In this time of giving thanks, let us be thankful to The New York Times for giving us an early listen to Willie Nelson's new record. Each week, the Times debuts an upcoming record before it comes out via its interactive series Press Play. The Grey Lady is currently featuring Nelson's latest project ahead of its December 2 release.
December Day is a collaboration between Nelson and his sister, Bobbie,andfeatures the siblings' favorite songs, including Willie classics, a handful of covers and two new tracks. This is the first volume in Willie's Stash, a set of upcoming albums curated by Nelson and featuring tunes both old and new. You can listen to December Day now via the New York Times website.
Bobbie — an accomplished pianist, organist and singer in her own right — has been playing music with her younger brother since they were children. Today, the duo spends time performing in Nelson's Family band and jamming out on the tour bus between shows.
Watch the Nelson siblings perform "Who'll Buy My Memories?" below. This older ditty, which debuted on Rolling Stone Country last Friday, was originally released in the early 1990s during Nelson's days of IRS trouble.
To help ensure his career is “alright, alright, alright” in the AI era, Oscar-winning movie star Matthew McConaughey has trademarked two of his greatest assets: his face and voice.
Last year, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued eight trademarks designed to prevent AI users from mimicking McConaughey’s likeness or voice without authorization. Applications for the trademarks, known as “motion marks” and “sound marks,” include:
A 7-second video of him seated near a fireplace and Christmas tree in his living room.
A 7-second video of him standing on a porch
A brief audio clip of him saying, “Just keep livin’, right?” J.K. Livin Brands, which owns McConaughey’s Just Keep Livin apparel business, controls the trademarks.
A brief audio clip of him uttering his iconic “Alright, alright, alright” catchphrase from the 1993 cult classic film Dazed and Confused.
“My team and I want to know that when my voice or likeness is ever used, it’s because I approved and signed off on it,” McConaughey, a Uvalde native and longtime Austin resident, told The Wall Street Journal. “We want to create a clear perimeter around ownership with consent and attribution the norm in an AI world.”
As AI continues to infiltrate the entertainment business, McConaughey and other Hollywood A-listers are pursuing trademarks to stop AI-driven misuse of their faces and voices. However, everyday actors with limited resources may be unable to afford going through the trademark process and defending a trademark violation.
“Some actors fear a possible future in which studios will pressure them to sign away their likeness,” Scientific American reported in 2023, “and their digital double will take work away from them.”
The Wall Street Journal notes that various actors and singers have grappled with AI-created fake videos, audio, and images on the internet, including Tom Hanks and Taylor Swift. A study released in 2024 by the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers predicted AI-generated content could cause music creators to lose 24 percent of their revenue by 2028, and could lead to screenwriters and directors losing 15-20 percent of their revenue.
The threat of AI stealing work from actors became a sticking point in 2023 negotiations between entertainment studios and striking members of SAG-AFTRA, a labor union representing performers, recording artists, and broadcasters.
Kevin Yorn, founder and managing partner of Southern California law firm Yorn Levine, which handled the trademark applications for McConaughey, says that while the actor and his attorneys support the evolution of AI, legal boundaries must be put in place.
“Protecting individual voice, image, and intellectual property is essential to building a future that works for everyone,” Yorn says in a statement provided to CultureMap. “Along with Matthew, we are forward-looking, engaged in the possibilities of AI, and thoughtful about how everyone’s creative identity is represented and protected.”
