Inspired with Alexa von Tobel
00:29:27 · Alexa von Tobel
[00:29:27] S1: That's well said. And I mean, I could imagine that you could continue to expand tiers where it's real professional creation tools. There's a lot of places this can go, and I agree with you right now. You're just honestly harnessing an unprecedented consumer growth that very few point 01% of businesses even get a chance to see. And so just following this where the world takes you, I think is the right answer. Wanted to quickly just ask, you're you're building a company at a time where the broader music industry is rethinking what creativity looks like. And in so many ways, Mikey, you're like in the perch of watching what creativity is and how we define it. And and to your point, you know, you've got... I was at Carnegie Hall last week with my son. You've got, you know, a concept of one, what music is that is old and classic and extremely high brow. And in some ways, you are reshaping the snow globe. Right? You're shaking it, and we're kind of reimagining what this looks like. How do you think Suno is currently reshaping music for the broader industry? What are you seeing there?
00:30:46 · Mikey Shulman
[00:30:46] S0: You know, it's kind of amazing to see that the same platform and tools get used by everyday people who are finding music making as enjoyable for the first time in their lives, all the way up to the top producers in the world using it in bits and pieces in their everyday workflow. And the thing that I find really inspiring there is there's there's an amount of, like, let's say, ambition and admiration and joy that I can get knowing that I'm using the same tools as a top professional. And I think that there are other brands that have this, and I think that it is a huge boost for them and also just a huge, like, incredible feeling for all of the people who use that brand. So as an example, Wilson tennis rackets. I like... I'm an amateur tennis player, and I enjoy it. And there's something that's amazing knowing that I'm using the same equipment as Roger Federer even though there are no illusions here that I'm ever going to play at that level. Or Nike running shoes that I can run-in the same shoes as who's ever gonna win the Boston Marathon this year. There are no illusions that I'm ever gonna run that fast. And I think that somehow that is missing from music that the way a professional interacts with music today is very different from how, you know, ordinary people interact with music. And actually having that happen on the same platform is amazing. And I think that, yeah, that actually probably is disruptive, but it's also probably really cool because it is a way for fans and artists to interact with one another through music. And that is something that is, like, completely absent today. Fans and artists really only get... Ever get to interact with... Through music at a concert, which is, like, kind of a rare thing. Most people will go to zero or one concerts a year. But if you could do that every day, interact with your favorite artist through music because you're both using the same platform, I think that is an incredible unlock for the entire industry.
00:32:50 · Alexa von Tobel
[00:32:50] S1: Mikey, I know there's a ton of legal dynamic that you have to manage, and you probably can't even talk about a bunch of that. But I would love just for you to share what you can on how boundaries around creation are being reshaped and maybe anything that you see.
00:33:09 · Mikey Shulman
[00:33:09] S0: We see a lot more people creating. I think that is like the first order thing. And then we see a lot more music getting made, and that is the next effect. And I think that a lot of the industry is not necessarily set up for how much music will get made in the future. Forget what happens today, and forget just Suno. You know, like, there are going to be lots of other companies that have these capabilities. And I think about this because the same thing happened with photography. You know, everybody now walks around with a camera in their pocket, and there's just way more images than there used to be. And that reshapes the place that imagery has in the world, makes it bigger. That reshapes how many people can make their livelihoods through imagery. It makes that bigger. But it changes things. And I think that people need to think a little bit harder about what what will happen when music is much more ubiquitous than it is today. I think that, you know, I'll I'll say it like this. I'm a I'm a big believer that most technologies are neutral, and it is how you use them, and that there is a really good future of music to build. But if we just sit here and say, like, well, we know music and AI is coming, and we know much more music is coming, and we can just sit back and relax and watch that happen, then it won't happen or it won't happen in the right way. And so what I tell people here is, like, we we have an incredibly lucky and privileged position to be at the forefront of shaping the future of music and AI, and we should not take that for granted, and we should be a little bit intimidated by that, but we should also really believe in human agency and our ability to shape it in the way that we want it to happen. And I think that actually that did not exactly happen for images. And I think it was like a little bit more haphazard. And so it actually makes me really optimistic about what the future of music can be if we do things right.
00:35:13 · Alexa von Tobel
[00:35:13] S1: Mikey, I wanna interject here, which is from where you sit today, if you dream five, ten years out, give us a sense of some of the things that you see that could be reimagined because of Suno? What do you see that's possible that maybe ordinary people listening don't, you know, don't fully appreciate?
00:35:34 · Mikey Shulman
[00:35:34] S0: I don't know who your favorite artist is, but imagine your favorite artist is releasing an album next week. And let's say you're really into that artist, and so you're going to sit down in front of your best speakers, put your phone on the next room, listen to that album. That would be amazing. Most people don't do that. But I think about what can the future be. Actually, maybe you had to pay $19.99 for the interactive version of that album. And you got an advanced copy with a few samples that you could make music with, or a few verses that you could make your own versions out of, and effectively make a lot of fan fiction around this artist's work. And this is a new feeling for you to feel like you are co creating with the artist. And now that artist gets to listen to all of this fan fiction. Some of them will chart. Some of them will not chart. It will build a lot of hype around the album. It will get the whole world thinking more about that artist's music. So it's good for you. You're a fan. You're enjoying yourself. It's good for the artist. They get more fan engagement. Now imagine that artist comes to New York, and they're playing MSG, and they really, really love one of the remixes that got made by one of the fans in New York. And actually, they just play that version of the song. And how incredible of a moment that would be, where you have the entire audience connecting through the fact that they're all in New York, connecting with that artist, connecting with one another. It is just a different height of musical experience that has not happened before. And I think a lot about it, like, have you been to the Sphere?