Cyanite, a tech company working with AI-powered music tagging and search, has signed a global deal with BMG.
The company will help BMG to unlock new value from its three-million-track catalogue. Repertoire will become more searchable and accessible for sync opportunities. Cyanite’s automatic tagging will help BMG’s internal and external creatives to identify tracks in the search for the perfect song for film, TV, games and advertising.
Cyanite’s tech will allow BMG to easily integrate newly acquired catalogues such as that of Telamo, the largest independent record label in Germany.
BMG SVP global sync licensing Allegra Willis Knerr said: “In a world in which there are literally tens of millions of tracks available to sync, AI offers the ability to simultaneously improve the accuracy of pitches and level the playing field for artists and songwriters. AIready, wherever the brief allows it, BMG has abandoned the distinction between ‘frontline’ and ‘catalogue’. Our objective with Cyanite is to maximise the chances for every single song in our repertoire to be licensed.”
The news comes after Cyanite announced in August that it has closed an €800,000 seed investment round. Here, Markus Schwarzer, CEO of Cyanite, explains the power of AI and the company’s plans for expansion…
What is the vision for the company - how can AI help the music industry in the streaming era?
“AI levels the playing field. To the AI it doesn’t matter if you are Ed Sheeran or an unknown emerging artist. The only thing that matters is whether you sound great for a specific user group or playlist. At a time when there is talk about increasing Spotify royalties for big artists, AI puts a spotlight on the value new artists bring to the music community in terms of content diversity, new scenes or subgenres without needing a massive marketing budget. How does Cyanite’s vision go in line with that? We want to understand any sort of content to always be able to find the perfect track and not just the most well-known one.”
How will the recent investment help Cyanite achieve its growth strategy?
“We will use the investment to further build on our R&D operation. We strive to eliminate the hot air from AI and show the music industry through scientifically sound and transparent technology what is really possible. Our investors will not only bring this vision to life with the money, but also by supporting us with their profound market expertise and network. We are incredibly happy that we were able to inspire this group of experts to join our team.”
We see an opportunity to shift the paradigm of music recommendation
Markus Schwarzer
As well as BMG, what partnerships and collaborations have you worked on with the music business?
“Helping production music businesses like APM Music, publishers like Nettwerk or content management systems like Synchtank to efficiently and consistently tag their music for sync purposes is one of the straightforward use cases. Another exciting one that often gets overlooked is when we use our data to create better user experiences by improving understanding of users’ preferences. The radio station SWR and the DJ record pool BPM Supreme use our tech to better understand their users’ listening preferences and thus build Spotify-competing user experiences.”
What gives you the edge compared to other companies in this space? Do you want to continue to build Cyanite as an independent entity?
“I guess the biggest differentiation is in the vision behind the companies. Many companies simply wanted to fix manual tagging or build good search tools. We don’t want to stop there. We build software which can understand any sort of input - be it tags and text, situations and actions, brands, or videos - and always recommend the right music for it. We see an opportunity to shift the paradigm of music recommendation and thus the mechanics of the music industry. This will only be possible if we stay independent.”
What are the plans for 2022 and beyond?
“For the past 18 months we have been researching a completely new field of machine learning - new capabilities which we believe will revolutionise music search and also music creation. First reactions have been amazingly positive. This will further back our claim of always being ahead of the market by thinking beyond market demand, while remaining scientifically sound.”
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