AI In Music Production: Promise Or Peril For Human Creativity?

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ai in music production

The music industry has seen tremendous innovation over the entire history of humanity.

In many ways, our story can be told by studying music’s evolution. The most recent chapter of that evolution is AI’s penetration of the music industry. It’s not just about the recommendation engines or the business and administrative operations of record labels, recording studios, and independent artists — it’s about the very way that music is created itself. More AI-based tools are creating music with natural language prompts. Does AI have any place in music production, or does it spell the end of human creativity as we know it? Let’s explore this topic a bit further so you can decide for yourself.

Brief History of Musical Intelligence

Artificial intelligence in the music industry, or at least automation, extends much farther back in time than you might expect. Leon Theremin in 1930 created the Rhythmicon, a device that many consider to be the first drum machine. Later, in the 1960s, Max Mathews at Bell Labs created the MUSIC-N computer programs that could digitally compose music. However, in the 1980s, David Cope began working on what we might consider to be much closer to AI-generated music: algorithmic compositions. Cope’s Experiments in Musical Intelligence (EMI) was able to generate novel music in the style of other composers.

Generative AI Music

However, these advancements are primitive compared to the generative AI explosion over the past few years. Now we have tools like OpenAI MuseNet (2019) and Suno (2023) that enable users to provide plain text prompts. Then, the AI will generate music based on that prompt. Suno can even create music with vocals!

The outputs of software like MuseNet and Suno are certainly impressive, but they do have their limitations, such as:

Training data: AI-generated music is only as good as its training data, and companies like Suno have already started to see lawsuits for copyright infringement over their training data. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) wants them to fork up $150,000 per work infringed.
Emotional element: AI-generated works lack the emotional depth of human composers. However, it might be possible to imitate this element in some cases.
Live performance: AI hasn’t yet moved into the live performance space and isn’t able to interact with audiences in real-time.
This all being said, it’s entirely possible that a sufficiently powerful AI program could overcome these limitations eventually. So, what does that mean for us?

The Future of AI-Generated Music

As musicians, it’s easy to see the dystopian future that we could find ourselves in if we aren’t careful. As generative AI technology improves, its ability to generate music will only continue to get better. Already we are seeing that AI-generated images can in many cases be indistinguishable from reality. At some point, it will be even harder to tell if music is made by an AI or a human. What will happen then?

ai in music production

It’s impossible to predict the future perfectly, but even if AI-generated music finds itself having more value in the years to come, it’s worth arguing that human-created music will always hold a sacred part of civilization’s collective consciousness. According to a survey conducted by Authority Hacker in 2024, 93.75% of respondents answered that they didn’t value AI-generated music as much as human-made music; 56.3% even said that they’d never pay money for AI music. As far as public opinion is concerned, AI music won’t be replacing human-composed music anytime soon.

If artificial general intelligence (AGI) is ever created — where AI’s generalized intelligence exceeds that of a human — it’s possible that this could change quickly. Music could become highly personalized and hyper-optimized to resonate with each individual, even at an emotional level. This could be done far more efficiently than human composers and musicians. However, whether AGI is even possible is disputed.

The Better Future: Collaboration with AI

Based on the previously mentioned survey, it’s clear that society values human music much more highly than AI-generated music. In fact, society is actively resisting it as seen with copyright lawsuits against Suno and other companies. Instead of having machines create music for us, another approach may be to use AI more collaboratively. Since AI is much better at data analysis than humans, there are a lot of opportunities for AI to assist human composers with numerous tasks. Here are some ideas:

Song analysis: AI can analyze key and chord progressions from music snippets to aid composers in structuring their piece.
Harmonization recommendations: given a melody, an AI can create suggestions for harmony, with the human composer having the final say.
Rhythm pattern suggestions: AI can generate some options or ideas for backing the rhythm of a piece.
Lyrical ideas: large language models perform highly in this space, enabling lyricists to get feedback and ideas for compositions.
Each of these approaches doesn’t completely replace the composer, but instead assists them in achieving their final product.

Collaborative Tools

Given that purely AI-generated music is so distrusted by the public, there’s a lot of opportunity for alternatives that involve the human element. Businesses may have a lot to gain by developing AI applications that allow composers to collaborate with AI rather than have the AI create the entire composition.

Harmony: The Collaborative Future of Composition

While the advent of AI-generated music is fascinating, AI is unlikely to supplant human creativity in the music industry, at least in the immediate future. The public remains skeptical about AI’s ability to replicate the emotional depth and cultural significance of human-composed music.

However, the potential for AI to serve as a powerful collaborative tool cannot be overlooked. By leveraging AI’s data analysis capabilities, composers can enhance their creative processes and explore new musical possibilities. As we move farther into the future, embracing a collaborative approach may well be the key to unlocking the true potential of both human and artificial intelligence in music creation.

Akshay Bhanawat

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