✖ AI-powered robot rappers: a 100 year history
And: NFTs for world-building; global value of copyright; monetize your fans; a call for antitrust agencies to intervene in live, recorded music, and streaming; Royal Blood avatars
The word ‘robot’ is 100 years old. What does it mean to have a robot, or even just an artificially powered intelligence, create music? Today we have examples like FN Meka, the self-proclaimed ‘AI-powered robot rapper’, Holly Herndon’s AI baby, and Shimon, the cute marimba-playing robot. These creations fit into a longer history that I trace back to Luigi Russolo’s intonarumori to explain the promise of an AI that’s capable of creative musical output.
TECH
🌐 We already mentioned that Joe Conyers III is heading up a new NFT platform for Crypto.com. EDM.com interviewed him and I’m struck by his insistence on ‘world-building’ and ‘story-telling’. Two elements I wholeheartedly agree need to be incorporated by any artists who want to move into this burgeoning space and have long-term impact.
👑 Royal Blood are set to perform as avatars at the Bloxy Awards, a virtual award show for creators on Roblox.
🎢 The creator demand curve shows how to monetize fandom. Peter Yang explains how to do this and which type of fans to aim at for:
Ads
Subscriptions
Tipping
Digital goods
NFTs
📗 Your other NFT read of the day comes with a message to look at the hype as an example of the acceptance of ‘blockchain.’ People don’t talk about the tech behind it, they accept it and this allows creativity and use cases to lead the tech.
🥑 “We’re not trying to be a livestream.” Quote by Adam Arrigo of Wave. The platform hosts Total Fiasco, a virtual concert experience that takes the concept of tipping and pushes it so that each tip, such as a dancing avocado, creates a new element in the show.
CORONA
🐡 Various artists talk to The Guardian about how the pandemic impacted their lives. One of them got a job on a fishing trawler.
📊 A great article on the global value of music copyright. Including a big question:
“Copyright has proved to be remarkably resilient [through the pandemic]. The most pertinent question is with live music, as all the advances made in live streaming on platforms like Twitch are not going to go away when live music returns. So, how do they co-exist?”
⚖️ A big opinion piece in Wired about how a year of no live music requires a refocussing on the need of antitrust in the various aspects of the music industry: live, recorded music, streaming consumption.
🇲🇾 Some positive news from Kuala Lumpur, where cases are going down and concerts are getting the go-ahead again. First up: Zainal Abidin and Zee Avi. Attendees will have to adhere to strict protocols though.
⛑️ Over in Australia the arts rescue fund gets another $125million boost. More importantly for smaller venues, insititutions and artists the threshold for application will lower to $25k and it will be easier to file a join application.
Music
I’ve been trawling through some hip hop on Bandcamp recently. There’s a lot of stuff on there that I hadn’t heard of before or hadn’t thought of in ages. This one falls into the latter category. Sub Rosa is a label known for its obscure anthologies and promotion of electronic music. They also have a selection of great hip hop, including this record by Pee Gonzales.