Hey everyone - rarely will you get a national headline that is covered by both RollingStone and Axios so I knew this was going to be a fun one. This week an Artificial Intelligence-generated song, “Heart on My Sleeve,” went viral racking up over 15M views on content platforms before getting pulled. The creator of the song named Ghostwriter977, fed an AI-model both lyrics and the voices of Drake and The Weekend. The output? A LOT of controversy, and maybe the song of the summer.
I spoke about this in Neal’s Deals a few weeks ago, but almost every industry is going to feel some level of impact from AI and it hit the music industry sooner than many expected. As shown by “Heart on My Sleeve” humans soon will not be able to tell the difference between AI and human-generated music. Industry professionals fear AI could imitate artists more easily than their ability to release original music. They also are now grappling with the reality that anyone can create new music with an existing artist’s voice. Just google AI song generator and see for yourself how many free options there are.
Universal Music Group, the music label representing Drake and The Weeknd, has been urging streaming platforms to block AI generated content as they have “fundamental legal and ethical responsibility to prevent the use of their services in ways that harm artists.” Ghostwriter977 wrote in their defense that “I was a ghostwriter for years and got paid close to nothing just for major labels to profit..the future is here.”
I will leave the ethical debate up to you. For now, make sure to educate yourself on AI as it is coming to an industry near you 😉
Let’s get to it:
Kindred, a San Francisco-based members-only home-swapping network, has raised $15 million in Series A funding led by New Enterprise Associates.
Why this is interesting: Kindred is making travel more affordable and giving travelers more options through its tech-enabled home-swapping platform. The company created a members-only network of 20,000+ trusted homeowners who are open to exchanging properties with other users. No cash is exchanged between parties, only a service fee to Kindred and a cleaning fee for the home. Anecdotally, I see every month at least a few people on social media trying to do an apartment swap with someone in NYC (because it is the best city). The use case makes sense, I am just concerned that there is nothing stopping Airbnb or VRBO from creating a similar platform. They already have the network and inventory. There also may be a mismatch in supply and demand between cities based on seasonality. For example, few homeowners will want to come to New York in February so who will all the New Yorkers swap with? Maybe our friends in Chicago? 🤷🤷🤷
TicketRev, a Miami startup that aims to build a ticketing platform for sports fans, raised a $1.1 million pre-seed round from 500 Startups, Soma Capital, Groove Capital, Techstars, and the Minnesota Twins.
Why this is interesting: Although there are a plethora of ticket platforms, they all have the same seller-led model where sellers dictate prices and the platform adds in every fee imaginable. TicketRev is unique in that it is a buyer-first approach. Fans dictate the price they want to pay and preferred seating location. Sellers can review and accept these requests allowing them to liquidate unsold inventory. The best part is - buyers never pay a fee. Sellers on the other hand, pay an 8.5% flat fee which is much less than Ticketmaster and StubHub’s 15% fee. This is the one instance of a win-win in sports.
TiiCKER, a Detroit-based shareholder loyalty and engagement platform, raised $5 million in seed funding co-led by Bayshore Advisory Group, Red Cedar Ventures and Flipturn Ventures.
Why this is interesting: Did anyone else know that many publicly traded companies offer specialized perks, swag and discounts to shareholders? I definitely missed the memo. TiiCKER is a consumer fintech company where users connect their brokerage accounts to learn about all the stock perks they may be missing out on within their existing portfolios. For example, Royal Caribbean gives room credits, InterContinental offers hotel discounts, AMC invites shareholders to special movie screenings and Lindt gives out free chocolate!! Like many other consumer fintechs however, an issue I have with Tiicker is other companies are doing the same exact thing. All it took was a quick google of “stock shareholder benefits app” to find Stockperks for example. Nothing wrong with some friendly competition, but when products are undifferentiated, most of the bet is on the market being big enough for multiple winners and the founder’s ability to execute. Anyways, for anyone else that cared, Lindt stock is worth over $11K a share so the free chocolate ain’t happening.
Deals in the Works: If you want to learn more - feel free to reach out
Marketplace for the service industry (restaurants and cafes) that matches job seekers with employers according to their lifestyle and needs
Social investing network that can verify trades, follow one another for free or discover premium content by purchasing subscriptions
Restaurant-to-restaurant invoice managements and procurement platform
Shopping marketplace that invites new moms to source, share, save and shop trusted product recommendations with other moms
Vertical software for pet services businesses
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Quote of the week:
He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.
- Thomas Jefferson (presumably regarding AI)
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P.S. For those interested in learning more about Artificial Intelligence and its implications, be sure to check out GPTEA. It is a fantastic newsletter that covers the latest AI news and tools for non-technical folks like myself.
Have a great weekend everyone!!!!