Lower Entry Barrier for Aspiring Composers

Park Hyun-jin, CEO of Genie Music, speaks during a press conference at the company headquarters in southern Seoul on June 28, 2023, to unveil the country's first artificial intelligence (AI)-based music arrangement service. (Yonhap)

Genie Music, a leading Seoul-based music streaming service, unveiled the country's first artificial intelligence (AI)-based music arrangement service Wednesday along with a domestic tech startup. The subsidiary of domestic telecom giant KT Corp. and Juice, an AI-based startup specializing in the field of music, launched a beta version of the service during a press conference at the former's headquarters in southern Seoul.

The service, called "genie.Re:La," is designed specifically for users interested in composition and arrangement, as stated by the companies. It offers the ability to generate digital scores instantly when users upload MP3 files. Even without any knowledge of composition and arrangement, users can easily edit the scores to their liking. The music industry anticipates the service will lower the entry barrier for aspiring creators interested in both fields.

For copyright protection, however, it will only allow the uploading of officially distributed music and make the created works be stored on the company's server, according to Genie Music. The uploading of music that original creators do not wish to have secondary creations made from will also be restricted.

Genie Music will allow users to release their arrangement works to the market within the year. For this, it will establish a transparent accounting system for the secondary derivative works so the profits can also be distributed to the original creators.

"Although there is no specific rule on how to divide the revenue between the original composer and the arranger when the arranger generates income, there are market rules," Park Hyun-jin, CEO of Genie Music said when asked about how to divide the profits. "We will divide the royalties in an appropriate ratio according to those rules to protect the original composer's copyright."

(From left) Kim Jun-ho, CEO of Juice; Park Hyun-jin, CEO of Genie Music; and K-pop music composer Kim Hyung-suk pose during a press conference at Genie Music's headquarters in southern Seoul on June 28, 2023, to unveil the country's first artificial intelligence (AI)-based music arrangement service. (Yonhap) 

As for the copyright protection policy, he said, "Our principle is to do only music whose copyright holders allow for generating music sheets." Out of the 19 million music pieces distributed by the streaming service, about 70 percent have obtained permission, he added.

After the beta testing phase, the company plans to turn it into a paid service through consultations with other players in the industry.

To promote the AI-based arrangement service, the two companies will soon launch a joint music remake project with a music IP platform operated by renowned composer Kim Hyung-suk who has about 1,400 K-pop songs under his belt. The project called "I am Re-born" aims to remake Kim's hit songs through genie.Re:La with the goal of releasing the works through Genie Music in the second half of the year.

During the press conference, a string quartet performed live a music arrangement of "I Believe," one of Kim's hit songs. The song was arranged in the style of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven using the genie.Re:La service. After listening to the performance, Kim asked how long it took for the AI-based system to arrange the song. "It's amazing!" he exclaimed when the emcee said it took only 30 seconds. "For me, it would take around two days to accomplish the task despite majoring in classical music during my university years," he said. "I don't believe the ability to compose music quickly necessarily determines one's proficiency as a composer. However, I think composers can enhance their skills in various ways by obtaining ideas and inspiration through AI."

Genie Music also plans to introduce a premium service for professional K-pop artists within the year, providing a tool that will assist them in their creative process. It will allow them to quickly convert their spontaneous performances into music scores or tape their humming of sudden musical ideas and later turn them into sheet music.

"AI possesses infinite potential for collaboration with musicians," Park said. "Starting with genie.Re:La, we will continue to build an AI-based music ecosystem where original creators, (arrangement) creators and platforms can thrive together."

By Shim Sun-ah