It’s two years now since Landr launched its ‘Fair Trade AI’ program for artists using its distribution service.
The ahead-of-its-time initiative asked artists if they wanted to opt in to having their music used to train AI tools, earning a share of revenues generated by the company’s AI plugins, apps and services in return.
How did that go? Landr says that more than 30,000 artists have opted in so far, making hundreds of thousands of tracks available for training. The first payouts from the initiative will be made later this month.
Landr also says that it’s going to start paying advances as part of ‘Fair Trade AI’, starting with a £1m fund that will be used to pay recoupable advances of $5 per eligible track. The company is also upping the percentage of its net AI-licensing revenues that goes into the payouts pool from 20% to 25%.
“The conversation around AI and music has focused almost entirely on what creators stand to lose,” said Landr CEO Pascal Pilon as the changes were announced.
“We’re proving there’s another path, one built on consent and providing recurring revenue for artists. As technology continues to evolve, artists deserve the choice to participate and the opportunity to benefit from the value created.”
Landr has not announced details of who it has licensed the Fair Trade AI catalogue to, but says it is targeting “AI companies developing next-generation audio technologies, including creative tools, voice technologies and other music AI applications”.
The company has AI at its heart already, having originally launched as an AI mastering service in 2014, before gradually expanding into distribution and other artist tools and services.
In November last year, it published a study of 1,200 musicians’ views on AI, finding that 87% of them are using these technologies for at least one part of their creative process.
