Artist discoverability seems to be the hot topic of the week! Let’s see what we have in store this Friday:
#1. Universal, Concord and ABKCO pushing for a fair case against Anthropic
In the ongoing legal battle between music publishers Universal, Concord, and ABKCO against AI developer Anthropic, the publishers have requested a U.S. court to deny Anthropic’s motion to dismiss most of the case. Just as a refresher: the lawsuit accuses Anthropic's AI chatbot, Claude, of copyright infringement for generating lyrics that allegedly copy portions of copyrighted songs.
Anthropic seeks to dismiss charges of contributory and vicarious infringement, arguing no third-party user induced this behavior. The publishers, however, claim Anthropic is stalling and misrepresenting facts and law, urging the court to keep all charges in place.
#2. SoundCloud unveils the official version of Ascending
SoundCloud has officially launched its "Ascending" program, aimed at boosting the discoverability of emerging artists after a successful year-long beta. Similar to Spotify’s "Radar" and Apple Music’s "Up Next," the program selects one artist each month for targeted promotion.
Artists like Shaboozey, Kenya Grace, and Barry Can’t Swim have already benefited from the initiative, seeing pretty strong increases in followers and streams. The program offers tailored support, including billboard placements, curated playlists, and marketing strategies.
#3. Roblox’s new features on discoverability
Staying on the topic, Roblox is expanding its music discovery features, aiming to become a hub for immersive music engagement. At the Roblox Developers Conference, the company introduced the official DistroKid integration that allows indie artists to make their music available to its 80 million daily users. Two new features were also launched: "What's Playing" for in-game music identification and music charts based on user engagement, set to roll out in early 2025.
These updates offer artists unique opportunities to connect with a vast audience, strengthening Roblox’s push into the music space alongside its partnerships with major labels like Universal, Sony, and Warner Music.
#4. EU listeners are big fans of domestic artists
However, the report raises concerns about Europe’s declining global music exports, with only 25 EU songs reaching Top 10 charts outside the continent in 2023, compared to 113 from the U.S. The report also shows uneven growth in recorded music revenues across the EU, with Eastern European markets like Bulgaria and Poland seeing the highest gains.
In the report, IFPI warns that Europe risks falling behind in the global music market without policy support for innovation and competitiveness.
#5. Playing around with the Spotify algorithm
A recent experiment aimed to test whether it's possible to change Spotify's music recommendations by altering listening habits and sourcing music from friends and family. The experiment showed minimal impact on Spotify’s algorithm after a month, highlighting the platform’s reliance on long-term listening data.
The findings suggest that while Spotify’s algorithm efficiently curates playlists, true music discovery still benefits from human input and external sources. This raises important questions about the balance between algorithmic personalization and human curation in the future of music discovery.
