As I read through a couple of blog posts in this forum. I noticed 2 articles on AI and music creation. Both focused on how generative GenAI is being used in the creative process to produce instrumentals and even entire songs. Claims by both authors included the loss of authenticity, and the other even saw positives in the use of AI to aid in the creative process. Both perspectives are valid, but I think there’s a bigger issue that often gets overlooked.
The real way AI has changed the music industry isn’t just about creating songs or instrumentals, it’s about how it’s reshaping lyrics and in many ways, removing originality. Let me explain.
The way people listen to music has changed. Increasingly more users are consuming music as a background activity while working, studying, and in general, multitasking. Because of this, simple songs tend to perform better. With this knowledge, artists and surrounding teams can now use AI to analyse listener data and create songs that are optimised for success. And that’s where AI models come such as GPT, and actively destroy original lyrics and original creations with the goal to eventually optimise profits with data.
As someone who’s worked with a variety of artists and has seen the current music scene up close, I can tell you this isn’t just a rare occurrence. It’s becoming the norm. Many artists nowadays use AI tools to generate rhyming schemes and choruses. It’s not unlike the long-standing use of ghostwriters in the industry, but AI takes it a step further by removing the human touch entirely.
Sure, it’s efficient, but it also risks making music feel less personal and personally makes me more avoidant to the listening of music created after 2020.
In the long run, this starts to look like a market for lemons problem.
When listeners can’t reliably tell human-written songs from heavily fabricated AI ones, the producers drift toward the most efficient option to maximise profits.
To avoid this, I believe music-streaming platforms such as Spotify should take a more active role in the rewarding of non-ai-generated songs. And invest in enhancing data models to detect the use of AI in songs and actively signal to consumers when patterns, etc, are overly used.
Overall, AI can be a great tool it can help with writer’s block or spark new ideas but when it’s overused, it starts to strip away the uniqueness that makes music special. The challenge is finding a balance: using AI to enhance creativity without letting it replace the human heart and soul of music
