AI Music Platform LifeScore Closes £11 Million Round With Support From Warner Music Group

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Photo Credit: Markus Winkler

AI music-tech platform LifeScore has announced the completion of a nearly $14.5 million (£11 million) funding round amid a broader music-industry embrace of artificial intelligence.  

Six-year-old LifeScore unveiled the $14.46 million raise (factoring for the USD-GBP conversion rate at the time of writing) today. London-based LifeScore “creates adaptive music on demand that is algorithmically tailored to the context and needs of the listener,” according to the company’s formal announcement message.

LifeScore’s website elaborates that the entity works “with world-class musicians and composers to record and compose musical building blocks,” which are “then processed by our proprietary AI platform to generate soundtracks that adapt to the listener’s environment and inputs.”

The AI-powered music service was established by Detroit: Become Human composer Philip Sheppard, Siri, Inc. founder Tom Gruber, attorney Chris Walch (Sheppard’s former director of operations), and former ARM exec Ian Drew.

Synchtank backer Octopus Ventures led LifeScore’s newest raise, which likewise drew support from 4 Good Ventures, Metaplanet Holdings OÜ, “design and innovation company” IDEO, and Warner Music Group. WMG has invested in and/or closed partnership agreements with a number of tech-focused and Web3 businesses in recent months, and LifeScore has now raised a total of about $15.74 million (£12 million) since its inception.

LifeScore intends to use the almost $14.5 million tranche “to accelerate its traction in Europe, the U.S. and Asia by strengthening its technical, audio and operations teams, expanding its customer base, and further investing in its proprietary adaptive music technology,” officials disclosed. And in a statement, WMG chief digital officer and EVP of business development Oana Ruxandra acknowledged “the importance that LifeScore places on the artist.”

“Interactivity is at the core of the music ecosystem’s evolution and adaptive music will be a key driver of this interactivity,” said Ruxandra. “Fundamental to the investment is the importance that LifeScore places on the artist. Adaptive AI, held at the fingertips of our artists, will provide powerful opportunities to tailor and personalize experiences for fans. We’re excited to get started.”

Elsewhere in the lengthy release, LifeScore execs emphasized that their company “is not a replacement for human-created music.”

Rather, “it is a new way for human-composed and performed music to be algorithmically produced on demand” to address “the fundamental problem of how to incorporate the musical creativity and expertise of composers and musicians in the production of music by a machine,” according to higher-ups.

Last month, Apple quietly acquired London-based startup AI Music, and the U.S. Copyright Office doubled down on its refusal to issue a copyright for art that was created by artificial intelligence.