So the industry is suing the innovators. Here's my take on the future of AI & Music (A Prediction).

The Context

The industry is now suing the innovators (Suno / Udio vs. Universal Music Group/Warner Music Group/Sony Music Entertainment). This is a classic and necessary part of balancing progress, and I have horses in the race.

As a composer/artist/producer, the most money I've ever made (generated 7 figures and took home multi 6) was from my original compositions and recorded works being used in Ad campaigns for the likes of Sony, Fox, Nestle, and Xbox. I also own a company that reps human artists for sync.

I've used some of these tools and even produced, monetized, and sync'd a track based largely on AI-generated stems. (shhh, don't tell anyone)

AI Music is a huge threat to an artist's bottom line. And it's entering an increasingly diluted pool of revenue.

So how's this gonna shake out?

The Prediction

  1. AI companies and "Industry" go toe to toe. This happened with streaming. Ultimately industry bullies AI companies into licensing deals and likely takes major stakes in some of the most promising companies.

  2. Streaming + Sync is flooded with new works from historic artists created by these AI companies. These have the blessing of publishing and master owners. Some of these are great. Many of these are lame.

  3. The "new normal" for a few years is hits from dead artist's charting.

  4. Artists start to incorporate these tools into the production process, and it becomes a bit meaningless whether something was "made with AI" or fully and wholly created by a human mind. Already people just paint in Midi notes and randomize.