Artificial Intelligence is becoming more prevalent in our daily lives, especially in the creative sphere. This ranges from AI-generated art from prompts to movie scripts and even replicating celebrity voices with eerie accuracy (after a lot of training).
Some companies are already implementing AI music into their daily runnings, such as TikTok’s “AI Song” feature. The success of features like these is debatable, as AI is still in the early days of development. The use of AI to create a completed artistic product, such as a song, sparks considerable debate.
Here are 6 points relating to the use of AI in music, exploring some of the pros and cons:
PROGRESSIVE
1) Efficiency Overdrive
Unlike humans, AI can create content 24/7 without breaks. The creation of hundreds of beats and concepts every day could result from this efficiency. The quality of these songs might be lacking, but human musicians can improve upon these base ideas. Productivity could be increased tenfold, assigning AI the hardest part of creating anything: getting started.
2) The Dead Sing Again
The world mourns the loss of their favourite singers, but what if AI can bring them back? AI can be trained to replicate voices, and they do a surprisingly good voice with enough material and time. Imagine a new album from Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, or Whitney Houston. This may be considered insensitive or disrespectful, especially as this would be done without the consent of the original artist.
3) Experimentation
Have you ever encountered challenges when attempting to initiate the creation of a song? Here is where AI could help immensely. An AI-generated song can work as an excellent starting point for any musician facing an artistic mental block. What’s more, you can really get experimental with it – trying out new instruments, effects, and styles that you might not have thought about. Musicians get inspiration from the world around them, especially other songs and artists.
DESTRUCTIVE
1) Lack of Originality
AI generates content based on what is fed into it. Typically, this includes the most popular media. When AI creates a song, it can only draw from its database.
When the database is highly restricted, it generates songs that closely resemble each other. Most likely, these songs will sound quite similar to ones that already exist. An argument may suggest that humans, too, can create songs that sound remarkably similar to each other.
2) Copyright Complications
If an AI system creates a composition that is very similar to an existing work, it may lead to copyright infringement claims. AI tools often learn from human-created songs, which may subconsciously influence the music they generate. The creation of an original piece by AI raises a grey area concerning its treatment with respect to copyrights and royalties.
3) Replacing Humans
If AI-generated music overtakes human-created songs, musicians may suffer.
The possibility exists that songwriters may find themselves unemployed and deemed unnecessary by major music-producing corporations if AI achieves perfection in voice and instrument replication. This could potentially lead to the displacement of the entire music industry. For already established artists, this may work in their favour to earn more money and fans while also saving their voices for live performances.
The implementation of Artificial Intelligence in Music can either benefit or harm musicians, depending on how stakeholders execute it. The best use of AI within creative spaces is as a tool to help human artists create. It helps to increase proficiency and avoid burnout without compromising on the quality and human touch that is essential for art. However, the lingering question still demands an answer: who should pay for the generated content?
Do you believe the music industry should utilise AI? Would you listen to a completely AI-generated and performed song? Follow us for more music news.
