The music industry has found itself in the middle of an existential crisis: Is AI music threatening to the creative process, or can it be utilized in an innovative fashion to further enhance the very essence of music?
The conversation is an important one to have, as recent events have fast-tracked the debate and even brought backlash against some AI-supported artists and broadcast platforms such as Spotify from fans.
“Creativity will be more disrespected as AI grows because you never know who is really doing it or who is using the computer,” Rock and Roll Hall of Fame rapper Ice Cube recently told me during an interview on The Gunz Show.
“When other people are pretending to be Frank Sinatra and Biggie Smalls, f**k that sh*t. We don’t even know if these guys would have even liked the song or agreed with the lyrics,” the former N.W.A. rapper continued.
Spotify Gets Slammed
Earlier this year, “indie rock band” The Velvet Sundown garnered headlines after receiving millions of Spotify streams for their music. The only problem was that the band wasn’t a band at all, but rather an AI creation pushed by an algorithm. From the band’s photos to lyrics and vocals, there were no human elements involved, despite the group being able to attract nearly one million active monthly listeners who were initially duped into believing Sundown was a real band.
The overwhelmingly angry reaction from both fans and other musicians led to Spotify recently releasing its first public statement on AI music in late September. The company explained that although “music has always been shaped by technology… from multitrack tape and synthesizers to Auto-Tune,” its use by “bad actors and content farms” was admittedly having a detrimental effect.
“At its worst, AI can be used by bad actors and content farms to confuse or deceive listeners, push ‘slop’ into the ecosystem, and interfere with authentic artists working to build their careers. That kind of harmful AI content degrades the user experience for listeners and often attempts to divert royalties to bad actors,” the company explained in its September 25 “Fighting Impersonation, Scam and Deception” press release.
AI Music Crowding the System
The battle hasn’t been an easy one, as Spotify acknowledged that it has already taken down more than 75 million “AI spam” tracks from the platform in the past year alone.
“The future of the music industry is being written, and we believe that aggressively protecting against the worst parts of Gen AI is essential to enabling its potential for artists and producers,” the company’s statement continued, before announcing a series of changes including stricter enforcement against impersonation violations, a new spam filtering system, and mandated AI disclosures.
That may sound all good and fine, but others—including one of the bands that The Velvet Sundown directly cited as an “influence”—want decisive measures.
“So, an AI ‘band’ who cites us as an influence (i.e., it’s modeled off our music) have just overtaken us on Spotify, in only TWO months. It’s shocking, it’s disheartening, it’s insulting—it’s a wake-up call. Oppose AI music, or bands like us stop existing,” rock band Holding Absence’s Aaron Woodland tweeted last week.
Can We CoExist?
As both quotes from Ice Cube and Woodland demonstrate, there is a clear backlash from many musicians across all genres against AI music.
When Billboard reported last week that Hallwood Records signed the studio producer behind virtual AI R&B artist “Xania Monet” to a $3 million record deal, other stars from the genre such as SZA and Kehlani came out against the move.
“AI can also make the entire f**king song. It can sing the entire song. It can make the entire beat. You can have a song that’s one type of song and say, ‘AI, make this into a country song,’ and it will literally rewrite [and] re-sing in a country voice and redo the entire thing. And they don’t ever have to credit anyone. This is so beyond out of our control, and nothing and no one on earth will be able to justify AI to me,” Kehlani recently posted in a TikTok video.
Will Fan Backlash Spark Change?
Of course, there is the larger issue beyond just the making of music and the battle between artists and AI: Will fans turn away from platforms that promote AI music?
When The Velvet Sundown drama happened with Spotify, I know multiple friends who canceled their Spotify subscriptions.
Will there be similar backlash against radio stations that play AI artists—moves that could be viewed as “selling out” artists and, by extension, their fans?
Ultimately, as longtime music manager and National Independent Talent Organization’s Randy Nichols explained, it may come down to some sort of coexistence between all elements.
“Ultimately, people will learn to use AI as a tool vs. AI being the only participant. I look at it like singers don’t have to be as good anymore because of Auto-Tune, but the great singers still have a place because a computer can’t replicate that,” Nichols explained.
“Regardless, models need to compensate those whose work they use in the creation of music. Ultimately, much of the music out there will be a hybrid of AI and human and will be played everywhere.”
As we’ve seen in other parts of our AI-infused lives, artificial intelligence does not seem to be going away.
But that doesn’t mean that we, as music fans and members of the industry, have to like it—especially when it concerns something we all cherish.
A pivotal first step must include guidelines and restrictions so that actual musicians are compensated and there is a clear distinction between humans and the artificial.
What do you think of AI music? Hit me up at @TheGunzShow
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