Business Frame Weekly – Paris Hilton to drop new music / Amazon Music raises its subscription prices

Paris Hilton to drop new music

Boosey & Hawkes publishes choral piece with AI-generated lyrics

Amazon Music set for livestream from Notting Hill Carnival 2023

In this newsletter:

• Paris Hilton to drop new music and DJ sets on Roblox ‘fan hub’
• Boosey & Hawkes publishes choral piece with AI-generated lyrics
• Amazon Music set for livestream from Notting Hill Carnival 2023
• Amazon Music raises its subscription prices by a dollar
• Former Utopia staff left in financial ‘double limbo’ amid liquidation

August 22, 2023

Paris Hilton to drop new music and DJ sets on Roblox ‘fan hub’.

'Sliving’ is apparently “a playful mashup of slaying and living your best life”, coined by Paris Hilton in 2019. Why have we learned it? Because we LIVE it, obviously… but also because it’s part of the promo for Hilton’s new Roblox experience Slivingland. Described as a ‘fan hub’ it promises new music, podcasts, TV shows, films and other content from Hilton and her partner 11:11 Media. She will also be playing a DJ set within the new world on 25 August, with the launch program also including a community game night; a Taco Bell promotion; limited-edition virtual merch; and photography-based quests.

Boosey & Hawkes publishes choral piece with AI-generated lyrics

It’s not often that we write about a new piece of sheet music being sold by a famous publisher. However, ‘I Stand In The Library’ is noteworthy given the current industry debates about creative AI. It’s a 16-minute choral piece for mixed voices and piano that was composed by Ed Newton-Rex. Yes, that Ed Newton-Rex, co-founder of one of the first AI music startups Jukedeck, and now VP of audio at Stability AI – although he has always been a composer alongside his work in AI music. For his new piece he used an early version of OpenAI’s text-generation system GPT-3 – the forerunner to ChatGPR – to write a poem about music and solitude.

Amazon Music set for livestream from Notting Hill Carnival 2023

The big streaming services are increasingly competing with one another to strike livestreaming deals with big festivals and events. Amazon Music has bagged the latest high-profile partner: London’s Notting Hill Carnival, ahead of its 2023 edition later this month. Amazon Music’s activity will revolve around +44, its playlist brand focused on Black music. It will stream performances from the Rampage Sound stage as well as backstage interviews from Sunday 27 August on Amazon Music UK’s Twitch channel.

Amazon Music raises its subscription prices by a dollar

It may have taken a while (well, 14 years) for music-streaming services to raise the price of their subscriptions, but the floodgates are well and truly open now. Amazon Music is the latest to announce such rises. In the US, its Amazon Music Unlimited plan for Prime members is going up from $8.99 a month to $9.99, or $89 a year to $99. Meanwhile its Amazon Music Unlimited family plan is rising from $15.99 a month to $16.99, or $159 a year to $169.

Former Utopia staff left in financial ‘double limbo’ amid liquidation

More than 30 former staff members at Utopia UK (R&D) Limited – the UK operation of Utopia Music – appear to have been left in financial “double limbo” due to its liquidation not yet being fully completed. They have not received their full severance pay and they are currently unable to access a government pot of money to aid employees when a company is insolvent or even apply for Universal Credit to get financial support from the UK government. Music Ally has spoken to multiple former Utopia UK (R&D) employees, across numerous departments, about the extreme “emotional toll” this is causing them.

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