On many digital music services, transitions between songs can vacillate between two unpleasant extremes: ear-splitting ads, and seconds of sterile silence. Some of the world’s best-known media and entertainment brands are calling on Super Hi-Fi, a Los Angeles-based artificial intelligence company, to solve this problem.
Super Hi-Fi’s highly specialized AI technology creates smooth transitions and crossfades between songs. It also can stitch ads, news updates and other audio content into music as it plays. The overall effect can make digital music services sound a lot more like live radio stations.
“Broadcast radio seems like a dinosaur, but it actually has many desirable features for streaming services,” said Zack Zalon, co-founder and CEO of Super Hi-Fi. “There is no technology to bridge those silos, so that’s what we set out to build: an AI with the same depth and dexterity as a human DJ.”
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Nielsen estimates that over 90% of Americans listen to broadcast radio each week — a number that has remained steady through transformative shifts in how people listen to music. Zalon attributes this to radio’s local news, traffic and weather updates; engaging on-air personalities; and other distinctive elements that streaming services are still figuring out how to replicate.
Fittingly, Super Hi-Fi’s first corporate partner was iHeartMedia IHRT, the leading U.S. radio broadcaster. So far, the partnership has focused on enhancing the iHeartRadio digital music app. But Super Hi-Fi’s technology could eventually make its way onto the airwaves as well.
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Super Hi-Fi doesn’t eliminate the need for thoughtful programming by radio DJs and curators, Zalon said.
“We don’t program music at all; humans still do a more interesting job at that,” he said. “Our role is that, once you have the content figured out, we can help you assemble it in a way that sounds amazing.”
Photo of Super Hi-Fi CEO Zack Zalon.
Zack Zalon co-founded Super Hi-Fi in 2018. He previously helped develop digital music services for ... [+] SUPER HI-FI
Last year, Super Hi-Fi successfully patented its technology for selecting, sequencing, overlapping and mixing digital audio content elements, and entered new partnerships with Peloton and Universal Music Group. Super Hi-Fi aided more than 1 billion music transitions in April, tripling in volume from January.
Sonos Radio, a new ad-supported streaming radio service available exclusively on Sonos speakers and sound systems, uses Super Hi-Fi for volume leveling, song blending, and mixing in voice commentary from artists and announcers.
Concert Hall, Sonos Radio’s classical music station, is a particularly striking example of Super Hi-Fi’s capabilities. In the style of an FM radio station, Concert Hall features a pre-recorded announcer who identifies pieces before and after they are played, sometimes sharing interesting context for the composition or the recording.
“With Super Hi-Fi, we don’t actually have to hand-sequence everything, even though we are hand-creating all the interview content, all the audio content and hand-selecting every track that goes in there,” said Ryan Taylor, general manager of Sonos Radio. “That helps us make more stations and be more efficient.”
Zalon said Super Hi-Fi and Universal Music Group are working together to “to proselytize [Super Hi-Fi’s] vision” and introduce its AI technology to other music industry partners. “UMG sees a world in which people might subscribe to two music services for different content and experiences,” he said.
“Spotify is awesome, but if you close your eyes and listen to Spotify or Apple Music, you can’t hear the difference between them,” Zalon said. “There is a huge opportunity for music services to start differentiating themselves. … Our goal is to work with as many companies as possible to help them create their sonic brand.”