Just something I had a thought about. We've been hearing artists selling their masters, catalog, etc. And they normally fetch for a lotta money. Some financial experts believing that the purchases are an overpay. Not as a means to necessarily disrespect the artists or the quality of music that was sold, but to give an idea of how much money the entities buying are willing to pay to own them.

But what I'm curious about...what are these catalogs being bought for? Who is buying them? One can assume it can be obviously be music companies, streaming platforms, or film studios so they'll have rights to the music. The catalogs can be bought so they can be used in whatever film or TV show, commercial, live events, etc. However we have something new that can potentially be the reason...training AI.

Let's think about who has sold their catalog/publishing in recent years:

Justin Bieber
T-Pain
Bruce Springsteen
Dr. Dre
Taylor Swift (Scooter Braun)
Bob Dylan
Shakira

There are many more as it is a growing trend. As is the trend of AI music, and training AI artists. As we know streaming platforms are casually placing AI artists/songs into playlists. Knowing what these music companies and streaming platforms are doing with AI, do you think it is a good idea for artists to continue selling their catalogs? Obviously the amount of money that can be made is hard to pass down. But for artists who are adamantly anti-AI, if their music is going to be used to train AI, do you think artists who stick to a code of musical integrity should sell?

They probably saw something that indicates their music will be used to train AI whether they sell it or not so why not make 8 figures or whatever off of something that's gonna happen anyway

I wouldn't do it off principle but maybe that's the type of decision making that would stop you or me from signing a record deal where you get less than 25% of a profit split in exchange for #them inserting you into the 1970-2005/2009 pop culture pantheon that the people you named were inserted into

Some of those artists listened were in financial trouble no? Like T Pain and JB for example. I think there is probably not a singular reason but honestly before I saw you mention it I thought about the AI aspect of it. I think unless restrictions are put in place we will continue to see more integration and use of AI directly trained from artists especially when you have ownership of their IP for lack of a better term, even if it’s not specifically just AI artists. For example, you could use Taylor Swift’s catalog and basically churn out lyrics/songs to be performed by someone else and market them in the same demographic as her

F***in streaming services man.

It makes sense for Sony to buy artist catalogs. That's already their business. The other player in this market is Influence Media Partners who are BlackRock backed. So it's just another asset for them.

stereogum.com/2480239/major-labels-strike-landmark-deal-to-license-catalogs-for-ai-music-startup/news

forbes.com/sites/geristengel/2024/10/30/influence-media-partners-are-redefining-music-rights

Movies and commercials and TV shows for sure but also there is something much darker and sinister common folk dont knows about yet

I get it for the geezers. Saves their family a potential mountain of drama when it comes to splitting the inheritance up after they pass.

Artists are much less anti-ai than they are pro-money

For older artists I get it

Dudes like Future tho just want the bag lol

Assets will appreciate while money will depreciate. They will buy up anything while the can and music is one of the best investments for a dystopian world where people will reminisce the good old times. Those JB songs will generate 10x more in the future

An interesting idea, but one that presupposes AI companies will pay for what they scrape — never