55 START-UP ALLEY MXX
COUNTRY: UK STARTED: 2015
THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC MXX is a transformative AI that allows users to instantly edit music into their own video footage
WHAT USED TO TAKE FOUR DAYS NOW ONLY TAKES FOUR HOURS, AND CLIENTS CANWORK ONMANY MORE IDEASWITHIN THIS TIME FRAME
Ad agencies such as Mother, BBH and J Walter Thompson are also using the firm’s Agency product, which uses cleared libraries from the likes of BMG and Warner Music Group, and enables creatives to pitch soundtracks to accompany commercial spots. Users are able to download the software, describe the narrative and then experiment with a variety of tracks to see which best fits the story. “It’s only ever the final edit that gets paid for, so this is a way of saying to the client, ‘Go away and try out as many of the tracks as you want to and come back when you have exactly what you want‘,” clarifies Lyske. He continues: “What used to take four days now only takes four hours, and clients can work on many more ideas within this time frame.” Other clients include video editors, music supervisors, sync agencies and even the big music labels, which Lyske claims are finally starting to embrace AI.
This wasn’t the case four years ago when the composer and his co-founder, fintech entrepreneur Philip Walsh, first launched the company. Lyske recalls: “We were probably two and a half years too early – we went to all the majors at the point where digital was sucking all their income.” The arrival of Spotify – which enabled streaming to finally provide labels with a sustainable business model – as well as Facebook’s investment in licensing deals, was what started to change things, according to Lyske. Warner Music France’s electropop band Hyphen Hyphen has even made personal edits of their own work using MXX’s tech. There are different pricing models – you can buy an SDK if you are a creator or
those with larger scale businesses can opt for the SaaS B2B option. As many outfits working in AI point out: it’s a long play – with Lyske admitting that, after five years, “We’re just getting to the point of becoming self-funded.” It was Walsh who raised the first two rounds of funding. However, MXX’s early launch has been an advantage in other respects. It gave Lyske time to develop and patent a content ID tracking system, which allows rights holders to identify where their music is being used and enables them to kill any version they deem to be inappropriate. To Lyske’s own surprise, he explains that no one has requested this to date, but adds labels are reassured by this artist- first approach.
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