Disney Music Group (DMG) has teamed up with AI music startup AudioShake to open up its catalog to “new creative and marketing opportunities”.
AudioShake uses AI to deconstruct music tracks into stems that can be used for remixes, sampling and other applications. The technology can be used to separate vocals or dialogue from instruments, for example, in older recordings where multiple tracks aren’t available.
The startup raised USD $2.7 million in a seed round in May last year, taking its total fund-raising to date over $5 million.
According to DMG, its catalog features “the earliest recordings of Mickey Mouse, through to contemporary classics across a wide range of genres”.
The company noted, however, that many of these earlier recordings don’t have their constituent parts (AKA “stems”), which, it said, limit their use in sync licensing, remastering, and emerging formats like immersive audio and lyric videos.
Under the new agreement with AudioShake, DMG will expand its use of the startup’s instrument stem separation tech to open up recordings that don’t have stems to these new uses.
AudioShake participated in the 2024 Disney Accelerator business development program, which is designed to accelerate the growth of innovative companies.
The deal will also let DMG use AudioShake’s automated lyric transcription tool, which Disney Music Group said will “strengthen the metadata of its catalog and take advantage of more powerful sync searches, as well as expand formats such as lyric videos”.
“We were deeply impressed by AudioShake’s sound separation technology, and were among its early adopters.”
David Abdo, Disney Music Group
“We were deeply impressed by AudioShake’s sound separation technology, and were among its early adopters,” said David Abdo, SVP and General Manager of Disney Music Group.
“We’re excited to expand our existing stem separation work as well as integrate AudioShake’s lyric transcription system. AudioShake is a great example of cutting-edge technology that can benefit our artists and songwriters, and the team at AudioShake have been fantastic partners.”
“Stems and lyrics are crucial assets that labels and artists can use to open up recordings to new music experiences.”
Jessica Powell, AudioShake
“Stems and lyrics are crucial assets that labels and artists can use to open up recordings to new music experiences,” said Jessica Powell, CEO of AudioShake.
“We’re thrilled to deepen our partnership with Disney Music Group, and honored to work with their extensive and iconic catalog.”Music Business Worldwide