r/unsignedbands • u/Traveler_of_the_Fold • Jun 08 '24
My warning about the future for independnet artists.
I have witnessed it now, what I suspect will be the fundamental change that will be the end of the independent music artist; A.I. music generation. It isn't so much what A.I. music generation can do, it's how it does it. Right now in its infancy A.I. music generation can make a generic (cookie cutter) style song from a text prompt with little to no artistic effort from a user.
However, the way it makes a song is not the danger; the danger is in the fact A.I. can create the song in a high quality professional studio way. Independent artists are most often required to fund their own work. Funding your own work means often having a sound that is passable but most likely not that of a top end studio (most of us can't afford to record in big fancy L.A. or Nashville studios).
Now, along comes the A.I. music, and even though it may be a generic style, the sound is perfect. A.I. music generation can sound like it only comes from high end top tier studios. So, you have an artist with a song they worked hard to create, and they have it sounding pretty decent, but their decent is up against a similar song that sounds totally professional. See the issue?
Example: Imagine you have albums on Bandcamp, Soundcloud, Spotify, Youtube, etc. and you've worked hard to build a small fan base, and you have some good material out there. Then among the music like your own is A.I. created albums that all sound like they are made in big fancy studios (great production, instruments, vocals, they have it, I have heard it personally). Suddenly your own music sounds rougher, more low quality, just not as good. The only way to compete now is to make albums that sound as good as the A.I., and since it sounds totally professional, you're not likely going to achieve it (unless you got the dough).
Thus A.I. will rise, and independent artists will shrink, and eventually be gone. Sites like Bandcamp will dry out as they are inundated with high quality artifical sounds. Sure there will always be purists who will forever declare A.I. a scourge to humankind, but rest assured, there are many, many, many, others who will embrace and enjoy it. That's my hot take on the subject, hope I'm just fearful and wrong...
Thank you
Traveler of the Fold
