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Genre Report: Can the Ambient Music Boom Withstand AI?
Ambient music has been on the rise in the streaming era. But with royalty reform and the threat of AI-generated sounds, its future is still uncertain.
It can be jazz inflected, like Nala Sinephro ’s Continuous; it can sample folk classics, like Eno and Fred again.. ’s “Come On Home”; or it can double as a popular TV score, like Hildur Guonadottir ’s “12 Hours Before” for HBO’s Chernobyl. Now, as more mainstream stars like Floating Points, André 3000, Fred Again.. and others put their spin on the genre, sleep playlists gain top audiences, and wellness culture continues to rise, this once forgotten corner of the industry is experiencing a significant boom. Arden Records is now opening a publishing side of its business to capture the untapped songwriter market in lo-fi and ambient, and Peace of Mind continues to sign new talent and dream of a future when the genre goes truly mainstream.
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