The music industry is at the cusp of an AI revolution. As technology advances, artificial intelligence (AI) enables the creation of stunningly realistic digital musicians and compositions that are finding their way to online streaming platforms, such as Spotify, Apple Music, and SoundCloud. AI-generated music is on the rise and soon it could flood streaming platforms, providing users with limitless audio content.
The software called covers.ai is creating digital covers of popular hits by replacing the vocalists with a machine simulation that meets the same level of quality as the original. AI tools can also generate instrumentals from text, provide a starting point for creativity, and even help music makers edit tunes. AI has the potential to make sharing and creating music faster, more accessible, and more efficient than ever before.
However, music streaming services are already inundated with content, totaling over 100 million tracks between Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Spotify. This raises the question of whether an influx of AI-generated music will successfully compete for users’ attention. Martin Clancy, editor of the upcoming book Artificial Intelligence and Music Ecosystem, argues that AI is different because of its speed, scale, and personalization capabilities and can produce “a huge amount of material”.
AI will provide a platform for amateur music producers to share their creations and should not be seen as inherently threatening to traditional musicians. Yet, the sheer quantity of options music-streamers have to choose from could raise the bar when it comes to selecting the best sounds – and only the cream will remain on the top. Luminate’s CEO Rob Jonas reported that in 2022, 50 percent of audio tracks in the U.S had ten or fewer streaming users. This supports the long-standing trend of music streaming services being overrun with content, with many tracks not receiving the attention they deserve.
In response to this issue Forgotify was born, a website dedicated to “forgotten” songs on Spotify. It is not only music streamers that should be conscious about the rapid rise of AI, but also the environment. Storing the endless libraries of music has a sizeable negative impact. Platforms like Spotify and Apple Music require artists to go through a distributor for uploads, yet Soundcloud is far more accessible for smaller artists to upload their content.
AI is pushing the music industry in a new, exciting direction. It has the potential to make music more available to everyone and it is important to consider the implications of such an influx of artificial creations. Streamlining access to music presents an opportunity to discover undiscovered artists and help create communities far and wide. By striking the right balance between artificial and human creations, music streaming services could very well become a haven for music makers and music lovers alike.
