Browsing Tag

AI In Music

Warner Made History By Signing the Virtual Pop Star, Noonoouri

Posted on 10 September 2023

With the advent of increasingly futuristic AI tech, people are rightly fearing that the adage out with the old will lead them to obsoletion. Especially within the realm of the music industry; an already an inhospitable ecosystem for many independent and up-and-coming musicians to foster their talent.

Between AI fears, unfair royalty payment systems, and the oligarchy of the big moguls and labels, there is scarcely room for optimism for independent artists. Especially after it was announced that Warner Music pushed a record contract towards the virtual pop star Noonoouri. Oh, and let us not forget the former chief business officer for Google X, Mo Gawat, using every press opportunity he can to proclaim that the need to regulate AI is beyond an emergency. Elon Musk has even started to express his concerns regarding the advancements of AI, which makes a change from his usual self-serving range of mercenary emotions.

What Does the Noonoouri Record Deal Mean for the Music Industry?

Before you throw in the towel and take all your music gear to the pawn shop, it is worth bearing in mind that it is highly likely the Warner Music Group decided to pull a publicity stunt by signing a virtual act. After all, now Warner can claim they made history with this first-of-its-kind deal.

Warner certainly isn’t the first major company to turn their attention to the virtual ‘icon’. Due to her 403,000 Instagram followers, the viral virtual star has fashion campaigns with Balenciaga and Dior to her name.

So, what’s her deal (aside from the one she has signed with Warner)?

In our highly digitalised era, a captivating online presence is more valuable than gold dust. Knowing this, the Munich-based graphic designer Joerg Zuber developed the CGI icon, who made her first appearance in 2018. To make her feel a little more organic, Zuber introduced her as a 19-year-old before she made strides in the fashion and music world.

Her first single, Dominoes, was created with Alle Farben, a German DJ, who worked his beats around her generative AI-rendered voice. After the official music video premiered on August 31, it has racked up 94k streams to date. To give us a little hope for humanity, there were ample criticisms of the single in the derivatively generic hit in the comments section:

“YOU HAVE A HIDDEN TALENT, KEEP IT HIDDEN.”

“This slaps… any joy out of my head I had left in life.”

“THIS GOES HARD, ON MUTE.”

“Finally, artificial intelligence is making strides in bad pop music.”

So, no matter how “ground-breaking” the move was, it certainly isn’t something that talented artists should be shaking in their boots over. Major labels are hardly renowned for keeping their fingers on the right pulses. It was only a matter of time before such a deal was struck, but after noting the public perception of the single and what the musos or making of it, Warner has notably made themselves a laughingstock.

A New Era of Entertainment is Here, But Noonoouri Isn’t a Trailblazer in It

While some attempted to coin Noonoouri as the icon of a new era, that rings true as much as a disconnected doorbell.

Yes, entertainment and art are no longer bound to the physical realm, and metaverses are becoming increasingly popular amongst younger generations that need to be reminded to unplug themselves from the internet and touch grass. But the demand for living and breathing musicians isn’t going anywhere soon.

After hearing how dross the Noonoouri debut single was, does it really matter if she can switch between different personas, styles, and genres with ease? Or if she can perform in different languages and diverse virtual environments? Absolutely fucking not.

In previous blogs, we have illustrated how AI has been integral to the music industry for decades, from algorithms which put your new favourite singles in front of you to tools artists can use to make the task of production, mixing, and mastering a little less laborious. As a tool, is highly valuable with great utility. Unless things get dystopic real quick, this generation of artists shouldn’t lose sleep over the threat of AI obsoletion.

Sure, some programs can now synthesise music based on vibe and genre prompts. But even with the availability of such technology, most figureheads in the music industry are still scouting for real talent. Metaverse-based influencers (I felt a little sick even writing that phrase, let alone taking them seriously) may have some swing amongst the people who are looking for the next vapid entity to follow devoutly and part with their hard-earned cash on everything they promote. But thankfully, for now, most people are still connected to the real world and common sense.

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Article by Amelia Vandergast

AI Music is Here, But Are Music Fans Here for It?

Posted on 23 July 2023

When AI is working away in the background helping fans to discover their next favourite song on Spotify by using machine learning to analyse consumer behaviour and pinpoint patterns in listening habits, music fans have few complaints about the involvement of AI in music.

Music AI technology has been around, albeit in a rather primitive form, for the better part of a century. One of the first recorded instances of it was a composition created by World War II code-breaker Alan Turing in 1951. Of course, it took decades for computer-generated music to morph into what it is today, and the computer he used to create his composition was far bigger than a MacBook Pro, as it took up most of the ground floor of his lab. Nevertheless, in the following decades, AI has slowly introduced itself into different facets of the music industry; it was here far before moral panic amassed around it.

However, now that the conversation around AI in the music industry has become a major part of public discourse, levels of anxiety are starting to rise, especially when anticipating how AI can replace musicians. The threat of creative redundancy is bound to take a negative psychological toll on musicians who are already struggling to scratch a living in this precarious economy. Yet, many musicians are overlooking the most fundamental purpose of their craft. To use their talent to connect with music fans and sonically visualise universal fears, hopes, and everything between.

You only need to look at how mainstream musicians are idolised to the point of obsession to note that successful musicians are far more than humans with a knack for creating earworm melodies, exhilarating anthems, and juicy riffs. No matter how advanced AI systems become, they can never replicate that raw human essence in music, which starts with an autonomous visceral emotion as a precipice to jump off and builds from there.

The Ethics of AI Music

As for the artists who make the creative process easier and polish their songs by using lyric generators, AI production tools, and autotune, the ethical dilemma around the involvement of AI becomes a little hazier. While some people believe artists should be able to use the tools at their disposal, others take a far dimmer view of utilising AI to get over the finishing line with a song.

When considering the ethics around AI as a creator instead of a helpful tool that can help artists create chord progressions or synthesise vocals, don’t forget that many artists, including Elvis, Rhianna, and Whitney Houston almost never wrote the songs they performed. So, what is the difference between Elvis singing songs written by the successful R&B songwriters Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller and an independent artist sitting in their bedroom studio using a lyric generator?

The Importance of the Artist in the Art

While younger artists are moving with the time and utilising AI music programs, such as the one recently launched by Meta, which can generate high-fidelity songs from hummed melodies and text prompts such as “upbeat pop anthem” or “soulful RnB ballad”, the majority of musicians are still indifferent to the introduction of tools such as MusicGen.

Take for the perfect example Joe Walsh’s interview with the Associate Press has recently gone viral after the Eagles guitarist stated:

“It’s computers; it has nothing to do with music. It can’t destroy a hotel room; can’t throw a TV off the fifth floor into the pool and get it right in the middle. When AI knows how to destroy a hotel room, I’ll pay attention to it.”

If you don’t take the interview soundbite that is choked with rock ‘n’ roll cliches too literally, you will see that Walsh made a good point in his slightly outlandish statement. AI music will never be able to emanate the rebellious attitude that created a rebellious anti-establishment movement in the 1960s.

Just as AI music will never be able to stand at the forefront of any counterculture music scene, music fans across all genres are unlikely to toss their favourite artists by the wayside just because a computer can make a technically better single or album. While some argue that you can love the art and not the artist, you only need to note the devout nature of music fans who iconise their favourite bands to the degree that they would travel from the other side of the planet to see them live to see the importance of the artist in the art.

Even in the dance music industry, there is ample cynicism around the idea that AI can replace DJs. For years, there have been programmes that can recommend mixes based on tempo. But in the view of one of London’s top DJs, Nooriyah, who has toured the world as a DJ:

“The way that I connect with my audiences is very difficult to replicate. Imagine a raver looking over at me when I’m DJing, seeing me sweat and dance just like them. In that moment they feel that intimate connection that AI couldn’t.”

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Article by Amelia Vandergast