First, they came for the editors. And I was an editor, so I was fucked.

Then, they came for the designers. And I was a designer, so I was fucked.

Then, they came for the writers. And they used too many em-dashes.

Clear enough where this goes. This said, while music and language are obviously both artistic endeavours, the former is far more geared toward generative content.

Gibberish in iambic pentameter is useless, but an eight-bar hook with tried-and-true chord progressions, plus a few layers to keep things marginally interesting? And then a quick prompt for lyrics?

It’s unsurprising that decades of formulaic label tripe can’t be distinguished from generated music.

Three songs generated by artificial intelligence topped music charts this week, reaching the highest spots on Spotify and Billboard charts.

Walk My Walk and Livin’ on Borrowed Time by the outfit Breaking Rust topped Spotify’s “Viral 50” songs in the US, which documents the “most viral tracks right now” on a daily basis, according to the streaming service. A Dutch song, We Say No, No, No to an Asylum Center, an anti-migrant anthem by JW “Broken Veteran” that protests against the creation of new asylum centers, took the top position in Spotify’s global version of the viral chart around the same time. Breaking Rust also appeared in the top five on the global chart.

“You can kick rocks if you don’t like how I talk,” reads a lyric from Walk My Walk, a seeming double entendre challenging those opposed to AI-generated music.

Days after its ascent up the charts, the Dutch song disappeared from Spotify and YouTube, as did Broken Veteran’s other music. Spotify told the Dutch outlet NU.nl that the company had not removed the music, the owners of the song rights had. Broken Veteran told the outlet that he did not know why his music had disappeared and that he was investigating, hoping to return it soon.

A stat of note:

AI music has improved in quality from its early, clanking days. As part of its study, Deezer surveyed 9,000 people in eight countries and found that 97% could not distinguish between AI-generated music and human-written music.