Over my 40 years working for artists and creatives, I’ve lived
through countless technological cycles. From the Roland
TR-808, which revolutionized digital drum programming, to the
Fairlight CMI, the first commercial digital sampler, to
Auto-Tune … technology in music is many times met with
apprehension but often leads to profound creative progress.
But let’s speak the truth ? technology in music can also be
disruptive. Digital piracy undermined our creative industries
for far too long, and it took time for streaming to
meaningfully contribute to the bottom line …
That's why today's
announcements
mark an important opportunity for the music industry, tech
industry, and creative communities to come together early and
shape the future of AI collaboratively. Generative AI can
create immense value for all creatives, as it enriches human
creativity in ways unimaginable just a few months ago. But the
journey to unlocking this value will be bumpy, which is why we
want to test and learn in deep partnership with our music
industry partners, artists, songwriters, and producers.
AI will never replace human creativity. It's not a
competitor, it’s a collaborator. It empowers creatives to
focus on what truly matters: unique intentions, creative
vision, and taste.
First I’d like to expand on our announcement of a set of music
AI Tools for professional musicians. We launched a
Music AI Incubator
in August, and we are learning from renowned artists,
producers, and songwriters. Their feedback inspired us to
develop new AI tools, allowing musicians to experiment with
new ways to enhance their creative process. Imagine humming a
melody and instantly getting a feel for the instruments that
can bring that melody to life ? trumpet or guitar?
Secondly, we announced an experiment in YouTube Shorts called
Dream Track, powered by Google DeepMind’s most advanced AI
music generation model to date,
Lyria
. As of today, we will let a small group of select US YouTube
creators create soundtracks for their Shorts that are up to 30
seconds long and use the AI-generated voice of artists who
have partnered with us to participate in this experiment.
We are deeply honored to collaborate with Alec Benjamin,
Charli XCX, Charlie Puth, Demi Lovato, John Legend, Papoose,
Sia, T-Pain, and Troye Sivan (with more artists on the way)
who have all chosen to participate in this experiment as we
test and learn to shape the future of AI in music.
Dream Track is meant to create deeper connections between
artists, creators, and fans. Users can dive into the musical
universe of participating artists with personal prompts that
allow them to explore the artist's artistry in unprecedented
ways. To learn more about these experiments, I encourage you
to read our
announcement blog
.
To hear more from Demi Lovato, Louis Bell, and Troye Sivan
click
here
.
All new technology has to be approached responsibly and
collaboratively. That is not lost on us, and we cannot figure
this out alone. It’s mission critical for us to work with our
partners in the music industry to develop new monetization and
attribution frameworks, leveraging infrastructures like
Content ID, our best-in-class rights management tech, that
have generated billions for the industry for more than a
decade. We’ve also heard from partners on the need to provide
the right options and controls to manage these emerging
technologies. Removal requests will be available to labels or
distributors who represent artists participating in YouTube’s
early AI music experiments. We’re still in the early stages of
this work and expect that we’ll continue to evolve our
approach as we learn more. You can read more about YouTube’s
progress in responsible AI innovation
here
.
When technological innovation, human imagination, and music
meet, extraordinary things can happen. We wake up every
morning obsessing over these details and making sure our
platform and technologies help artists realize their dreams,
while letting fans get closer to the action. Our team looks
forward to testing, learning, and building with our creative
and business partners to accomplish just that.
With love and respect,