Artificial intelligence has officially arrived in the music industry, and the new technology catching everyone’s attention shows no signs of slowing down. But how does it work? How do the artists feel about it? And how will AI affect the music industry moving forward? This is Billboard Explains: Music and AI.
Narrator:
Here’s a lowdown if you’re late to the game.
AI — or artificial intelligence — is basically a machine or computer performing cognitive tasks usually done by humans. This is done by processing massive amounts of data, analyzing it, and applying it to a specific task.
It can be used in different ways, like creating brand-new tracks or making songs that sound eerily similar to your favorite artists’.
Take the fake Drake and The Weeknd song that caught the music industry’s attention in April. Basically, the track called “Heart on My Sleeve” used artificial intelligence technology to create vocals that sound almost identical to Drake and The Weeknd. It racked up millions of plays across TikTok, Spotify and YouTube before it was pulled down. While the song was short-lived, it was a major turning point for AI and the music industry. So how do those in the industry feel about this emerging technology?
Some artists, including Janelle Monae and Ice Cube, have voiced concern about how it will affect artists moving forward, and John Legend called for regulation on AI-generated music.
Meanwhile, Sting told BBC, “The building blocks of music belong to us, to human beings. That’s going to be a battle we all have to fight in a couple of years: defending our human capitol again AI.”
Watch the full video above!