Ne-Yo is not clued in to what's going on at Pacific Music Group — the Pan-Asian music company that was founded by him, Sonu Nigam, MC Jin, and Jonathan Serbin. While walking through an airport, paparazzi asked the R&B trailblazer what he thought of the new AI artist TaTa that PMG recently signed. "My label signed an AI artist?" he asked, looking bewildered. "If that happened, clearly somebody over there is working without my knowledge. I was not aware of that."
A couple days ago, PMG announced that it would be the exclusive manager of TaTa Taktumi AKA TaTa in Asia, while also functioning as her global record label. TaTa joining PMG was a result of a partnership between Timbaland's AI entertainment company Stage Zero. TaTa was Stage Zero's first signee.
The photographer asked for more of Ne-Yo thoughts. He replied, "An AI artist backed by actual artists, songwriters, and producers? Sure, why not. Why the hell not." He clarified that he's in "support of anything that pushes songwriters and producers forward. I am not in support of people who only know how to prompt AI and then create music with that. In my personal opinion that's cheating. But if you're an actual songwriter, you're an actual producer, and you're using AI as a tool to further music, that's different."
Billboard also pointed out that the press release for this recent announcement acknowledged TaTa's Filipino background for the first time. "TaTa’s signing with PMG is rooted in a deeply personal journey of reconnecting with her Asian roots and embracing her Filipino heritage," the release read. All I keep wondering is why these companies don't want to invest in actual humans with Filipino heritage. Wouldn't that be nice, supporting actual humanity?
