Pixelynxa metaverse company owned by Animoca Brands, co-founded by DJ and producer Deadmau5, today announced its new flagship gear line Korusan AI-powered music creation platform where you can remix content using AI and licensed stem files created by artists and record labels, then cut music and earn revenue.
Starting today, Korus is launching new features to introduce ways for users to create and experiment with music, including interactive graphics, a layering tool and video recording. There’s also a new playlist feature and reward program to incentivize artistic contributions.
Korus’ main proprietary tool is called “Sound Mosaic”, a music composition algorithm that can compose music based on the basic files uploaded to it. Korus pays artists for the music they upload, and artists get ownership of any new content their executives use. Users share rights with the original IP owners. The Sound Mosaic tool will soon be offered as an SDK for developers to launch new music experiences into their products.
Each artist on the platform develops their own proprietary AI models based on their IP to monetize it to fans. Deadmau5 dropped the AI model “Mau5trap DNA” in June, featuring tracks from his independent record label.
“The idea that you can buy this AI model from your favorite company and play with it is a new paradigm. The [Mau5trap] The drop made about $25,000 in about 24 hours and featured music from three artists who are all relatively unknown — less than 10,000 followers each — and, generally speaking, wouldn’t do a fraction of the streaming in five years, let alone 24 hours. Pixelynx co-founder and CEO Inder Phull told TechCrunch.
The company is still figuring out its business model, Phull told us, but mentioned that it has taken an equity stake in Reveal, an off-chain rights-splitting platform, to provide artists and creators with “full rights transparency,” he added .
“The economy and the business model that we’re trying to design is very much inspired by gaming, the cryptocurrencies, the ways people spend in microtransactions on the platform… We’re putting the pieces in place right now,” Phull said.
Image Credits: Korus
Another feature of the platform is its AI companions or “KORS”, a friendly robot that you can train to create new music and album art. For example, “Create a track with a dark mood and anger.” There are three free companions to collect, designed in collaboration with Mau5trap and music companies Beatport and Pioneer DJ. Korus plans to add paid companions tailored by up-and-coming and top artists that include exclusive fan content.
“As we continue to evolve the platform, they’ll start to take on personalities…they’ll know your interests. So, for example, you’re building this type of vacation home, let’s say it knows that and will continue to help your experience along that line or feed you content that’s relevant to the communities you’re in,” Phull said.
Image Credits: Korus
The first new feature added to the platform is “Scenz”, a video tool that helps you create aesthetically pleasing visuals by choosing from animated backgrounds and animated images and on-screen avatars. Korus also lets you record videos and share your creations on social media.
“Whether you want to create your experience in a 3D environment and create a space for that visual experience to take place, or you just want to use more traditional video and textures, this is a real-time visual compositing engine in many ways.”, explained Phull during a demo with TechCrunch.Phull adds that there are webcam interactions so you can upload a scan of yourself and play as an avatar, but that feature wasn’t ready in time for the demo.
The next feature is called “Layer Mosaic”, which allows you to modify stems by adjusting drums, vocals, harmony, melody and chords as well as using an XY pad for effects. It’s designed to make you feel like you’re playing like a DJ and provide a sense of “musical creative action,” Phull said. You can also create new sounds through AI text messages, similar to CreateSafe’s recently released Triniti platform. Korus plans to include voice inputs in the next iteration.
Korus is also introducing the soft currency, “NOIZ”, which can be used to purchase audio and video content and music downloads. The platform rewards you for creating tracks, sharing content and interacting with the platform. You will also be rewarded if you log in daily. Your rewards can be redeemed for digital collectibles, merchandise and gift cards.
Finally, the new playlist feature lets you curate collections of content while also exploring playlists from other users. Korus hopes the playlists will help improve music discovery and foster a community of creators on the platform.
Image Credits: Korus
In addition to the new tools, Phull also revealed that the company is partnering with Netflix’s hit sci-fi series “Black Mirror” to launch its own web3 experience.
“The goal is to combine multiple domains from music to film and television with our core technology to bring fans closer to the IP and worlds they love. Many people believe that the future with artificial intelligence will be this dystopian dark story. We hope to show that this will not happen and we will always try to have fun with our partners along the way,” said Phull.
Pixelynx was also founded by musician Richie Hawtin and music industry veterans Ben Turner and Dean Wilson. Since launching in May, over 15,000 songs have been created and cut on-chain by Korus users.
