The ASCAP Lab Gets Down to Business with AI

The ASCAP Lab is ASCAP’s innovation initiative, where the organization experiments to create the ASCAP of the next 100 years. Its mission is to explore advanced technologies, new business approaches and creative collaborations with the intent to foster and expand new ways to serve and support ASCAP members - all part of our commitment to being “creator first, future forward.” One way it is achieving this goal is with the ASCAP Lab Challenge. Launched in 2020, this annual innovation accelerator program, operated in partnership with the NYC Media Lab led by the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, provides selected startups and university teams with mentorship and small grants to develop and expand upon their emerging technologies during a 12-week program. The ASCAP Lab works closely with each selected team to optimize their strategies and product offerings for the music creator community. The 2024 program, dubbed the AI and the Business of Music Challenge, brought together ASCAP’s senior strategy, operations, and legal experts; key ASCAP writer, composer, and publisher members; and five of the most promising music tech entrepreneurs and early-stage startups in an effort to shape how AI tools can benefit music creators. In this episode you’ll meet the 5 teams - CRESQA, Music Tomorrow, RoEx, SoundSafe.ai and Wavelets AI, and ASCAP composer member Gregg Lehrman (trailers for Avatar, Inglourious Basterds) who is also a startup founder (Output) and participated in the Challenge as a mentor to learn more about their experience and their unique contributions. Access the full show notes for this episode. Timestamps 00:00 – Intro 01:55 – Gregg Lehrman (ASCAP composer and Output founder) 11:43 – CRESQA’s Maria Brachmańska and Karol Musur 23:30 – Music Tomorrow’s Julie Knibbe and Pierre Niboyet  33:49 – RoEx’s Dave Ronan and Aggela Mourgela 44:25 – SoundSafe.ai’s Don Dada and Johnny Stevenson 54:05 – Wavelets AI’s Dave Thurlow 1:01:30 - Outro Explore the ASCAP Lab and other on-demand content about ASCAP and AI Learn more about the NYC Media Lab