On June 13th, 2023, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), a not-for-profit performance rights organization, unfurled a tapestry of AI initiatives. Like a maestro weaving together the notes of a symphony, ASCAP’s recent move harmonizes technology with the creative brilliance of its community. Their goal is resolute: to shield and empower music creators in an ever-evolving digital landscape.

We find ASCAP, an organization with a history spanning over a century, brimming with resolute optimism. With a repertoire of a staggering 18 million musical works, it has now adopted a slate of AI principles. These principles are akin to the very music sheets that guide an orchestra; they will now guide the organization in fostering technology, and ensuring that the fruits of these labors are shared equitably among its members.

ASCAP’s opus is composed in part by the ASCAP Lab. Inaugurated in 2019, the Lab orchestrates a dance between technology and creativity. Through partnerships, such as the one with NYC Media Lab and NYU Tandon School of Engineering, it ventures into the realms of augmented reality, spatial audio, and the metaverse. The 2023 Music and AI Challenge is an ensemble piece in itself, with five teams of tech aficionados granted not only funds but the quintessential mentorship that paves the way to innovation.

This initiative is not just a progression of notes on a sheet; it’s a dynamic symphony with several movements. The first movement is education. ASCAP Experience, slated for June 21st, will have a panel comprising experts from creative, tech, and business domains. The crescendo builds up to the ASCAP AI Symposium on July 19th, where a half-day deep dive into AI in the music industry will ensue.

The underlying cadence is the ASCAP AI Principles, which encapsulate human creators’ rights, transparency, consent, compensation, credit, and global consistency. Elizabeth Matthews, CEO of ASCAP, voices a warrior-like spirit, declaring, “The future is bright, and we have our helmets on to fight the fight to protect the rights of music creators.”

This narrative finds its resolution not in the closing of a chapter, but in the anticipation of what lies beyond the coda. The advent of artificial intelligence in the music industry, like a powerful crescendo, marks not the end, but an everlasting echo that will shape the etudes of tomorrow.

This exposition is a call to the members of ASCAP, the virtuosos, and the maestros of music, to not only be the composers but also the guardians of this new dawn.

With the baton in their hands, ASCAP’s vast ensemble of over 920,000 members will now embark on a composition that is much grander, and perhaps, the masterstroke in the annals of music innovation.

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