Björn Ulvaeus, the Swedish ABBA singer, in addition to songwriter, music producer and co-founder of Pophouse Leisure, could also be 80 years outdated, however he continues to be excited to create and inform tales by way of music and past. That was one of many key messages of his look throughout a Wednesday “The Way forward for Leisure” session on the first-ever SXSW London, which drew an enormous crowd to the hip East London neighborhood of Shoreditch.
In a wide-ranging dialogue, he addressed writing a musical with the assistance of synthetic intelligence, the London hit present that includes ABBA avatars and why his firm is betting on Kiss to have success with an analogous present.
“Proper now, I’m writing a musical assisted by AI,” the hitmaker shared on stage. Whereas not sharing a lot element on the challenge, he talked about that it’s a collaboration with a feminine artistic accomplice and that he was about three-quarters by way of his work.
So what’s his expertise creating music with AI? “It’s such an ideal software,” he instructed the SXSW London viewers. “It’s unimaginable you could bounce forwards and backwards with a machine, or a software program, which can provide you concepts to go in numerous completely different instructions.”
However Ulvaeus additionally made one factor clear: “A false impression is that AI can write a complete track. It’s awful at that — very dangerous. And thank God! It’s very dangerous at lyrics as nicely. But it surely can provide you concepts.”
He shared an instance as an example some extent. “You’ve written a lyric about one thing, and also you’re caught perhaps, and also you need this track to be in a sure type. So you may immediate the lyric and the type you need, asking, ‘The place would you go from right here?’” he defined. “And it often comes up with rubbish, however typically there’s something in it that provides you one other concept. That’s the way it works. It’s like having one other songwriter within the room with big reference frames. It’s actually an extension of your thoughts.”
Talking of songwriting companions, Guardian music author and on-stage interviewer Laura Barton requested Ulvaeus how AI compares to collaborating with ABBA accomplice Benny Andersson. “It’s faster and does precisely what you inform it,” he responded to laughter. “But it surely’s not the identical factor as having a songwriting accomplice.”
Extra laughs ensued when Barton requested if Ulvaeus has ever requested AI packages to write down ABBA lyrics. “It says, ‘No, we will’t try this,’” he replied.
However he shared that he and Andersson haven’t solely produced hits. “There was a interval when Benny and I didn’t fairly know what rubbish was,” he quipped. “There’s proof of that. Individuals don’t take heed to that.”
The ABBA star at the moment serves because the president of CISAC – the Worldwide Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers. So he additionally had enterprise perception to share on how the AI and music sectors ought to collaborate. “The AI music mills practice on copyrighted materials. They practice on all of the world’s music. And for that, we really feel that they need to be paying one thing in direction of the songwriters and the artists and all those that really created what they want to have the ability to create their AI fashions,” he emphasised. “I believe it’s slowly taking place. There’s a debate occurring within the music and the tech industries about how that remuneration may occur. Additionally, the U.Okay. authorities is meant to take selections about tips on how to regulate, how to have a look at AI and so is the European Union.”
He then steered {that a} probably mannequin to comply with with AI is that of streaming offers. “I believe the mannequin that’s closest is the mannequin that now we have in streaming providers the place they have you ever subscribe, and a part of the subscription goes again to the music trade, and that’s what occurs with Spotify, Amazon and all of the others,” he stated. “That one may be the one which applies to this as nicely, however AI is one thing fully completely different, so we don’t know.”
Ulvaeus co-founded Pophouse in 2014 along with EQT founder Conni Jonsson. The corporate acquires and develops leisure manufacturers inside music, podcast and gaming. In 2022, it additionally started a push into music catalogue investments. On Wednesday, he highlighted that this has allowed him to work with music from such names as Avicii, Cyndi Lauper and Kiss.
In 2021, ABBA unveiled their comeback with the discharge of the album Voyage and the digital stage present ABBA Voyage in London, ticket gross sales for which topped the two million mark in its first 19 months. Ulvaeus mentioned the success of the providing and the way different musical acts will profit from related exhibits. “Kiss, we imagine, may very well be a really fascinating avatar expertise within the sort of Marvel universe” within the digital age, he stated.
Certainly, Pophouse unveiled on the finish of 2023 that “Kiss, the legendary rock band recognized for electrifying dwell performances over a 50-year profession and gross sales of greater than 100 million data worldwide, is marking the top of its bodily existence by crossing into the digital world. The brand new Kiss avatar exhibits would be the second immersive, avatar-powered music live performance challenge that Pophouse Leisure is concerned in — following the success of the ABBA Voyage present in London, the place Pophouse is the lead investor.”
In Wednesday’s dialog, Ulvaeus additionally mentioned his continued appreciation of common music, sharing that he at the moment enjoys Lola Younger’s “Messy,” from which he intoned a line of the refrain, and the way artists can future-proof their legacies in a quickly altering panorama, together with AI, immersive experiences and touring.
SXSW London runs by way of June 7. Penske Media, the mother or father firm of The Hollywood Reporter, is almost all stakeholder of SXSW.
