Sing You A LullabAI

did i rock your boat too hard?

A few months back, producer/musician/educator Rick Beato did a breakdown of one of viral band The Velvet Sundown’s songs. Some parts of the AI-generated song held reasonably well while others were scrappy. One of the ideas was to see how well AI could make music. Clearly, not too well. The fact that the band had a ridiculously high listenership on Spotify says more about our ears, brains, and lack of discernment than about AI capabilities. A few months later, CBS did a story where Beato threw a few prompts and out popped a surprisingly good song by AI-created artist (matter of time before the word AIrtist goes viral), Sadie Winters. Even Beato wearily and fatalistically agreed it was quite good (one of the saddest smiles I have seen).

It was just a matter of time given how quickly Artificial Intelligence is scaling up. Some of the loudest howls of protest - impotent, of course - against AI have come from musicians and many folk who love music. I’m going to present a perspective that is not in line with that.

I was for some years a promoter of independent contemporary music in India. I did it for the love of music but not necessarily the musicians. If I can get great and diverse music without having to deal with the artists (I will not go into their fuckedupness), I won’t be complaining. That’s just a personal sidelight from someone who has been closely involved with the art and its makers and purveyors and as such not important at all. What is important is how we deal with what is inevitable. A friend commented when I expressed this thought to him that what I’m talking about is the product but music is not just the end product. It is the process of making it, the collaborative effort, the emotional heft, the stories of what goes into each song, the human-ness of it all that makes us bond with music. That could be lost. I agree with the first part but not with the second.

In an increasingly insular world, the craft of making music has distance already built in which dilutes all those great qualities. Rarely do musicians record in a live session any more. Recording tracks individually and mixing them is the norm. Still there is dialog but there is also a chasm. What AI-generated music might encourage artists to do is to get out of their bedrooms and play live. All those things that make music resonate with us whose possible and imagined loss that my friend bemoaned will only be strengthened. There might just be greater warmth and connection among musicians and with their audiences.

There is an example from the world of imaging which could be a pointer. Tech advances in photography have made decent, even good, photography easy and accessible. The playing field has got levelled somewhat. The gear is not as much a player as it used to be. So the focus (no, don’t pardon the expression) has shifted back to great composition, to dedication to the craft, to perspective and thus to capability and skill. That is what should, and will likely, happen to music. Composition, live performances, skills - things that AI will take time to get on top of I think. Then there’s this whole thing around training; AI learning from the vast, existing library of music. So much outrage. Really? How did you learn to play your guitar or your piano or violin, even if poorly? Did you do that with no reference, no repeating of each phrase of a song that is someone else’s creation? Did you not train yourself on music already created. Your grouse really is that what took you years takes a machine a few minutes. Well, that just makes the machine more efficient. It doesn’t make it a better musician though. What is under threat from AI is generic, mostly mediocre music which it can easily create. You can either accept that you’re a peddler of mediocrity or get fired up to produce exceptional art. But are you good enough for that?

Another friend who gets very worked up over AI in music remarked “yeah sure, let’s see AI take a stand and protest against the inequities of the world”. Of course, it won’t. Eventually, that’ll be the greatest self-goal ever. But that is where AI doesn’t score and where there is scope for artists, good artists. That said how many musicians take a moral stance anyway now? Not too many Bob Vylans around. So whither (wither) this particular argument?

It is highly probable that the machines will take over most if not all aspect of life. We do not know that yet but that possibility should be a kick up our backsides to become exceptionally good. As the very aptly named The Pretenders sang, stop your sobbing. Be better.

A little - and I hope fun - quiz for you. Listen to these two versions of the same song. Who do you think will AI easily replace? There are no right or wrong answers, only answers that will doom you to machine slavery or hold out some (perhaps feeble) hope of redemption for you.

If you want to sling your mud of artifice at me, the free ‘subscribe’ button is at the bottom; I have more of this kind of stuff.