The latest music company putting AI to work beyond music creation is Absolute Label Services. It has unveiled its Big New Thing, which is called Anthology. And actually, our headline sells it short: ‘admin portal’ doesn’t really cover the ambitions involved here. Companies can use it to manage their catalogues, distribution, neighbouring rights, Content ID management and streaming, physical and D2C analytics. But there’s also an “AI-powered music industry executive” called Ant that users can chat to about… well, whatever their current tasks or questions are.
Absolute is seizing on some recent talking points in the industry to drum up anticipation for Anthology’s commercial launch later this year. “Independence is under threat from corporate creep through ongoing consolidation. But it’s no use asking company owners and entrepreneurs to remain independent simply because of some altruistic ideals,” said Absolute MD Simon Wills. “They need genuinely competitive alternatives that make independence strategically beneficial.”
If Anthology delivers on its promise, it’ll be a reason to celebrate Absolute escaping the corporate binfire of Utopia Music two years ago when its original management team reacquired the company.
