It seems that rarely a month goes by without the launch of another AI-powered music-making app, but the latest tech seeking to turn anyone and everyone into a musical virtuoso is notable for its backers.<\/p>\n
Udio<\/strong>, developed by former researchers at Google DeepMind<\/strong>, announced its launch on Wednesday (April 10), complete with a list of backers that includes one of Silicon Valley\u2019s most prominent venture capital funds, a rapidly growing DIY distribution platform \u2013 and a number of prominent musical artists.<\/p>\n Udio\u2019s creators say the app is designed to make music creation \u201cas easy as possible,\u201d and can generate a mastered track in under 40 seconds.<\/p>\n \u201cIn just a few steps, users simply type a description of the music genre they want to make, provide the subject or personalized lyrics, and indicate artists that inspire,\u201d Udio said in a press release. \u201cOnce a track has been created, users can further edit their creations through the app\u2019s ‘remix’ feature. This enables iteration on existing tracks through text descriptors, turning everyday creators into full-blown producers.\u201d<\/p>\n Udio\u2019s lead investors are Andreessen Horowitz<\/strong> (a16z<\/strong>), a Menlo Park, California-headquartered venture capital firm with $35 billion<\/strong> in assets under management, as well as angel investors Mike Krieger<\/strong> (co-founder and CTO of Instagram<\/strong>) and Oriol Vinyals<\/strong> (head of Gemini<\/strong> at Google).<\/p>\n That’s the same Andreessen Horowitz<\/strong>, of course, that recently submitted a paper<\/a> to the US Copyright Office arguing that training AI on copyrighted materials should be lawful in the States \u2013 under ‘fair use’ provisions \u2013 and doesn\u2019t amount to theft of intellectual property.<\/p>\n Music industry rightsholders like Universal Music Group<\/strong> take a very different view; UMG is currently pursuing a lawsuit<\/a> against gen AI platform Anthropic, alleging that Anthropic\u2019s chatbot\/content creator Claude generates copyright-protected song lyrics.<\/p>\n Relevant: Rolling Stone<\/em> has played around with Udio<\/strong>, and writes here<\/a>: “Though neither company will directly confirm or deny it, there is substantial reason to believe that both Udio and [rival platform] Suno were trained on copyrighted music, without permission.”<\/p>\n Among Udio’s other investors are UnitedMasters<\/strong>, the DIY distribution platform that was valued at $550 million<\/strong><\/a> in a 2021 funding round; rapper\/songwriter\/producer will.i.am<\/strong>; rapper Common<\/strong>; investor and activist Kevin Wall<\/strong> (of Live Earth<\/strong> and Live 8<\/strong> fame); and producer Tay Keith<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The value of the company’s seed funding round was $10 million.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is nothing available that comes close to the ease of use, voice quality and musicality of what we\u2019ve achieved with Udio – it\u2019s a real testament to the folks we have involved,\u201d said David Ding<\/strong>, CEO of Udio and one of the company\u2019s founders, along with Conor Durkan<\/strong>, Charlie Nash<\/strong>, Yaroslav Ganin <\/strong>and Andrew Sanchez.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cAt every stage of development, we talked to people in the industry about how we could bring this technology to market in a way that benefits both artists and musicians. We gathered feedback from some of the most prolific artists and music producers like will.i.am, Common and Tay Keith, to ensure that everything they thought would enhance the experience would be available,\u201d Ding added.<\/p>\n \u201cWe hold ourselves to the highest standards and we believe we have achieved something truly remarkable, so we can\u2019t wait to get Udio into the hands of music lovers worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere is nothing available that comes close to the ease of use, voice quality and musicality of what we\u2019ve achieved with Udio.”<\/p>\n David Ding, Udio<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Udio says it \u201cinspired some of the most prolific musicians, producers and artists with their next creation\u201d while the app was in beta-testing, with much of that success evidently coming from the flexibility the app provides to music creators.<\/p>\n Once a user has created a song, they can alter it, including extending the length and changing the sounds used. They can then use the song as the basis for a new musical creation. Users can also share their songs with \u201ca built-in community of music lovers, for feedback and collaboration.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a brand new Renaissance and Udio is the tool for this era\u2019s creativity; with Udio you are able to pull songs into existence via AI and your imagination,\u201d will.i.am said in a statement.<\/p>\n Matt Bornstein<\/strong>, a Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, added: “Nothing will ever replace human artists and the unique connections they make with their fans. But we think Udio \u2013 with its incredible musicality, creativity, and vocals \u2013 is a brand new way for us to create and enjoy music together. We’re thrilled to back this stellar group of researchers in their mission to make AI music a reality.”<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always been drawn to music and creation tools, and after I demoed Udio, I was blown away,\u201d said Mike Krieger. \u201cIt\u2019s early days but just like Instagram brought photography sharing to the masses, I believe Udio has the power to bring music creation to the masses as well. I\u2019m thrilled to be a product advisor on their groundbreaking journey.\u201d<\/p>\n “Just like Instagram brought photography sharing to the masses, I believe Udio has the power to bring music creation to the masses as well.”<\/p>\n Mike Krieger, Instagram<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Steve Stoute<\/strong>, Founder and CEO of UnitedMasters, said his company \u201cembraces cutting-edge technology that can unlock unprecedented opportunities for independent artists, and AI is reshaping how we create, consume, and experience music”.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cAs we embrace this transformative technology, we must ensure it amplifies creativity, empowers artists, and enriches the music industry without compromising ownership. It\u2019s imperative that we champion transparency, accountability, and ownership in how this technology benefits artists, shaping a future where innovation and creativity can thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n Udio\u2019s launch comes amid ongoing hand-wringing in some corners that AI-generated tools and music could upend the entire business model of the music industry \u2013 and amid the rapid growth of music-making platforms<\/a>.<\/p>\n In just the past month, MBW reported that music creation platform Splice<\/strong> \u2013 valued at nearly $500 million<\/strong> in 2021 \u2013 launched a new mobile app<\/a> that enables users to create music on their phones; and that BeatConnect<\/strong>, a platform for collaborative music creation, raised another $1.7 million<\/strong><\/a> in a funding round, having raised $2.2 million<\/strong> back in 2022.<\/p>\n \u201cAs we embrace this transformative technology, we must ensure it amplifies creativity, empowers artists, and enriches the music industry without compromising ownership. It\u2019s imperative that we champion transparency, accountability, and ownership in how this technology benefits artists…”<\/p>\n Steve Stoute, UnitedMasters<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Also last month, Singapore\u2019s BandLab Technologies<\/strong> reported that its partly AI-driven music-making platform, BandLab<\/strong>, had surpassed 100 million users<\/strong><\/a>, having reached 60 million a little more than a year earlier.<\/p>\n In an interview with MBW<\/a> last year, BandLab CEO Meng Ru Kuok<\/strong> predicted that \u201cthere will be over 1 billion music creators<\/strong> by 2030, potentially even sooner.\u201d<\/p>\n However, he added the \u201ccaveat\u201d that \u201cthe definition of a \u2018music creator\u2019 or \u2018musician\u2019 will change, just as the definition of a \u2018photographer\u2019 has changed with the advent of smartphones.\u201d<\/p>\n Notably, some music creation apps are raising the ire of the music industry, namely those that engage in blatant copyright infringement or appropriation of artists\u2019 voices or likenesses.<\/p>\n Voicify.ai<\/strong>, which was called out by name<\/a> in a submission to the US government last fall by the RIAA<\/strong>, and recently changed its name to Jammable<\/strong> \u2013 is facing legal action in the UK<\/a> over its unauthorized use of thousands of prominent artists\u2019 vocals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Udio, developed by former researchers at Google DeepMind, says it can create a mastered track from user prompts in less than 40 seconds<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":198601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[5835,132082,132081,4038,132083],"class_list":["post-198581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-ai","tag-david-ding","tag-udio","tag-unitedmasters","tag-will-i-am"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}