Today is one of those days where a cluster of news stories emerge around a buzz topic – AI music – and bundling them together feels like a good snapshot of activity.

First, music-creation software firm Output is taking a big step into AI with a tech called ‘Co-Producer’.

Its first use is a tool called ‘Pack Generator’ which musicians and producers can use to create royalty-free sample packs based on text prompts. The company says more tools will follow in 2024.

Second, LimeWire, the former file-sharing villain which has been revived as a web3 and AI platform, has launched its ‘AI Music Studio’.

It uses text prompts and images as its inputs, with musicians encouraged to publish and make money from their music on its wider service. Here, too, there’s a grander ambition: the promise of “a fully-fledged AI-enabled audio workstation” in 2024.

Today’s third story involves Rightsify, best known for its business in music licensing. Now it has launched an AI music model called ‘Hydra‘ trained on its own catalogue – a dataset of 60k songs.

It’s aimed at musicians and businesses alike, charging a $99 monthly subscription that includes the rights to use their generated music for commercial applications. There’s also an API for developers who want to tap the API for their services.