (in the single percentage digits vs. total staff) at both Warner Music Group and BMG.

And it could also be seen by Universal Music Group's confirmation, on its latest earnings call, that it will be "cutting to grow" in 2024..

18/11/2023

📸 Look at this post on Facebook https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=587616800193474&id=100068354763726&mibextid=cr9u03

17/11/2023

I still love this one

Official music video by The Weeknd performing "Save Your Tears"– 'After Hours' available everywhere now: http://theweeknd.co/afterhoursYD ►Subscribe to The W...

09/11/2023

My kids went to school here a few years later .. as have many

Shot at Santa Monica High School in 2011. Special appearances by Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell from the band America, and Richard Page from Mr. Mister.Ven...

08/11/2023

Still magical and beautiful. The Moody Blues Live

Moody Blues - Live in Concert

30/10/2023

Kaboooom

Subscribe here: https://found.ee/SeetherYouTubeSubscribeSign up to our newsletter to receive dangerously good band content: https://found.ee/SeetherNewslette...

07/10/2023

https://www.facebook.com/676857292/posts/10162826003967293/?mibextid=r5uJeJ

19/09/2023

Posted a new photo: https://www.reverbnation.com/q/83obrp

19/09/2023

Posted a new photo: https://www.reverbnation.com/q/83obr7

14/09/2023

midem again ?

01/09/2023

Added a new video: "Morocco >>> bruce c stevenson" https://www.reverbnation.com/q/83izdh

23/08/2023

HEADS UP ....laughing

19/08/2023

Pulsating

As a welcome to our new followers, and a thank you to everyone who truly embraced Dance Fever in the most creative and beautiful ways. We have created the FA...

11/08/2023

Posted a new song: "We Can Work It Out ( Lennon / McCartney )" https://www.reverbnation.com/q/83bvvh

10/08/2023

Love The Zombies

The Zombies, one of the pioneers of the 'British Invasion' of the '60s, has acquired the rights to their 1960s catalog.

21/07/2023

Love this one still. .AMY !!

Amy Macdonald - This Is The Life (Official Video)Taken from the album ‘This Is The Life’ out now! Stream/download the album: https://amymacdonald.lnk.to/titl...

20/07/2023

Guess Who Live

The Guess Who: Running Back Thru Canada (2004)The Guess Who is filmed for a concert in their hometown of Winnepeg during a 2000 cross Canada tour.https://www...

29/06/2023

pranksters

17/06/2023

Here we begin ..

12/06/2023

Stern's take on Pat Robertson's death

Howard Stern talks about Pat Robertson dying and some of the hateful comments the Christian conservative broadcaster made in the past. Get more Howard Stern ...

08/06/2023

Finally being the single released in Australia/ Nz this June 30th on Possum Records.. Yay !

Jon Varto and Dan Sistos

Sentado aqui, dia tras dia Sin ti, no existo masNo puedo, ni mirarte ya Eso es, verdadQuiero verte a ti Quiero amarte a ti Cuando pienso en ti Cada dia masQu...

04/06/2023

Go get em GREGG

27/05/2023

Know your enemy

Free Music Making Artificial Intelligence - SongStarter By BandLabIntroducing SongStarter: Your gateway to infinite musical possibilities.What is SongStarter...

04/05/2023

SL... AN awkward pre show interview but it's all cool... they blow the room apart ..

27/04/2023

Indeed a pleasure working with such a talented man

The official website for Brad Basker - Singer Songwriter and Storyteller.

27/04/2023

for you baseball fans ... Koufax should have been 100%

17/04/2023

This is frightening and obviously theft of intellectual property !!!!

It's a new working week in the music industry – and it's already provided a flurry of fresh headlines over AI's impact on the business of superstars.

Over the past few days, three Universal Music Group-affiliated megastars – Drake, The Weeknd, and Rihanna – have seen their vocals replicated by AI tools, and then 'performed' within viral music productions.

The tune that's drawn the most attention, understandably, is a cover version of Ice Spice's risqué 2022 hit Munch (Feelin' U), on which the vocals are 'performed' by an AI copycat of Drake's voice.

It's currently being posted and reposted across social media sites including Twitter and TikTok. Drake himself took to Instagram over the weekend to label it "the final straw".

The voice of another UMG-signed superstar, Rihanna, has also been ripped off in a separate viral social media snippet, on which an AI replication of her voice can be heard 'singing' the Beyoncé hit, Cuff It.

(The robotic results, for at least some of the clip, edge frighteningly close to being uncanny.)

Yet the AI-replicated vocal that's set to cause the noisiest music industry fallout is an original composition, heart on my sleeve, created by an 'artist' named ghostwriter – featuring AI vocals in the style of Drake duetting with The Weeknd.

Why is heart on my sleeve bound to ignite intra-industry music biz tensions this week?

Because audio and video files of the full 2-minute-14-second track have been successfully distributed to multiple music streaming services, including Spotify, YouTube / YouTube Music, and Apple Music.

On Spotify, at the time of writing, the track has over 250,000 plays. On YouTube, the video (uploaded by ghostwriter) has over 150,000 plays.

The top comment under said YouTube video, posted by ghostwriter themselves: "this is just the beginning".

The company responsible for the distribution of heart on my sleeve is currently unknown.

One credible sleuth, AppSumo's Mitchell Cohen, suggests that the track could potentially have been created and/or promoted for viral marketing purposes by a CRM startup called Laylo, which works with music artists.

According to a Financial Times report, Universal Music Group recently sent emails to music streaming services including Spotify and Apple Music on the subject of AI-made music, warning: “We will not hesitate to take steps to protect our rights and those of our artists.”

According to the FT, Universal told these streaming services to take action to block AI services from 'scraping' melodies and lyrics from UMG's copyrighted songs. Whether that covers AI's replication of unmistakable vocal tones and styles from established superstars is another matter.

Expect some fierce debate around the legality of such mimicry to erupt in the months ahead... especially over whether AI copying a star's vocal delivery by absorbing/processing their past audio recordings constitutes an infringement of copyright.

Interestingly, the ghostwriter track doesn't mention Drake or The Weekend anywhere in its title or description on Spotify or Apple Music.

On YouTube (and YouTube Music), though, its video is labeled heart on my sleeve (Drake AI song feat. The Weeknd).

11/04/2023

getting back into this act and sound... hip hop fused with jazz and da funk

Chilli Hot Jim Hawkins / Geoff Wilkinson Us3