Splice CEO Kakul Srivastava on sampling: “It’s how young people create now”
In a new podcast, the Splice head talks about the popularity of sampling, the correct use of AI, and the most in-demand sounds right now
Kakul Srivastava
The CEO of cloud-based sample library and music creation platform Splice has revealed current trends in the music production space, such as the use of sampling in mainstream music, the most in-demand genres among producers, workflow demands, and AI.
Speaking to Joe Sparrow on the Music Ally Focus podcast, Splice CEO Kakul Srivastava reveals that amapiano is the most popular genre Splice users are searching for currently. Hyperpop and jersey club follow closely behind, she says.
Srivastava also says that sampling is not just a technique used in hip-hop anymore and is now embedded in mainstream music.
“You talked about hip-hop and the early beginnings of sampling,” she tells Sparrow, “it’s just how people create now. It’s become mainstream and it’s definitely gone past those initial genres to every genre. If you look at someone like Taylor Swift and folk music or Americana or country and the use of samples in all of these things that were not traditionally sample-based music genres.
“It’s part of how music is done and we don’t see that slowing down. In fact, we see it accelerating. For that same reason it was used in hip-hop, it just makes music creation that much more fun – that much more accessible,” she says.
Later in the podcast, Srivastava shifts her focus onto AI, and refers to how Splice’s own AI-powered sample discovery app, CoSo, is helping producers “blur the lines between discovery and creation”, as Mark Thomas, Splice’s VP of sounds, puts it.
“What’s cool about CoSo is ‘how do we use this technology to help people find the right inspiration?’ How can you listen to different combinations of sounds to spark something in you that helps you go in a new direction.”
However, Srivastava is keen to point out that AI isn’t being leveraged correctly by everyone in the industry, and many brands are not paying enough attention to the potentially harmful aspects of the technology.
“We talk about authenticity, and we can also talk about provenance.” She says. “Where did the sound come from? Who created it? Are we appropriately being respectful to the genre and the artist? Appropriation is a big thing in the industry, so how are making sure we’re doing right and doing the fair thing for the artists and making sure that artists are being compensated”
“For many people in this rush to get to this ‘AI future’, they’re ignoring that part.”
Listen to the Music Ally Focus podcast featuring Splice CEO Kakul Srivastava and Mark Thomas, Splice’s VP of sounds, via Spotify.
