MAM
File sharing services infringing copyright: US Supreme Court
MUMBAI: The US Supreme Court, today ruled that file sharing services, such as Grokster and Morpheus, are infringing copyright. This ruling can be touted as a landmark, both in protecting the rights of music artists to be paid for their work, and in protecting online consumers.
Asia Pacific digital music companies, such as Soundbuzz, are anticipating a similar decision in the Australian case of ARIA v/s Kazaa to ensure the same protection for artists and consumers in this part of the world.
According to Soundbuzz, the court decision safeguards the future of the legitimate digital music industry and, importantly, protects consumers from privacy infringements and unethical online practices.
Soundbuzz CEO Sudhanshu Sarronwala said,”Trust in the online world is the biggest concern for consumers. We have created a safe, telecommunications-grade online environment which offers music purchasers ease-of-use, choice, security and 100 per cent transparency, whilst also protecting the rights of artists to make money from their creative efforts and performances.”
“As consumers turn increasingly to legitimate online music sites, today’s judgement is an important milestone in the ongoing development of the digital music business, and a reward for industry players that have established ethical business models,” he added.
It seems that the tide is beginning to turn worldwide in favour of legitimate players, with a recent listing of music sites in the US ranking iTunes at number two in terms of household downloads, neck and neck with big file sharing networks such as WinMX and LimeWire.
According to Sarronwala, the hoped for clean up of the online landscape that will follow on from today’s judgement will help diminish the proliferation of invasive software and covert advertising practices employed by some illegal file-sharing sites into homes.
“You hear time and time again of how illegal file-sharing sites spam you with invasive software without your knowledge, and leave you with no control over who or what is prying into your computer and into your life,” he said.
Saying that the ruling will be a boost to the emerging digital music industry in India, Soundbuzz India’s general manager Mandar Thakur added, “This landmark ruling against Grokster has come at an opportune time and has given a tremendous boost to Soundbuzz and its various online and broadband partners in India, who are readying to launch what will become the first “truly Indian” digital music service, which will offer well over a quarter million tracks from the entire music industry in India, plus a variety of International music from most of the major record labels globally.”
“This ruling also restores ‘clarity of copyright’ and faith in the safeguarding of the creative process as the music industry sails seamlessly into the digital future,” said Thakur
Facts and Stats:
Top music download sites in US (ranked in order of popularity)
WinMX (P2P)
iTunes (legit)
LimeWire (P2P)
Kazaa (P2P)
BearS (P2P)
Napster (legit)
Morpheus (P2P)
Real Player Store (legit)
iMesh (P2P)
Number of households downloading music from WinMX: 2.1 million
Number of households downloading music from iTunes: 1.7 million Value of digital music industry globally by 2009: $ 9.3 billion
Number of physical albums versus digital tracks purchased this year: 197 million versus 108 million
Percentage rise in individual track downloads: 148 per cent
[Sources: NPD Group Inc (US, March 2005), IFPI, Nielsen SoundScan (US, Q1 2005)]
Brands
Creative Intelligence: Using AI to Predict Which Ads Will Actually Convert
Priyanka Aeron, Director & Co-founder of Thrive Global AI
MUMBAI: In a heavily populated digital landscape, simply being creative with your advertising will not guarantee that your ad will be successful. In fact, brands today are producing more content than ever. However, very little of that results in actual engagement or sales. However, Creative Intelligence, powered by AI, is fundamentally transforming the advertising industry.
Creative Intelligence utilizes data, machine learning, and statistical behavioral insights to analyze and predict how well a creative asset will perform prior to it being published. Therefore, marketers no longer have to rely on either their gut instincts or post-campaign analytics for making informed decisions before production. That said, AI-powered creative intelligence greatly improves results and decreases wasted dollars spent.
Moving Beyond Guesswork
In the past, making ads was a mix of gut feeling, experience, and A/B testing. These methods were useful, but reactive by nature. People have already spent their budgets by the time the results are looked at. AI models can find patterns that are linked to higher engagement and conversion rates by looking at huge datasets. These datasets can include things like past campaign performance, audience behavior, and visual elements like color, composition, and facial expressions. This helps marketers guess which ads will do well even before they go live.
Decoding What Truly Drives Conversions
AI-powered creative intelligence allows for an evaluation of advertisements that is not limited to the basic data but also explores the elements of an effective advertisement through subtle reactions; clarity and directness of the ad message and how well the ad captures audience’s attention in the first three seconds. AI can also provide insights into the successful use of advertisements directed to human faces, which connect through eye contact based on media channels, and how advertisements that utilize shorter but clear calls to action may produce more clicks from certain populations. The insights, provided through AI, provide marketers with the ability to think beyond creating more advertising material and additionally create more effective ad campaigns that actually convert.
Personalization at Scale
Consumers expect relevance more than ever. Irrelevant mass messaging is not going to work in a society inundated with information. Hyper-personalization, using AI, allows companies to create content that suits individual segments within their target markets based on their demographics, interests, and behaviors. Rather than having one single message that aims to reach everyone, brands can have many versions of their messages tailored to each segment within the market. Such flexibility is what makes campaigns successful nowadays.
Faster Iteration, Better Results
Another advantage to using AI in creative decision-making is speed. Companies must improvise because their campaign cycles are shorter than ever before, and having the ability to iterate rapidly is more important than it has ever been. There is no greater way to do this work than through AI, as new technologies give brands the ability to test multiple creative avenues and figure out which ones are working well. This reduces a lot of the testing that companies would otherwise have to do and makes the process faster.
With AI, brands can also make creative changes in real-time during a campaign, allowing the, to make vital decisions and adjust their creatives, rather than waiting out. This allows for faster adaptability, well-tested campaigns and reduced lost ad spend.
The Human-AI Collaboration
Even though AI is capable of performing certain tasks, its purpose is not to eliminate human creativity. Successful campaigns require human collaboration with computer intellect since both complement each other. While computers are capable of dealing with massive amounts of information, discovering patterns, and providing predictions, humans are the one to inject stories and emotions into campaigns.
The Future of Advertising
As the complexity of advertising becomes harder with the passage of time, Creative Intelligence will play a significant role in helping marketers formulate a strategic approach. The yardstick that will set standards for determining whether a marketing firm has fulfilled its responsibilities will be the forecasting of future outcomes, as well as personalized content and optimization of creative elements in real-time. In contrast to the existing scenario where the campaigns remain fixed, these campaigns will be capable of adjusting themselves according to the customer interacting with the brand, as well as other trends on social media channels. This will enable brands to offer customers an engaging experience that will exceed expectations. The biggest hurdle marketers will face will be finding ways to utilize these capabilities without compromising branding and enhancing the creativity of the team involved.
