Algorithm Endel ‘signed’ a major label contract. Is Artificial Intelligence the future of music?

The app Endel, developed by a Berlin based team of artists, developers and scientists, creates automatically music that fits our mood, but unlike its human counterparts it won’t cause scandals for excessive drinking of alcohol, use of drugs or sexual harassment. A behaviour that record labels certainly appreciate.

As Warner Music has recently announced, the first major label deal with an algorithm was recently negotiated. Endel is therefore now on a label with Madonna or Ed Sheeran. The algorithm has already produced five complete albums – the new major deal is expected to add 15 more this year alone.

If you look at “Endel”, however, there is much more question whether we will need musicians in the near future. Endel is a cross-platform audio ecosystem. It creates personalized, sound-based, adaptive environments that help people focus and relax. This algorithm generates sounds and music that are tuned to the biorhythm of the respective listener. Parameters such as heart rate, weather and location are included in the creation to produce a perfectly adapted sound result. The unique selling point of the app is that it improves its algorithm, which is tailored to the respective user, over time on the basis of collected data. In the future Endel will not only create music that matches the listener’s mood but will control and adapt the whole ambience of his/her smart home.

Endel might not be an artist, and if you listen to the sound examples that we don’t have to worry about the future of our favourite musicians yet. However, listening to the soundscapes might be pleasant and at times helpful if it serves its purpose. Of the four different modes On-the-Go, the Endel mode designed to help you in times of physical activity, deserves a special mention: it uses the motion co-processor in your iOS device to compose its soundscape based on your movements, matching its rhythm with the beat of your footsteps. At the moment you can use the app on iOS and with Amazon Echo. For Android a Beta version is available.

Source: Süddeutsche Zeitung, Nr.72, 26.03.2019,p.1

Website: http://endel.io/