Hi everyone!
Today I’d like to talk about AI music.
AI is the next big thing, right? It’s taking over the creative industry. Anyone can write a book, anyone can make a song, anyone can deliver amazing artwork.
You may not be surprised to hear that I’m quite biased on this subject.
What do I think of AI music and other content?
I’d like to put aside the obvious legal issues and accusations of theft and focus on the value of the output.
As a writer, I read what ChatGPT or any others output, and I think “this has no soul”. That is not something I can easily put into words for someone who is not a writer, but I guess I can say does not carry the weight of human experience with it. It is “magpie content”, stolen from everywhere in order to make what it is.
And that brings me on to music. When I am making an audio drama, I want music. I want great music that makes people feel and think.
I have been experimenting with AI music because I want to understand what it feels like not least because I am no sort of a composer! I therefore hire people to do this work… but I have had people submit AI work to me as their own. That’s extremely disappointing and I think I need to be prepared.
What did I find by experimenting with AI Music?
What I found keeps making me remember a rather aggressive article I once read about Nickelback. The article claimed that nobody likes Nickelback, but that they put together their songs in such a way that everybody was nostalgic about some element of them.
Now, I don’t know if that is true. I’m no music expert. But I do feel that when I create a piece of music with AI these pieces are soulless (for the record, I will never be using these in a commercial environment – it is complete wrong in my opinion). It is emotional white noise. They lose something compared to a track from someone who inserts their own lived experience and style into the music.
So what did I decide?
Having looked into it, I have to say that I’m distinctly anti-AI music in my creative endeavours. I don’t think it carries the weight of emotion that other music can. While I can understand why some people garner emotion from it, I believe that to be insertion: “That thing makes me think of this thing that prompts my emotion”. I’ve ever heard someone refer to things that aren’t there in the attempt to make that music better.
You might argue that’s the same as any other piece of music, but when you are firing a shotgun, you’re going to hit more things less deeply than when you’re firing a rifle at a specific target.
Don’t use AI music. Go out and support artists who are trying to create, who are trying to build something. Even if you don’t care about the business side and supporting people, you will not be doing yourself any good if you rely on AI.
– Ed
