Leaders in Music Innovation anticipate Music Tectonics, the conference about the future of music and tech October 24-26 in Santa Monica, CA. Experts from LANDR, Mech Ventures, Splice, SoundCloud, and Rock Paper Scissors weigh in on hottest topics.

AI will never be able to replicate aura. Future innovation depends on changing how we do business. The metaverse may be overhyped, but it is not dead. These are just a few of the industry-shifting ideas Music Tectonics is exploring in anticipation of its flagship in-person event this autumn.

The Music Tectonics Conference has assembled a speaker lineup of some of the biggest thinkers, investors, and leaders in music and tech. With their big-picture view of the industry, we asked them for their takes on trending topics. With four months before the conference, instead of announcing presentation topics, Music Tectonics organizers are providing a pulse check on the hottest issues in real time.

“When conferences pick panel topics too early, by the time the conference rolls around, they’re out of date,” explains conference director Dmitri Vietze. “Music Tectonics is running lean and agile, so we thought we’d give you a preview of conversations rather than panel titles.”

Get a taste of what’s on these industry leaders’ minds—and what insights they’ll bring to the table at the fifth annual Music Tectonics Conference, October 24-26, 2023, in Santa Monica, California. Tickets are on sale now at MusicTectonics.com/conference.

AI Music & Human Creativity

• As we attempt to selectively outsource our humanity to AI, I expect an artistic renaissance to emerge that reimagines human potential. And music will likely be the key arena of focus. Fundamentally—how will the discipline and definition of 'authenticity' in music evolve? I doubt that AI-generated music will fully eclipse other music in this regard, however I do believe it could crowd out other music commercially if the economic incentives of music continue to simply reward scale.

— Michael Pelczynski, SoundCloud

• I think we’re going to start seeing AI music platforms that let people generate music that sounds comparable to a studio session. I’ve come across a couple platforms that are really impressive. In the next year or so, you’ll see a hit record fully made with AI. Ghostwriter’s AI-generated Drake song featuring The Weeknd sounded phenomenal, so you know AI can really make an impact.

  There’s a bright future for music and AI—just look at the Endel and UMG partnership. I know UMG has been trying to combat losing market share to white noise, and tapping into catalog is a smart move. We’re going to see a lot more music generation with AI.

— Bruce Hamilton, Mech Ventures

• Artists as APIs will be a thing, with some choosing to model their sound, likeness, and voice via AI. But it will be less disruptive than people think, ultimately opening up new potential opportunities for brand-building and modernization for both artists and their fans—while leaving the artist free to continue to pursue and evolve their art.

  I’m waiting for a moment when an artist plays a song at their concert that a fan created with their cloned voice, with both parties sharing in revenue.

  — Daniel Rowland, LANDR

• AI is not all evil. We have already been using it; now we just know. The trick is to work with rightsholders to license training data and to make sure end users understand what they do and do not own.

— Dmitri Vietze, Music Tectonics/Rock Paper Scissors

Making AI Music Work

• One thing that is top of mind for me is the way stems are being conflated with AI. It makes sense that conflation would occur from a creation aspect, however, there are strong use cases for stems beyond AI. It’s a great opportunity to create policy for how AI could work in the future, with watermarking, tracking, and paying royalties. The system is almost there, but we need to put more focus into distinguishing the difference.

  We’re at a crucial moment when rules are being set for how we as an industry—labels, DSPs, social platforms—want to handle generative AI and there is no turning back. We all want the good things that can come of it, like functional music, yet we need to be clear about what our terms are. Right now, we’re lumping everything together and we need to define and create more clarity.

— Angela Abbott, TIDAL

• If you don’t like generative AI in the music business, it doesn’t really matter. It’s a thing—labels will get onboard, as will many artists, fans, creator tool providers like sample/loop providers, DAWs, instrument manufacturers, etc. The problem isn’t around its existence, it’s around licensing, attribution, and compensation. It’s the same as if you sampled someone’s music, or they provided a drum loop or MIDI groove as part of a library. And, of course, artists need the ability to opt in or out.

  All that’s easy to say, but much harder to implement. Some say Web3 and blockchain could be a solution, but that’s a much bigger mountain to climb in the short term. More likely is something more traditional like a form of compulsory licensing, though I know some find that idea unsavory. All I can say is we need a scalable solution, soon.

  — Daniel Rowland, LANDR

Will AI Music Live Up to the Hype?

• AI will never be able to replicate aura. Regardless of how much it sounds like The Weeknd, it will never have come from Abel's mouth and that will always mean something to a listener. As the ability to "generate" sound becomes easier, creatives will care more about sound that was made by another person. We'll see a rise in peer-to-peer sharing of raw materials because that content feels more personal, intimate and special. AI: At least the name is in alphabetical order.

— Dani DiCiaccio, Splice

• There are uses for generative AI tech for music far beyond the hit and (mostly) miss music that Google and Meta are currently making. Though even when that music sounds great, which it will, I don’t think it’s going to be as disruptive as many people think.

  Passive listening abounds, but we tend to want to see a personality attached to the music that we truly love. Though I would argue for a certain age group, it matters little whether that’s a human or a virtual character—which we’ll be seeing a lot more of. So expect to see a combination of AI generated music mixed with AI-powered virtual stars, crossing over between gaming, cinema, music, and other forms of entertainment. With a level of scalable personalization impossible for a human performer to match.

  — Daniel Rowland, LANDR

• The big topic at LA Tech Week was AI, but VCs are experiencing a bit of AI fatigue. One opinion I’m hearing is that if you haven’t gotten in already, it’s too late. People are a bit turned off by the word, because so often it’s just tacked on to generate buzz. AI has been around for a long time, but we’ve seen it get rebranded over the last few years.

— Bruce Hamilton, Mech Ventures

What’s Next for the Industry

• Between broken streaming models, generative AI, and fraud, we as an industry should be focused on not only remaking systems, markets, models, but also rethinking how we do business. At the center of every hot bed topic, the universal need is to create equitable partnerships, especially ones that allow for innovation to find ground through bold value creation. And until we agree to remedy foundational issues like uniform metadata or attribution of rights, disruption will remain a necessary catalyst—in order to accelerate collaboration in an industry notoriously slow at rectifying its own mistakes, let alone proactively solving issues that are beginning to take shape.

— Michael Pelczynski, SoundCloud

• We live in transformative times. I feel honored to be along for the ride as we all figure it out, including the bumps in the road. Just remember to take a deep breath. There have always been bumps in the road—we’re just traveling a little faster these days so you feel them more.

  — Daniel Rowland, LANDR

Is the Metaverse Overhyped?

• As a gamer, seeing these metaverse plays just felt like poorly built video games. Game engines don’t work the way many metaverse companies wish they did. Engineers are selling to engineers, not explaining concepts well to the general public. The metaverse has been around in other forms for years, so they rebranded it and caught the tagline.

  If music companies build something truly innovative in AR/VR, the metaverse might really take off. We don’t need more digital stages to watch your favorite artists virtually. I expect Vision Pro to change a lot of things.

— Bruce Hamilton, Mech Ventures

• Even if you thought the metaverse was over-hyped, it's not dead. It's not going away. More immersive music experiences are in development and once they can be created at scale, most of us will love them.

— Dmitri Vietze, Music Tectonics/Rock Paper Scissors

Apple’s Spatial Audio Moves

• The Apple Vision Pro is more than a fancy headset. Taken together, Apple TV, AppleOne (bundling TV/gaming//music), and Apple’s push on spatial audio show a different trajectory than a high-end, luxury version of the Meta Quest. If you look at the Vision Pro content available on day 1, you see the advantage of computing anywhere without more monitors, but that’s not the ultimate use case. Apple showed they can unite developers with the App Store. Now they are trying to do the same with a more robust ecosystem for the metaverse (without calling it that). Don’t write off the metaverse: the dork factor of headsets might change if the content is irresistible. Next generations of Vision may see the price point go down, just like iphones. Apple is approaching 1 billion subscribers and their services business brings in $20 billion/year. The Vision Pro is a subscription machine waiting to happen. With a moat few competitors can cross.

— Dmitri Vietze, Music Tectonics/Rock Paper Scissors

Why is Social Music So Hard?

• Over the years, we have seen the interaction between social and streaming continue to evolve and intersect. Consumers crave social engagement within the atmosphere of music, so we’ve seen social platforms add music to social experiences. The interesting shift will be in how streaming platforms unlock more social interaction capabilities to allow artists to gain direct signals from their fans and fans to engage more directly with each other—versus requiring them to leverage social media as the connection point.

— Angela Abbott, TIDAL

• I’ve seen a lot of interest in social music, but no one has gotten social music right. You have to create a platform good enough to draw people away from TikTok, which has really mastered it. Another type of platform I’ve heard a lot about is super fan platforms that let artists figure out who they are, tap into them, and give them special privileges. That’s been tried countless times and no one has gotten it right. The interesting thing is that there are so many innovative companies and people doing the most incredible things being built and attempted in this space.

— Bruce Hamilton, Mech Ventures

And that’s just the beginning. “For our fifth annual conference this October, expect a diverse roster of speakers with expertise in all corners of music and tech,” enthuses Music Tectonics Conference Planner Shayli Ankenbruck. “We can’t wait to announce more speakers, panel topics, and this year’s edition of the Swimming with Narwhals Music Tech Startup Pitch Competition. No shark tanks at Music Tectonics—we’re about supporting startups to learn and grow!”

Music Tectonics focuses on innovation in music and tech, both the new trends that are bubbling up now, and what’s about to break out. “We scan the horizon for the next seismic shifts and take the pulse of trends that are maturing,” explains Vietze, “For example, we explored AI for music at our first conference with an AI talent show—before everyone else was talking about it. AI programming at our fifth annual conference will reflect the innovations and controversies that have shaped the conversation since then.”