For Music and AI, All Roads Lead to Licensing (Guest Column)

variety.com:

Vickie Nauman Vicki Nauman is the founder and CEO of CrossBorderWorks, a music tech consulting and advisory firm she launched in 2014 with a portfolio of gaming companies, streaming platforms, apps, hardware, start-ups and industry consortiums.

She is a a digital music veteran with previous senior roles at 7Digital, Sonos, KEXP, RealNetworks and others. Generative AI is in the midst of a transition from renegade disruptive tech to a sustainable part of the digital music economy.

It’s unclear just how bumpy this road will be or how big this sustained line of business will become, but it’s clear that like other previous disruptions to music, all roads lead to licensing.

The music business is built on an intellectual property foundation, much like many technology and gaming companies. However, the biggest difference between music and these other industries is that music can easily be integrated into third-party websites and apps and experiences, and that music brings a crowd and helps foster platform adoption.