WTF is wrong AI CEO tech bros. People don’t like making music? Get fucked.
I thought this was satire at first. CEOS of AI companies are really delusional even by CEO standards which says a lot.
And another CEO that needs to see the light.
the light of god :gun:
I loved programming since I was 14. This was an acceptable passion to spend time on because it would allow me to be successful (read: make money).
My sister always loved visual art, and is now in art school. This is an unacceptable passion, and when she tells people that she’s in art school the first response is almost always “oh so what are you planning to do with that degree?”
We have been conditioned into a very narrow definition of success. It’s not surprising then that we start seeing art as “the next big problem to solve”, and you have all these tech bros frothing at the mouth to be the first to “solve” it and become the next startup billionaire.
Low-effort art and music has always been around. You don’t see anyone bumping those inoffensive cover albums and lounge remixes that you hear at the mall or the driving range in their cars though. Anyone who doesn’t already love listening to music isn’t in that position because of a lack of options in the (sigh) market. So I promise you won’t see “billions of new customers” dying to consume derivative slop music.
We have been conditioned into a very narrow definition of success.
Not quite. It’s that there have always been very few people throughout history who were actually able to make a decent living based on solely being an artist - and in most cases, this required wealthy patronage. Spitzweg’s “Poor Poet” remains timeless and relevant for a reason.
This kind of reaction isn’t irrational. The fact of the matter is that if you want your children to not be poor, you won’t tell them that they can turn art into a career, but instead encourage their passions while also providing them with everything in your power so that they they’ll be able to reliably feed themselves. Let them paint, draw, write, play music as a hobby, but also make sure their grades are good outside of those areas.
I still wish this CEO would have an unfortunate accident with a Roomba that cures him of his brain-dead thoughts on art and AI, but let’s be real for once.
Might sound petty I won’t even listen to artists I’m convinced aren’t legit enough.
You have family in the business, born rich or something? Probably not on my playlist. I need the artists who scraped their knees and slept in shitty tour vans and were thugs and losers.
Soon for me “human being” will be high enough of a bar to be nontrivial to enforce
Thats why there was no music before the invention of AI, which is where the first music came from.
But now shitty humans trained themselves on AI music and are copying it, some even for profit!!
To prevent this we must patent notes, pronto!
“Artists hate doing their art” - peddler of snake oil that “solves” art
As a musician I can tell you this is 100% true. The process of making music is soooo annoying and boring. I really wish there would be a button I could push that makes the music for me. Gosh I hate sound design and omggg don’t even get me started on music theory like chord progression? Inversions? We’ve gone mad with all this lingo.
“use AI to solve made up problems” -out of touch tech CEO
End of the day music is a mode of communication. It’s not a medium for consumption but a conversation. If you don’t have that then you’re just going to end up with bad music and no innovation.
The fact is most people don’t regularly make music. This is probably because it takes years of practice to make something that they think sounds good. If we make it easier to make music that sounds good, more people might express themselves through music.
I honestly don’t understand the concept of it being “easier” to make music. Like, okay, instruments can take a little time to learn. But, like, can you not whistle? Sing? Hum?
Music, to me, largely makes itself. Refining and recording music, okay yeah that’s kinda hard. Memorizing other people’s music and learning to play it the way they do? Sure. Composing something you’re really happy with? Fair.
But just… making music? I can’t think of anything easier or more natural. You just… make sounds happen.
Like, do y’all not whistle little original tunes and write silly little songs to sing while you’re wandering around going about your day? It isn’t rocket science. It doesn’t have to be for anyone else or be flawless. There’s joy and beauty just in letting it out of you. It feels great.
Getting an AI to write and compose some shit for you will never feel like that. It’s just screwing yourself out of the joy and catharsis of expression.
It’s not a replacement for that. You can do it in addition.
This is not how it works historically. This is the horrible modern trend to make pastimes turn in to gigs. Who cares if it is not perfect? It feels good to make music. People would just get together at night and make music, tell stories, and generally just do fun things together to feel closer. We have focused too much on profit, again, in regards to an integral part of the human experience.
You don’t have to be a pro at something creative to enjoy doing it.
Are you expressing yourself if the AI does it all for you?
How much AI music have you created? I’ve done quite a bit (and I also have 30+ years music making experience and a music degree), and I would consider it expressing oneself. You could question if photography is expressing yourself, because the camera “does it all for you”.
I can create music with real instruments so I have zero interest in AI music. I look at it like writing a book with ChatGPT.
Yeah okay you supplied a prompt, but everything that defines the actual expression in music happens in the way you pluck the strings, bend the notes, choose the chord changes.
This is akin to in photography choosing the film stock, setting the iso, framing the shot, etc.
If you aren’t doing any of that, it’s more like commissioning a piece from a musician or photographer. You could call yourself a producer. It can be your concept, but it’s not your expression.
Yeah, I get what you’re saying and that’s a totally valid way of looking at it.
The way I see it is if you’re not making the sound yourself, you’re using some instrument to create the sound. Whether that instrument is acoustic, electric, computer, or AI is just a matter of degrees. Is a musician who creates music from samples expressing themselves?
For me with AI, I write the lyrics myself, give detailed description of how I want it to work. Then go through hundreds of generations, piecing together bits I like, regenerating bits I don’t. It’s not the same as playing guitar, but it’s still creative. And more importantly it’s fun.
I make up my own music/songs all the time when I’m bored waiting in line, a passenger in a vehicle, or in the bathroom without my phone.
Maybe one day I’ll actually record something. 🤷🏻♂️
