2024 ASCAP Lab Challenge: AI and the Business of Music
On the heels of tomorrow’s documentary release, the ASCAP Lab and NYC Media Lab are officially announcing the fifth consecutive year of the Challenge with the launch of the 2024 ASCAP Lab Challenge: AI and the Business of Music.
Continuing to focus on the intersection of AI and music, this year’s Challenge is specifically aimed at identifying AI-driven solutions that can transform music industry workflows, business processes and data exchanges. Examples include but are not limited to:
● Enhanced marketing strategies, community-building and distribution tools
● Infrastructure applications that streamline industry operations and data
● Innovative approaches to tackle industry-wide challenges such as data fraud
● Efficient payment solutions tailored for the music industry
● Business tools that aid music creators in their entrepreneurial endeavors
Applications for the 2024 Challenge are now open at www.ascap.com/ai-challenge and will close on Sunday, April 14 at 11:59pm ET. Two online info sessions will take place on Thursday, March 28 and and Wednesday April 10 at 12pm ET; register at www.ascap.com/ai-infosessions.
Approximately four startup and/or university-affiliated teams will be selected to receive mentorship and grants to develop and expand upon their emerging technologies during this year’s 12-week challenge.
Those selected will meet weekly (typically via video conference) with NYC Media Lab and ASCAP Lab team members to present progress and receive feedback in a cohort-based setting. Cohort teams may also have the opportunity to engage with and receive feedback about their products from ASCAP’s songwriter and publisher member community and senior leadership.
The ASCAP Lab Challenges are one facet of ASCAP’s ongoing commitment to operating as the only US performing rights society that is creator-first and future-forward. Or as ASCAP Chief Strategy & Digital Officer Nick Lehman puts it in the documentary: “It’s important for us to have a seat at the table, to be in the room where these concepts are not just concepts — but where they’re being applied in the industry.”
For more information, click HERE, and read more about the 2023 Challenge Teams featured in Prelude in AI Major: Crafting a Creator-First Future for Music & AI below:
DAACI is a comprehensive AI system that composes, arranges, orchestrates and produces authentic, high-quality and original music with emotional and narrative awareness, especially for composers for video games, the metaverse, digital worlds and dynamic virtual experiences. https://daaci.com/
Infinite Album uses AI to generate continuous copyright-safe video game music that can react to game play in real time and can be customized by gamers and viewers in collaborative, interactive and monetizable ways. www.infinitealbum.io
Never Before Heard Sounds’ Sounds.Studio is a browser-based music production platform that leverages AI to make producing music faster and more accessible with assistive tools like stem splitting, vocal conversion, timbre transfer and automatic song alignment. www.sounds.studio
Overture Games builds video games for beginner musicians designed to make practicing more fun and reduce burnout/quitting by using AI-based pitch detection to provide responsive visual feedback based on the musician’s playing. www.overture.games
Samplifi is making the sonic world easier to navigate for hearing-impaired musicians by combining classical digital signal processing techniques with the latest advances in AI to isolate and enhance the auditory information needed to harmonically orient oneself within a piece of music. www.samplifi.net
