This month, music and film are at the forefront as each battles with the future uses for burgeoning tech. While AI-generated film visuals seem to be coming up short, progress toward realistic AI-generated music is starting to send shockwaves. On the consumer side, music streaming tools are being released to allow more listening experience customization. Across the industry, artists are celebrating ways that some these new tools can enhance their work, while speaking out against potential impacts on jobs, compensation, and creative freedom.
Generative AI (GenAI) has become increasingly integrated into marketing and communication careers, and even our daily lives, with the rise of various text-to-image, text-to-video, & text-to-text tools. As digital marketers find new and innovative ways to keep up with the trends, and specifically GenZ in a quick-changing popular culture scene, how are they reacting to the rise of GenAI?
Arts and cultural organizations are becoming increasingly aware of their climate impact, and many are taking action to reduce harm. Tracking, reporting, and offsetting emissions may seem like an overwhelming feat for small or mid-sized organizations, but emerging blockchain technology may help make the process more efficient and reliable.
As previously foreshadowed by Samantha in an article written in July of 2023, TikTok: Opportunity and Risk, TikTok has been under a microscope from governments across the globe for quite awhile. The analysis provided in her article is still relevant today given the recent vote to ban TikTok, and the United States House moving forward to force Chinese state-owned TikTok company ByteDance to sell their ownership of the U.S. version of TikTok, or lose access to the United States TikTok market. To fully understand the situation, this article will recap TikTok’s controversial Privacy Policy and the 2023 testimonies, and also discuss the current governmental situation surrounding the ban.
Digital strategy has become a buzzword after the explosion of AI in the last 18 months. Yet, it is not about AI. AI has been the tipping point for organizations and professionals to recognize that they must update or create a digital strategy for success. Digitally-forward arts organizations already have a digital component as part of their strategic plan. Read more to understand the need for technology to be a core component of strategic plans and operations.
The current status of digital programming and investment varies widely across the arts and cultural sector. Some organizations have abandoned the streaming technology they experimented with, while others continue to incorporate digital programs and performances into their offerings. The following research reveals U.S. streaming trends and audience behaviors.
While Spotify has been a frontrunner in the AI field for a decade, its increased infusion of AI into its algorithmic content suggestions has put it into the spotlight with its ‘AI DJ.’ Consumers return again and again to Spotify largely for its enhanced personalization that few other streaming platforms can match. While AI is central to that personalization, it hasn’t surfaced without baggage and some consumer retaliation. It is also worth considering how this technology will further perpetuate algorithmic biases that disproportionately affect Black musicians.
Indie artists have been traditionally excluded from major labels due to their obscurity and improbability of generating revenue, causing difficulty in creating a career. Nowadays, however, independent artists have more power and capacity to survive, even thrive, without the help of a major label. The advent of the internet, streaming, and social media, as well as legislation regulating for rights of independent recording artists, have pivoted the music industry in the 21st century.
Artificial intelligence in the arts is growing increasingly more complex. It is 2022, and robots are co-creating art, NFTs are celebrating and confusing art consumers around the world, and at least 85% of Americans have smartphones that give immediate access to endless amounts of streaming content. However, AI has flaws. This article covers the recommendation algorithms built to support content delivery for this majority, their cultural implications, and bias control.
The entertainment industry in a post-pandemic and streamer-heavy world bears a sigil of secrecy. Viewership data for films and television shows on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, Disney Plus, Apple TV Plus, and other streaming services is highly monitored behind closed doors at these companies. Streaming consumption skyrocketed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, as people around the world were forced to stay at home. During the same time, online TV/video consumption increased from 1.7 hours to 6.5 hour. The pandemic fast-tracked the world’s shift to streaming, as it became one of the only accessible entertainment platforms, forcing the general public to decide which streaming services to invest in, largely because of cost.
Since the 1980s, it has been industry practice to measure the number of viewers consuming films and television. These measures affect the industry in multiple ways, from advertising sales to cultivating future viewers, and often contribute to the project’s success. As streaming continues to pivot the entertainment industry, other services will begin to release viewership data in a similar fashion. This crucial step in releasing streaming viewership data has the potential to set a new dawn for streaming services: one where data and transparency lead the way into a more informed and impactful industry.
