Music

Music Labels freak out, while missing out on some SERIOUS gains

A tale as old as itime

February 5, 2024
4 min

Labels freak out, while missing out on some SERIOUS gains.

As you probably have seen, the music industry is freaking out with labels suing AI companies left and right.

Most recently they went after Anthropic claiming they used lyrics as part of their LLM models , showing that if someone were to ask “What are the lyrics to x song” Claude (their AI platform) would respond with the correct lyrics.

Anthropic argues that they are simply using the data in a fair way just like anyone would google what lyrics are and take copyright and IP very seriously.


Do I think it is a ridiculous claim? Yes.

I think labels are bugging out. Why have they not gone after OpenAI? Google?

Lord knows.

Then again, I am not there.

But, here is the thing, while they are fighting, investors such as Y-combinator and Wall Street are enjoying the insane gains that are now and to come, as they set themselves to have a piece of companies that will seriously impact this next wave of music tech.

You might ask “what are they investing in these days in a shitty market like this?”

Infrastructure.

The thing that will be the foundation for the next wave of Music tech and will power it.

YC is focused on the 2 hottest tech trends, Web3 and AI, and showing that by their recent “Stablecoin and AI” approach.

Wall street is trading and enjoying stocks like NVIDIA who is leading the race in AI chips and boy are they loving it. Check out this chart.



That is ALOT of shmekels.

Now what’s my point?

My point is, I think the labels are freaking out over something that is inevitable and unless there is something that we don’t know going on in the background, they are missing out on some of the biggest opportunities that could set them and their shareholders ahead of the game for the next 20 years.

Figuring out who is going to the next “HP or Apple of chips” or “Instance Digital payment for Artists” and getting a piece of that in order to have some leverage for a figure internal innovative move to benefit them and their catalogs, artist, and more, they are busy fighting a fight that they simply will not win.

If you want to sue and invest, that might be a great approach too, but just simply suing a company 10’s of millions is costing you 100’s.

Moral of the story: labels need to pay more attention to innovation and play nice with tech, to benefit themselves.

Ah and moral of the story for people like us: don’t let your emotions get to you. Stop, breathe, take a couple days, and see how you can turn a “shitty situation” into an opportunity that could benefit you for years to come. 

Ash Fishman

Building in the Web3 music creator economy, while entrepreneur-ing like an athlete. Hunger on the Hillside. ⛹🏼‍♂️🏄🏼‍♂️🏋🏼‍♂️

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