There is no shortage of AI voice synthesis companies on the market today, but Voice-Swap, founded and run by Dan “DJ Fresh” Steinis trying to rethink what these companies can be.
The music producer and technologist intends for Voice-Swap to function not just as a simple conversion tool but as an “agency” for artificial intelligence likenesses of artists. It also seeks to solve the lingering question of how to monetize these voice models in a way that brings the most money back to the artists — a topic that has been hotly debated since anonymous TikTok user Ghostwriter used artificial intelligence of voices of Drake and The Weeknd without their permission. the viral song “Heart On My Sleeve”.
In an exclusive interview with Advertising signStein and Michael Pelczynski, a member of the company's advisory board and former VP at SoundCloud, explain their business goals as well as their new monetization plan, which includes providing a dividend for participating artists and paying artists every time a user uses their voice AI — not just when the resulting song is commercially released and broadcast on DSP. The company also reveals that it is working on a new collaboration with Imogen Heap to create her voice model, which will arrive this summer.
Voice-Swap sees voice as “the new IP real estate,” as Pelczynski puts it — just another form of property that can allow a participating artist to earn passive income. (A voice, along with one's name and likeness, is considered a “right of publicity” that is currently regulated differently from state to state.)
In addition to seeing AI voice technology as a useful tool to attract fans of notable artists like Heap and make song translations, the Voice-Swap team also believes that AI voices represent a significant opportunity for session singers with distinctive tones but lower public profiles to earn additional income. On its platform now, the company has a number of session singers of different vocal styles available for use. Voice-Swap sees AI voice models of session singers as potentially valuable to songwriters and producers who may want to change the form of those voices during writing and recording sessions. (As Advertising sign reported in August, using artificial intelligence voice models to better tailor recordings to artists has become a common use case for the emerging technology.)
“We like to think that, like a record label, we have a brand that we want to build with the style of artists and the quality that we represent on Voice-Swap,” says Stein. “It doesn't have to be a specific genre, but it's about hosting unique and incredible voices as opposed to [just popular artists].”
Last year, we saw a lot of fear and excitement surrounding this technology as Ghostwriter appeared on social media and Grimes introduced her own voice model soon after. How does your approach compare to these examples?
Pelczynski: This technology caused a lot of fear at first. This is because people see it as a magic trick. When you don't know what's behind it and you just see the end result and wonder how he did that, there's wonder and fear. [There is now the risk] that if you don't work with someone you trust for your vocal rights, someone will take that magic trick and do it without you. This happened to Ghostwriter and many others.
The only thing to emphasize is that the magic trick of exchanging a voice is not where the story ends, but where it begins. And I think Grimes especially approaches it with the intention of empowering artists. We are too. But I think where we differentiate is the revenue stream part. With the Grimes model, you create what you want to create, and then the song enters the traditional ecosystem of streaming and other ways of consuming music. That's where the rights come from.
We focus on the bottom line. Our voice artists are paid for the actual voice conversion. Not all of these uses of AI voices end up in streaming, so that's important to us. Of course, if the song is released, then additional money can be made for the voiceover. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first platform to pay royalties for the conclusion, the first conversion.
Stein: We also allow artists the right to publish their work through any distributor they want. [Grimes’ model is partnered exclusively with TuneCore.] We see ourselves a bit like an agency for artists' voices.
What do you mean by “agency” for artists' voices?
Stein: When we work with an artist on Voice-Swap, we intend to represent them and license their voice models created with us on other platforms to increase their opportunities to earn income. It's like working with an agent to manage your live bookings. We want to be the agent of artists' AI presence and help them monetize it across multiple platforms, but always keeping their personal preferences and concerns in mind.
What kind of platforms would be interested in licensing an AI voice model from Voice-Swap?
Stein: It's early for all potential use cases, but we believe the most obvious example right now is music production platforms [or DAWs, short for digital audio workstation] who want to use voice models in their products.
There are two approaches you can take [as an AI voice company.] We could say that we are a SaaS platform and the artist can make deals with other platforms themselves. But the way we approach this is that we put a lot of emphasis on the quality of our models and work directly with artists to keep improving it. We want to be the one stop solution for creating a model that the artist is proud of.
I think the whole thing about artificial intelligence and where this technology is going is that none of us know what it's going to be doing 10 years from now. So for us, that was also about getting to a place where we can build that credibility in those relationships and not just with the artists. We also want to work with tags.
Do you already have collaborations with DAWs or other music creation platforms?
Pelczynski: We are in discussions and under NDA pending announcement. Every creator's workflow is different — we want our users to access our voice list where they feel most comfortable, whether through the website, in a DAW, or elsewhere. That's why we explore these collaborations and designed our upcoming VST [virtual studio technology] to make this experience even more seamless. We also recently announced a partnership with SoundCloud, with deeper integrations aimed at creators coming soon.
Ultimately, the more places our voices are available, the more opportunities there are for new revenue for artists, and that's our priority.
Can any music editing be done on the Voice-Swap site or do these converted voices have to be exported?
Pelczynski: Yes, Dan has always wanted to create a VST so that it could work as a plug-in in someone's DAW, but we also have the ability to allow users to edit and do vocal conversion and some music editing on our website using our product Stem -Exchange. This is an amazing playground for people just coming. It's similar to how BandLab and others are a good quick way to experiment with making music.
How many users does Voice-Swap have?
Pelczynski: We have 140,000 verified unique users and counting.
Can you break down the details of how much your site is costing users?
Pelczynski: We run a subscription and renewal pricing system. Users pay a monthly or one-time fee and receive audio credits. Factors are then used for voice conversion and stem splitting, with more creator tools on the way.
How did your team connect with Imogen Heap, and given all the competitors in the voice AI space today, why do you think she chose Voice-Swap?
Pelczynski: We are very excited to be working with her. She's one of several established artists we're currently working on in the pipeline, and I think our collaboration is due to our ethos of trust and consensus. I know it sounds trite, but I think it's absolutely one of the cornerstones of our success.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/business/tech/ai-music-company-voice-swap-monetize-artists-ai-voices-1235636284/
