What you need to know
- Spotify has bought AI voice company Sonantic.
- The UK-based company was responsible for helping give Val Kilmer a voice in the new Top Gun: Maverick movie.
- Neither company has said how much money changed hands.
Spotify is buying Sonantic, the company that uses AI to create artificial voices. You might not have heard of it before, but you might have actually heard its work — the company was used to help put Val Kilmer in the new blockbuster movie Top Gun: Maverick.
No details about the buyout have been shared but the company confirmed the buyout today, saying that it has "identified several potential opportunities for text-to-speech capabilities" across its platform.
As a leader in all things audio, Spotify is always searching for new ways to create unique experiences that our users will love. So today we're excited to share our intention to acquire Sonantic, a dynamic AI voice platform that creates compelling, nuanced, and stunningly realistic voices from text.
If the Sonantic name doesn't ring any bells, you aren't alone. But as TechCrunch reports, this is the same company that helped make it possible for Val Kilmer to reprise his role as Iceman in the new Top Gun: Maverick movie. Kilmer has suffered from throat cancer since the first movie was released and is unable to speak. Sonantic was used to help give Kilmer a voice, with his condition written into the story.
It isn't immediately clear what Spotify has in store for Sonantic, but a spokesperson told TechCrunch that the outfit will be part of the "Consumer and Platform BU in the Personalization Mission" that reports to Ziad Sultan — VP of personalization at Spotify.
Spotify might be best-known for its Apple Music-like streaming service as well as its entrance into the world of podcasts, but it's clear that the company has ideas beyond what it currently offers. Could Spotify be looking at a way to turn written content into something we could listen to via its service? Only time will tell, as always.
