Meet the AI expert who just patented technology that helps indie artists spend their money smarter.

<p>We&apos;ve called SK Sharma an &apos;AI expert&apos; in the headline above, but it hardly does him justice.</p><p>We could have just as easily called him an expert on theoretical chemical physics, marketing analytics, computational biophysics, or antimicrobial therapeutics.</p><p>Granted, &apos;AI expert&apos; was snappier.</p><p>In his 20s, Sharma graduated with a Ph.D in Chemical Physics and Biophysical Chemistry from Caltech.</p><p>He went on to create medical pharmaceuticals, before turning his hand to analyzing markets for the likes of Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers.</p><p>Along the way, he began managing investments – using data science to help guide his clients&apos; money. <br/><br/>Amongst his early bets? Tesla, owned by that shrinking violet, Elon Musk.</p><p>From there, Sharma went on an impressive run as an entrepreneur: To date, he has either been a co-founder or a Partner / equity owner in four startups, in multiple fields, that have each exited for over $100 million.</p><p>And then, in 2017, he took a sharp turn into the music business – joining Ingrooves Music Group, the global distribution and services provider for indie artists and labels.</p><p>Ingrooves first successfully patented tech underpinning its &apos;Smart Audience&apos; marketing platform <a href='https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/ingrooves-has-built-its-own-ai-music-marketing-technology-and-been-granted-a-patent-for-it/'>in 2020</a>.</p><p>The other week, it announced that it had won its second US patent for <a href='https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/ingrooves-just-won-patent-for-new-marketing-tech-that-it-says-drives-streams-at-a-rate-nearly-double-that-of-traditional-methods/'>further developments on this tech</a> – developments, the company claims, that now means Smart Audience drives streams for artists that amount to more than double the plays they would have received via traditional digital marketing methods.</p><p>In this latest MBW Podcast (supported by <a href='https://www.volymusic.com/'>Voly Music</a>), SK