IN-DEPTH: The Changing Melody, AI’s Role in the Music Industry

An AI (Artificial Intelligence) logo blended with four fake Twitter accounts bearing profile pictures apparently generated by Artificial Intelligence software taken in Helsinki, Finland, on June 12, 2023. Olivier Morin/AFP via Getty Images

The modern music industry is witnessing a transformative phase, with Artificial Intelligence (AI) playing a starring role in its evolution. From aiding artists in composing tracks to potentially replacing them, AI’s influence is noteworthy, eliciting varied opinions from experts and musicians alike.

AI has come to the forefront in recent years, with more advanced AI being introduced to the public, such as the highly popular chatbot Chat GPT, a product of technology company Open AI.

The technology has breathed new life into various industries and has opened up tremendous opportunities for innovation, but it has also raised concerns of damaging or replacing some human artistry, such as the art of music.

Artists, producers, and futurists alike see the technology as something that will infiltrate the industry in a more substantial way in the coming years, with some seeing AI in itself as a new instrument and others cautiously optimistic.

Global Artist Says AI Isn’t Currently Needed

DUVII, an artist who has lived around the world and is fluent in six languages, told the Epoch Times she believes AI will have a large impact on the music industry just as it will on many other industries.

She said she doesn’t currently use it for her music but is aware many artists are using the technology to assist them with lyrics and even chord progressions.

“All my songs come straight from my heart, soul and personal experiences, so the lyrics simply flow out of me and onto the paper,” she said. “[I] work with highly experienced and renowned producers and sound mixers to come up with the musical compositions for my songs so I don’t need AI to do this.”

Steven Sharp Nelson (L) and Jon Schmidt at a concert at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tenn., on Nov. 30, 2022. Courtesy of The Piano Guys

In addition to her preference to use human talent, she called herself “technologically challenged”—preferring “the old-fashioned way.”

“The music I create is deeply personal, and I’m not sure a machine could evoke the same feelings and emotion. I’m not completely opposed to using AI in my creative process. I just haven’t found a way that fits my process just yet.”

She added as the technology advances, there will be a time when she welcomes AI with open arms for her work.

“I know many people currently have a lot of hesitations, especially surrounding copyright infringement and impersonating voices, myself included,” she added. “But I am confident that we will be able to come up with a solution.”

Industry Insider Weighs In

Emilio Guarino, a music producer and engineer at glitchmagic.com, told The Epoch Times he believes that AI will not make creatives obsolete but will become integrated into daily work.

“There’s a lot of gloom and doom talk in the industry about how AI will make creatives obsolete,” he said. “I don’t believe this. I do believe we'll all be using AI in our daily work. It will disrupt certain areas and be integrated into the tools we already use, but as of today, it still has some hard limits.”

His point of view comes from experience working with some AI-driven projects in the studio and in live performances.

“Both require a lot of ’massaging' to behave in a meaningful way,” Guarino shared. “In some situations, they create more work, not less. AI models require a lot of human input to learn what meaningful output is. If people start training AIs on music with significant portions also generated by other AI, the quality of the model gets worse, not better.”

He said people overall still value craftsmanship, authenticity and human creativity.

“Novelties like hologram concerts and digital character influences will probably stay just that, novelties, not become the norm.”

He said some technology always drums up media attention, such as “the metaverse,” where everyone would be “collaborating in goggles via digital spaces,” but people seem to prefer “just being in the same room together.

“I think AI is in the middle of the same kind of hype cycle right now,” he added. “It’s simply a new tool, which often can speed up very repetitive, labor-intensive tasks that take up lots of time.”

An example, he said, are more tedious tasks such as editing audio, cutting samples out of long recordings, and leveling tracks.

“How I think this shakes out is people doing work on the high end and middle are probably fine and just have to learn some new tools. The part of the industry that will get automated away is things like low end sync and music library production. A lot of that is basically just copying stuff and doing the-same-but-different kind of cues.”

Another Artist Expresses Concern Over Royalties

Singer-songwriter Orville “Oh Yeah” Wright emphasized the fiscal dynamics of AI in the industry, highlighting concerns over artists losing out on royalties due to AI’s integration.

Wright stressed the irreplaceable depth and uniqueness of human creation, telling The Epoch Times, “The power of the human touch in music is a force in its own right.”

Music production today is largely concerned with technology rather than notation. Jules0222/iStock

He said currently, artists are becoming the victims of AI implementation on records “where artists do not get paid for newly created (involuntarily) material.”

“Therefore, royalties often and unfortunately belong to the newly registered ‘creator’ and publisher,” he said. “For independent artists, the legal pursuit may seem like an uphill battle, particularly if individuals do not even own trademarks. In all honesty, it seems like AI is intimidating to many that do not have enough education on the matter that can provide them with protection from being outsourced or used in the sense of their voice being emulated.”

He said he feels the struggles of producers and songwriters can be similar, but the wall is higher.

“It may become more difficult to make sales unless well-established relationships carry myself and others in the industry,” he added. “Labels, independent artists, and sync agencies always look for great fitting music.“

The Crossroads of Beats and Bytes

Mike King, a programming prodigy and once-rapper, provided The Epoch Times with a comprehensive look at AI’s duality.

He has made a name for himself in music and tech as an active recording artist, most recently in generative AI, working with a range of household name companies.

Recognizing AI as both a potential peril and promise, he underscores possibilities ranging from posthumous albums to the reconstructive magic of voices while also voicing concerns about the shared fan experience and artist representation.

“Generative AI is both a threat and an opportunity for the music industry,” he said. “It’s a threat because, just like when streaming came out, record labels have the upper hand here. With streaming, the labels made deals that were beneficial to them and not necessarily to the artists.”

He added most recording contracts have clauses that labels have the rights to “do whatever they want” in new media.

“So, many artists may already be in a deal where the label can use their likeness and voice to create new music and put it out without their consent,” he said. “Imagine how many more posthumous Tupac albums we'd have if he is still considered valuable ‘intellectual property.’ Also, people have the ability to create fake music and put it out, like what happened with that Drake and The Weeknd song.”

He said AI could also be a threat to the shared fan experience, because the industry may move in a direction where listeners have a more personalized experience, possibly having implications for concerts.

“However, it’s also a huge creative opportunity,” he said. “A rapper like Beanie Sigel, whose voice was permanently changed due to losing a lung, can now reconstruct his voice using generative AI and record new music that sounds like the old him. It’s really up to how creative you can be.”

Symphony of Disruption

Albhy Galuten, a tech executive, futurist and Grammy Award-winning record producer, serves as a Senior Fellow at Intertrust, a digital rights management company.

He told The Epoch Times AI could be “the greatest disruptor we’ve seen” but in the form of a double-edged sword.

He said low-end jobs like creating background music can easily be generated by AI and “will likely be good enough with no need for royalties to be paid.”

“On the other hand, AI is just a tool like a synthesizer or a word processor that, when properly used, can provide a valuable resource to creators,” he said. “AI can be a very valuable assistant for mastering, instrument isolation, creating playlists, suggestions when a songwriter is in a corner lyrically and a plethora of other use cases.”

As for copyrights, he said this area of AI in the industry is complex and not yet fully defined.

“Current US copyright law only protects works (songs) that result from human intellectual labor,” he said. “Of course, there is a continuum from simple assistance like asking an AI for a word that rhymes with banana to the near autonomy of asking to ‘make me a song that sounds like Paul McCartney singing and writing with Brian Wilson about surfing in Bali’.”

Drawbacks of AI

Galuten said compensation is a concern for original creators when it comes to AI music applications.

“When a component of a work is copied, the original creator is allowed a portion of the revenue,” he said. “AI is trained on the creative works of millions of creators. Creators would say they deserve compensation for this use.”

Singer Taylor Swift performs onstage during The 58th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on February 15, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

He added another drawback to AI is that it only learns retroactively, trained on all the music before 1962, it would “never have come up with the Beatles.”

“AI-generated content would likely favor popular trends or lack the genuine emotional depth of human expression.”

Impact to Fans

Galuten said AI has already had an impact on fans, where AI-powered platforms can curate music recommendations, introducing new music to listeners.

“One pressing question will be if fans care only about the song or do they also care, perhaps even more so, about the artist who sang the song,” he said. “I don’t think Taylor Swift Fans (Swifties) would be so engaged around a virtual artist with no humanity.”

He said he has hope that even with AI-generated music that gains popularity, listeners will continue to crave human performance.

Protections Needed

Galuten added it will be important for musicians and those in the industry to be transparent.

“People have a right to know if something was created by a human or an AI (or both) and this should be visible to listeners,” he added. “There needs to be protection for people’s voices just as there is for their likenesses.”

With all new technologies, he added, there are winners and losers, and creatives will need to adapt, and guardrails must be put in place.

With the potential for both discord and harmony, the future beckons a coalescence of technological prowess and human artistry.

Above all, it challenges the industry to strike a chord where human creativity and AI amplify each other, forging a new technological anthem for future generations of music.