The landscape of music is transforming rapidly with the advent of artificial intelligence, with bands like The Velvet Sundown gaining substantial traction on streaming platforms like Spotify.
AI music-generation platforms are also gaining popularity, allowing users to create songs instantly from written prompts, making music creation more accessible than ever before.
Mike Shulman, the founder of Suno, an AI music generation platform, emphasizes the importance of accessibility in music creation.
He noted on the 20VC podcast, ‘It takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of practice, you need to get really good at an instrument or really good at a piece of production software. I think the majority of people don’t enjoy the majority of time they spend making music.’
Renowned artist Timbaland is an advisor to Suno and recently launched an AI entertainment company named Stage Zero, where he signed an AI “artist” called TaTa.
Additionally, a new genre has emerged specifically for AI artists, dubbed A-Pop.
Musicians in Austin are exploring various ways to integrate AI into their creative processes and business strategies.
Some artists, like producer and rapper Zeale, are actively experimenting with AI in music production.
He stated, ‘I want to understand my — I don’t wanna say — enemy. But I wanna understand this new, very impactful technology as much as possible.’
Zeale approaches song creation by starting with a written prompt, then sampling and manipulating the resulting AI-generated track to fit his style.
This creative process enables him to use samples without incurring licensing fees, as the original content is generated by AI.
On the other hand, Erin Walter, from the band Parker Woodland, sees AI as a useful tool primarily for business operations rather than for music production.
She explained, ‘We have talked about it for things on the business and PR side, like gathering information on radio stations and media to promote and advance our first big multistate tour that’s coming up in September.’
Walter also expressed concerns regarding the environmental impact of AI technologies, citing research from Goldman Sachs that indicates a single Chat GPT query consumes ten times the energy of a Google search.
Despite this, she acknowledges the challenges indie bands face in growing their reach.
‘We’re this indie band that’s really trying to grow and go worldwide, and it’s impossible to do everything ourselves,’ she added.
Broxton and Daniels from Tribe Mafia utilize AI to create visuals for their band.
According to them, AI reduces the costs associated with generating graphics and videos, allowing musicians to produce these assets quickly and affordably.
‘You get it for free,’ Broxton remarked.
While the artists embrace some aspects of AI, they also harbor reservations about its broader implications.
Daniels expressed concern over the potential for AI to encourage laziness and dependency on technology, drawing parallels to the dystopian undertones in the film Wall-E.
He remarked, ‘We can become so lazy and heavily depend on AI so much that nobody’s really gonna be thinking for themselves.’
Walter shared her apprehensions, associating her fears about AI with the ominous narrative of The Terminator, where AI poses a significant threat to humanity.
‘If I could have no AI, I would, but there’s no way to do that,’ she said.
Zeale calls for a cautious and mindful approach to the integration of AI in music, raising the question of who will oversee the ethical use of this technology.
‘Who is going to be the gatekeeper or the steward of this technology?’ he asked, highlighting the critical need for discussion on the extent AI should influence our lives.
As Austin musicians adapt to the evolving industry landscape, the balance between leveraging AI’s capabilities and maintaining artistic integrity remains a central concern.
image source from：kut
