For folks that didn't read the article, it seems he was talking about music production.

whizzter 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Yeah, people in art production are far far more negative about AI than most sceptical developers.

I wouldn't be surprised if a huge percentage of concept artists are out of jobs or changing specialization these days (Creating a throwaway image for a pitch or imaging document can probably be as easily conveyed through a prompt and the people looking at them are probably often not savvy enough to appreciate the difference).

Where the music industry goes will be interesting, knowledgeable musicians are way too into fiddling/toying to feel any need for AI tools, but since music is pretty much an industry these days fed by promotion, it isn't far fetched that bedroom "AI" artists can leapfrog established ones.. the question is if it'll stick if they can't reach the pinnacles (megahits is part of it, but concerts still seem to matter quite a bit, and an AI won't help you perform even if Milli Vanilli might disagree).

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JohnFen 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

As one who isn't a musician but loves listening to music, the emergence of passable genAI-generated music means that I can't trust new music anymore.

The only new music I'm willing to buy is music that I've seen the artists perform live, or is from established artists that I know and trust are keeping it human.

I have no idea how rare or common my perspective on this is, but it's not impossible that the music industry may see a decline as a result.

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tolciho 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

"jazz is music; swing is business" - Duke Ellington

So the music industry could go hard into AI or whatever the business folks deem appropriate, with various consequences, while the musicians will continue to music and who knows maybe the rent will be covered.

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WarmWash 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

The most jarring thing for me is that artists tend to be the most "communally oriented, socially forward" group of people. I've definitely spent my fair time around them.

As soon as tools came about that socialized their skill, opened it to everyone, they immediately and violently opposed it. Which is totally understandable, except when your core ideology you have been pushing for your whole life is to socialize everything.

The hypocrisy is so suffocating that it was like a 9.0 earthquake in my moral landscape.

And yes, before you come at my throat, free local image generation tools get no hatred exemption.

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DonsDiscountGas an hour ago | parent [-]

Being community oriented is easy when it basically means recruiting new customers (ie listeners). And though some of those become competitors (ie learn to play an instrument) the process is long and slow and arduous and so very few actually follow through.

But anybody can buy a Suno subscription in no time at all.

	▲	WarmWash an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Some say that the only "real" string music comes from a Stradivarius, because the Chinese violins have no master craftsmanship with centuries of legacy behind them. I'd say gatekeeping "real" behind faux barriers is regressive, but a lot of "progressives" seem to disagree...

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analogpixel 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

that must be a good message:

- you all like music enough to go to a four year program and spend lots of money to study it.

- you all probably have been creating music since you were a child and really love it.

- well....

- people don't actually like music like you, and just want content; non-stop content.

- we now have a magic button that can make content by ripping off every previous artist we've trained our models on.

- now that everyone has access to this magic button, music has become even more worthless and the only people that'll make money from it are the people running the streaming services like spotify.

- if you do happen to create some original content, we'll just suck it into our giant copy machine and use it to out you you.

- good luck, have fun, and make sure to pay those student loans back.

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Sohcahtoa82 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> - people don't actually like music like you, and just want content; non-stop content.

This is the big thing that artists are going through right now.

They're realizing that most consumers of art don't care about the process or the artist. They just want music as background noise, or an aesthetically pleasing picture on their wall.

I wanted to listen to heavy metal songs about office life. I'm not going to spend years learning how to play guitar in order to record it, not to mention that I have a voice fit for old school silent movies. I'm certainly not going to spend money on commissioning a song. But 5 minutes in ChatGPT to write and refine some lyrics, followed by 15 minutes in Suno playing with various prompts, and eventually I got "Per My Last Email"[0], and I was happy.

Let the musicians rage against my shortcut. I don't care. Let them rage against some notion of "quality" and how AI doesn't provide it. Don't care, it's good enough for me.

[0] https://youtu.be/ZVia46yAoMU

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QuercusMax 3 hours ago | parent [-]

The think your last sentence hits the nail on the head: it's good enough for YOU. You've essentially made a novelty song, and I don't believe you're going to be listening to it for years.

The problem is when people spend 20 minutes prompting up a song and then attempt to make a career out of slop, and in the process drown out all the new creative works that aren't just remixed slop.

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gizzlon 6 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

> You've essentially made a novelty song

Disagree. Gp didn't make anything.

I told a waiter in a restaurant what I wanted to eat, and I got it. But I did not make the food : )

	▲	QuercusMax a few seconds ago \| parent [-]
		Maybe more like collaborated with a robo chef to make a plate of food based on a recipe you've adapted. At some point you have to be OK with accepting "I made this" as meaning "my vision was executed under my supervision".

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Sohcahtoa82 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> and I don't believe you're going to be listening to it for years.

Well...it's a year and a half old and I still listen to it on a regular basis.

> and in the process drown out all the new creative works that aren't just remixed slop.

It might be shocking to you, but maybe people actually like "remixed slop".

	▲	QuercusMax 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Lots of people eat McDonald's but that doesn't mean it's good for you and will support your nutritional goals, or even that it's good food which tastes good. If you want to listen to nothing but slop I can't stop you.

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DevDesmond an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Music was already worthless. Here's Deadmau5 giving advice to aspiring producers in 2012:

> You need to make a world. So you have a rollercoaster in your backyard. And it’ll be the hot thing in the neighborhood for about a week. But once everyone’s had a go… they’ll lose interest, go home n play Sega instead. What you need then, is a fuckin’ theme park… and you AND your music are the theme. People come into your theme park…..check out all this shit… buncha rides, no 2 the same, some merch here and there, special events, dolphins through hoops and all that whack shit. You want people to come to your theme park and feel like they’re a part of this world of yours.

Franz Lizst was a rockstar in 1840 because he could write and play the piano really well. But culture and technology has progressed.

A popstar today can usually sing, dance, write, produce, act. They're business people with a marketing vision and gimmicks to go with it. Polymath performers, creators, and multi-instrumentalists. Technology marches forward and the next generation of artists will be those who adapt the tools available.

We're certainly losing something culturally. Just like this guy[1], who spent 1906 lamenting that the mechanical music machine (phonograph) will ruin music, was somewhat right in his prediction that fewer and fewer people would learn instruments and sing well.

"Then what of the national throat? Will it not weaken? ... When a mother can turn on the phonograph with the same ease that she applies to the electric light, will she croon her baby to slumber with sweet lullabys, or will the infant be put to sleep by machinery? Children are naturally imitative, and if, in their infancy, they hear only phonographs, will they not sing, if they sing at all, in imitation and finally become simply human phonographs -- without soul or expression?"

When I was a really young kid, I used to hum to myself with a buzzing sound to try and copy the early EDM sounds I grew up listening to. I went on to do electronic music production myself. (And that love of electronic music was the fuel that kept me interested in learning classical piano, jazz, music history and more, and why I still have a piano next to my desk now).

Personally, I'm excited to see what the next generation art and artists end up looking like.

[1] https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/21m-380-music-and-technology-con...