Decoder with Nilay Patel
00:18:16 · Mitch Glazier, Nilay Patel
[00:18:16] S4: You're the first person I think that sort of that I've listened to that sort of honed in on like on on this particular question. At the end of the day, it's always the fans in in my view. They will always at the end of the day sort of win because if you are any kind of service, any with any kind of business model, I don't care if you're AI, I don't care if you're streaming, you need human beings to pay you money Usually by subscribing, that's the highest revenue source. And they're not gonna do that if at the end of the day, they feel like they are losing out. And I do think given all of the focus groups and polling and, you know, everything that we've done and other people have done on this, it is very clear that fans wanna maintain that human connection with an artist. Mhmm. Yeah. It's not just about the music. It's also about the artist, the persona, the brand, the the emotional connection. You know, Taylor Swift's fans love her music, but they also love her. Yeah. Right? Pearl Jam's fans love their music, but it's also like Pearl Jam. You know what I mean? It's a... It it... They're their own piece of culture. And so we know, for example, that if a fan knows that a song is AI, then they have a different view of it than if they know that it is human. So do you think that's gonna last forever? [00:19:42] S3: I'm I'm honestly curious about this because it has changed even in the last year.
00:19:47 · Mitch Glazier
[00:19:47] S4: It has. I think on generative AI, it will last forever. In other words, a completely machine made piece of art because you lose that connection. An assistive AI where creators are using AI even in a broad way in order to sort of... As a tool to get their creation out there. Right now, it might be a little bit suspect. You know, in a few years it may just be like using a synthesizer or using auto tune. Like, you know, there might be some people who think it's, you know, not the greatest but it it it'll be an accepted part of the art form. So I think there's a difference between are you maintaining the human connection? That's the question. You can use AI as a as a big part of the tool to do that, but in some way are you maintaining that human connection? I think that's the test. And that doesn't happen with a prompt. I mean, that doesn't happen with me sitting there typing in 18 words on Suno and then like more words to like, you know, get it to a place that sounds better to my ear and then sticking it up on Spotify through DistroKid. That I I just don't think that that will ever cut it even though I think there is a bigger scale when it comes to assisted AI. So fans rule, I think labeling is happening and will continue to happen because of fans. I think consumer reactions will happen because of labeling and that that will then drive the economics of the business. So labeling is actually a very important piece of But I also think that if you don't secure the right, fans never get a chance to then do their thing, which is to ultimately control the market. So, you know, my focus all around the world is have we secured the basic rights of creators? If we've done that, fans can take over and drive the market from there.
00:21:46 · S7
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00:22:56 · S0, S1
Ad[00:22:56] S0: Support for the show comes from CrowdStrike. AI is already fundamentally changing how companies build products and run their businesses. If you listen to the show, you probably already know this. But while AI drives innovation, every new model and agent also creates new cybersecurity vulnerabilities. That's why CrowdStrike built AI detection and response or AIDR. AIDR helps organizations discover where AI is being used, monitors AI at runtime, and helps teams detect, investigate, and respond to threats involving AI systems. As companies adopt AI, security has to be built in from the start. More than 70% of the Fortune 100 trust CrowdStrike to protect their businesses. Now CrowdStrike is helping secure the AI era. You can learn more about AI detection and response at crowdstrike.com/decoder. Ad[00:23:55] S1: You're either all in on this model or maybe you're building with another. You're either speed or is it security? You're either custom or are you ready to use? Or you're AWS AI. With hundreds of models, ready to use agents, speed and security built in, you don't have to pick a side. You can have them all. How will AI revolutionize your business? AWS AI is how.
00:23:55 · S1, Nilay Patel, Mitch Glazier
Ad[00:23:55] S1: You're either all in on this model or maybe you're building with another. You're either speed or is it security? You're either custom or are you ready to use? Or you're AWS AI. With hundreds of models, ready to use agents, speed and security built in, you don't have to pick a side. You can have them all. How will AI revolutionize your business? AWS AI is how. [00:24:32] S3: It's funny. I wanna talk about all that. It occurs to me that I have gotten immediately as deep into my feelings as I can with you, and I forgot to ask you the very basic questions that I ask everybody who comes on the show. So, obviously, the RIAA is is well known. It's it's either a hero or a villain depending on where you are in your story as we have both determined. Tell people what the RIAA is, how big it is, and and how it's structured. [00:24:56] S4: We're based in Washington DC because that's where the federal government is. We used [00:25:00] S1: to be based
00:25:01 · Mitch Glazier
[00:25:01] S4: in New York. RIAA actually started as a tech standards association. They created the RIAA curve, the equalization curve that allowed both the recording and the playback of vinyl records on a way that would work on every single record player. So it didn't really start out as a lobbying organization or a litigation organization. That's how we became famous or infamous depending on what I'm on where you sit. But we started out as a tech standards organization and we still do that. We still participate in international standard setting organizations right now to try and set the fields for example for the metadata that people will use whether it's AI or any other technological format or in labeling for example. But we also run the golden platinum program which we're probably best known for for the... With the general public. So we're like those, you know, nerdy auditors that actually certify the Golden Platinum records, like the lawyers, like the PricewaterhouseCooper lawyers that walk out on the Oscars or whatever. But that's great because it allows us to sort of interact directly with artists and celebrate their success which is very cool. We also like put together all the revenue from the entire recorded part of the music business and we release that twice a year and that helps inform people about the markets and it helps to sort of on the business side give people the sort of benchmarks that they need industry wide. Everybody knows what their company is doing, what their management company is doing, but to know what the whole industry is doing and whether or not you're on par or you know less or more is is quite helpful. We are the spokesperson when industry is aligned. We're out there sort of talking on behalf of the industry. We technically represent the major labels, but we forge coalitions because whether you're major or indie, whether you're an artist or a publisher or a songwriter, most of the time our interests are aligned. Every once in a while we fight each other. But where we are aligned, I would say is 90% of the time, the RIAA is sort of the driving force in building coalitions so that we can all speak together. So we do a lot of stuff. We don't just sue people and lobby the government, although those are big parts of what we do. And then we also take on the content protection force for the industry.