Business Frame Weekly – Muse Replaces Expletive-Filled Song With Even More Defiant One in Malaysia/ Meta Releases AI Music Generator

5A2IM Launches Health Care Program for Artists

Muse Replaces Expletive-Filled Song With Even More Defiant One in Malaysia

Meta Releases AI Music Generator That Creates Generic-Sounding Compositions Based on Text Prompts.

In this newsletter:

• Robot Reggae? Meta Releases AI Music Generator That Creates Generic-Sounding Compositions Based on Text Prompts.
• After Matty Healy Controversy, Muse Replaces Expletive-Filled Song With Even More Defiant One in Malaysia
• Lizzo’s Former Dancers Sue Her for Alleged Sexual Harassment, Weight-Shaming and Creating a ‘Hostile Work Environment’s
• Olivia Rodrigo Reveals ‘Guts’ Tracklist
• 5A2IM Launches Health Care Program for Artists
• Brit Beat: Britpop Roars Back as Blur Bounds to the Top/a>

Robot Reggae? Meta Releases AI Music Generator That Creates Generic-Sounding Compositions Based on Text Prompts.

Meta has released AudioCraft, a new set of AI tools to generate what the tech giant claims is “high-quality, realistic audio and music from text” — for example, producing a music sequence based on the text string “electronic Jamaican reggae DJ set.” “Imagine a professional musician being able to explore new compositions without having to play a single note on an instrument,” Meta says in a blog post about AudioCraft. “Or a small business owner adding a soundtrack to their latest video ad on Instagram with ease.” AudioCraft consists of three models: MusicGen (for music), AudioGen (for sound effects) and EnCodec (a generative AI decoder). MusicGen was trained on roughly 400,000 recordings along with text description and metadata, amounting to 20,000 hours of music owned by Meta or licensed specifically for this purpose, according to the tech giant. “Music tracks are more complex than environmental sounds, and generating coherent samples on the long-term structure is especially important when creating novel musical pieces,” the company says.

After Matty Healy Controversy, Muse Replaces Expletive-Filled Song With Even More Defiant One in Malaysia

In the weeks after Matty Healy’s controversial behavior at the Good Vibes Festival got the festival canceled by Malaysian authorities, English rock band Muse has revealed why they chose to alter their setlist during their Malaysian tour stop. In case you missed it, Healy outwardly expressed his distaste for the Malaysian government’s anti-LGBTQ laws while performing in the country’s capital city, Kuala Lumpur. After stating that he didn’t “see the fucking point… of inviting the 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have sex with,” and kissing his bandmate on stage, the group was banned from performing in Malaysia. Muse performed in Kuala Lumpur on July 29 for their “Will of the People Tour” — their first tour since before the pandemic — and replaced their song “We Are Fucking Fucked” with their 2009 track “Resistance.”

Lizzo’s Former Dancers Sue Her for Alleged Sexual Harassment, Weight-Shaming and Creating a ‘Hostile Work Environment’

Lizzo and her production company are being accused of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment by a trio of the team’s former dancers, according to a legal complaint filed Tuesday. The lawsuit, independently viewed by Variety, was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court against Lizzo (real name Melissa Viviane Jefferson), her production company Big Grrrl Big Touring, Inc. (BGBT), and Shirlene Quigley, captain of Lizzo’s dance team. The dancers — plaintiffs Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez — have alleged sexual, religious and racial harassment, disability discrimination, assault and false imprisonment, among a slew of other charges.

Olivia Rodrigo Reveals ‘Guts’ Tracklist

UPDATED: Olivia Rodrigo has revealed the full tracklist for her sophomore album, “Guts,” which will be released on Sept. 8 via Geffen Records. The news follows the release of the album’s first single, “Vampire,” which came out June 30. Rodrigo’s first album, “Sour,” earned the former Disney star three Grammys and went four-times platinum, becoming the longest-running debut album of the 21st century in the Billboard 200 chart. Rodrigo’s “Sour” collaborator Daniel Nigro returned to produce “Guts.”

hA2IM Launches Health Care Program for Artists

The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) has announced its new A2IM Artist Pro program, which includes access to health insurance and multiple other benefits. The program, with annual membership dues of $99, provides access to the A2IM Benefits Store, which includes health insurance programs and an array of a la carte insurance options, including dental, vision, personal items protection, renters and home insurance, legal services, pet insurance and much more, according to the announcement. “We are extremely excited to unveil the Artist Pro program as a testament to our unwavering dedication to empowering and uplifting independent artists,” said A2IM President/CEO Richard James Burgess. “Independent artists play a pivotal role in the recorded music industry, and our mission is to guide them towards success by offering invaluable resources and an array of exclusive benefits.”

Brit Beat: Britpop Roars Back as Blur Bounds to the Top

Britpop is back – and so is Blur. The reunited mainstay of the ‘90s movement that ruled the U.K. charts and led to the wider “Cool Britannia” movement — ahem, with Oasis, of course — recently played its biggest shows ever at the 90,000-capacity Wembley Stadium. But proof that it’s not just about nostalgia arrived as Blur’s comeback album, “The Ballad of Darren,” debuted at No. 1 on the U.K. Albums Chart last week. The album shifted over 44,000 copies in its first week, according to the Official Charts Company, despite being announced too late to be bundled with Wembley ticket sales. And Jennifer Ivory, managing director of Blur’s label Parlophone, says the success is “testament to how much people want to listen to a new Blur album.”

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