Artificial intelligence is just about everywhere lately, and you’ve probably used AI at some point or another with such wide accessibility to it. This brings up many debates regarding if there should be more restrictions on when and how it should be used. The music industry is among one of the many industries being faced with the debates of whether or not AI is ethical to use. Music most of the time is a way for people to creatively express themselves, but when AI comes into play anyone can create music and it may appear really unfair to those who actually put their time and effort into writing their music.
Curating music can take artists and songwriters up to months to write and create, but with AI anyone can ask it to come up with a song in a matter of seconds. With limited restrictions on how AI can be used anyone can create music with it and claim it as their own. At these fast rates, AI can come up with lyrics songwriters can’t compete. A lot of people fear that AI will take over careers and the music industry may be one of them.
Can AI really produce the same quality of lyrics as actual music writers though? The work created through AI is often less genuine and lacks the raw emotion coming from artists. However, with AI always advancing in the future it may be able to express more human emotion.
One member of the band mydearathena, Justin Florendo, shared his opinion on using AI in writing music, “I’ve always seen music as a means to express ideas, vent emotions, make connections, and pursue creativity. All of those things come from the heart of a person. With the use of AI to create music, all of the things that make music so special are gone, there’s no passion, no soul, no mind behind the notes and chords. If what gives music life is gone, is there really any music?” Florendo states.
However, many feel when used right, AI can be a really helpful tool in music writing. Some feel that AI can help with writer’s block, the condition of being unable to think of what to write or how to proceed with writing. AI can also help people expand their creativity in their writing. And inspire new things in their art.
A member of the band bewitched, Mary Ortega shares her opinion on the topic, “AI generally can be equally positive and negative, there is plenty of AI-generated websites that can give you songs with a few keywords, and honestly it can be very blunt. Songwriting on its own could be unaffected based on personal experience by those writing a song so AI would not be threatening in that way,” Ortega states.
There are always going to be tools that can help you in any writing including music writing, and AI is just one of the newest ones. With technology ever evolving we have to make sure it is being used in ethical ways. AI can be both a tool and a weapon, especially in creative fields like the music industry.
