Music Group AI, a new technology company serving the music industry, has become the first to implement a proprietary approach to supporting traditional artists with high-quality AI music creation. Founded by music industry and tech leaders Jeff Hanson, Matt Alvers and Paal Larsen, Music Group AI combines human creativity with AI-powered innovation to merge two sectors that have yet to connect.
Music Group AI aims to make the music industry more inclusive, prolific and equitable, amplifying creative voices that might otherwise struggle to be heard and thrive. This includes “prompters,” an emerging group who use AI to assist with creating or enhancing music but haven’t, until now, been recognized as artists.
“AI’s role in music is not to replace artists but to support them with a vast array of proprietary methods and tools. That’s good news for everyone who loves music and the art of creating it,” Music Group AI co-founder Jeff Hanson said. “By providing platforms for newcomers and removing long-standing barriers to success, we expect to see an enormous new wave of creativity, resulting in even more dynamic, human-made music. The industry has experienced many transformations throughout our decades of experience, and we’re excited to see where the next breakthrough takes us.”
Hanson has been a critical figure in the music industry’s evolution for 40 years, having pioneered the first-ever 360-degree deal and discovered, managed and promoted some of the most prominent artists of the 1990s and 2000s, including Creed and Paramore.
Larsen is a Norway-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) executive and investor with global leadership experience, including playing a vital role in the success of media monitoring software company Meltwater. Larsen contributed to Meltwater’s IPO, which launched in 2020 valued at more than $1 billion, and guided the company’s expansion across Europe, APAC, the Middle East and Africa. He’s also a music industry veteran, having previously teamed with Alvers and Hanson to help launch the international careers of U.S. artists in the 1990s and 2000s. Larsen has since co-founded the Terravera Foundation, an organization dedicated to global sustainability. His commitment to sustainability will guide Music Group AI in adopting responsible practices as it grows and innovates.
Alvers will advise and lead Music Group AI with a unique blend of music industry experience and technological leadership. In the early 2000s, Alvers and Hanson partnered and managed multiple Top 40 artists under Universal, Elektra and MCA/Geffen Records. In 2003, Alvers helped showcase rising young talent, Taylor Swift, to record executives at the Florida Music Festival, which was one of Swift’s first major industry showcases. Alvers later joined Larsen to expand boot-strapped tech company, Meltwater, across North America ahead of its $1 billion IPO. Most recently, Alvers served as Regional Vice President at tech giant, Salesforce, where he focused on the industry’s cutting-edge technologies, including AI.
