We’re opening up the first Brief Room session. This one is focused on trailer music. Wednesday, April 15th @ 7pm - 8:30pm (Link coming soon) This is where your ability to read direction, respond to it, and deliver with intent gets tested in real time. We listen together, break it down, and react through one lens: Does it serve the brief, while still making it yours. GUEST HOST We’re welcoming our first guest host, trailer composer @Brandon Lau whose work includes Scream, Destiny 2, and Arcane, along with campaigns for titles like League of Legends and Call of Duty. He’ll be running the session alongside PTN's @Nate Michalic and @Gilde Flores , listening, giving feedback, and breaking down what’s working, what’s not, and how to push it further. This is direct insight from someone actively creating at a high level in this space. WHAT WE’RE LISTENING FOR StructureHooksExecution within the genre If it hits, we elevate it.If it misses, we fix it. If you’re into trailer music, or want to sharpen your approach, this is where you do it. Submit your work. Show up. Be in the room. You don’t know where this leads. INSTRUCTIONS TO DOWNLOAD + STEP IN Download the attached briefs. Pick your lane and commit. This is where you read direction, respond, and deliver. NO REFERENCES PROVIDED Part of this process is learning how to find your own direction. In the real world, some briefs come with references, and some don’t. This is one of those moments where you get to develop that skill. If you need guidance, take the time to explore what fits. Listen, study, and understand why something works. If you already have a clear instinct, trust it and build from there. Either way, the goal is the same, create something that serves the brief with intention. Have at it!!!! SUBMIT briefroom@paintthenoise.com Taking submissions up until - Tuesday, April 14th, cutoff at 7pm CST -

AI is entering sync, fast. But this isn’t a breakthrough. It’s a rerun. The real innovation is knowing history - and building what AI still can’t. - 📍 1. CONTEXT / INDUSTRY SHIFT There’s a new player in sync - and it’s not human. ElevenLabs, best known for voice cloning, just launched a text-to-music engine. But what makes this different isn’t just the tech. It’s the partnerships. They inked deals with Kobalt and Merlin, giving them access to real music catalogs. The machine isn’t inventing from scratch. It’s composing from human DNA. They say it’s not copying. But it’s trained on our fingerprints. This isn’t innovation. It’s iteration - with a new face. And it’s happened before. In 1908, player pianos started replacing musicians with punched paper rolls. The Supreme Court said it wasn’t a copy - because a human couldn’t read it. Composers got nothing. That moment triggered a legal uprising. Congress passed the 1909 Copyright Act. Now, the Piano Roll is back. But this time, it’s digital, trained on your catalog, and disguised as “original.” - 📂 2. CASE FOCUS / BREAKDOWN Here’s what this looks like in real time: • ElevenLabs + Merlin + Kobalt: launched a sync-ready AI music model trained on licensed catalogs, but with no visible creator involvement or opt-out system. • WSJ confirmed the output is cleared for commercial use - music for TV, trailers, ads, and more. Their Terms say: no prompts using artist names or lyrics, but no mention of creator oversight. • Reddit feedback is split: “audio sounds insane” but “feels like we’re handing over the keys to the car.” Creators are impressed - and nervous. • 1908: Supreme Court ruled piano rolls weren’t copies. Payouts vanished. Congress responded with mechanical licensing in 1909 - the first fightback for creators against machine-made music. This isn’t about nostalgia. It’s about pattern recognition. History is looping - and creators still aren’t in the room. - 📈 3. STRATEGY OR BUSINESS PRINCIPLE