Latest news with #StewartCopeland
RTÉ News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Musicians shouldn't feel threatened by AI
As a founding member and drummer with The Police, Stewart Copeland knows what it takes to make a hit. He has embraced the latest technological advances throughout his career and believes musicians should not feel threatened by artificial intelligence (AI). He was one of the keynote speakers at this year's Dublin Tech Summit, focussing on the impact of tech on the music industry. At a time when many artists are worried that AI could steal their work and even one day replace them, Mr Copeland has a more optimistic view of how technology and music can work together. "I was one of the first artists to be threatened by technology," he said. "In the late sixties or early seventies someone invented the drum box. "It was the beginning of the threat to all drummers because a machine played it better." He agrees however that the threat was unfounded. "As in most cases of advancing technology, some people are displaced and others and empowered and I think that is probably the case with AI," he said. He believes AI is a blessing for creatives. "At the moment, AI is generating lame music that people don't respond to, who knows maybe it will get better, but at the moment, the creative types who are interacting with AI are using their tastes to discern between lame and cool." Mr Copeland says there are unanswered questions when it comes to AI and copyright, but believes it will be much harder for AI to replace musicians when it comes to live performances. "The kind of artistic work I do, banging on drums, my gig is safe." "As far as recording, yes the machines sought to replace me decades ago, but as for me showing up to perform in front of an audience, I don't think they want to watch a computer." The Dublin Tech Summit (DTS25) welcomed more than 8,000 attendees at the RDS this week. Industry leaders from around the world gathered to showcase and discuss the latest developments in technology, with a major focus this year on AI. The summit is the centrepiece of Dublin Tech Week, a week-long celebration of all things tech from 23 - 30 May, incorporating both industry and community-led events, supported by Dublin City Council and major city stakeholders. "DTS25 brings global tech leaders to our island not just to talk, but to shape the future. We want to bring people together to share ideas they can actually use in their work and in their everyday lives," said Clare Kilmartin, COO of Dublin Tech Week.
The Journal
16-05-2025
- Automotive
- The Journal
Allianz Ireland and Spotify targeting road safety with personalised music playlists
IT'S IN ALL of our interests to keep Irish roads as safe as possible, and it turns out there's a small change you can make to help keep yourself safe while driving. Allianz has partnered with streaming giant Spotify to produce 'Seat Belters', an in-app tool which will create personalised playlists for drivers based on their listening history. The purpose of these playlists is to curate a selection of your favourite down-tempo songs that can contribute to better driving. Studies have shown that the music we listen to when driving can have an effect on many of our behaviours and faculties. Songs with over 120 beats per minute were found to have the worst impact on crucial decision-making competencies such as speed, alertness and reaction time. Indeed, one study shows that listening to high-tempo music while driving increased heart rate variability, mental workload, and produced more erratic driving patterns. In short, the more beats per minute a song has, the riskier your driving. It seems as though most adults in Ireland are aware that music impacts their driving. According to a nationally representative survey commissioned by Allianz Ireland in April 2025, over half of Irish adults believe that listening to music influences their driving. This survey also revealed that young drivers are the most likely to be streaming music while driving. Seat Belters, therefore, is designed to filter out songs with such high beats per minute and instead put together a playlist for better driving. This doesn't mean you'll be getting a random selection of someone else's favourite music, though. By partnering with one of the most trusted names in streaming, Allianz has ensured that your Seat Belters playlist will be tailored to your taste, using your own listening habits to build a set of songs that strike a balance between your usual rotation and road-safe bangers. Advertisement Allianz Ireland / YouTube Specifically, the tool will look for your most-played songs that fit into the 60-80pm range. The app can also study your past listening to let you know about your listening habits and tell you whether your listening habits are roadworthy. To bring this science to life, Allianz has also launched Dashboard Drumming, a social video activation pairing legendary drummer Stewart Copeland (The Police) with science content creator Big Manny. In a parked car, they use nothing but a dashboard and a drumbeat to demonstrate how changing tempo affects mindset, mood, and ultimately driving behaviour — making BPM instantly relatable and shareable. It's a fun but powerful way to show how we respond to rhythm behind the wheel. If you're curious about your Seat Belters safe driving playlist, visit this link or use the QR code below to access the tool through your Spotify app. Mark Brennan, Chief Marketing Officer at Allianz Ireland, said: 'This initiative is about promoting a better driving experience by influencing driver behaviour through music. The music we listen to can significantly affect our mood and actions — so why not harness this to encourage better driving habits? 'We're thrilled to partner with Spotify on this groundbreaking international campaign, offering an in-app tool that is not only practical and enjoyable but also personalised, with the potential to reduce road accidents.' Seat Belters marks an innovative partnership led by Allianz Ireland that will launch this month not only in Ireland but in the UK, Australia and Austria, and will be advertised to non-Premium users via the app itself. Allianz Group is one of the world's leading insurance and financial services companies, with operations in numerous countries serving millions of customers globally. Allianz Insurance has operated in Ireland since 1902, serving more than 800,000 customers and employing over 700 people across the country.
North Wales Live
13-05-2025
- Automotive
- North Wales Live
Spotify playlist designed to help you drive more safely
Allianz has launched a new data-driven initiative on Spotify that encourages motorists to drive more safely by changing the beat of their music. 'Seat Belters' is a free in-app experience for Spotify users that creates a personalised playlist featuring songs that have lower beats per minute (BPM). Studies show that music can have a direct influence on how we drive. Songs with a fast tempo - over 120 BPM - can subconsciously encourage drivers to speed up and change lanes more often. In contrast, music that matches the average resting heart rate - around 60–80 BPM - is associated with calmer, more focused driving. Younger adults are most inclined to stream music while driving. Studies indicate that faster music can lead to increased heart rate variability, elevated mental workload, and more unpredictable driving patterns, suggesting motorists could benefit from a more mindful music curation approach while on the road. Allianz's new campaign on Spotify aims to help drivers tune into a more mindful, more aware pace that is just as enjoyable, for better driving. Each playlist is unique, leveraging Spotify's unique streaming intelligence but filtered for music in a safer tempo range (60–80 BPM). While the specific songs will vary, tracks by some of the UK's most iconic artists fall into the 'safe category'. To launch Seat Belters, music artist Big Manny and Police drummer Stewart Copeland have been explaining more about why music is vital for safe driving – watch here. Matt Cox, Allianz UK Chief Claims Officer, said: 'The music we listen to can play a big part in changing our mood and actions, and it's no different when we're behind the wheel. Our claims data shows we can always do better when it comes to driving safe. We're excited to work with Spotify and offer an experience which isn't just personalised, but will potentially help keep the roads safer.'
Los Angeles Times
18-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Stewart Copeland plays with the animals on latest project ‘Wild Concerto'
Stewart Copeland is best known as one-third of the Police, the chart-topping trio that called it quits after five acclaimed albums released between 1978-1983 and launched Sting to solo stardom. With the Police, which also included guitarist Andy Summers, out of the picture, the drummer-percussionist changed course and became an in-demand film and TV score composer, working on such notable films as 'Rumble Fish' and 'Wall Street' as well as TV's 'The Equalizer,' 'Dead Like Me' and more. After a worldwide Police reunion tour, which was the highest-grossing trek in 2007, Copeland again pivoted, scoring live orchestra music for the classic film 'Ben-Hur' in 2014. He later also reimagined the Police catalog with a pair of releases, 2023's 'Police Deranged for Orchestra' and the world music exploration 'Police Beyond Borders' with collaborator Ricky Kej, whom he also worked with on the 2021 album 'Divine Tides,' which won a Grammy for new age album. Our chat with Copeland, 72, was originally tied to his speaking tour, 'Have I Said Too Much? The Police, Hollywood and Other Adventures,' but the Los Angeles date was scrapped in wake of the Palisades and Altadena wildfires. Ever the raconteur, Copeland is taking the speaking tour to Europe this spring and fall. He also has a new album, 'Wild Concerto,' which is out April 18. We spoke to Copeland, first via Zoom and then a follow-up phone call, about his new project and his busy creative life outside of the Police. Tell me about your new album. This isn't the Beach Boys' 'Pet Sounds' or Pink Floyd's 'Animals' with just a few random animal sounds sprinkled in. You seem to be more committed. Stewart Copeland: Well, yeah, the animals get a much bigger dressing room on this. It's not just called animal sounds. It is animal sounds. How did it come about? Incoming phone call. Platoon Records, which is owned by Apple. They acquired this library from a naturalist, Martyn Stewart, who is like the [British biologist and TV host] David Attenborough of sound. That's how he's been described. He spent his life on his hands and knees out in the jungles and in the mountains recording mostly bird sounds, but all these other animals as well. He has this huge library of these sounds and they're wondering what to do with it. They said, 'How about we do some music?' So they called me and said, 'Can you work with this?' And I said, 'Why yes, I can. Perhaps the reason they called me was because I have been using found sound, beginning with 'Rumble Fish,' where Francis [Ford Coppola]'s ears pricked up when I started talking about doing loops with machines, billiard ball breaks, with dogs barking, all kinds of sounds in 1984.' So how did you compose music using the recordings of animal sounds? The folders that Martyn would send me were from different locales where the birds might have stopped, ecospheres of these different zones. I'd start with the background sounds, which are just a forest-scape or a wind-scape, and then I would look for the rhythmic elements, certain birds, which are rhythmic, and I'd build rhythms out of that. I didn't alter any of the sounds. I didn't change the pitch. I didn't change the rhythm, but I placed them all very carefully so I build up a rhythm with these rhythm animals, the rhythm section. And then I looked for the long lines, mostly birds, the wolves also have some very long soloistic melodic lines, which are on pitch. But I put a trombone next to those bad boys. And now we've got your [John] Coltrane wolves. Interesting. So, you didn't autotune any of the animal sounds? No autotune. No time stretching. You mentioned 'Rumble Fish.' When I put on the album for the first time, I definitely felt those 'Rumble Fish' vibes. Well, that's all the percussion that I did all by myself here in the studio. After doing two albums of reinterpretations of music by the Police was back to nature the only place to go from there? I forgive myself for looking backwards and doing Police stuff because I'm confident in my forward motion. Right now, I'm running a gigantic opera I wrote and this album about animals, so I'm moving forward doing cool stuff, which makes me more relaxed about looking over my shoulder. It seems like this is sort of a natural progression from your film composing and orchestrated work. Yes, absolutely. The other love of my life is the orchestra and all the amazing things it can do. The orchestra has such a huge vocabulary. In my short lifespan, I probably won't do more than scratch the surface of what an orchestra can do, but I'm working on it. This album was produced by Ricky Kej, who you've worked with in the past. What did he bring to the project? He's an incredible musician and a great producer and he works way over there in Bangalore. He came to Abbey Road [in London], which is where we recorded the orchestra and produced a session. Having a producer is a very new thing for me. I went through my whole career never having a producer. The Police never had a producer. We just had recording engineers. And so recently I had an experience with a producer and, man, what took me so long? This is great. Somebody else to lean on, to carry the load and to hit me upside the head when I need to be hit upside the head. But didn't the Police have producers listed along with the band, like Hugh Padham on 'Synchronicity'? He was used to producing Genesis and other civilized, well-behaved, respectful musicians not to be stuck on an island with three a— going at it. He did know where to put the microphones while dodging pizza. He did actually get a good recording. If there was a [more] active producer, he could have helped sort of break up those fights or keep things civil, but maybe not. Are you still playing polo? [Copeland's logo on his website is a polo player riding a horse] No. I traded all the horses in for children, and they turned out to be even more expensive. I've got seven kids, which is more expensive than 12 horses. Wow. What's the age spread of your kids? [Starts to say 50 but slurs his words to make it undecipherable] down to 25. And then I've got five grandchildren. When you start lying about your kids' age you know you're getting up there. What was the oldest? I didn't quite make that out? [Once again starts saying 50 but slurs his words]. Fifty-something? Yeah, 50-something. We'll go with that. But you still seem young and spry. My kids became middle-aged before I became decrepit. I could always outrun, out-climb, out-sport all of my kids. And then I started to get creaky around age 70. Are any of your kids involved in music or showbiz? Just one. He's in London. He's actually a filmmaker but he has the gift of music. He picks up any instrument and the music just falls out of his fingers. And one of my grandchildren, who is 8. Young Arthur hasn't got any musical chops, but whenever they come over he goes straight to the grand piano and he's looking for cool stuff on there. You can see that it's just there in his DNA.
The Guardian
14-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Listen to Stewart Copeland of the Police's new track mixing animal sounds and music
The former Police drummer Stewart Copeland, with the help of the British naturalist Martyn Stewart, has produced Wild Concerto, a 'collaboration between nature and music'. The album fuses sounds of nature, such as the call of Arctic terns and the howling of wolves, with traditional instruments. Stewart hailed the environmental theme of the work, explaining that most of the species represented were endangered
