“This voice technology could allow us to give context to users about upcoming recommendations when they aren’t looking at their screens,” said Spotify in their announcement.
Spotify is acquiring the AI voice platform that helped bring Val Kilmer’s voice to life in “Top Gun: Maverick”, to expand their audio technology.
Sonantic is a tech company catering towards the entertainment industry and specialising in creating realistic artificial voices.
“We’re looking forward to joining Spotify and continuing to build exciting voice experiences,” said Sonantic co-founders Zeena Qureshi and John Flynn in a statement.
“We believe in the power voice has and its ability to foster a deeper connection with listeners around the world, and we know we can be better than ever on the world’s largest audio platform.”
The company used past audio recordings of Val Kilmer to develop the voice heard in “Top Gun: Maverick”.
The actor is unable to speak as he once did as a result of throat cancer and undergoing a tracheotomy back in 2014.
“I’m grateful to the entire team at Sonantic who masterfully restored my voice in a way I’ve never imagined possible,” Kilmer said last year in a statement.
“As human beings, the ability to communicate is the core of our existence and the effects from throat cancer have made it difficult for others to understand me. The chance to tell my story, in a voice that feels authentic and familiar, is an incredibly special gift.”
In their post announcing the acquisition, Spotify said the technology will be utilised to better communicate with users when they aren’t looking at their screens and reduce entry barriers for new listeners.
“At Spotify, we’ve identified several potential opportunities for text-to-speech capabilities across our platform, and we believe that over the long term, high-quality voice will be important to growing our share of listening,” Spotify said in their announcement post.
“For example, this voice technology could allow us to give context to users about upcoming recommendations when they aren’t looking at their screens.”
The audio giant is also preparing to make another acquisition of the audiobook platform Findaway, as the company intends to place audiobooks as its third area of focus alongside music and podcasts.
