In the seventh episode of the Enchoris Podcast we discuss the hidden dangers of the use of generative Al in creative content creation and their implications on artists' work, rights and intellectual property. Our guest Matthias Hornschuh is a film and media composer, musicologist, author, lecturer, spokesperson of the german authors' rights initiative - Initiative Urheberrecht, a member of the supervisory board of GEMA and one of the co-founders of the Soundtrack Cologne Festival.Are we giving ourselves up? That is the title of the book our guest Matthias Hornschuh wrote about the effect Artificial Intelligence has on humanity. On this episode we talk about the thought process that went into the book and the personal journey to finalising it. A book that is more about the human creative process and less about the evangelised benefits of AI.Matthias Hornschuh official Websitehttps://hornschuh-musik.de/Matthias is the author of the essay "We give ourselves up" (Wir geben uns auf - KI, Kultur und die Entwertung der Wissensarbeit), published by Carl-Auer Verlag.

What makes the arts sustainable? This months guest Ralph Christoph, the director of the c/o pop convention shares his views on how the current political climate will effect the founding of the arts and specifically pop music. What kind of structures are needed in order to navigate a political agenda that does not include diversity and focused on the misconception that pop music is a self sustaining profit oriented industry. We talk about how much work and thought goes into both understanding different segments and age groups of stakeholders and guests of the festival. He gives us insight on the ground work done behind the scenes to ensure that the event is relevant, educating and entertaining for a diverse audience. In the process we talk about how trends come into fashion and go and how the narratives, business models, challenges and approaches adjust to that.

We go through how the business models of the pop and performing industries have changed over the years between recording and touring the current dead-end situation due to inflation and exploding touring costs. How will this fragile biotope of music survive the current financial situation, the closed borders and the wars happening around Europe.

Additionally Ralph Christoph is giving us insight on the panel that will discuss how radical pop music could be in the next years if it follows other art-forms breaking norms and having an edge. A healthy reaction to the extreme right propaganda that is taking the internet by storm. How can pop music affect the current political climate as a form of aesthetic resistance and what is the soundtrack of the years to come. This years convention will explore exactly that!

More information on this years co pop convention on April 16 -17 in Cologne Germany

https://c-o-pop.de/programm#convention

This month we are talking with Michael P. Aust who is a producer, director and the co-founder of the Soundtrack Cologne Festival. We discuss how he entered the film industry and how he navigated the changes and trends over the past 30 years as a producer. Having a diverse portfolio is crucial to surviving the challenges of an ever changing industry.We discuss the effect the AI explosion has had on the composing community and what challenges it has created for artists. We address the difference between AI and generative AI and explore the positive and negative aspects they bring to composing. Can AI be trained ethically ensuring proper reimbursement for copyright holders? What do composers, publishers, collecting societies and AI companies have to do to create a fair environment that respects copyright and intellectual property by creating transparent rules for training AI data sets? What are the legal risks of using generative AI in one's own composition?In the past years Soundtrack Cologne has created an AI Focus stream at the conference that provides insights, legal advice and room to discuss how AI affects music composition. Additionally back in 2024 they did a survey that analysed how AI is being used in the industry by composers and how it affects their motivation to create and work. https://soundtrackcologne.de/ai-focus... We go beyond the misconceptions about AI and discuss what tools composers are using to enhance their workflow and creativity. What tools are popular among the community and what are the benefits of using them. Michael P. Aust suggests that composers could train their own decentralised AI based on their own material and later monetise on that by selling it to a composer after retiring who will continue their legacy.Soundtrack Cologne was a catalyst for a lot of copyright initiatives and composers associations being funded and created a collaborative ecosystem where composers learned to share experience and work together as a community and do lobbying. We discuss the importance of festivals where people meet and the effect it has both on the industry and also the opportunity they provide for composers and artist to build up their skill set beyond composing. Additionally the festival has provided politicians insight and a frame to understand the industry and its challenges better.We discuss the challenges of keeping a festival alive and how financing by the state, city and sponsors has to be stable and predictable to make it sustainable. Festivals provide the framework for the industry to grow and provide composers the opportunity for life long training and expanding their skillset. There is no substitute for this type of work in the industry.Read more about Soundtrack Cologne at https://soundtrackcologne.de/