surpass Israel’s 75th On April 26th, Independence Day, music industry leaders were wondering how best to celebrate the day.
The perfect song for the occasion, they decided, would be a duet by two of the country’s greatest singers, Zohar Argov and Ofra Haza. The only problem is that they both died many years ago.
Yet a beautiful, new and completely original duet soon followed, garnering a very enthusiastic and emotional reception from the crowd. how? We make the most of innovative music technology, artificial intelligence, and creativity.
The song was produced by Israeli startup Session 42. Session 42 blends cutting-edge technology with more traditional aspects of the music industry to push existing boundaries.
“Our AI song is the first artificial intelligence song released to the world properly and officially on radio and streaming services, not as a joke on social media,” said Session 42 CEO and co-founder. Oudi Antebi explains.
“What is unique about us is that we incorporate technology into the creative process when it is needed. It’s an alternative, meaning humans aren’t needed anymore, but we believe these tools will enable creators to push all creative boundaries.”
innovation bug
Antebi is a serial entrepreneur with three successful startups behind him. The music industry actually makes perfect sense from a business perspective, he points out.
“I have always loved music and was very interested in the innovation and business aspects,” he says. “Music is always present in all kinds of forms. It’s not a passing fad.
“So I realized again that there was a bug in innovation and that I needed to establish a slightly different approach than what I had been doing before, and I started working with three Israeli super-producers: Stub Beggar, Inon Yahel and Tal Forer. So did Amit Shain on the business side. “
That was a year and a half ago. Session 42 has since released 120 of his songs, including Israel’s latest hits.
“We don’t develop technology. Rather, we seek out technology in the world of music technology and incorporate it into our work processes,” said Antebi.
“We work with the companies that develop these technologies and are usually the first to adopt them. We aim to be something like
virtual voice
Session 42 has everything from AI and ChatGPT capabilities that create virtual voices and instruments, to data analytics that analyze song and artist reputation to help build strategies, or distribution systems that pre-calculate loyalty. These technologies are embedded throughout the musical process.
“We aim to be like a design partner for music technology companies.”
“Prepayments used to be a difficult issue between distributors and artists,” Antebi said. And we plan to launch a system that allows artists to do it in a very simple way, and based on that, we will receive an advance payment.”
He has said that Session 42 is “a music production factory that uses all these technologies to both produce and commercialize music”.
“In Israel, music companies generally do not produce content. Traditionally, music labels deal with the business side of music. Artists spend their budgets elsewhere to produce music. We’re a music company that creates content. Songwriting is at the heart of what we do, and the business surrounds it. Our complex is a studio, not an office.”
Israel’s top artists come to make music at the Session 42 complex of seven recording studios in south Tel Aviv.
content nation
In true startup fashion, the company raised money from angels and investors. All 19 of her employees at the company receive options and other high-tech perks.
Session 42 is currently in contact with the American music industry. We recently brought four major songwriters and producers to Israel and worked with them on a lot of music. One of the outputs is the song that is currently in the process of being placed and will determine which artists will perform it.
“We’re trying to do something very different than the rest of the Israeli music industry,” says Antebi.
“Working with Israeli artists is a lot of fun for us, but we also understand that Israel is not only a startup nation, but also a ‘content nation’. What started on television is now spreading to the world of music,” he said, referring to the huge success of Israeli television and film content abroad.
“At the end of the day, we let the music speak for itself, even though we know it sounds terribly banal. We make good songs and we make good things happen.”
Antebi admits that he and his co-founders are “quite romantics when it comes to music.” It’s something emotional. It cannot be seen as just a business. It’s a work of art and people connect with it. “
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