AI bands signal new era for music business

eNCA

7 days ago

LONDON - A rising tide of artificial intelligence (AI) bands is ushering in a new era where work will be scarcer for musicians.
Whether it's Velvet Sundown's 1970s-style rock or country music projects "Aventhis" and "The Devil Inside," bands whose members are pure AI creations are seeing more than a million plays on streaming giant Spotify.
No major streaming service clearly labels tracks that come entirely from AI, except France's Deezer.
Meanwhile, the producers of these songs tend to be unreachable.
"I feel like we're at a place where nobody is really talking about it, but we are feeling it," said music producer, composer and performer Leo Sidran.
"There is going to be a lot of music released that we can't really tell who made it or how it was made."
The Oscar-winning artist sees the rise of AI music as perhaps a sign of how "generic and formulaic" genres have become.
AI highlights the chasm between music people listen to "passively" while doing other things and "active" listening in which fans care about what artists convey, said producer and composer Yung Spielburg on the Imagine AI Live podcast.
Spielburg believes musicians will win out over AI with "active" listeners but will be under pressure when it comes to tunes people play in the background while cooking dinner or performing mundane tasks.
If listeners can't discern which tunes are AI-made, publishers and labels will likely opt for synthetic bands that don't earn royalties, Spielburg predicted.
"AI is already in the music business and it's not going away because it is cheap and convenient," said Mathieu Gendreau, associate professor at Rowan University in New Jersey, who is also a music industry executive.
"That will make it even more difficult for musicians to make a living."
Music streaming platforms already fill playlists with mood music attributed to artists about whom no information can be found, according to University of Rochester School of Music professor Dennis DeSantis.
Meanwhile, AI-generated soundtracks have become tempting, cost-saving options in movies, television shows, ads, shops, elevators and other venues, DeSantis added.
Technology has repeatedly helped shape the music industry, from electric guitars and synthesisers to multi-track recording and voice modulators.
Unlike such technologies that gave artists new tools and techniques, AI could lead to the "eradication of the chance of sustainability for the vast majority of artists," warned George Howard, a professor at the prestigious Berklee College of Music.