ILMC 36: Exploring AI’s potential for live music

The transformative potential of artificial intelligence’s (AI) on the live music and entertainment sector was analysed in detail at the International Live Music Conference (ILMC).

Hosted by Cliff Fluet, founder and MD of Eleven, yesterday’s Artificial Intelligence: Moving at Light Speed session featured guests Sammy Andrews of Deviate Digital, Pulsar’s Fran D’Orazio, Observatory’s Ben Sheppee, AXS’ chief strategy officer Marc Ruxin, and aurismatic’s Richard Kurka, who joined the panel via satellite.

Fluet reckoned that AI’s impact makes it “comparable to steam or electricity” in a bygone era.

“Pretty much every innovation from a technological or business perspective is, in some way shape or form, going to be AI-powered going forward,” said Fluet. “Unlike a lot of innovations, 85% of the planet has a device that’s powered and enabled by AI. It’s probably likely to be one of the last ever human inventions.”

In terms of how AI can be incorporated into live performance, the opportunities are bountiful despite the industry’s heavy reliance on the human aspect. However, despite its continued improvement at a rapid rate, Andrews believes such advanced technology still needs a “human eye”.

“Though every platform that we use to advertise live music already has AI embedded into it, there’s sometimes a ‘hit or miss’ element to it”

“Though every platform that we use to advertise live music already has AI embedded into it, there’s sometimes a ‘hit or miss’ element to it,” she explained. “We’ve seen a couple of platforms that will remain nameless, checking random music, altering the copy your artist took weeks to approve, and so forth. But we’re halfway there when it comes to correctly identifying audiences and being able to show them the right sort of content. It’s only going to get better.”

The panel soon segued from marketing to ticketing, and AI’s potential to optimise pricing strategies for live events to guarantee maximum profitability and accessibility.

“Dynamic pricing has been around for some time,” said Ruxin. “The reason it hasn’t been broadly adopted in the live performance sector in the way that it has been accepted by consumers is because of two factors: you have artists who want actual fans to be paying appropriate prices for tickets to their shows, and then you have a business mechanism that involves the need to optimise prices and seats.”

Ruxin further discussed the potential of AI to detect counterfeit tickets. “It’s only a matter of when and not if,” he said, with emphasis on how facial recognition technology is a template for AI to discern which tickets are real or otherwise.

Having talked about using aurismatic as “essentially a Shazam alternative for live music using AI”, Kurka added that one of his company’s main goals is to establish something that he firmly believes is “missing in the live music sector”.

“It could work well in smaller gigs that operate on smaller budgets”

On the topic of “predictive analytics”, D’Orazio believed that AI provides those without technological and data expertise the chance to “emulate someone like [Mad Men character] Don Draper in the 1950s”.

“Trend forecasting can now go back in the hands of the people that don’t have technical or scientific backgrounds,” D’Orazio said, noticing an irony in advanced AI technology encouraging a throwback to an “older method of creative thinking and advertising”.

When asked on whether there is a general misconception that AI is a cheaper method of creating something, Sheppee answered in the affirmative.

“There are costs when creating visual elements with AI,” he said. However, he admitted that AI can also be used to circumvent the possibility of copyright infringement. “Last year, we had consulted a band who wanted to use an image they either didn’t have rights to, or the rights were really expensive. We managed to generate a piece of content that was broadly similar, which rendered it a cost-saving exercise.”

He added that while AI isn’t feasible to use in large-scale arenas like Las Vegas Sphere, “It could work well in smaller gigs that operate on smaller budgets.”

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