** Under embargo until Tuesday 27th February **

Jukedeck works with K-pop stars to release songs co-written by humans and artificial intelligence.

London / , 27th February 2018.

Jukedeck, a London-based tech startup that’s built an artificial intelligence (AI) system that composes original music, is working with Enterarts, a Korean music and entertainment company, to release songs co-written by humans and artificial intelligence, in a world first. The first performance will be taking place on Tuesday 27th February at Blue Square Concert Hall in Seoul.

Jukedeck’s AI system uses deep learning - specifically, deep neural networks - to compose original music from scratch. Enterarts’ well-known team of composers and producers, who have previously written several no.1 K-pop hits, have taken pieces of music composed by Jukedeck as their starting point and composed and produced K-pop songs using Jukedeck’s music as the main musical material, in a process they describe as “putting the human emotion” into the song. These songs are then being recorded by various singers, who will also perform them live on stage at the showcase at Blue Square Concert Hall.

There are several singers recording and performing the songs: Bohyoung Kim, from the group ; Arkay, from the group Produce 101; Yongjin Kim, from the group Produce 101; and Highteen, a girl group. The well-known contemporary dancer Poppin’ Hyun Jun will be dancing to the music.

AlphaGo, an artificial intelligence system that mastered the game of Go, captured the imagination of the Korean public when its match against Lee Sedol was staged in Seoul in 2016. Jukedeck and Enterarts hope to start the same kind of conversation around musical creativity. Both Jukedeck and Enterarts firmly believe that, rather than replacing human composers, the power of AI lies in its ability to be used as a tool by human composers and producers to fuel their creativity. This collaboration is an exciting early example of human musicians working with AI to compose something new.

As Chanjae Park (Enterarts’ Founder & CEO), comments: “​It used to be the case that music was for everyone — everyone sang or played in their villages. But then technology and professionalism came along, and suddenly music could only be played by certain people. We want music to be for all again — to ensure that everyone can make music.”

The launch concert is on Tuesday 27th February at 5pm Seoul time (8am UK time), in the Blue Square Concert Hall in Seoul. There will be introductory speeches from Patrick Stobbs (Jukedeck’s Co-Founder and COO) and Chanjae Park; a showcase of the process by which the songs were composed; the performance of the songs; and a press conference with Chanjae Park and Patrick Stobbs.

The event will be broadcast on V Live, an app owned by Naver; news coverage will include coverage on TV stations KBS, SBS, MBC, JTBC, MBN, TVChosun and Channel A; and there will be more than 30 Korean music groups at the event.

The recorded songs will be released on the same day as the performance, and distributed on iTunes worldwide and all the major music streaming platforms in Korea, including MelOn (part of LOEN Entertainment), Naver Music, MNET, Ginie, Bugs, and Soribada. Three further mini-albums are planned for released in March, May and July.

Jukedeck is a London-based tech startup that’s built an artificial intelligence (AI) system that composes original music. Founded in 2012 and with initial funding from Cambridge University, their site lets people create unique, rights-cleared music for use in video, games and other media. More than 1 million tracks have been made using their system, and they’ve won a number of awards, including a Cannes Innovation Lion and the international start-up competition at TechCrunch Disrupt.

If you’d like more information, please contact Ed Newton-Rex at [email protected].