• by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, May 10, 2023

AI is poised to disrupt the music business today far more than the arrival of Napster did back in 1999.  Napster had the impact of removing record labels and other business entities almost entirely, creating a direct connection between the artists and fans.  AI is poised to potentially remove artists entirely and engage fans with the name, likeness and sound of the artists themselves.

Over the last few weeks, AI has been used to create a whole litany of new songs featuring artists like Drake and The Weeknd (see the song “Heart On My Sleeve”) as well as remakes of classic songs from Nas voiced by the late Notorious B.I.G. (see “NY State Of Mind”), and more.  These songs sound just like the artists, but the artists were not involved, and their labels took action to get the songs removed from digital, to clearly very little effect (just search either one). 

While critics might say the songs are obviously fake because they don’t live up to the standard of the artist, I would argue they are just as good as some of the legitimate releases.  The fans would also agree since there are millions of views and comments with people debating them, but more importantly they are listening to them. 

Some of the tools you get online may not be great, but a solid producer can make something good.  All it takes is a computer to create a track, lay down your own voice, and an AI voice synthesizer to create a credible voice-fake of the artist.  What’s to stop AI Axl Rose from singing an Adele song in an AI-enabled landscape? 

The artist Grimes has gone one step further, stating she will share 50% of the royalties with any AI-generated song featuring her voice as uploaded to “Grimes AI1” on streaming services.  Grimes is mostly known as the ex of Elon Musk, but she has her own music career, and this may get her more attention than any of her songs to date. 

What if other artists were to do this?  What if Mariah Carey said she was launching “Maria C-AI-rey” and would share the royalties with an AI partner?  Imagine all the new Christmas standards we would be hearing every year!

The argument for this model states that it is no different from fan fiction: fans serving fans, in the name of furthering the artist’s ideas.  It is the artist and their fans engaging on a creative level.  I love that idea, but I also know it’s a Pandora’s Box being opened that can never be closed. 

Artists survive on their creativity, and fans exploiting that feels dangerous to me.  We already live in a world where TikTok can launch and kill an artist in weeks with overexposure.  AI partnerships can make it even worse.   

On the other side of the conversation, artists engaging with fans is a great idea. If you can label it as such and keep a separation between the AI-created and the original, maybe there is a model that makes sense, and can further artists in their endeavors.

For artists who release a large volume of music, artists like Drake and Ryan Adams as examples, some of the AI work may be be up to par and will simply further their artistic reach.  Other artists, people like Kanye West, have taken to releasing music and continuing to tinker with it while it is out, creating new versions in the same way that a sales team will rework a sales deck based on the audience. 

This evolving sense of creativity can be further enhanced with AI and fan engagement, but to what end?  When is the product going to suffer from overexposure, overwork and a flood of versions into the ecosystem? 

Music is a form of media, and what are the implications if what we see in one industry begins to influence others?  What about books and movies?  Can fans start to create the same level of quality content in the name of the artist?  Just search the new AI trailer of “Star Wars in the flavor of Wes Anderson,” and you will see what I mean.

I am a fan of what is happening with AI, but the implications for media creation are wild and far from being accurately determined.  It's going to be a strange few months, if not years!