Not all AI tools are the scratch generation tools like Google MusicFX, Suno, and Udio that are used by independent creators like Hatcher – there are also tools for extracting tracks, mixing and mastering, and brainstorming about lyrics, and all of them they find user bases among hobbyists and professional producers. Sam Hollander, the pop hitmaker who collaborated with Panic! at the disco and Flawa Flawacompares AI to the explosion of drum machines in the 1980s and how session drummers had to adapt and learn programming if they wanted to continue working.
Giving a typical example of how AI fits into his and his peers’ workflows, Hollander recalls how a British grime producer he worked with used Suno and Udio to generate funk and soul samples; once the tool had iterated on what it liked, he used another AI tool to extract the core to manually operate in the track.
“There will be two paths,” Hollander predicts. “A completely organic industry that stands up to it” vs. “people who adapt.” [AI] in what they do.” Last week, thousands of musicians and other creators joined this first group, signing the letter claiming that AI training posed an “unfair threat to the livelihoods of the people behind this work.”
For his part, Hollander uses artificial intelligence tools for brainstorming, as well as searching and generating samples, but, like Hatcher, he always uses his original texts. “I don’t think AI is particularly good at humor,” says Hatcher—human input is still needed, even necessary, if AI-created music is to avoid the pitfalls of being completely uninteresting and bad.
“[AI music] either has the shock factor or [is] music as a background,” Hu emphasizes. Shock comedy is part of the success of AI projects like SpongeBob viral rap producer Glorb or ObscurestVinyl, a collection of “lost” album tracks such as “My arms are just so damn stuck” Original concepts and hand-crafted writing mean the AI results don’t feel generic – and make them good and interesting enough to be selected, in Hatcher’s case, by a major producer as a sample on merit alone.
The other side of this coin is the field of AI-generated ambient/chill music, which Hu describes as a growing domain, citing YouTube channels such as Home alone AND what is it? as examples. With millions of views and little operate of AI, these channels also show that what started as experiments in the early days of these tools – literally last year – is now, in an almost hidden way, making its way into the mainstream as AI results become distinguishable from man-made samples and compositions.