EVERYONE IS A DJ

EP. 27: HUGEL'S #1 TRACK IS AI GENERATED?! BOB SINCLAIR BOYCOTTS IBIZA, HOW CARTELS COMMIT SPOTIFY FRAUD & MORE

• KLUB RECORD • Episode 27

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 45:32

SUPPORT THE SHOW: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2570537/support

WATCH/LISTEN ON SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/13w1zkpv9vGaF9VxK6FsBr

LISTEN TO OUR PLAYLIST: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4xahAhOa1PVRlILXdOAF01

GET OUR MERCH
https://shop.klubrecord.com/

FOLLOW KLUB RECORD ON INSTAGRAM
https://www.instagram.com/klubrecord/

FOLLOW KLUB RECORD ON TIKTOK
https://www.tiktok.com/@KLUBRECORD

ALL LINKS
https://clozer.io/KlubRecord

Support the show

SPEAKER_02

Okay, we're back. Episode 27. Everyone is a DJ. We are approaching the 30s. We're almost there, guys. Appreciate you tuning in for another one, another conversation with myself and Wesley. We received a comment last week, which I have to uh call out that uh the schedule is not scheduling. We we were a bit uh late with the podcast last week. We had some technical difficulties, but listen, we managed to to publish and post the podcast on Friday, so I hope you guys listen to that conversation. Uh what did we talk about last week? We talked about my trip to Angola, John Summit versus P Tong. What else? Anything else? What else did we talk about?

SPEAKER_00

Was that the circle one? No, man. We've done so many episodes now.

SPEAKER_02

The circle was the week before. We talked sports for like 15 minutes at the beginning.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And then uh and TikTok. It was social media and sports that one, bro. Social media, yes. Social media, TikTok strategy. So as you can tell, a lot of good content in that podcast. So please, if you haven't, I know. I apologize that it was a late upload, but we didn't miss the week. It's still up there. Listen to it. Yeah, that was podcast 26. Today's podcast 27. Welcome once again. Wesley, how are you feeling?

SPEAKER_00

I'm good, man. I'm good. You know, something else to to mention in addition to the technical difficulties is you know, summer's a busy time. There's a lot going on, friends, family, socials, you know, all those kinds of things. So we will be better, guys. You know, those kind of comments calling us out means a lot. I actually appreciate it. It's uh Yeah, keep him coming. Uh hey man, let's let's rip it, bro.

SPEAKER_02

We're good. Keep keep him coming. What was I gonna say? Summer is a busy period, a lot happens, but there isn't another podcast that is as consistent as ours. What other podcast in Afro House, Afro Tech, Melodic, whatever genre you want to call it, puts out episodes every single week. And may I add that we are the ones that edit everything, post everything, upload everything, right? We do everything ourselves, which not as efficient as it could be. I think we definitely need some support, but for now, this is how things are.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But yeah, listen, no excuses. We're gonna keep him going. Thanks for tuning in. What's uh what's been going on, bro?

SPEAKER_00

Listen, this actually this weekend or as of last week, I spent a lot of time just actually practicing mixing because I was like, all right, you know, I got I got the fundamentals down on the V10 or what? Yeah, V10, because that's like really the step up. The the older mixers are I think a lot easier than than the V10. So I spent a lot of time. There's a studio here where it's you you rent it for three hours, come with a couple USBs, and just like nail down a bit more than the you know, the transitions in and out. So, you know, mixing vocals, other samples on like the third or fourth CDJ, as well as getting familiar with more of the effects, right? Because you know, Afro House is all about that echo, but I feel like it's rinsed a bit now, right? So it's like in addition to that, how do you build tension on on build-ups and drops and those kinds of things? And so I've been focusing a lot on that over the past week. Yeah, man, because I got a gig coming up in Montreal in the bottom month. So yeah, man.

SPEAKER_02

Wanna be gonna be okay. You want to be make sure that your skills are tight and then you're confident behind the decks. I mean, have you got a cappellas that you're testing? Are you what kind of what kind of skill are you leaning into?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I think starting starting with the a cappellas, you know. I'm just practicing for now. I feel like I want to find my own a cappellas. You and I have spoken about this offline a few times as well, right? Just getting familiar with those standard a cappellas to start with, like work, or if you love house music, put one hand in the air right now, those kinds of things, just nailing down when to bring it in, how to bring it in, timing phrasing on an a cappella is something that I've wanted to learn for a while. I mean, it's not overly difficult, it just takes practice, right? So that that's where I'm at, man. And then in addition to that, it's using that cue button for the bass of the next track or the the highs of the next track with some echo on it, tapping that cue button, you know, those kinds of smaller fundamental tricks that I just haven't given myself a chance to learn yet, is is just what I've what I was focusing on last week, right? I wish there was a tutorial.

SPEAKER_02

Who would who would be the best DJ to give a tutorial on how to create cool moments in a DJ set if you're playing to an Afrous crowd or whatever type of crowd, but yeah, which DJ right now would you say would be best equipped to create a YouTube tutorial of of how to do this?

SPEAKER_00

I would I would give it to Kitty Amore, man. I'd spend spend money on on that video just to be able to watch it, and even more for an in-person session. She's she's got it on lock.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, okay. I think I think we've just given a lot of DJs who are watching a business idea because I think most DJ YouTube videos in terms of like skill and technique, there's channels like uh Pioneer DJ, digital DJ Tips, but mate, guys like Liver K, guys like Kitty, Shimza, James Harp is very good at this. I think he he dominates the space. But I mean, imagine if Black Coffee just sat down for 15 minutes and just broke everything down. That video would go crazy. But shout out to how do you say his name? Chondu? Chondo? This this up-and-coming DJ. I think he's from the Netherlands.

unknown

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

And he does like a lot of DJ skills on TikTok, Instagram. Is it Chondo? Chondu? I know, I know who you're talking about.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I've seen his videos. He's good.

SPEAKER_02

I think he should definitely do some YouTube tutorials. I've seen, yeah, he done he's done a few videos with with Shimza. Radian and what's her name? I always get it wrong. But Radian and his partner, they're also they're also good and create this this type of DJ content that is that is skills-based. But that's coming back, man. That's coming back. I feel like when I started making videos, you know, it was the reactions, me and Novak. Now the next thing is almost like DJ skills, and you've got these guys coming up, which which I like to see, and and it works. But I was gonna say, man, I don't think a lot of people listening have ever heard you DJ or even a mix, bro. You gotta you gotta give them some. You gotta give them some.

SPEAKER_00

Look, to be honest with you, for the longest time I've I've been mixing like, you know, with friends at home, but I never really had this uh inclination to pursue being a DJ. I mean, it's something that I've kind of come into more recently when I've started putting out music, working on the label, things like that. So there's mixes coming out soon, one for club that is long overdue. And then I've got one or two that are coming out on Afrohouse Feed, hopefully by the end of this week, early next week, and then I'm recording a few more this Saturday. So yeah, man, we're cooking slowly but surely. I mean, I'm not rushing it, but it's coming. It's coming. It's coming.

SPEAKER_02

All right, all right, I'm gonna hold you to it. Before we jump into the music topics, of course, the World Cup just ended very, very quickly. Uh, how was the the weekend, the games, the whole experience, of course, for you because you are based in Toronto and Canada, so you got to live and breathe it. But how was the whole six weeks for you, man?

SPEAKER_00

Unbelievable experience here in Toronto. We've spoken about it before. I mean, the city was alive, all the fan parks, obviously. We had a few games early on in the World Cup, tons of tourists coming in. So I I've had a great summer so far. I think it's time to take a step back. You can't be finding excuses to drink beers at 2 p.m. on a Wednesday anymore. You know what I mean? But it was good, man. For me, the final we can, my final was Saturday, bro. England versus France. That was my final.

SPEAKER_02

That was your final? Nah, it wasn't it wasn't a final. That was that was an exhibition game. That that wasn't like a two-star game. That wasn't a final game.

SPEAKER_00

Bro, it was a terrible game, don't get me wrong. It was very laxed, which I understand most players don't really care. And then giving chance to the guys who've been on the bench for most of the tournament as well. But you know what? I actually didn't watch the World Cup final on Sunday.

SPEAKER_02

Ooh, I caught you, I caught you off guard there. It was a good game. I mean, it wasn't a good game, it was a boring game, but it was funny that the whole world was against Argentina, you know, for reasons that we won't get into. But yeah, when when uh Nico Williams made that assist to Ferrand Torres, that was like you know, we could breathe. Everyone could kind of relax and and from there you can kind of celebrate. But but yeah, it wasn't it wasn't a great final. I think uh the fact that England lost in a semi-final was heartbreaking. Yeah, the way they lost, even worse. The final should have been Spain, England. Everybody knows.

SPEAKER_00

I agree. Listen, I think uh calling calling out the teams, not that they'll care. I think Spain and Argentina are both very snaky teams, so I wasn't I wasn't really interested in giving Argentina.

SPEAKER_02

Argentina's fine, man. I mean, sorry, Argentina. Spain is fine, man. Spain is fine. Spain is fine. I don't know. Anyway, it is what it is, man. It is what it is. Okay. Speaking of Spain, Ibiza, first topic we have is Bob Sinclair. This was actually about a month ago when he when he shared that he wouldn't be playing in Ibiza this year because of uh VIP culture and and kind of the bottom line being a deciding factor for for for events and et cetera, et cetera. But how do you feel about Bob Sinclair just pulling out of any Ibiza events?

SPEAKER_00

I think I think it's surprising that he pulled out completely, right? It's kind of like boycotting the entire island because it does have a VIP culture. I mean, it's no secret that Ibiza has evolved from being a music and party destination to a more exclusive, upmarket, expensive place to go and visit. But I look, I I totally get it, man. I totally get it. You're not playing to that music fan crowd like you used to be. You're playing to the people who have money and the real estate in the club, and you know, those same people that are probably taking a lot of videos on their phone of the DJ to show that they're at the show, not because they're there for the music. I mean, what do you think?

SPEAKER_02

It's it's it's a boring and overdone conversation, but it's one that we have to have.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Because it's necessary. You know, like every time I see posts like this, or every time someone says something about Ibiza or just DJ culture in general, you're like, whatever, but at the same time, like you have to have these conversations because you could argue that social media has has ruined DJ culture, VIP culture has has ruined it, guestless culture, backstage culture, right? There's there's all these things that haven't helped the dance floor, and that's what it's about, right? Dancing is is should be an inclusive thing. Dancing should be a judgment free experience. But because of how things are now, that is almost impossible. It's just just impossible. Everybody records everything. I understand it, but is that how you you solve the problem? Probably not, right? Like I don't think just forfeiting or boycotting Ibiza is the way way to do it. You can still do your events and enforce some rules or whatever. It's your event, do what you want, but just boycotting completely is it the right thing?

SPEAKER_00

I don't know. I mean, and depending on the the venue as well, like okay, there's a lot of venues that facilitate a higher-end crowd that are looking for guests' VIP experiences, and that's fine. But I'm not an Ibiza professional, but surely there is a venue that he would like to play. But then I also think strategically for your brand as an electronic music artist to not have presence on the island, I don't think is necessarily a good move.

SPEAKER_02

Do you know what I think also? I think now we have people that before you go to a party, right? Most people now they're thinking, okay, how can I get backstage? They're not even looking at GA, they're not even looking at just I want to dance. It's like, who do you know? How can I get backstage? Do I know the promoter? No, do I know the DJ? Do I know their manager? Who's going? Would they know someone, right? So you're doing all these calculations in your head because you just want to be seen by other people, you want to look good and you want some clout. And the dance floor is literally the last thing. And I'm a victim of this too. But I don't know how we've gotten here and we've been brainwashed into I need backstage, I need all access areas, all areas, access, however you say it, I need to get in the booth. No, you don't. No, you don't, yeah, you don't, man. No, you don't, no, you don't. Dance, man, dance. And people don't know how to dance either, bro. Right now, no one knows how to dance. Like they're everyone's awkward on the dance floor. It's just like, mate, just enjoy it. Enjoy it. And don't just wait for the top most popular track, right? Enjoy the journey. Like, really understand what a DJ is trying to do. It's it's almost like you have to re-educate people on how to how to be in the club again. It's it's a complete reset.

SPEAKER_00

No, exactly, man. Exactly. You know, that that is a great point. It's and it's also like, you know, we spoke about this a little bit last time. It's like, I don't think backstage booth is all that anymore. You know why? Because you have all this ego and you have politics, and and you know, now, you know, depending on the venue that you're going to, there's backstage and then there's there's booth and then there's other areas. So like there's a segregation within VIP now that contributes to that level of FOMO and ego because you're backstage, but you're not in that backstage. You know, you're you're separated. So then you're thinking, how do I get there? How do I get there? Who do I know? You're looking, you're looking, right? And it's terrible, man. It's terrible.

SPEAKER_02

It's true, it's true. No, it's almost like uh I don't know, man. Fucking you're on a plane, you got economy, economy, prime, comfort, business class, first class, but people are trying to get in the cockpit, like bro. Do you know what I mean? Like, it's it's uh I get I get Bob Sinclair's frustration. Yeah, but I would push back and say, mate, Ibiza is still salvageable, like there's still things that we can do. Of course, but this is also like a trend thing, and and where the industry is going and investment going into electronic music and festival and events is just how it is. There's so much money in it now. But yeah, maybe just taking a step back and like trying to figure out okay, next year, what should I do, you know? So maybe that could that could also be a yeah, an approach he's taken.

SPEAKER_00

I will I was gonna say there's an opportunity for for not only him to create experiences where that kind of access and control is is removed. I mean, a bunch of people have tried the no-phone thing. It doesn't really work because you can just take your phone out of your pocket and and record anyway. But I think we're gonna come full circle, not only on the island, I think elsewhere you're gonna start to see a lot more of just dance floor-focused events because there's still a bunch of fans out there, you know, that are there for the music. What we see on social media, of course, is all of those VIP goers, you know, that's where the great angles backstage and videos of yourself on the on bottle service and whatever that that's all a flex. But all those guys, there's still thousands of people on the on the dance floor, right? And it's packed. But you just don't hear from them or see see them on social media because they're there to dance and maybe they take some videos, but it doesn't go as viral as you know the ones up close. So I think going forward in the future, dance music will will make a recovery, and then you know, but it takes the likes of a Bob Sinclair to be like, right, how do I create curate an experience where there's no VIP access areas? It's me and the dance floor, kind of like uh Adam Port's 360 experience, he's in the middle. So where is the VIP relative to him? You know, probably on the outside of the dance floor, further away, which is not as not as fun, right? Because you're not right there.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. I like your point about it's gonna come full circle and we're gonna make a recovery. But what what does that look like? And that's that's that's a it's a big question. Yeah. But what does that look like?

SPEAKER_00

I think it's I think it's really all about the logistics of how your venue or or you know environment that you're playing is set up, right? So if you have areas that are built for VIP access that you're gonna sell and profit off of, which is another conversation, the business side, there's big money in VIP nightlife, right? That's that's the real margins. But if you build, if you build the venue sort of with dance floor in mind, without a backstage area, without VIP tables crowding the DJ booth or close to the DJ booth, then you're creating a dance floor-focused environment versus profit and VIP focused, I think.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Yeah. This one is just a kind of orange, man. There's just so many so many things that are impacting the industry and uh you could blame for where we are now. DJ fees. Also, I think age is the th is a thing, right? I think the party crowd now has money and it's also like, man, I I see people in their 60s, man, in in in Ibiza. You know, they're still partying. People that partied hard 20 years ago are still partying now, right? And now they have a bit more money. They don't want to be on a dance floor with with 18-year-olds.

SPEAKER_00

Look, I I totally get that. That's probably gonna be me as well, right? Like when I'm older, you know, you do have money you can afford, you know, to pay for those uh more exclusive areas, but in conjunction to that, the younger generation is drinking less, they're more health conscious. So, how is that gonna impact the future of VIP nightlife when from the bottle service perspective, it's like, first of all, I don't want to drink that much, and no way I'm paying this crazy markup for a bottle of whatever is on sale? So I think that's where it's gonna take a while in you know 10, 15 years to go.

SPEAKER_02

There's no right or wrong answer, man. There's no right or wrong answer. Yeah. Because if you're if you're Bob Sinclair, how are you gonna get paid? How's the promoter paying you? How's the venue paying you? If no one's buying their their drinks, you know, it's it's it's a difficult one. It's a difficult one. But yeah, it goes back to the conversation we had a couple weeks back about circle.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

It's a similar issue where DJ fees are ballooned and they're crazy. And when I was reading the comments, some some DJs were suggesting, oh, why don't we play for free? You know, we do a big circle festival, all play play for free, and any proceedings, any kind of revenue generated from the event, circle keeps.

SPEAKER_00

I like that. I mean, hot topic for for this weekend, obviously first weekend of Tomorrowland just happened, right? And that whole it's a whole experience, you know, there's immersive and but that that experience itself is not about VIP at all, right? It's about togetherness and unity. That's been their messaging from when they started. And yes, there are VIP areas, but there's tens of thousands of people. People that are just there to be on the dance floor and to be with everyone else, and so it is it is still possible. It just depends how it's sold, what the experience looks like, and maybe where it is. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, listen, we could talk about this for hours. It would be great to get someone from Tomorrowland, someone that's done a huge event or works for a big venue, Ibiza, et cetera, et cetera, to come and speak to us and and break it all down and also get their their views on party trends and and where they see things going. I think that is a that's a great conversation to have, man.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

That is a great conversation to have. Another one to have, which it's been all over social media. Huge's uh number one song, I think is number one in in the UK for sure, but other countries as well. Of course, the album has been very, very successful. But allegedly, or not allegedly, I think it's been proven, the song Moving to the Sun was AR generated initially. I think they took it down because I can't find the song on Spotify anymore, the AI, the AI version. Yeah and they reworked it, which is moving to the sun now. But also, if you look at the listed artists, right, you've got Hugael, I think Ismail. So Immael Angle and UltraNate. So Immael Angle, if you click on that, you can clearly see that that is an AI generated artist. AI generated artist with currently almost 10 million monthly listeners.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Damn, dang him, dangham, dangham. So how do you feel about this story? Is Hugel exploiting this AI era? I think the answer is yes, but yeah, how do you feel about it?

SPEAKER_00

I'd love to know the breakdown of how much of his version changed from the AI thing, but look, man, like I don't think it's a good look for Huguel at all. Kind of capitalizing on an AI artist. That being said, if you look at the streams of the AI artists previous, you know, they're all hovering around a million, half a million, but moving to the sun is on 51 million right now, right? So I think a lot of that is Huguel's team and their marketing is is top class. But hey man, listen, like it's not good.

SPEAKER_02

It's not I mean, is this is Huguel is he just ahead of the game in terms of like is this where music is going? You know, artists get writers block when they're creating music. You can go into Suno. I've got this idea in my head, but I don't know how to progress it. Suno makes a whole song, right? Upload it on Spotify, you manage to market it somehow somewhat well, right? You get a hundred thousand, a couple hundred thousand streams, a bigger artist hears it, they like it. And they know that AI right now is quite controversial, right? But they know that if they make it human, rework it, put their name on it, get a real singer on it, also give you the opportunity to be on the track, then there's more kind of credibility and authenticity. Yeah. Although there isn't, but appears to be in the track. But is this the the the new way of of unlocking a hit or you know what I mean? I don't know. It's it's it's a strategy, man. It's it's definitely a strategy.

SPEAKER_00

I think I think look, it it all boils down to for me. I mean, look, I'm a I'm uh a newbie producer, right? Right. So you if I go on a Suno and I'm like, all right, I I wanna I want to come up with something like this, right? Some kind of chord progression or whatever, right? But I think to take whatever Suno like gives you back and just you know throw it into your Daw and call it a day, I think it it's kind of lazy, right? And then you're you're missing that opportunity to learn and be a musician and an artist and however you want to frame it, right? It's so easy to do that, right? And be like, yo, AI just do everything for me. And and that goes beyond music, right? Chat GPT with writing, clawed code with working. You know, it's easy to be like, let me just automate my my things that take a lot of my time. And I think it's fine in a lot of other parts of your your working life where you need that support. I mean, is it illegal? I think I think I think that's that's right, right, right.

SPEAKER_02

That's that's where we are um Is it illegal going towards because n the negativity that a lot of people feel towards AI music, it's almost like it's wrong, right? But wrong and illegal, two different different things.

SPEAKER_00

It's not illegal right now, but do I think it will become illegal? Probably.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, it's not illegal. Random one. I was on uh YouTube yesterday and just watching this video about consulting companies. It's come out that a lot of them have been using AI for for a lot of their consulting, and it's like if I'm just being a devil's advocate here, right? But if you actually delivered what you were hired for and the results were successful, whether I used AI or not, who cares?

SPEAKER_00

Look, I I look I totally agree with you on that. It's all about the what's the word, integrity of work, right? So did you actually do it yourself? Yes or no, but then it's the same question, right? If I'm if I'm at work and I hire somebody and you know on their own, they're gonna do like a a good job, right? But if they're they can do an amazing job by leveraging something way smarter, way faster than them, and that can't that helps me as a business, whatever, that's fine. But in music, it's like who is that end you know, client or customer that caught like ultimately benefits from AI? I mean, you you like the song, you liked the song before you knew it was AI, so why are you complaining now? That's the question. So you're upset, why? But you like the song.

SPEAKER_02

But also it's there's a lot of content now about artists that claim that they made the song when from the first two seconds you can tell it's AI, right? But that's the issue. It's like if you claim it's your song and confidently tell people you made it, that is the issue. And obviously, I can't speak for Huguel and we're not sure or don't know whether he he claimed they made it 100%. Well right now we're not there yet in terms of like any wrongful doing or any kind of legal or illegal decision, I guess. But it's I mean uh it's controversial, right?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, but I think you know, to obvious backing up your point there is on this specific project, the AI artist is credited, it's visible, it's public. I don't think there was any uh shady behavior from Hugo being like, oh, maybe we shouldn't put him on, or you know, this you know, he's not playing that game, which then it comes out later when it's like, oh, this song is AI, but nobody knew about it, it was a leak, or whatever the fuck happens, right? I'm not a fan of it. I think it's it's too easy potentially, but uh the strategy, the work it requires to produce music, a whole album, stay on top of the game, leveraging AI makes sense.

SPEAKER_02

I do think that whether you are for AI or not for AI, you should still learn it. You don't have to use it, but I think you have to kind of learn the skills.

SPEAKER_00

But then then okay, learn the skills. I have a question for you, right? So nowadays, instead of like now you can go and use Suno or whatever other tool to make to make a song for you that you have an idea about, how is it different from having a ghost producer before there was AI being like, yo, I have this idea, make it for me. And they may or may not get credit on the song.

SPEAKER_02

I do feel like AI now is so much easier to detect, man. Like I can detect an AI song in no time. Yeah. The vocal is one thing, but also the atmosphere of the song. Right. It's so formulated and it's so like basic and and it's almost like AI isn't when it comes to making music isn't as good as people think it is yet. A lot of the sounds, melodies, atmosphere sounds the same. And with Wavy, I get so many AI tracks and I have to tell them in the in the feedback that we give them. We can tell this is AI, just be conscious of that. So it's it's like with Ho Gail, that's the thing. It's so hard to detect to detect people didn't know. Obviously, someone's gonna know, but when it's so hard to detect and you can can get away with it and it's successful, I think that's when you know, after the fact, obviously after a few months, people find out. But yeah, I think most people that use AI, it's it's really, really easy to detect and and hear it.

SPEAKER_00

I think I think you're biased though, obviously, because you're you work in the industry, you run a record label, you run a um, you know, music service under Wavy, your ear is super in tune. I think the average person doesn't, you know, have that understanding of of what is what. But I think the detection is the key conversation, right? Because there's you know, so many posts I see throughout the months about this DSP or that DSP, this service detects, can detect AI music, right? So the latest um headline that we saw recently on that topic is Spotify removed 75 million AI and spam songs in the last 12 months, right? So I wonder how they are able to do that. 75 million is a lot.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, but you have to think like a hundred about a hundred thousand tracks get uploaded every single day, and I think around 40% is like spam or AI slop that gets uploaded into Spotify. And another side to this conversation is this is all scam and and people are doing fraud when they're uploading this music into Spotify because you're doing a game of quantity where you're trying to ruck up the royalties and get paid every single month. So, as you can imagine, if people are listening, if you've got the right playlist, if you pay the right playlist, if you own the right playlists, you can make endless amounts of money. And bro, imagine like if you're uploading a hundred thousand tracks, not even every single day, like a year, fuck yeah, I'll make you definitely making something.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, okay, that that I understand, yeah. So it that that's what spamming spamming looks like. It's just putting out music every single day or multiple times a day. And even if it's a small amount of streams accumulated, it's a payout.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, there's a I was reading a story about a lot of cartels do this to wash their money. Yeah, yeah. So they do this to wash their money. So they'll upload all these songs, put them on Spotify, pay different playlists, right? So they're paying, knowing that the money that they're paying, they gotta get it back into royalties.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And that's clean money. Yeah, and that's clean money. So you're paying for the ads, you're paying for this with the drug money. Yeah. And then Spotify pays you royalties, which are completely clean.

SPEAKER_01

That's actually brilliant. That's brilliant, isn't it? It's crazy, right? Wow. Wow. Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, I mean that's an Ozark. That's the Ozark movie, man. That's an Ozark series on Netflix, bro.

SPEAKER_00

There you go, man. Listen, for all we know, Huguell is a cartel member and he's just uh money laundering machine.

SPEAKER_02

He's just a face, yeah. Okay, that that that's a joke. That's a joke, yeah. That's a joke. That's a joke. Yeah, yeah. That's a joke. We have to we have to say that. That's a joke. We're just uh we're just being stupid here. But yeah, man, listen. That's uh did I never tell you that. That's I never told you that one.

SPEAKER_00

I think you might have mentioned it before, but I didn't really understand how I didn't connect the dots on the funds flow.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I guess that's that's how it's done. Maybe I was trying to I was trying to keep it to myself, so you would you wouldn't catch on what we've been doing with Club Record, man. Yeah, yeah, low-key. Low-key. Manuel Chapo. That's the truth is out. Listen, I think more producers are using AI that aren't. I think that's a fact.

SPEAKER_00

Again, man, it's I think it it's all about convenience and and ease, right? And there's levels to it. There's there's people like who are starting to learn how to produce, you know, to master a DAW and all those kinds of things takes probably about a decade, I would say, realistically, right? But instead of spending that time, you can go and generate great samples that fit right into your track just from prompting. But then in addition to that, you have a lot of people who are, you know, maybe professionals at using DAWs, but they don't have the time or capacity to sit down for hours and hours and go through 50 different hi-hats, whatever, right? You know the drill. So I totally get that. AI is leveraged kind of the same way as a convenience and efficiency tool in other professional areas of working, so it only makes sense. But there definitely needs to be some kind of oversight and regulation on the music side and how it's how it's displayed on DSPs. I think it's title, actually. I saw recently has they they put a tag on songs that are AI generated. That was title, right?

SPEAKER_02

They did, yeah, yeah. Title. Title in terms of streaming, you've got track source. Yeah, they've updated their AI, I guess, terms of conditions or their AI rules, regulations. Yeah. But I was gonna say as well, like I think it's gonna become quite popular with producers that aren't touring and making a lot of money from gigging, right? Because I was I was speaking to this producer who releases a lot of music, and of course he's for AI. But he was telling me he's able to live off music because he's got systems in place where you know he might have five different artist names on Spotify and he's releasing music consistently every single week that he's making enough to live, right? He's making enough to sustain himself, do whatever. Again, game of numbers, but you can be smart about that, right? Yeah. How many Spotify profiles now are faceless? You know, OAI. Like, no one's gonna know it's it's this guy or that guy. No, they won't. You know, if you've got systems, if you've got like the right playlists, man, it's it's it's you gotta be smart, but you can do it.

SPEAKER_00

But I think eventually it becomes oversaturated, man. It's like, you know, that that same kind of model is like, you know, you set up clip farms for Twitch streams, and then you farm five different streams a day, and you have five different social media profiles, and you just post and post and post, and then daily you're getting millions and millions of views across all your profiles because it's automated. There's endless applications of that same logic, but it bec it will become oversaturated at a point. People will catch on and be like, right, I can do this, I can make money. So then there needs to be a control in place eventually. Yeah, that's uh one of the biggest when you mentioned clip farming.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Or clipping, even is that the same thing?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, same thing, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that's that's like one of the biggest industries right now, emerging industries, clipping, clipping. You know, you got people making millions. Yeah, we need what we need one of those for our podcast, actually. Like just fucking clip the shit out of this out of this podcast, man.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, exactly, man.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, listen, it's crazy where we are now. Let's see where we are in a year, because things have happened so quickly. Like before this podcast started. Were we talking about AI like this? Not really, man. And now look at where we are. Look at where we are, look at and we're talking about flipping cartels, money laundering.

SPEAKER_00

Like, it's mad. I remember there was a conversation we had when you know we were the label was being formed. We met with a partner in South Africa, I won't say his name, but they were like, oh yeah, we're keeping an eye on AI music, and what is your guy's stance on that? And in my head, I was like, ah man, like, you know, not even like I didn't first of all, I don't know. And second of all, like it wasn't a really a thing, and that was like just two years ago, basically, right? Crazy.

SPEAKER_02

You just you just gotta stay on top of everything. No one knows anything, but they act like they do. Yeah, you just you just have to gotta keep working, man. Gotta keep working. Okay. Reaching the end of this podcast. We wanted to save this last section to shout out some producers that we've been keeping an eye on, producers that have been working, producers that I bet my life that a lot of you will not know or will never have heard their names. So I guess the question is what are some producers, Wesley, that most people, 99% of people who listen to our type of music, wouldn't know.

SPEAKER_00

Ooh, good good question, man. I think the first one that comes to mind, I gotta give massive shout out to my boy Piero Faro. That guy, he he's released with us a great song called Time Club Record. That was a few months back, but his work rate is unbelievable. He's got a lot of great demos, you know, in the vaults. Shout out to my boy Piero Faro. Tough. I think another one, somebody who's released with us is McFly. Great producer, super up and coming. Germany. Okay, multi-talented. Let me think. Batu. Batu's good. Shout out to Batu. Turkey in the House. Okay. Oh, yeah. So Brazil. Alright, alright, alright. Multinational. I love it, man. And I think my last one gotta be Fonsa. Fonsa is insane, bro. Fonsa.

SPEAKER_02

Those are good names. And if you're listening to this podcast, if you're watching, of course, leave a like, leave a comment. But let us know how many out of the ones that we mention you know. Let us know. Let us know. Okay. My name's just because I just came back from Angola, I have to shout out Gleason Prod Mafia.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, I'll tell you a story. I'll tell you a story. So we're I'm not sure if I if I said this story in the last podcast, but I'm having dinner with these guys, and I think I think there was a track playing in in the restaurant, and they're talking about we can finish a track in one hour, bro. Don't worry, like it's easy. And I'm like, okay, make a remix of this track. So that night we go in the studio, bro. 20 minutes remix was done. How 20 minutes remix was done. And I'm like, bro, I was like, and and bro, it wasn't like bullshit, it was good. 20 minutes. I was like, damn, fully arranged. So Angola. Yeah, they're working over there.

SPEAKER_00

Glacent prod mafia.

SPEAKER_02

Glayson prod mafia, Wilson, Wilson Kintura, yeah. Again, Angola. I'm gonna go with Now Tunes. I think Germany as well.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

He's uh this year is releasing great, great music. Hopefully we can get him on the label now. That's N-A-W-O Tunes. Another one that's released with us, Calm. It's it's spelt a bit oddly spelt, but C C V A. Wait, C V A L. C Vom. C Vom. So he's uh he's there. Anyone else? Udora. Ooh Udora, Udora, Afrotech. I think he's uh he's one of the last few that is just sticking to that Afrotech sound. Just yeah, he's tough just fighting. He's he's this guy will text me any time of the day, multiple texts, and I'm like, bro, but he's fucking going for it, man. I love it a lot. I love the energy that would always bring in. There you go. So let us know in the comments how many artists you knew from from the ones we just mentioned. That was episode 27. Thanks for tuning in. Please, please, please leave a like on YouTube, comment on Spotify, leave a rating and review on Spotify. Anything else? See you next week.