In the recent era of history, many artists have been using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to produce songs and it is actively ruining the creativity of the music industry. Artists use music as a form of self expression and a way to connect with others. Using AI to create music takes away from the real human emotion and connection one feels when listening to music.
Xania Monet is an AI artist is a rising pop star with 1.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify alone. Telisha Jones is the woman who controls Monet. Jones will personally write a poem and then send it to AI for Monet to sing. Jones uses a collection of poems that she has been writing since she was 8-years-old.
“She puts the lyrics into an AI music-generator app, then adds different prompts, like slow tempo R&B, female soulful vocals, light guitar and heavy drums — and then clicks create,” CBS News said.
Her career has led her to a multi-million dollar record deal with Hallwood Media. Although the lyrics of her songs still express emotion and creativity, using the AI voice takes away from the talent that real singers take years to develop. To become a successful singer, individuals need to learn how to perfect your breath control and the techniques to avoid voice cracks. Additionally, many singers need to learn how to control different factors of their natural voice such as its pitch and accent. The hard work it takes to become a successful singer often gets overlooked because of one’s easy access to professional AI singing voices.
Other artists use AI for the entire production of a song. The viral song “Walk my Walk” by Breaking Rus is fully created by AI. The lyrics, singing and production of this song were made in minutes by someone typing a prompt into an AI generator. This form of music is even more detrimental to the music industry. The lack of genuine meaning and passion it takes to make AI generated songs ruins people’s view on the process of creating music.
iHeart Radio, the leading audio company in America and the No. 1 podcast publisher globally, according to Podtrac, has created the “guaranteed human” movement which pledges to avoid all forms of AI on their station. They promised to never use an AI host or play AI created songs even if they are trending. They claim that this is the only way to move forward and protest the creation of AI generated music. iHeart Radio released its third annual “AudioCon 3.0: The Human Consumer” study. It created a survey asking different age groups and demographics their personal opinions of the use of AI in modern day society. The survey revealed that 82% of their listeners were concerned about the use of AI in music.
“The data shows us that consumers are emotionally driven, digitally fatigued and yearning for authenticity in an increasingly algorithmic world,” president of Insights for iHeartMedia Lainie Fertick said.
AI can produce a full album with many songs in a matter of minutes; on average an artist would take multiple years to create a full album. Music is a major form of human self expression, but using AI takes away from the talent and effort singers and songwriters put into making music. AI music will continue to be made, but one can protest the AI generated music by not streaming music created by AI artists and listening to iHeart Radio or any other radios who join the “guaranteed human” movement.
