A live performance from The Chainsmokers, who founded Mantis VC in 2019 and are advising AI music-generation startup Riffusion. Photo Credit: The Come Up Show
AI-powered music-generation platform Riffusion has reportedly raised $4 million from investors and added The Chainsmokers as advisors.
Developed by Hardline founder Seth Forsgren and longtime Skydio higher-up Hayk Martiros, Riffusion allows one to create brief music clips – including auto-generated vocals – using AI. Forsgren publicly disclosed the basics behind the artificial intelligence offering when it launched about one year back; an upgraded version of the app has since rolled out.
A cursory look at this new-and-improved iteration shows that users can write lyrics, tap Riffusion itself to do so, or record vocals, which are then incorporated into a 12-second “riff” featuring a sound of their choosing.
On the latter front, Riffusion enables one to “describe the sound” he or she is seeking (such as instruments, genre, and more) – with a “prompt genius” tool available to craft descriptions automatically or elaborate upon existing inputs.
From there, free-to-use Riffusion produces three riffs, each named and accompanied by a unique image for good measure. Users can “remix” outputs to their liking (modifying, for instance, individual lyrics), besides sharing links of the almost concerningly high-quality works or downloading them as audio or video files.
(At the time of this writing, Riffusion seemed to accommodate profanity in lyrics but wouldn’t put out music for lyrics copied directly from already-released songs. Moreover, the entity’s founders have indicated that the generated audio at hand cannot be made to sound like projects from particular artists.)
Moving beyond these pertinent background details and returning to Riffusion’s multimillion-dollar raise, New York City-based VC Greycroft led the seed round, according to TechCrunch, with additional support from San Francisco’s South Park Commons and Singapore’s Sky9 Capital.
Now equipped with a six-person team, per the same outlet, Riffusion is said to have trained its present audio model “from scratch.” Meanwhile, though Forsgren and Martiros have yet to develop a clear-cut monetization plan, the startup is building out, crafting other generative AI products, and collaborating with The Chainsmokers to see how its tools could be utilized in the creative process by human artists, TechCrunch indicated.
Given music’s significant role on social media (especially short-form apps) and diehard users’ undiscerning tastes, it’ll be worth closely monitoring the reach of Riffusion and similar platforms moving forward. To be sure, while the matter’s received relatively little media coverage, TikTok parent ByteDance over the summer debuted Ripple, an AI-music app of its own.
And last week, AI-remix startup Hook drew a $3 million seed investment, whereas September saw Stability AI launch Stable Audio. Amid these developments and the continued prevalence of unauthorized AI projects, some lawmakers are taking aim at “soundalike” creations released without the permission of the mimicked acts.
Additionally, Digital Music News is set to host an artificial intelligence mini-conference featuring expert panelists from throughout the music industry. Scheduled for Wednesday, October 25th, the Los Angeles event will explore AI’s long-term impact and steps professionals can take to leverage the unprecedented technology. Tickets for in-person attendance as well as a livestream are available to purchase here.
