What The Experts Are Saying About AI Music

Rich Nardo, partner at Flux88 Studios and VP at ngagency

May 08, 2024

When new technology disrupts the music industry, there’s always resistance. Hip Hop sampling was seen as taking jobs from musicians, streaming was predicted to destroy album sales, and even radio was feared to undermine people buying recorded music, as Randy Nichols points out below. While there was some validity to all of the complaints in these examples, it didn’t stop these technologies from being widely adopted and reshaping the industry.

AI is the next disruptive force that will revolutionize the music business, from the creative process to the way we analyze and market music. We spoke to some of the most forward-thinking individuals in our network to explore what widespread adoption of AI could mean for the music industry.

On The Creative Side:

A.I. generated music allows me to explore genres of music previously inaccessible due to lack of resources (such as studio musicians). With A.I, I can hear choirs recite lyrics that I wrote or get authentic sounding drum loops and fills. It’s exactly what I have been doing previously, brainstorming and creating mood boards with A.I. art, but now I can do the same with music. - Tillavision (Producer/Digital Artist)

AI has and will continue to be involved in the creative process. It’s been there for years (just not called AI) with tools such as pitch correction and Autotune. Moving forward we’re finding more tools to allow artists to spend more time on creativity and less on the technical process. - Randy Nichols (Artist Manager, Music Tech Start-up Advisor)

I'm excited to see artists integrate AI into their writing and recording processes with intentionality and care -- and embrace it publicly. This could be using an AI companion to aid in steering compositional decision making (like helping to push through writer's block,) or to quickly produce sounds/textures to weave into their arrangements. - Mike Greene (VP of Artist & Label Services @ ADA)

For professional artists, I'm most interested in what it can do in the post-release process, where that becomes the beginning of a song's journey, not the end. Otherwise, it's about how it can turn non-musicians into creators by dropping the barrier to entry.” - Rob Abelow (Where Music’s Going)

On The Marketing Side:

As a marketer, the ability to quickly generate or modify visual assets is one I'm personally enjoying experimenting with. Much of the headline-grabbing outputs we've seen so far appear heavily AI-generated, so in the future I hope to see artists leveraging AI as a supplement to their creative process, not a substitution. - Mike Greene (VP of Artist & Label Services @ ADA)

A.I. will be an amazing tool for those who understand the tech. For instance, songwriters can apply their lyrics to any genre, appealing to a larger audience. - Tillavision (Producer/Digital Artist)

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The official music video for Washed Out’s latest single “The Hardest Way” is a beautiful example of how AI can be incorporated in the marketing/asset creation component of a release plan. The brilliant director, Paul Trillo, used OpenAI’s Sora text-to-video generative model to create an awesome music video. We can’

Washed Out “The Hardest Way” (Official Music Video) -

To show how far the world of AI video creation has come, here is the official 25th Anniversary video for Barenaked Ladies massive hit “One Week” that we created last year:

What Does It Mean For The Music Industry?

A.I. will help the music industry by being the ULTIMATE executive producer of your project, offering tips and advice on your art never failing to show 100% interest in your goal, unlike many human industry execs who have given the business a bad name by not giving the artists signed to their label the time of day or interest they deserve, prioritizing top talent over new talent that needs development. A.I. is a great creative partner that will give you the cheat code to compete. - - Tillavision (Producer/Digital Artist)

AI is and will continue to be present in all facets of music creation, marketing, and measurement. Artists may simultaneously feel challenged by increased competition, especially at the independent level, while also having enhanced tools and insights to guide their audience growth and fan engagement efforts. As with any disruptive technology, artists will need to adapt to a new landscape and consider ways to harness AI as part of their process and proposition. - Mike Greene (VP of Artist & Label Services @ ADA)

I think it has the potential to 5x the music revenue pie if it's used to prime more co-creation in a way that monetizes back to the original creators. People will spend far more money to actively engage with something than passively consume it, but we need to make sure that drives back towards artists, not just new tech companies. - Rob Abelow (Where Music’s Going)

New technology always sparks fear in music, going back to the days when people thought radio would stop people from buying recorded music. We’ll need guardrails to protect copywrites and IP (intellectual property), but the long term future of the industry shouldn’t be damaged as long as we build proper protection into the creation and distribution platforms. - Randy Nichols (Artist Manager, Music Tech Start-up Advisor) -

Industry Beware…

My fear is it will make it more difficult for the non-star professional artist for 2 reasons: (1) It will enable the most popular artists & IP to scale further than ever before (collaborating at scale, alt versions for sync, localized context & languages), and (2) It will enable countless more people to become music creators, adding noise, but also occupying their attention with creation instead of consumption. - Rob Abelow (Where Music’s Going)

AI tools will allow artists to move faster and be more creative, but the flip side will be ‘fake’ songs from artists, as well as, another lowering of the barrier to music creation, which will lead to an even more saturated market as more artists release new music daily. - Randy Nichols (Artist Manager, Music Tech Start-up Advisor)

AI “Avatartists”

On the lighter side (unless you’re an artist who sees this as competition), there’s a whole new world of AI “avatartists” emerging. During the pandemic, when the metaverse gained popularity, a new class of avatar artists emerged alongside the Web3 community. We tested the waters with MiaAF, while Tillavision found success with Lil Bitcoin - the world’s first decentralized rapper. Now, with the rise of AI music, a new generation of AI avatar musical acts is coming to life. One particularly notable trend is a scene of artists drawing on the nostalgia of Motown and 70s soul. Coincidentally, I always look at this type of music as the purest in the “modern” era, so it’s kind of cool to see these Avatartists finding a home in the genre. As partners in a 360 immersive website platform called Metimmerse, I like to envision an old-school, smokey jazz club “meti” where people can vibe to acts from this scene of AI musicians surrounded by friends from around the globe!

Here are some of my headliners at “The Meti Lounge”!

The Redd Sisters -

Aubrey + The Drakes -

Hollis Grant -

What The Experts Are Saying About AI Music

Rich Nardo, partner at Flux88 Studios and VP at ngagency

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