DMG’s catalog includes recordings from the earliest Mickey Mouse tracks to contemporary classics across various genres, but many older recordings lack ‘stems,’ limiting their use in sync licensing, remastering, and new formats like immersive audio and lyric videos. (Source: Image by RR)

AI-Driven Stem Separation with Lyric Transcription to Elevate Classic Tracks

Disney Music Group (DMG) has formed a partnership with AI music startup AudioShake to unlock new creative and marketing opportunities for its extensive music catalog. AudioShake’s technology deconstructs music tracks into stems, enabling the separation of vocals or dialogue from instruments. This capability is particularly useful for older recordings that do not have multiple tracks, facilitating their use in remixes, sampling, and other applications. In May last year, AudioShake raised $2.7 million in a seed round, bringing its total funding to over $5 million, showcasing the growing interest and investment in its innovative technology.

DMG’s catalog includes a wide range of recordings, from the earliest Mickey Mouse tracks to contemporary classics across various genres. However, many older recordings lack constituent parts, or “stems,” which limits their use in sync licensing, remastering, and emerging formats such as immersive audio and lyric videos. As reported in musicbusinessworldwide.com, the new agreement with AudioShake aims to leverage the startup’s instrument stem separation technology to open up these recordings to new uses, thereby enhancing their value and accessibility.

As part of the 2024 Disney Accelerator business development program, AudioShake has been collaborating with DMG to integrate its technologies further. This partnership will also allow DMG to use AudioShake’s automated lyric transcription tool, which enhances the metadata of its catalog. This improvement will facilitate more powerful sync searches and expand formats such as lyric videos. David Abdo, SVP and General Manager of DMG, expressed admiration for AudioShake’s sound separation technology, noting that DMG was one of its early adopters and is excited about the expanded collaboration.

Jessica Powell, CEO of AudioShake, emphasized the importance of stems and lyrics as crucial assets for opening up recordings to new music experiences. She expressed enthusiasm for deepening the partnership with DMG, highlighting the potential benefits for artists and songwriters. Powell praised the collaboration with DMG’s extensive and iconic catalog, which demonstrates the potential of cutting-edge technology to revolutionize the music industry and provide new opportunities for creative expression and fan engagement.

read more at musicbusinessworldwide.com