Music Industry Moves: Sony Music and DNS Capital Support Vermillio With $16 Million in Funding

variety.com:

Thania Garcia Vermillio, an AI licensing and protection platform, has raised $16 million in Series A funding from Sony Music Entertainment and DNS Capital, among others.

With this new investment, Vermillio has promised to protect the creative rights of talent, record labels and studios as generative artificial intelligence continues to evolve, changing the dynamic of artistic consent, credit and compensation.

Vermillio is supported by TracelDTM, a technology that monitors IP and NIL content, alerts and takedowns and lost revenue, in addition to preparing IP and NIL assets for AI licensing, auditing of authorized AI licenses and payment management. “We are setting a new standard for AI licensing — one that proactively enables consent, credit, and compensation for innovative opportunities,” said Dan Neely, co-founder and CEO of Vermillio. “With the support of an innovation leader like Sony Music, Vermillio will continue building our products that ensure generative AI is utilized ethically and securely.

At this critical moment in determining the future of AI and how to hold platforms accountable, we are proud to protect the world’s most beloved content and talent.” Last year, Vermillio announced a partnership with talent agency WME to shield their clients from IP theft and deliver opportunities to monetize their name, image and likeness (NIL) by securely licensing their data.