I attended the AI & Music Global Creators Summit hosted by Ivors Academy last week. With speakers ranging from composers, musicians, lawyers, software developers and politicians, we were given a thoroughly comprehensive day of discussions all things AI & Music.
I also attended a demo hosted by DAACI - an AI powered music production and composition software company.
I met some of the DAACI team at another Ivors event in the summer. I later agreed to speak and consult with a member of their team about what I would like to use AI for in my own work. All of my feedback was generally about labour intensive tasks which rarely inspire me creatively (gain staging, automation, track naming etc). I'm not tech savvy enough to write codes and macros to make this task easier....couldn't AI just do that for me?
DAACI demo'd part of their music composition software, which was really impressive. We started by listening to a song in it's original form and then transformed into other genres and keys. I was impressed but not surprised by the software. Having slightly kept my ear to the ground this year about AI and music I'm gladly passed the state of shock.
It's easy for all of us to feel concerned, pessimistic or indeed nihilistic about the impact AI is having on humanity. There are definitely areas of concern which we could discuss until the AI cows come home to destroy us, but ultimately it's best to view this topic (as always) with nuance.
I personally think the way in which we engage with music on a human level is often overlooked. I believe it's one of the single most important reasons we all engage with music. From Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran to Hans Zimmer - all of whom go on world tours to perform their music, the power of human connection through music is indisputable. We want to know the artist behind and beyond the music.
That said, there are undoubtedly areas of music which may feel a negative impact from AI. My personal opinion, is any music that is written for a purpose whereby the consumer isn't engaged or concerned about the human artist behind the work (library music, playlist music etc) will eventually be competing with machines. Where this leaves that part of the music making landscape, time will tell.
My advice to any composer, musician, artist - focus on the human element to your music making. Keep studying, keep improving and keep trying to expand out of the box (metaphor for computer or indeed the better known "box" of limitations).