The future of commercial music...?

S

Sarkus

Hippomonstrosesquippedalo phobe
Valued Senior Member
With the recent admission that an artist (Velvet Sundown) on Spotify with a million+ listens is actually created entirely using AI, there's a great video by Rick Beato (below) that shows just how easy it is for anyone to create... not entirely shit music. He takes you through the few steps (create avatar, create lyrics using one prompt, then create track using those lyrics and another prompt... that's it!)
Worth a watch. Not least because the results aren't exactly awful.

Seems YouTube is demonetising "AI slop", but Spotify have yet to go that route, meaning the creator of Velvet Sundown is presumably getting (albeit a small) payment for what is really just other people's work.


What will this mean for the future of commercial music? Will it result in even more mediocre music on offer? How difficult will it be for artists to break out? Will it soon move to gigging being the future for actual artists to make a living?

Meh.
Let the thread cover anything relating to this, the video, etc.

I may even see if I can get AI to create me some music... and I'll post it here if I do. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: C C
Sarkus said:
With the recent admission that an artist (Velvet Sundown) on Spotify with a million+ listens is actually created entirely using AI, there's a great video by Rick Beato (below) that shows just how easy it is for anyone to create... not entirely shit music. He takes you through the few steps (create avatar, create lyrics using one prompt, then create track using those lyrics and another prompt... that's it!)
Worth a watch. Not least because the results aren't exactly awful.

Seems YouTube is demonetising "AI slop", but Spotify have yet to go that route, meaning the creator of Velvet Sundown is presumably getting (albeit a small) payment for what is really just other people's work.


What will this mean for the future of commercial music? Will it result in even more mediocre music on offer? How difficult will it be for artists to break out? Will it soon move to gigging being the future for actual artists to make a living?

Meh.
Let the thread cover anything relating to this, the video, etc.

I may even see if I can get AI to create me some music... and I'll post it here if I do. :)
Click to expand...
I think it will end up like bread: stuff that will just about do for the masses though worse than before, and a premium commanded for good quality material written by musicians. If we are lucky, a movement like CAMRA may develop, which will see off AI slop. But I am not very hopeful of that in the internet age: the domination of mass poor taste may prevent it taking off.
 
The Big Shift that has already happened is to DJ's who also compose.
i think DJ's who play vinyl will become more popular with some of the older generation.
Vinyl Collections are becoming more popular.
 
There was a period where I listened to nothing but AI-generated music (though you have to spend some time tracking down the good stuff). Because the lyrics were better and the themes more uncommon and interesting than whatever "Zzzzzz" drek is on the Top 10 or 40 hits of this decade. Also refreshing to hear guitar riffs and improvisation reminiscent of the last half of the 20th-century again, instead of whatever techno-pop drivel substitutes for that now.

But after a while, a particular pool of that AI spectrum exhausts the possible configurations of its parameters and begins recycling, too. Especially with respect to the same limited set of female and male vocals. And though the source of the lyrics and the subject matter (for these) is usually human or "human-refereed", even real creators can be limited in their style and innovation. Most of them don't keep evolving like The Beatles or Bob Dylan or Pink Floyd, or whoever might be examples of that back in the good old dinosaur days.

From last year: A couple of subdued examples with emphasis on offbeat topics and vocals rather than pyrotechnics on the instrumental and poetic-descriptive side.

Parody and dark humor revolving around Phil Spector and the Brill Building.

Please Don't Shoot Me Phil (CreekyJarls)

The Dark Beyond the Stars: A Lovecraftian Love Song (Necrovert)
_
 
Last edited:
The vast majority of professional musicians have always made their living from gigging (or various other forms of live performance). Even with the easier access of streaming, very few will get anything like enough money from sales and/or streaming fees. Even performers who have had some level of mainstream success will often need to keep on with paid live gigs to make a living.

The areas of music at greater threat from AI will be things like composition for TV, radio, advertising. There has already been a massive involvement of technology in that area, with a lot of work done by one person at a computer rather than a composer with a band or orchestra.
 
Sarkus said:
[...] Not least because the results aren't exactly awful.

[...]
Click to expand...

  • Rick Beato: "There's this new artist named Eli Mercer. He's an indie rock guy, and his music sucks. And I'll tell you why it sucks so bad. Because I created it using Sunno, an AI program."
It seems god-awful primarily because it sounds like something from the soundtrack of a made-for-TV movie from the 1970s, or lame 2020s pop music itself, that -- when it is not indulging in its own banal and sterile sound, may (sometimes) contingently mimic the very worst material from the former century.

Beato instead should have set it for the blues genre. But if he's going to let the program also output the lyrics, rather than submit his own, then that area would probably still be dull.
_
 
Last edited:
Sarkus said:
What will this mean for the future of commercial music? Will it result in even more mediocre music on offer? How difficult will it be for artists to break out? Will it soon move to gigging being the future for actual artists to make a living?
Click to expand...
The only way any musician in the future will make money is via live performances.
 
  • Like
Reactions: C C
billvon said:
And some sync licensing, yes. But 99% of the average musician's money in the future will come from live performances.
Click to expand...
https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmc...ur-merchandise-sales-are-astronomically-high/
960x0.jpg
 
"Ladies and Gentlemen, let's hear it for Velvet Sundown's new hit... Signal In The Valley!"
 
Wizard of Whatever said:
Live concerts, together with live and studio albums, by good groups, will always beat AI.
Click to expand...
Live concerts, yes, although holographic avatars might be on their way. ABBA have done recent shows where they're not actually there, so it may not be too far off before they become more common.

As for live and studio albums, I'm not so sure. "Good groups" is a subjective measure. People think Coldplay are a good group, after all. ;)
AI music will only improve from where it is now, and at some point it may well become indistinguishable from the vast majority of current offerings. "Good groups" are mostly, I would argue, just a matter of popularity. Much of that is built on their live performances, but excluding that and judging solely on musicality, AI is really not that far behind. After all, it is based on much of mainstream music.

What AI may never be able to do is to innovate. Although the users of AI may do so through their prompts. One could argue that the Beatles are a "good group" because they innovated, so from that point, yeah, I think AI will lag, but I think the quality of the possible music that AI will produce will only improve. And soon it really will be indistinguishable.

Even "live performance" albums can be "faked" - just train an AI on what "live" sounds like compared to studio versions, and it will be able to create "live albums" - if it can't already.
 
Most musicians have always and will always be the people playing the local bar on Friday night.
 
  • Like
Reactions: C C
i suspect fans will demand live real performances where the artist responds to the audience to prove they are real.
one of the things AI cant replicate soo easily is the back story of progression through life of developing as an artist.
fans will want to know personal details about the artist.
 
Real artists will crib their production from the software, get found out and will defend their practice on the grounds of "writer's block",addiction to fame , just "pushing the envelope" or similar


Will they be forced to compensate their gullible audience or will they have the foresight to have their money stashed away somewhere safe?
 
This is an old dude talking I guess but most "music" isn't very musical today anyway. It's about show and personality. No one can sing. Most songs sound similar. Can AI be any worse? I guess so but there is a limit. There will be little "new" music since AI (I guess) mainly copies.

There is little "I" currently anyway. There is plenty of "A" though..
 
The tool that Rick Beato used (vid in OP), is shockingly good at mediocre-to-bad stuff. I recommend that people give it a go. Free to use (limited functionality, and limited songs per day) if you sign up. But feed in ChatGPT-penned lyrics and it can spit out... stuff that sounds like music.

I can see that even genuine musicians will use AI extensively, if for nothing else than to just churn out idea after idea after idea, that the musician can then curate/edit/pick/adapt for their own compositions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top