On this week’s episode of The MadTech Podcast, John Still is joined by Mat Broughton and Tony Barnes, co-founder of Karta, to explore the music and gaming industries.  

They discuss the open letter signed by 200 musicians against irresponsible AI, how AI is shaping the music industry, the benefits of gaming as well as the converge of the music and gaming industries. 

Artists Slam AI Developers For Using Music Without Permission In Letter Signed By Kacey Musgraves, Billie Eilish And More (Forbes)

Hundreds of artists have signed an open letter from the Artist Rights Alliance calling on AI tech developers to stop training copycat programs and using AI-produced sounds to “dilute the royalty pools” paid to artists for their work. 

AI innovator Sir Demis Hassabis: Video games can boost creativity in young (BBC) 

Sir Demis told the BBC that gaming helped him to become successful. He believes children who game should be encouraged with their creative use of tech. 

Universal, Republic launch Boombox Music Player on Roblox (Music Business Worldwide)

Universal Music Group and one of its frontline labels, Republic Records, has launched a new product in Roblox which enables players to listen to music in-game. Boombox, the new product,  is described as “an ad-supported portable music player” embedded in Roblox which allows labels to launch playlists and integrate them into the gaming space dynamically.