AI Song Generation

[Fred Treece]

And let’s be honest, most of us have been in bands playing songs other artists wrote, made money off it, and never paid a cent in songwriting royalties.

Most of the venues I have ever played do pay their ASCAP/BMI fees. I’ve always viewed cover bands as cheap advertising for the original artist. Unless the band stunk.

Let’s see what AI can do with that comment.

[Mike Neer]

I just read this morning that an AI-generated artist and song are at the top of Apple Music's Christian music chart. Is there anything more paradoxical than that? Look up Solomon Ray.

[Barry Yasika]

I keep hearing comments directed at AI. But AI is just AI, it does nothing without a prompt from a user. Whatever involvement AI has in an assisted song is entirely in the hands of the person who chooses to use it, whether for help or for creation. AI itself is not the problem; the real issue is how much influence the end user allows it to have in the material. To sum it up: AI is not the problem. this is a people problem.

[Justin Wierenga]

AI sure ain't gonna play pedal steel guitar at the gig for me this weekend.

[Fred Treece]

I keep hearing comments directed at AI. But AI is just AI, it does nothing without a prompt from a user. Whatever involvement AI has in an assisted song is entirely in the hands of the person who chooses to use it, whether for help or for creation. AI itself is not the problem; the real issue is how much influence the end user allows it to have in the material. To sum it up: AI is not the problem. this is a people problem.

This point needed to be made in the discussion. Thank you, Barry.

A few days ago, I read that an “AI artist” is now at the top of the R&B charts, and her “creator” was awarded a $3M recording contract.

Many of us have worked with programs like Band In A Box, iRealPro, Jammer, whatever, to either assist in the creative process of original music or simply as practice tools. AI takes it a step further by offering someone with absolutely zero musical training or talent the power to create what would take a competent human artist years or even decades to develop the ability to do, right down to the actual performance of the material.

I see this leading to a situation where anyone can use a device to create the music they want to hear spontaneously and almost instantly at any particular moment, without having to search Spotify or Apple Music or paying royalties to some music publishing behemoth.

The question for musicians remains the same - how do we find work? And how nuts are you going to have to be to spend years developing a skill that will be competing with a machine that any idiot can program in a few keystrokes to do a very close simulation of what you do. Good luck, kids.

[Barry Yasika]

Thanks Fred, that's the first pragmatic response I've seen when it comes to AI. To Fred's point, AI isn’t going away, it’s already in modern music, from charting tracks with AI vocals to producers using tools like Amper or AIVA. And it’s only going to get better, faster than most of us can keep up with. But let’s face it, this isn’t just the music business, every industry is feeling the impact.


That said, keep practicing your instrument. The inherited, feel, and human connection of live playing are things no machine can truly replace, and that’s where your unique value will always shine.

OH yeah, and stay away from Rick Beato's video's about his attacks on AI. He's an old turkey not much different than me. He feels threatened by AI. Understandably so, but the world and time only go one way.......forward. He should stick to interviewing old has been Rock Stars.