[AI Revolution](38) Create Royalty-Free Background Music in 5 Minutes with AI

AI Creates Background Music in Desired Genres and Themes
Half of Employees Are Composers... Teaching AI to Compose
Silicon Valley Corporation to Be Established in Second Half... Full-Scale Overseas Market Expansion

Heo Won-gil, CEO of Poja Labs.

For creators such as YouTubers, bloggers, and influencers, the biggest concern after content creation is copyright issues. If the music, videos, fonts, and other elements included in their original works violate copyright, they may have to delete the content they worked hard to create or pay huge damages. Although some use free-distributed copyrighted materials, the limited number restricts creators from fully expressing their individuality.

Poza Labs was established in 2018 to solve these difficulties in the music sector. It provides a service that generates copyright-free music using artificial intelligence (AI). When users select music genres and themes such as 'jazz,' 'calm,' or 'travel,' a song about five minutes long is completed in less than five minutes. Users can freely use these songs on platforms like YouTube. Huh Won-gil, CEO of Poza Labs, said, "Creating music requires processes like composing, arranging, mixing, and mastering, but we have automated these processes with AI," adding, "Not only creators but also composers use our service."

Poza Labs is free from copyright issues because its AI does not compose by learning existing music. Instead, it only learns songs taught by Poza Labs employees who are composers. About half of the 50 employees at Poza Labs are composers. While developers have keyboards on their desks, composers have pianos in front of them. They teach the AI harmony, rhythm, melody, and meter so it can create music. The accumulated MIDI samples reach 700,000. The AI combines these MIDI samples to create most popular music genres such as rock, jazz, ballad, and hip-hop. It can even freely change the mood of the song.

Employees and composers at Poja Labs working. (Photo by Poja Labs)

Poza Labs also offers a separate music production service for companies. For example, if a hit song like 'Let It Be' by the British rock group The Beatles is uploaded, it creates music similar to it. CEO Huh claims this feature is also free from copyright issues. He explained, "The AI only references the chord progressions, instrument compositions, tempo, and key of existing songs, but creates entirely new songs using only the MIDI samples we have secured, so it is clearly different music," adding, "We plan to release this feature to general consumers around December this year."

The applications of AI-generated music are limitless. The OST 'In Crisis' from the MBC drama 'Doctor Lawyer,' which aired last year, is a work of Poza Labs AI. HYBE, the agency of the group BTS, and game company Krafton are actively using Poza Labs. Additionally, Poza Labs technology has been used in background music for advertisements, movies, and entertainment shows.

Image of Poja Labs service screen. (Photo by Poja Labs website)

With the development of the Over-The-Top (OTT) video service industry, demand for music is increasing. In traditional TV media, it was sufficient to pay broadcast royalties to copyright holders for music used in content production. However, for transmission on OTT platforms, prior approval for music use must be obtained from copyright holders, and a portion of content revenue must be paid to them. CEO Huh said, "There is an overwhelming demand for music that content creators can use without worrying about copyright in the background music market, but supply is severely lacking," adding, "Since we handle production, sales, and distribution of AI music, the content production industry cannot avoid seeking it for long-term revenue improvement."

Following the AI background music subscription service 'B-udio' launched in September last year, CEO Huh plans to introduce 'Gorilla MIDI,' a composition service for composers, in July this year. Beta testing is currently underway. In December, they plan to release 'AI Producer,' an AI popular music creation service. This service will allow the general public to easily create a complete popular music piece including vocals and lyrics.

This year, Poza Labs will also actively enter the U.S. market. CEO Huh said, "With generative AI like ChatGPT receiving much attention recently, and no global leading player in the music generation AI field, we see this as an opportunity," adding, "We will establish a U.S. subsidiary in Silicon Valley in the second half of the year and actively expand onto the global stage."