The future of music & the influence of AI

[Sir Don]

I've been thinking a lot lately about recorded music vs AI generated.

This is causing me some concern. Not just music but video as well.

I can't help thinking that any time I'm listening to a song or watching a recorded live performance it's highly AI influenced.

Maybe I'm just an old fart thinking that 2 inch tape is gonna make a comeback.

Am I overthinking this?

 

[GustHFS]

I've been thinking a lot lately about recorded music vs AI generated.

This is causing me some concern. Not just music but video as well.

I can't help thinking that any time I'm listening to a song or watching a recorded live performance it's highly AI influenced.

Maybe I'm just an old fart thinking that 2 inch tape is gonna make a comeback.

Am I overthinking this?

You might not be the only one. It's been a while since I've listened to or watched anything else related to music, except for a few older bands that I believe are still using Pro Tools instead of magnetic tape. And if magnetic tapes comeback like vinyl already did, I have some old AKAI's reel to reel and cassette decks to welcome those tapes, lol

Gust

 

[Mike_LA]

Yup, not just music.
Seems like you can't trust anything is "real" at this point. It's going to be like auto tune...
Everywhere, on everything.

 

[Cal Nevari]

I've been thinking a lot lately about recorded music vs AI generated.

This is causing me some concern. Not just music but video as well.

I can't help thinking that any time I'm listening to a song or watching a recorded live performance it's highly AI influenced.

Maybe I'm just an old fart thinking that 2 inch tape is gonna make a comeback.

Am I overthinking this?

IMHO, you're not overthinking it at all. I'm sure you've heard that AI-generated "new" song by Nirvana. The most concerning aspect of this phenomenon is not "all this machinery making modern music," as Neil Peart wrote, but that we know do not know what is composed and performed by humans and what is AI.

I saw Tangerine Dream a few times back in the day and, although all of the sounds were generated by synthesizers, there were still three human musicians controlling them. Even if they were using sequencers, at least they had programmed them. Now AI programs itself, removing the human being from the equation.

It was refreshing to see Crowded House a few weeks ago (great show, btw) and know that all of the sounds we were hearing were created by the musicians on stage. But it's expensive for bands to go on tour, and they don't really need to do so any longer. In the olden days, bands would tour to support an album. Not so any longer. People can stream their music and watch their videos, many of which either are or soon will be also AI generated.

If you're an old fart, you're in good company on this forum! Although 2-inch tape might not make a comeback, we can still indulge in a little nostalgia. You might want to check out some of the real amps vs. modeling threads if you haven't done so already. A lot of good ideas there.

 

[jmp45]

This is AI



Probably AI also

 

[GustHFS]

Good times when I thought KRAFTWERK was the extreme of music technology at the time. At least for me it was something interesting and humanly original.

Gust

 

[10kDA]

You gotta believe the music-vending bizness is betting on it. AI conveniently takes the talent, meaning performers, writers, and artists, out of the process. One or more fewer shares of the profits that could be going directly to the suits and their lower-level sycophants LOL

It will be only a matter of time before listeners get tired of homogenized, audience-targeted sounds and reject them for something real and authentic. It has happened on a cyclical basis throughout the history of recorded popular music. The new and the real last for a time until the suits co-opt it for the profit of the industry. I'm guessing something similar will happen with AI-generated music and entertainment in general as well.

 

[RCM 800]

Corporate pop/country/metal/rap is all sterile crap anyways so I cant see how this is really going to hurt much. Maybe it will have enough of a backlash to chase kids back into the garages where real art was made. That or Terminators and the Matrix.

 

[PelliX]

Maybe it will have enough of a backlash to chase kids back into the garages where real art was made.

I'm not that confident this would happen - without a failure of the system. When you think about it we (humans in the western world, let's say) have become very dependent. Energy in the form of fuel and electricity leap to mind, but we also lack many skills that we've 'outsourced' to machines. Ever wondered how many cashiers could actually give you change WITHOUT the calculator in the till? Then comes the event of AI. Some kids (I've seen this) are simply too lazy to 'think' about something - they will ask 'AI' instead. I'm not arguing whether 'AI' actually exists, I don't think the 'elaborate chatbots' we have today really have any 'intelligence', but that depends on one's definition - another rabbit hole (and another thread). But just imagine when a generation has outsourced their 'complex thinking' to 'AI'. People who don't consider their actions and act blindly based on 'faith in others' (including what some machine spat out one day) scare me out of my socks....

 

[Nkyrental]

Someone should push Ted Nugent, Eddie Van Halen, and AC/DC into a program and see what type of song it would make.

 

[GustHFS]

Someone should push Ted Nugent, Eddie Van Halen, and AC/DC into a program and see what type of song it would make.

My opinion:
Better leave the crappy things to AI to handle, rather than good rock music. AI will never create anything that isn't crappy, anyway...

Gust

 

[TonalEuphoria]

Humans want music made by humans. Who are people going to see if all music becomes AI and there are no human bands and acts? To what, go out to a concert to watch a monitor on stage all night with a digitally created character to represent the AI musician. Why bother. If the music industry pushes further into AI and away from real singers and musicians they won't be making friends. And the seperate music scene will still thrive. Just not with them involved as much.

Will AI take money out of people's pockets and work away from humans? No doubt. I think the voice over and commercial field will be hit hard. But music is different I think. It will take some of it, but not all. There are certainly musicians who will use AI for parts of or to write music they can't. But these are reasons in part modern music has gotten so stale. I listen to those tracks above copying Paul McCartney and there so monotone and lifeless. Stale and robotic. Not anything I would choose to listen to. But people are all different. I know some will enjoy it. But that doesn't mean everyone will and real music, written by real people will disappear. Just change as it always does.

 

[Matthews Guitars]

It's going to be a while before AI music generators can create music of the quality level of the likes of "Carry On My Wayward Son" and "Madam Blue" and many other songs of that caliber. But I don't deny that it'll probably get there.

 

[Maxbrothman]

I think artists using AI is more likely how this will end up.

"Make me a song that is unique and would be popular and something along the lines of songs X, Y and Z" etc.

Thanks.

Then go make it.

 

[TonalEuphoria]

I think artists using AI is more likely how this will end up.

"Make me a song that is unique and would be popular and something along the lines of songs X, Y and Z" etc.

Thanks.

Then go make it.

I don't think it will be that unique though. The AI's are using a base of knowledge of music that has all been done before without the ability for natural creativity to thrive and something new to come from it. I think all they can do is replicate what has been done and put it into different combinations. No human feelings or reflections to have a musical melody come from pure inspiration of the environment and events the writer is living through. No soul, just machine mind.

 

[guitarbilly74]

I had this discussion at a different forum. I think AI will definitely take over some forms of music. Jingles, background music for TV and Movies, basically all background music in general.

But as far as music as an art, there is an connection between the audience and the artist that cannot be replaced. Simply put, humans just love to watch/hear other humans do impressive things.

A good analogy is visual arts. Photoshop is amazing and definitely the most used tool for commercial applications. So is CGI. Awesome tools.

However, this will never, ever cease to be impressive and fascinating:




Which is why she has 800k followers, in 2023, with a paper and a pencil.

 

[saxon68]

I've been thinking a lot lately about recorded music vs AI generated.

This is causing me some concern. Not just music but video as well.

I can't help thinking that any time I'm listening to a song or watching a recorded live performance it's highly AI influenced.

Maybe I'm just an old fart thinking that 2 inch tape is gonna make a comeback.

Am I overthinking this?

 

[paul-e-mann]

Something interesting about AI, a friend is putting together a YouTube channel and I told him to have AI generate a list of 20 names for his channel and he picked from that list. It turns out the name that he chose already exists on YouTube, so AI is stealing off the Internet it's not creating original content, at least not always.

 

[10kDA]

Warner Music signs AI artist, releases video:

Warner Music sign first digital character Noonoouri and release debut single

The avatar’s debut song features 38-year-old German DJ Alle Farben.

www.independent.co.uk

Being a cartoon worked for Jem & The Holograms, and Josie & The Pussycats. On the other hand, IT'S A CARTOON.

 

[Sir Don]

I'm just becoming so disillusioned with any type of new music. I mean, are people actually playing it? You know, a drummer who drums, a guitarist who plays guitar, a bass player who plays the bass and a singer who actually sings?

Or is it all AI.

Every time I see a live concert on YT I think to myself 'are these guys actually playing this music at the very time people are watching in the crowd?'