(Image credit: Stage Zero)

He just had to go there… After endorsing gen-AI music generation platform Suno, appearing as 'creative advisor' in its promo videos, super producer Timbaland has created a new AI-based entertainment company, and its first AI-generated artist, TaTa, has a debut single dropping soon.Timbaland, has co-founded the company – Stage Zero – alongside his creative partner, Zayd Portillo, and film producer Rocky Mudaliar, essentially being the logical extension of his work with Suno that saw him spending “ten hours a day” experimenting with the platform. ”I saw the path,” he told Rolling Stone, “but I had to wait till everything caught up.” ”Ultimately what Tim’s here to do is to pioneer a new genre of music – A-pop, artificial pop,” says Mudaliar, who originally met with Timbaland to work on a documentary about his career.However, with Mudaliar’s knowledge of video and Timbaland’s prolific work in music it didn’t take long for the pair to put their heads together for something new.And the intention – it seems – is for Stage Zero to have multiple projects in progress from multiple artists across genres and platforms. All of which don’t exist, don’t require paying and can appear (or disappear) at their owner’s behest any time, any place.“I’m not just producing tracks anymore. I’m producing systems, stories, and stars from scratch,” Timbaland told Billboard.Want all the hottest music and gear news, reviews, deals, features and more, direct to your inbox? Sign up here. “[TaTa] is not an avatar. She is not a character. TaTa is a living, learning, autonomous music artist built with AI. TaTa is the start of something bigger. She’s the first artist of a new generation. A-Pop is the next cultural evolution, and TaTa is its first icon.“The artists of tomorrow won’t just be human, they’ll be IP, code and robotics that are fully autonomous. That’s what we’re building at Stage Zero,” says MudaliarPowered by SunoTaTa’s music is, of course, the product of Timbal