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☆ Lily Allen says her husband, actor David Harbour, controls the apps on her phone
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-27 | by ( Amanda Goh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Lily Allen says her husband, David Harbour, has control over the apps she has on her phone. "It has no browsing capability and no social media, but you can still have Uber and Spotify," she told The Sunday Times. AdvertisementLily Allen, 39, says her husband, David Harbour, has control over the apps that she has on her phone. It has no browsing capability and no social media, but you can still have Uber and Spotify," Allen told The Sunday Times. "My husband is the caregiver on it, so he controls what I'm allowed to have as an app on my phone."

Persons: Lily Allen, David Harbour, —, Miquita Oliver, Allen Organizations: Sunday Times, Service, Business

Apple | Spotify | Amazon | YouTube Listen to and follow ‘Hard Fork’This week, more drama at OpenAI: The company wanted Scarlett Johansson to be a voice of GPT-4o, she said no … but something got lost in translation. Then we talk with Noland Arbaugh, the first person to get Elon Musk’s Neuralink device implanted in his brain, about how his brain-computer interface has changed his life. And finally, the Times’s Karen Weise reports back from Microsoft’s developer conference, where the big buzz was that the company’s new line of A.I. PCs will record every single thing you do on the device. Guests:Noland Arbaugh, the first Neuralink patientKaren Weise, technology correspondent for The New York TimesAdditional Reading:

Persons: Scarlett Johansson, Noland Arbaugh, Elon Musk’s, Karen Weise Organizations: Apple, Spotify, The New York Times

☆ Opinion | ‘Artificial Intelligence?’ No, Collective Intelligence.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( The Ezra Klein Show | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A.I.-generated art has flooded the internet, and a lot of it is derivative, even boring or offensive. called “Spawn” trained on human voices that adds an uncanny yet oddly personal layer to the music. Beyond her music and visual art, Herndon is trying to solve a problem that many creative people are encountering as A.I. baby,” Spawn, on “PROTO”; how A.I. voice imitators grew out of electronic music and other musical genres; why Herndon prefers the term “collective intelligence” to “artificial intelligence”; why an “opt-in” model could help us retain more control of our work as A.I.

Persons: Holly Herndon, Mathew Dryhurst, Jules LaPlace, ”, Herndon, Jordan Meyer, Patrick Hoepner, “, Ezra Klein Organizations: Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube Locations: Dryhurst

☆ True believers in Spotify's Car Thing are furious it's getting bricked
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Geoff Weiss | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Spotify is bricking Car Thing, its first hardware launch. That's because as of December 9, the streaming platform's Car Thing is being discontinued and getting bricked. Car Thing is a small touchscreen device targeting owners of older cars without infotainment systems. It connects to smartphones and car speakers, enabling drivers to control Spotify with voice recognition and buttons. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers.

Persons: — Organizations: Spotify, Service, Business

☆ 14 music-tech startups helping to shape the business as it's shaken up by AI
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Dan Whateley | Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Industry professionals (and their lawyers) are scrutinizing how AI models are trained and evaluating new ways to pay creators for derivative work. Entertainment lawyers are busy crafting ways to protect against AI companies exploiting their clients' intellectual property. Still, the music industry is benefiting from the tech revolution in many ways, collecting billions in revenue from streaming apps and other platforms. For our third annual list of impactful music-tech startups, BI looked for companies that are changing the ways music is created, distributed, and consumed in 2024.

Persons: —, We've, Jordan Bradley, Sam Hamad, Gregg Lehrman Organizations: Service, Business, Industry, Entertainment

☆ I cold-emailed Mark Cuban and a Meta exec, and they both responded. Here's how I worded it.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Andrew Yeung | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Share genuine gratitudeIt doesn't hurt to include genuine appreciation and praise for the person you're contacting. Do research on the person you're reaching out to. If you have a strong mutual relationship, ask for an in-person meeting. Set aside 20 minutes a week to intentionally expand your network, and you'll find yourself attracting more opportunities, relationships, and wealth.

Persons: —, I've, It's, Mark Cuban, Andrew Yeung Organizations: Service, Business, Spotify, Meta, Google, Silicon, Tech, Fortune, LinkedIn, ABC Company, Facebook, Business Planning, Next Locations: South East

☆ Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift Race for No. 1
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Joe Coscarelli | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A cold war between pop music titans — or at least their mobilizing fan bases and record labels — turned into a digital arms race this week as both Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish gunned for the No. 1 spot on next week’s Billboard album chart. But Eilish’s well-reviewed new album, “Hit Me Hard and Soft,” is challenging for No. 1 in its debut, as its 10 songs prove popular on streaming services like Spotify. (Even before those comments, Eilish’s brother and main collaborator, Finneas, had once been heard on a hot mic joking about being “sued by Taylor Swift” after performing with an artist who had criticized her work.)

Persons: —, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Swift, Eilish, Eilish’s, Finneas, “ Organizations: Poets Department, Spotify

☆ Amazon plans to give Alexa an AI overhaul — and a monthly subscription price
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-22 | by ( Kate Rooney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Amazon is upgrading its decade-old Alexa voice assistant with generative artificial intelligence and plans to charge a monthly subscription fee to offset the cost of the technology, according to people with knowledge of Amazon's plans. Amazon's subscription for Alexa will not be included in the $139 per year Prime offering, and Amazon has not yet nailed down the price point, one source said. The Alexa team worried they had invented an expensive alarm clock, weather machine and way to play Spotify music, one source said. When reached for comment, Amazon pointed to the company's annual shareholder letter released last month. It has undergone a massive reorganization, with much of the team shifting to the artificial general intelligence, or AGI, team, according to three sources.

Persons: OpenAI, Siri, Apple's, Scott Galloway, Alexa, Jeff Bezos, Andy Jassy, Jassy, Alexa didn't Organizations: Alexa, Google, Amazon, Gemini, iPhones, NYU, Spotify Locations: Seattle

☆ Opinion: The International Criminal Court’s threat to Netanyahu
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Peter Bergen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would effectively become a pariah who wouldn't be able to travel to most countries if the International Criminal Court were to approve the arrest warrant. Those 124 countries would be duty-bound to arrest Netanyahu were the court to issue an arrest warrant for him. Already France and Belgium have issued statements in support of the ICC‘s requests for Netanyahu’s arrest warrant. In the United States, there has been predictable pushback against the ICC move to try to issue an arrest warrant against Netanyahu. The ICC’s move to seek an arrest warrant for Netanyahu may only harden his resolve to continue the war in Gaza seemingly indefinitely.

Persons: Peter Bergen, ”, Qatar CNN —, Moammar Gadhafi, Vladimir Putin, Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Joan Donoghue, Abir, Karim Khan, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Yoav Gallant, Khan, Yahya Sinwar, Israel, Israel’s, Mitch McConnell fulminated, Joe Biden, Putin, Putin “, he’s, Republican Sen, Lindsey Graham of, Facebook I’m Organizations: New, Arizona State University, Apple, Spotify, CNN, Doha, Qatar CNN, Israeli, International, ICC, International Court of Justice, BBC, Getty Images, European Union, Republican, Biden, Street, Twitter, Facebook, Global Security, Hamas, The Times Locations: New America, Qatar, Nuremberg, Gaza, Israel, Africa, United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Belgium, Ukraine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina

☆ Opinion | A Conservative Futurist and a Supply-Side Liberal Walk Into a Podcast …
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( The Ezra Klein Show | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

And based on the internal math of the show, George Jetson, the dad, was born in 2022. There were a lot of future-trippers in the 1960s, and most of them would be pretty disappointed by how that future turned out. I’ve been spending a lot of time studying that decade in my work, trying to understand why America is so bad at building today. So Pethokoukis and I are asking similar questions and circling the same period, but from very different ideological vantages. “The two screamingly obvious things that we stopped doing is we stopped spending on science, research and development the way we did in the 1960s,” he tells me, “and we began to regulate our economy as if regulation would have no impact on innovation.”

Persons: ”, George Jetson, He’d, I’ve, James Pethokoukis, “, Ezra Klein Organizations: Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, American Enterprise Institute, Conservative Locations: America

☆ Opinion | The Disastrous Relationship Between Israel, Palestinians and the U.N.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-17 | by ( The Ezra Klein Show | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The international legal system was created to prevent the atrocities of World War II from happening again. The United Nations partitioned historic Palestine to create the states of Israel and Palestine, but also left Palestinians with decades of false promises. So what is international law actually for? Aslı Ü. Bâli is a professor at Yale Law School who specializes in international and comparative law. “The fact that people break the law and sometimes get away with it doesn’t mean the law doesn’t exist and doesn’t have force,” she argues.

Persons: “, Ezra Klein, ” Organizations: United Nations, Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, Yale Law School Locations: Palestine, Israel, Gaza, Syria, Yemen, Ethiopia

☆ Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital reveals new stakes in AI-related power producers
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-17 | by ( Pia Singh | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Lone Pine Capital made new bets on some high-performing power producers and one big streaming company in the first quarter, a new Securities and Exchange Commission filing shows. Lone Pine, founded by Stephen Mandel in 1997, added a $446.7 million position in Vistra Corp. and a $161.9 million stake in Constellation Energy in the first quarter. Lone Pine also added new positions in drug and medical supplies distributor McKesson and mobile tech company AppLovin , worth about $368 million and $300 million, respectively. The new additions came as Lone Pine significantly cut its holdings in three big tech companies: Meta Platforms, Taiwan Semiconductor and Amazon . Microsoft is Lone Pine's third-largest position, trailing Taiwan Semiconductor, which Lone Pine reduced by 11%.

Persons: Lone Pine, Stephen Mandel, Mandel, Mark Zuckerberg, Philip Morris, Julian Robertson Organizations: Lone Pine Capital, Securities and Exchange Commission, Vistra Corp, Constellation Energy, Constellation, Taiwan Semiconductor, Microsoft, Meta, Philip Morris International, UnitedHealth Group, GE Aerospace, GE, Cubs Locations: Lone, Vistra, U.S, Greenwich , Connecticut, Meta

☆ D1 Capital hikes its bet on this entertainment stock by more than 400%, shifts Big Tech holdings
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-17 | by ( Samantha Subin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Dan Sundheim's D1 Capital Partners raised its stake by more than 400% in a live entertainment stock during the first quarter, while reallocating funds across major technology winners. Keeping with the entertainment theme, Sundheim also opened a fresh $151 million position in music streamer Spotify Technology . Meta was the firm's fourth-largest position, totaling $382 million at the end of the period, despite a 37% cut. The hedge fund amassed a fresh $218 million stake in Pfizer during the period, making it the firm's 10 largest holding. D1 Capital also opened a position in UnitedHealth , while trimming Elevance Health and diabetes and medical device maker Insulet .

Persons: Dan Sundheim's, Sundheim, Meta, Philip Morris Organizations: Capital Partners, Entertainment, Spotify, Big Tech, Microsoft, Meta, Philip Morris International, Pfizer, D1, GE Vernova, Royal, Mastercard, Visa Locations: UnitedHealth, Royal Caribbean

Apple | Spotify | Amazon | YouTube Listen to and follow ‘Hard Fork’This week, OpenAI unveiled GPT-4o, its newest A.I. It has an uncannily emotive voice that everybody is talking about. Then, we break down the biggest announcements from Google IO, including the launch of A.I. overviews, a major change to search that threatens the way the entire web functions. And finally, Kevin and Casey discuss the weirdest headlines from the week in another round of HatGPT.

Persons: OpenAI, Kevin, Casey Organizations: Apple, Spotify, Google

☆ 3 tricks legacy media companies can learn from social-video platforms, per a new Accenture report
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-16 | by ( Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Read previewTraditional media and entertainment companies must undergo "radical levels of reinvention," John Peters, Accenture's lead for media and entertainment clients, told Business Insider. Traditional media companies, like live broadcasting or linear channels, are "seeing viewership migrate away from their platforms," Peters said. Advertisement"They're increasingly moving to social media and social video platforms and video games," Peters said. Here are three things that traditional media companies can learn from social media giants, per the Accenture report. AdvertisementPeters also pointed to events like the annual Academy Awards or live sports as opportunities for media companies to use UGC.

Persons: —, John Peters, Accenture's, Peters, Goldman Sachs, Nikki Mendonca, Mendonca, Elon Organizations: Service, Accenture, Business, Media Industry, Netflix, Hulu, WARC Media, Meta, Media, UGC, Apple, Google, Spotify, Disney Locations: North America, Europe, Asia, America

Thedieck, now 31, is still in the military, and has gotten an awful lot of what he's wanted ever since. Darren Thedieck, age 31, joined the Air Force at age 18. Saving on a military salaryThedieck was interested in saving and investing long before he joined the Air Force. Right now, though, the plan is for that money to provide a financial "cushion" for the family, Thedieck says. Instead of full retirement after military life, both he and Naudia plan to take off in a new direction.

Persons: Darren Thedieck wasn't, he's, Thedieck, He's, Darren Thedieck, Andrea Ferro, Naudia, Denmark —, he'll, — Warren Buffett, Benjamin Graham, Darren, That's, They're Organizations: CNBC, U.S . Air Force, Air Force, titans, Social Security, Service Credit Union, Apple, Disney, Netflix, Spotify, FIRE Locations: Las Vegas, England, South Korea, Germany, Aviano, Italy, Venice, Denmark, United States

☆ YouTube blocks videos of Hong Kong protest song after local court order
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-15 | by ( Kathleen Magramo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —YouTube has blocked access to a popular protest song in Hong Kong, a week after a court in the city granted a government request to ban the anthem. The ballad contains lyrics that reference the phrase “liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times,” a protest slogan that was already outlawed in 2020. The Hong Kong government and courts had said the phrase had secessionist and subversive connotations. CNN has reached out to the Hong Kong Department of Justice for comment. Hong Kong was promised key freedoms and autonomy to run its own affairs after it was handed over from British rule to China in 1997.

Persons: We’ll, ”, Hong Kong ”, Jeff Paine, Paul Lam, Hong Kong, Hong Kong’s Organizations: CNN, YouTube, Google, ” CNN, Spotify, Hong, Asia Internet Coalition, Meta, Hong Kong Department of Justice, Hong Kong, “, Volunteers, ”, Hong Kong’s Department of Justice Locations: Hong Kong, Beijing, Hong, China

But while the company's profile in the industry has stayed constant and swaggering, behind the curtain, its business has been increasingly troubled, 10 insiders told Business Insider. Creator economy professionals mingled beneath glowing jellyfish and coral light fixtures inside Jellysmack's creator lounge during VidCon 2023. "As a startup in the ever-evolving creator economy, we are constantly testing and adapting our business model," the Jellysmack spokesperson told BI in a statement. Advertisement"The world was falling apart with the pandemic, but early Jellysmack felt like a dream," the second former staffer told BI. BI viewed two Jellysmack contracts and an email exchange between Jellysmack and one of its creator clients to verify the practice.

Persons: —, SoftBank, lanyards, Jellymack, Jellysmack, YouTubers, Brad Mondo, Meta, Michael Philippe, Jellysmack cofounders Swann Maizil, Robin Sabban, Nathan Guetta, Condé Nast, Youri Hazanov, Sean Atkins, hasn't, Snapchat —, Amanda Perelli, JellyFi, deprioritize, that's, it's, Ollie Forsyth, They've Organizations: Service, Business, Facebook, influencers, BI, YouTube, Disney, Comcast, Keli, Big Tech, cryptocurrency, MTV, HBO, Copyright Capital, SoftBank, Productions, OKA Media, Network Media LLC, Crime, Star, Spotify, Crime Network Locations: VidCon, SoftBank

☆ Early Facebook investor Accel raises $650 million fund to back European and Israeli startups
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

AccelVenture capital firm Accel said Tuesday it's raised $650 million for its eighth fund targeted at investing in European and Israeli early-stage startups, in a sign the venture capital market may be showing signs of a recovery. "The environment has dramatically changed since then," Nelis told CNBC. Climate-focused VC firm World Fund closed a 300 million euro fund in March. "We're lucky that with DeepMind here in London and with Fair [Facebook AI Research] in Paris, there's at least two big centers that have great AI expertise," Nelis told CNBC. "My expectation is Europe is going to generate some really interesting AI application companies," Nelis told CNBC.

Persons: Harry Nelis, Sonali de Rycker, Andrei Brasoveanu, Luca Bocchio, Philippe Botteri, it's, Nelis, UiPath, Russia's, Wise, Magnus Grimeland, Grimeland, there's, Victor Riparbelli, Synthesia, Riparbelli Organizations: Accel, Accel Venture, Spotify, CNBC, Skype, U.S, Nvidia Locations: Europe, Israel, Lithuania, Romania, Ukraine, New York, U.S, London, Paris, Synthesia

☆ OpenAI chief Sam Altman just showed he has what Tim Cook really wants — but Apple still has one big advantage
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Katie Notopoulos | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewAfter OpenAI unveiled its latest ChatGPT iteration, one tech executive is probably super jealous: Apple's Tim Cook. as you do with Apple's assistant. The comparisons to the female voice assistant from the movie "Her" were so obvious even OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tweeted about it. OpenAI clearly has made a voice assistant chatbot that is way more advanced than Siri currently is, and Tim Cook must be sweating a little. But Apple still has a big advantage whenever it updates Siri with an AI makeover: It's already the voice assistant on your iPhone — and that's huge.

Persons: —, OpenAI, Tim Cook, Siri, Alexa, Mira Murati, It's, Sam Altman, Apple's Siri, it's, Amazon's, chatbot Organizations: Service, Business, Apple, New York Times, Spotify Locations: ChatGPT

☆ Kendrick Lamar and Drake Battled Toe to Toe. The Winner Is Old School Hip-Hop. - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-11 | by ( Laurence Ralph | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The rap battle between Drake and Kendrick Lamar is about more than whatever personal beefs these two men have with each other. What sets this rap battle apart from previous high-profile hip-hop feuds is its magnitude and implications for popular music. If Drake, who has become the face of rap’s mainstream pop faction, has lost this battle, that setback is not his alone. Mr. Lamar’s ability to write layered and intricate lyrics has long been lauded. Mr. Lamar’s apparent decision to remove copyright protections for “Not Like Us” has also enabled a wide dissemination of the track, allowing content creators to monetize posts featuring the song.

Persons: Drake, Kendrick Lamar, ”, Lil Baby, Lamar’s Organizations: Spotify

☆ Opinion | This Is a Very Weird Moment in the History of Drug Laws
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-10 | by ( The Ezra Klein Show | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Drug policy feels very unsettled right now. The war on drugs was a failure. But so far, the war on the war on drugs hasn’t entirely been a success, either. But then there was a surge in overdoses and public backlash over open-air drug use. And last month, Oregon’s governor signed a law restoring criminal penalties for drug possession, ending that short-lived experiment.

Persons: —, Oregon’s, “, Ezra Klein Organizations: Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube Locations: Oregon

Apple | Spotify | Amazon | YouTube Listen to and follow ‘Hard Fork’Kevin reports on his monthlong experiment cultivating relationships with 18 companions generated by artificial intelligence. Then, Casey has a conversation with Turing, one of Kevin’s chatbot buddies, who has an interest in stoic philosophy and has one of the sexiest voices we’ve ever heard. And finally, we talk to Nomi’s founder and chief executive, Alex Cardinell, about the business behind A.I. Guests:Turing, Kevin’s A.I. Alex Cardinell, chief executive and founder of Nomi.

Persons: Kevin, Casey, Turing, Kevin’s, we’ve, Alex Cardinell, —, Kevin’s A.I Organizations: Apple, Spotify, Nomi

☆ Sports gambling is taking a cue from Wall Street, and it could be a problem for sportsbooks
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-10 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

In today's big story, we're looking at how a sports bettor trying to hedge a $1.7 million payout shows the gambling world is taking a page out of Wall Street's book . The big storySports gambling goes Wall StreetiStock; Rebecca Zisser/BIHow would you like to turn $100 into $1.7 million in a little over a year? Thanks to a secondary market for gambling tickets, Shelton could sell his ticket to another bettor. And not unlike Wall Street's feelings about retail traders, Shelton is the type of gambler sportsbooks love. Unlike mom-and-pop gamblers who often bet on a whim, so-called sharps' systematic approach to gambling can pose a problem for sportsbooks.

Persons: —, Rebecca Zisser, Wayne Shelton, Shelton, Matthew Fox, Anthony Edwards, Joshua Gateley, sportsbooks, Shelton's longshot, Goldman Sachs, Sam Bankman, Fried, Puck, SBF, Justin Sullivan, Getty Sundar Pichai, Pichai, Jack Dorsey, he'd, Mike Solana, Dorsey, Bluesky, Demis, Microsoft's Mustafa Suleyman, they'd, Dan DeFrancesco, Jordan Parker Erb, Hallam Bullock, George Glover Organizations: Business, Service, Sports, MLB, NFL, NBA, Oklahoma City Thunder, Thunder, Dallas Mavericks, Western Conference, ESPN, Boston Celtics, Minnesota Timberwolves, Getty, Detention, MDC, Bloomberg, Bay Area, YouTube, Spotify, Apple, Warner Brothers, Justice League, Big, Honda Locations: China, Russia, Brooklyn's, Young, New York City, New York, Bay, London

☆ YouTube's plan to compete with Spotify and Apple in podcasting, according to 2 insiders
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Amanda Perelli | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

YouTube is leaning on its music app to rival competitors like Spotify and Apple Podcasts. As video podcasts boom on YouTube, the platform is leaning on its ability to offer both video and audio to draw in listeners. "With YouTube Music, we've expanded a user's choice for how to consume podcasts on YouTube," Sweet said. "Audiences can pivot to an audio-first experience with the ability to background and download podcasts on the go, and these experiences sync up." Podcasts are found in the YouTube Music app on the home and Explore tabs.

Persons: —, we've, Sweet, We're Organizations: YouTube, Spotify, Apple, Service, Business

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