How musicians are fighting AI for fair wages

Did you know it takes a million streams to earn $3,000 on Spotify?
Also today: How flying really works, a meditation on why Sears stores are still in operation, and how to be your own friend. Written by Carly Rose Gillis.

Last week, nonprofit musician advocacy group Artist Rights Alliance posted an open letter on Medium pleading with AI companies to not use the technology to devalue their music.

“Unchecked, AI will set in motion a race to the bottom that will degrade the value of our work and prevent us from being fairly compensated for it,” says the letter.

It’s signed by over 200 big hitters in the music industry, including Billie Eilish, Smokey Robinson, Kacey Musgraves, Elvis Costello, Katy Perry, and even the estate of Frank Sinatra, whose voice has been a ubiquity in the “AI generated covers” trend. (This one of “Call Me Maybe” is particularly haunting.)

Universal Music Group also took a big swing against AI earlier this year when it pulled its entire catalog off of TikTok, which is plagued with the exact kind of infringement that artists are fighting against. UMG’s open letter touted similar themes, explaining how the platform is allowing AI-generated content to “massively dilute the royalty pool for human artists, in a move that is nothing short of sponsoring artist replacement by AI.” But this action also hurt its artists, as it eliminated the use of TikTok to promote their music. (UMG and Spotfiy are now cooking something up to create an alternative method of promotion, although it is shrouded in mystery.)

As the music industry scrambles to find solutions, for AI, the beat goes on: OpenAI just announced a tool that can create a replica of a human voice.

What else we’re reading

• Every time I fly, I always wonder how flying even works; turns out I’m in good company because even aerospace engineers don’t quite get it. Even so, this story from a professor of aerospace engineering explains a lot of aspects that will instantly deepen your understanding of your next flight — like how the flaps on the wings are constantly adjusted to compensate for both lift and drag, much like how breaks work.

Photo via The Conversation U.S.

• I practically grew up at my local Sears department store, so I was immediately drawn to this recent story about “The mysterious side of Sears.” I had thought that Sears went the way of Mervyn’s but there are 11 stores still in operation. Why? Writer Alex Chrisman posits: “I have come to the conclusion that at this point [former Sears CEO] Eddie Lampert is only operating the stores as part of his real estate strategy to hopefully make some money out of this deal he tanked with his own apparent inability to make an enduring success out of this once great company.”

Your daily dose of practical wisdom (about being your own best friend)

Next time you find yourself disappointed with yourself, think how you would feel if a friend told you about it. Writer Chandrayan Gupta bets you wouldn’t react half as badly — and that’s something that can help you “more objectively view yourself and your problems.”