How Will AI Impact Music Creation?
With the exponential rise of artificial intelligence, few industries will remain untouched. But what impact will AI have on music creation?
Artificial Intelligence has the potential to greatly influence music creation in the future. One way it can do this is by helping musicians and composers generate new ideas and compositions through the use of machine learning algorithms. AI can also be used to analyze and understand music at a deeper level, which could lead to new ways of creating, manipulating, and understanding music. Additionally, AI can be used to enhance the performance of musicians by providing real-time feedback and suggestions. In the future, AI could also be used to create entirely new forms of music that are not possible with traditional methods.
In the past several years, contrary to Elon Musk’s dyer warnings about its implications, artificial intelligence has made significant ground, and is now publicly available in a number of different forms. Most recently ChatGPT, which launched in November 2022, showed the world just how effective AI can be at writing sales scripts, putting your shopping list together or writing the opening paragraph of this article. The fact of the matter is Artificial Intelligence is here, and the consequences are immeasurable. Suffice to say that almost every industry is on the precipice of a complete overhaul; even roles once thought untouchable are already seeing the consequences of AI on their industry. Depending who you listen to, we’re either at the beginning of a new technological golden age or staring down the barrel of a dark, dystopian future. One thing’s for sure:
This is the most disruptive technology we have seen since the birth of the internet.
But what about the arts? Surely AI can’t compete with human creativity. Well, maybe not. We like to think that artificial intelligence, excellent at analysing data, detecting fraud or facial recognition, can’t execute any level of creativity; the humans will always be the master of the arts. Not so. DallE has already proven that AI can create incredibly sophisticated pieces of visual art, leaving flesh and blood artists to despair.
“Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.”
― Andy Warhol
So how about music? Surely AI can’t outdo us there, right?
While it’s difficult to know whether or not AI will be able to replicate the passion and emotion that goes into a chart topping piece of music, a number of developers are already putting AI to musical use.
Amper Music is just one such example. Amper is a cloud-based platform designed to simplify the process of creating soundtracks for movies and video games, using AI generated algorithms to help users create music in a variety of music genres. And while their goal isn’t necessarily trying to compete with flesh and blood musicians, it doesn’t bode well.
Other examples like Melodrive and ORB Composer however, are using machine learning, user inputs and a vast array of data points to create music from scratch — trying to completely replace the human with AI. These tools, I suspect are largely aimed at the musical novice; those with no expertise or creative juices at their disposal. But rather than despairing at the rise of sophisticated, creative AI, musicians could do one of two things:
- Implement AI in their own creative process
Or…
- Ignore it entirely.
A number of musicians are already using AI, not to replace themselves, but to enhance their own creative process. But before we consider the incoming tools shaking up the creative world, let’s compare AI to something like Splice, the online sample library used my millions of musicians across the world. To use Splice, artists can browse sounds freely or search for sounds based on a selection of different criteria like genre, instrument or mood. Whether you’re using AI or a sample library, the outcome is exactly the same. The artist has minimal creative input and what they get in return is a sliver of music. Ecrett Music functions in the same way: Users first select at least one option from Scene, Mood or Genre before clicking “Create Music”. The tool then creates the music based on your choices, and you get different music every time, even when using the same settings. Users can also customize instruments and structures with just a few clicks. I don’t think I have to tell you that if you relied solely on a tool like this to create your music, what you’d be left with is a pretty soulless, uninteresting piece of “music”. The same can be said of Splice. That being said, the quality of a piece of music is subjective, and what sounds like magic to one person could sound like dribble to another.
“I find it so amazing when people tell me that electronic music has no soul. You can’t blame the computer. If there’s no soul in the music, it’s because nobody put it there.”
— Björk
Whether or not listeners will appreciate a piece of AI music, or have it compete with a real musician’s work, AI will always lack one thing:
Experience.
The best art, whether it’s a sonnet, a film or a piece of music, relies on lived experience; something uniquely human. The pieces of art that tap into real human experience continue to resonate with audiences, and this has been true since the beginning of time. Unfortunately for AI, from this perspective, it will never compete.
At the end of the day, it’s up to the artist to determine where they sit on the AI debate. But when it comes to new technology, particularly one as powerful as AI, it’s prudent to have an open mind. If you’re an artist, of any kind, you shouldn’t let the rise of AI deter you from doing what you love. Instead ask yourself how (if at all) you could implement AI to enhance your work?
