It’s more than that. genAI can’t create music out of the ether. It has to be trained first, meaning it basically “listens” to a shit ton of music before it can generate any music. That means:
Its music will be 100% derivative with no true creativity at all. Do you just want a mishmash of all pre-existing music forever?
most importantly, the artists whose music the genAI was trained on were likely not compensated at all for that training. So not only is the music ecosystem going to be inundated with AI slop, but we’ve stolen from working musicians to do it.
The recording industry loves making money off of artists who are long dead. Reminds me of that opening to Ministry’s Ghouldiggers, where the singer is talking about how some artists are being sold off in pieces. Kurt Cobain. Janis Joplin. So many more.
What would be your motivator to pay human artists? Why sign any?
I mean, the internet has given artists a way to spread their works and profit off them without any major record labels. So what artists will lose by that are exploitative companies whose only benefit is that your music will be sold by major retailers as physical CDs or Downloads.
I think what it’s saying is that if AI is what starts making money, the music industry will exploit the hell out of that.
Imagine making millions of dollars, from a band that doesn’t exist, that you created, that you keep all money from their sales.
What would be your motivator to pay human artists? Why sign any?
It’s more than that. genAI can’t create music out of the ether. It has to be trained first, meaning it basically “listens” to a shit ton of music before it can generate any music. That means:
Its music will be 100% derivative with no true creativity at all. Do you just want a mishmash of all pre-existing music forever?
most importantly, the artists whose music the genAI was trained on were likely not compensated at all for that training. So not only is the music ecosystem going to be inundated with AI slop, but we’ve stolen from working musicians to do it.
Wouldn’t put it past them to try.
The recording industry loves making money off of artists who are long dead. Reminds me of that opening to Ministry’s Ghouldiggers, where the singer is talking about how some artists are being sold off in pieces. Kurt Cobain. Janis Joplin. So many more.
I mean, the internet has given artists a way to spread their works and profit off them without any major record labels. So what artists will lose by that are exploitative companies whose only benefit is that your music will be sold by major retailers as physical CDs or Downloads.
But what about live performances?