AI in the Music Industry

Fund details

The aim of this competition is to advance the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) products and services within the global music supply chain which benefits the UK Music Sector.

You must collaborate with industry stakeholders to unlock the full potential of AI applications across the value chain, supporting and uplifting the music industry, and driving long-term creative and commercial success.

Collaborators can be international but organisations outside of the UK cannot be funded. Industry stakeholders can also be from within the music industry or from an industry that will benefit the UK Music Sector.

Your project must:

• support the growth of the UK music industry
• utilise artificial intelligence or enable the use of AI
• demonstrate a clear innovative and ambitious idea
• respond to the changing market conditions and challenges in the global music industry
• be market-ready within 12 months of receiving support
• demonstrate value for money

Innovate UK encourages applications which partner with organisations within the traditional music industry supply chain, for example, music labels and music venues.

Specific themes 

Your project can focus on one or more of the following:

• assistive generative AI as a collaborative creator tool to benefit the value chain
• opportunities to improve metadata for discovery, for example, deep learning, enabling collaborations across rightsholders, music publishers
• data integrity for machine learning where data is robust, reliable, and accessible to benefit and address the needs across the ecosystem
• transparent AI algorithm development with a focus on bias reduction, ethical approaches to content generation and fairness
• harnessing AI for artist-first creativity and new forms of licensing and artist or fan creativity
• meaningful fan engagement and new channels of artist or fan communication and monetisation, incorporating AI with other technologies, such as Web3, Gaming, and Metaverse

Innovate UK will NOT fund projects that:

• are not collaborative
• do not utilise or enable AI
• do not economically benefit the UK’s music industry
• focus on sectors and challenges outside of the music industry

Eligibility

Your project must:

• have total costs between £100,000 and £250,000
• last between 6 and 12 months
• carry out all of its project work in the UK
• intend to exploit the results in the UK
• start by 1 April 2024
• end by 31 March 2025

This competition is collaborative.

Funding intervention rate:

• up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation
• up to 60% if you are a medium-sized organisation
• up to 50% if you are a large organisation