Homegrown BeatOven makes AI-generated music

The Indian Music Industry has reported that as a result of non-voluntary licensing regimes, the recorded music industry has lost potential revenues between Rs 163 crore to Rs 225 crore annually. There’s a lot of pressure on the Indian music industry to plug these holes. But one thing is for certain, the gig economy is here to stay.

Innovators have to just find new ways to circumvent these challenges. One such attempt at bypassing the copyright route has emerged from the intersection of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and music. BeatOven is one such offering; helping creators supplement their content with scores that enhance their stories.

The brainchild of professional sitar player Mansoor Rahimat Khan and audio/music researcher, Siddharth Bhardwaj, BeatOven is an AI-based tool that generates copyright-free music for creators. “Basically, you upload your video or podcast on the tool, so that AI can read the duration of your content,” said Khan. “Then, you specify your preferences for the content in terms of mood and genre. Our algorithm will take your user inputs and compose a new song in real time, right then and there. That track will be exclusive to you.”

Bridging gaps

At its core, BeatOven aims to mitigate one of the biggest challenges faced by creators in India – finding unique, license-free music that fits their content perfectly.  Khan has spent the last seven years entrenched in AI to understand its potential for sound engineering, interpreting sound signals and generating sound itself. “We are living in a world where there are a lot of generative applications of AI for content creation and video creation. Working with AI inspired me to explore the same generative applications for music creation. We believe the most obvious need of a creator would be music that goes with their content,” says Khan.

Making music requires skill, talent and inherent creativity, but the folks over at BeatOven believe that machines can offer the same, without erasing human connection. AI, according to Khan, is simply an enabler that takes away the heavy-lifting of producing music; thus, freeing creators to focus on what they want to say, rather than how they can say it.

Human touch

As is wont to happen, there are concerns that AI will replace the human angle altogether. This isn’t just a fear for musicians but for professionals all over the world. Khan maintains that the potential for creativity is limitless if and when AI tools see mass application. BeatOven in particular leverages the expertise of skilled musicians who have studied music theory and understand the nuances of performing versus creating soundtracks.

In fact, music producers are tasked with creating data streams that feed the machine its knowledge. Since AI tools rely solely on such data streams, a widespread adoption of this technology will serve to create new employment opportunities, ensuring a perennial need for real talent. “People from the traditional music industry may see AI as a threat,” says Khan about the stigma surrounding the application of AI to create music. “But, once they start using this technology, it’s evident that the product is an assistant that will enhance creativity or offer ideas that may have never come to them.”

This unchartered tech exploration has the potential to decentralise the Indian music industry – which at the moment is heavily skewed towards cinema. Then there are the gatekeepers who hold the keys to success, distribution and even collaborations. Khan likens AI-generated music to NFTs, and says such solutions will allow fans to support their favourite artists like never before.

Near future

At the moment, BeatOven is currently in a BETA phase, with invites sent out selectively to creators who want to get a feel of the product and offer their feedback. The team at is focusing on the user journey as the aim is to create a self-serving tool, negating the need for customer support entirely. “Our technology is going to evolve into something where anyone who understands the kind of music they like, can come to BeatOven and create their own music,” says Khan. “As of now, we are planning to launch in early next year.”

Technology and music should not be mutually exclusive. As AI and other machine learning solutions continue to develop further, the role of technology in music will only grow to be more significant, especially with disruptors like BeatOven.

Check out BeatOven here

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