Ingrooves wins third patent, for AI tech to predict TikTok trends that can translate into upticks in streams

In 2020, Ingrooves Music Group was granted a patent for impressive AI-driven music marketing technology.

Earlier this year, the Universal Music Group-owned music marketing services and distribution firm won another patent for equally impressive music marketing tech it claimed can drive streams “at a rate nearly double that of traditional methods”.

Today (October 26), Ingrooves has revealed that it’s been awarded yet another patent in the US, the firm’s third.

This time, Ingrooves has invented AI tech that it claims can analyze trends on short-form video platforms like TikTok that are “highly likely to translate to digital streaming services” like Spotify and Apple Music.

Ingrooves’ new patent, for “Artificial Intelligence Prediction of High-Value Social Media Audience Behavior for Marketing Campaigns,” aims to detect opportunities in short-form video platforms spanning TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels.

The technology is claimed to analyze trends in user-generated content in those platforms that are likely to translate to an uptick in activity on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music even before artists make it big on those streaming platforms.

Ingrooves explains that its AI tech analyzes UGC trends, looking for what it calls “leading indicators of growth” on subscription music streaming services.

The findings can then be used, according to Ingrooves, to “signal opportunities to invest in cross-platform promotion that builds on a UGC trend or to hold off on a larger investment while nurturing the trend organically within the UGC platform”.

In one case study cited by Ingrooves, the company says that it found a marketing opportunity for the group Los Lara (Serca Music) on TikTok through their track Fumando Mota. The technology determined that the band’s track was likely to translate into growth at music streaming services.

Ingrooves says that it then recommended a marketing campaign using its proprietary FB/IG Smart Audience advertising and Playlist Optimizer to enhance the track’s organic discoverability and convert TikTok-driven interest into streaming engagement.

According to Ingrooves, the four-week campaign drove a substantial uptick in active listeners, catalog streams, and streams of Fumando Mota on Spotify, which has now been streamed nearly 80 million times on the platform.

Ingrooves’ latest AI tech builds on the company’s previous patents for music marketing including one that fuels its proprietary Smart Audience advertising solution to identify “high-value” streaming audiences for an artist/label based on user listening behavior.

“With this invention we are taking the guesswork out of which UGC-driven events have the most potential to be powerful growth moments for marketers to act on.”

Dr. SK Sharma, Ingrooves Music Group

Ingrooves’ Chief Analytics and AI Officer Dr. SK Sharma said the company is innovating to address two of the most important challenges artists and labels face in the music industry: reaching an audience and building loyal fan bases.

“With this invention we are taking the guesswork out of which UGC-driven events have the most potential to be powerful growth moments for marketers to act on. Our rigorously quantitative and highly scalable methods drive results that are both attributable and verifiable,” Sharma added.

Added Sharma: “As always, we thank Sir Lucian Grainge and Boyd Muir for their longstanding dedication to innovation and supporting the entrepreneurial spirit necessary to expand beyond the current concept of music marketing.”

“These patented breakthroughs enable marketers to navigate through the noise and a sea of data to find new opportunities to increase streaming.”

Nat Pastor,  Virgin Music Group

“Our global music analytics teams, led by Dr. SK Sharma, are at the forefront of creating AI & ML innovations to power an entirely new way of marketing music,” said JT Myers, co-CEO of Virgin Music Group, Ingrooves’ parent company.

“These patented breakthroughs enable marketers to navigate through the noise and a sea of data to find new opportunities to increase streaming and build long-term fans in ways never before possible,” added Nat Pastor, co-CEO of Virgin Music Group.

Ingrooves’ new technology comes as more artists adopt the TikTok-to-Spotify pipeline as TikTok becomes a prominent way for artists to promote their music.

A study by creative consulting agency ContraBrand earlier this year noted that nearly two-thirds of viral songs on TikTok are fueled by organic posting by the artist and other TikTok users with no spend on advertising or influencers.Music Business Worldwide