Teenage sensation Noonoouri boasts 400,000 followers on Instagram and has been featured in fashion advertisements for Dior, Balenciaga, and Valentino. Now, she has secured a recording deal with Warner Music and is set to launch her debut single.
Virtual Influencer Noonoouri Secures Music Contract: Is She The Future Of Sound?
If you aren’t familiar with Noonoouri, you might ask why I’m discussing her. However, what makes this unprecedented for Warner is that Noonoouri is nonexistent – she is a metaverse avatar – and her voice is generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
You can view the video here. For a music corporation like Warner, the allure is apparent. Noonoouri, conceived by creator Joerg Zuber, won’t experience fatigue from touring and promoting her music, and she can be reimagined in moments to align with evolving youth trends. Should she rise to stardom, she likely won’t start making excessive demands or request an outrageous salary increase.
Though Noonoouri has largely remained quiet since her career began in 2018, fans can now hear her sing for the first time. The voice was generated by capturing a recording of a real singer and then applying AI to craft a voice unique to the virtual artist.
More precisely, the technology at play is generative AI. This branch of AI algorithms can analyze data and utilize it to construct something novel. It represents the form of AI-driven tools that have captivated the globe in 2023, like ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion. Here, instead of producing text or images, it has been applied to generate a singing voice.
While generative AI resources for text and image creation are widely accessible, tools are progressively emerging for more complex tasks such as video and music production. It appears that neither Warner nor Noonoouri’s teams have made public statements about the technology they utilized – it could be publicly available, or they may have developed and trained proprietary AI algorithms for this purpose.
The song itself, however, was predominantly crafted by humans. Although they don’t seem to receive official recognition, Warner has reportedly stated that they will receive royalties just like any other songwriter. The track also includes contributions from German producer and DJ Alle Farben.
According to The Telegraph, royalties will be distributed among Farben, Warner, and the creator.
In my opinion, this signifies a natural evolution of a trend that has been present in music for quite some time. AI is commonly utilized to enhance images and produce video effects, and vocalists employ Auto-Tune to algorithmically refine or alter their voices.
Most of us recognize that when watching a music video, it is highly probable that various aspects are not entirely authentic.
Here we observe an artist who is not only entirely computer-generated – her voice is completely her own and hasn’t merely been superimposed by a human performer.
Noonoouri is among 35 virtual influencers who have received verified blue check marks on their Instagram accounts. What I find intriguing is that digital celebrities and influencers are increasingly embraced – likely by younger demographics in particular – as a commonplace element of the digital ecosystem.
Research indicates that these characters, on average, assist brands in attaining higher engagement rates compared to campaigns featuring human influencers.
Nonetheless, genuine concerns arise from musicians that the rise of virtual artists and performers could make it more challenging for them to sustain a livelihood.
In the UK, the Musicians Union has advocated for parliament to establish legislation safeguarding musicians’ copyrights. They are seeking the right to receive payment when their work is utilized to train AI systems, as well as the right to prevent this usage in the first place.
It’s also noteworthy that Noonoouri is framed as being politically engaged – she has voiced her stance on issues like veganism, animal rights, anti-racism, and LGBT rights.
This does prompt the question of whether a computer-generated avatar can indeed be effective in this context. Can she undertake genuine actions that advance the causes she professes to hold dear in her digital persona?
Does her capability extend to decisions about the companies and brands she associates with in her role as an influencer? Or is she merely offering superficial endorsements to project the image her creators wish fans to perceive?
From what I’ve witnessed thus far, these inquiries remain largely unanswered. What is certain, however, is that the phenomenon of the “virtual influencer” is not likely to vanish anytime soon.
A whole generation is now stepping into adulthood that has never experienced a world before the internet. For them, the distinctions between the virtual online space and the real-world physical environment are significantly less pronounced than to those born before the new millennium.
Noonoouri may have discovered her voice, but I believe what will be particularly fascinating is the day she develops her persona. It appears inevitable that one day, she’ll be capable of making choices – regarding her advocacy or her musical style – independently from her creator or record label.
In the interim, I expect we will witness many more Noonooris as Generation Z and beyond demonstrate that they are equally content to receive fashion and lifestyle guidance from AI as they are from any human influencer.
Explore more on these subjects in my new book, The Future Internet: How the Metaverse, Web 3.0, and Blockchain Will Transform Business and Society. And don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter and connect with me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube for more insights on future trends in business and technology.
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