Endel Becomes The First Generative AI Company To Produce a Playlist with Amazon Music

Amazon Music has tapped Endel, a company backed by the Alexa Fund, to produce wellness playlists using Endel’s unique, science-based tech.

In an exciting new collaboration, Amazon Music and Berlin-based AI sound wellness app Endel will produce a sleep playlist, making Endel the first generative AI company to collaborate with the service on a playlist. Drawing on extensive research into the neuroscience of sleep, the playlist lasts roughly 8 hours or until the listener awakens, and will be available on February 17, only on Amazon Music.

The sleep playlist created with Amazon Music, titled “Sleep Science,”  opens with an Amazon Original track  featuring electronic duo Kx5 (Kaskade and deadmau5) that was produced using the hit track “Escape” and released through AWAL. The source material, including synths and chill vocals, was processed by Endel Pacific to create a high-quality, relaxing soundscape activating the parasympathetic nervous system and getting the listener ready for sleep. 

Endel Pacific is Endel’s patented AI-engine, which creates scientifically backed sleep tracks that follow natural sleep phases, first preparing the brain for sleep, then aiding as the listener falls and stays asleep. All while providing quality sound pleasurable to listeners and backed by scientific research into sleep, circadian rhythms, and psychoacoustics. 

“At Endel, we’ve been invested in the neuroscience of functional sound since day one,” says Oleg Stavitsky, co-founder and CEO of Endel. “To successfully deliver functional music, neuroscience has to guide AI technology. The human mind must be at the forefront of this experience.”

“We’re excited to work with Endel to provide an optimal experience for Amazon Music listeners looking to wind down and settle into sleep,” said Stephen Brower, global co-lead of artist relations for Amazon Music. “We look forward to our customers discovering their science backed approach as well as their curatorial instincts for unique artist collaborations, including Kx5’s new Amazon Original release.”

Endel, which has also received prior investment from the Alexa Fund, has collaborated with Amazon Music as the latest in a long string of historical deals the company has closed. In 2019, Endel became the first AI company to sign a distribution deal with WMG’s ADA for 20 albums generated with Endel Pacific. Last year, Endel × James Blake’s "Wind Down" soundscape was released as an album and was distributed by UMG's Republic. Endel has used their approach to generative AI, backed by science, to produce soundscapes with James Blake, Grimes, Miguel, and many others.

“Generative AI is a hot topic now, but we’ve been applying this technology for years, in radical ways designed to expand music’s possibilities and formats, and to transform how we interact with sound,” Stavitsky says. “Working with Amazon Music demonstrates how valuable an artful application of AI can be to large music business players and how engaging the sonic results can be for listeners.”

Last year, Endel announced its $15M Series B, led by Waverley Capital (investors in Headspace, Wondery, FuboTV, Roku), and True Ventures (investors in Fitbit, Peloton, Blue Bottle Coffee, and Ring). Co-Founder, Chairman, and General Partner of Waverley Capital, Edgar Bronfman Jr., and CEO and co-founder of Wave, Adam Arrigo, joined True Ventures Partner Kevin Rose on Endel’s board. Prior investors including the Alexa Fund, Techstars Ventures (Endel was part of the Techstars Music Accelerator), and Supermoon Capital also participated.

About Endel

Endel is a sound wellness company headquartered in Berlin. Founded by a collective of imaginative developers and artists, Endel is democratizing wellness by making it accessible to all.

Endel runs a cross-platform ecosystem of AI-powered apps that create personalized, functional soundscapes to help people focus, relax, and sleep. Endel’s patented technology takes inputs from the user's movement, time of day, weather, heart rate, location, and other factors. It then uses AI to generate personalized soundscapes that adapt to changes in real-time. Endel is available on iOS, Android, Mac, Amazon Alexa, Apple TV, wearables, and as album releases on streaming platforms. Over 2 million people interact with Endel content every month, collectively generating over 3 million hours of monthly listening time. 

Endel's apps have received numerous awards including Apple Watch App of the Year 2020, Google Play Best of 2021, and most recently, Best Health & Fitness app in 2022 Product Hunt Golden Kitty Award. Endel has partnered with industry leaders including Mercedes-Benz Group Research, All Nippon Airways, Nura, Oura, and Sony – which integrated Endel into its LinkBuds headphones.

About Kx5

When Kaskade and deadmau5 first partnered on their 2008 smash “I Remember,”—heralded by Rolling Stone as one of the top 100 dance music tracks of all time--the pair were leading names in the rapidly expanding electronic music scene that enraptured a generation of music lovers across America. 14 years later, the duo has formalized their occasional collaborations and long-running friendship into an official project, Kx5, with a self-titled album that carries on the genre-defining spirit of their early work with the additional excellence that comes from a decade and a half of studio and onstage experience for each.  Those “different things” are evident in the evolving sound of Kx5 since the project was announced in March 2022 with the release of “Escape.” The debut single carried on the tradition of sleek melodic house music first heard on “I Remember” (and its follow-up “Move For Me”), securing significant Top 40 radio play (the first for either artist) and eventually becoming the #1 dance track of the year in 2022.  However it was just the starting point for months of sonic exploration that resulted in tougher-sounding songs like “Alive” featuring The Moth & The Flame (TMTF), “Avalanche” and “Take Me High.” 

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