Genie Music launches AI-based arrangement service

Genie Music, the music production and distribution affiliate of South Korea’s KT Corp., has launched an arrangement service for digital music using artificial intelligence (AI).

Attachment of an MP3 file allows AI to compose a digital score, which can be edited to create a wide range of music.

Genie Music and its Seoul-based subsidiary Juice on Wednesday held a news conference at the former's headquarters in Seoul to roll out the beta version of genie.Re:La. A startup specializing in AI-based music composition and arrangement technology, Juice was acquired by Genie last year for 5.1 billion won ($3.9 million).

Free for all Genie Music users, genie.Re:La allows the conversion of music files into digital form even just through humming. Free music arrangement with AI assistance is also available.

Suggesting up to 20 arrangements, the service will charge a partial fee after its official launch this year. Unlimited use of the music conversion and arrangement function will incur a monthly subscription fee.

A window will also allow the sale of arranged music as licensed content.

“This year, we will release a consumer-to-consumer (C2C) platform allowing users to buy and sell music created with AI music analysis and arrangement technology,” Juice CEO Kim Jun-ho said. “We are preparing a system to distribute a percentage of streaming revenue generated by a piece of arranged music to the original artist.”

Industry observers are wondering if genie.Re:La can provide a breakthrough for the struggling Genie Music. The Seoul-based data research service WiseApp said the company had just over two million users in April, down 12.1% from the same month last year and falling further behind market leader YouTube Music with 5.21 million and No. 2 Melon with 4.59 million.

“The new service genie.Re:La will help secure a fan base,” Genie Music CEO Park Hyun-jin said.

The Seoul-based market research company Market.us said the global market for music-generating AI is forecast to explode from $229 million (290 billion won) last year to $2.6 billion in 2032.

Write to Ji-Eun Jeong at jeong@hankyung.com