Artificial intelligence has been gradually making its way into the world of music, revolutionizing the way music is composed and produced. AI-enabled apps, platforms, and tools enable musicians to create more powerful, personalized tunes while providing listeners with a wonderful listening experience. As this technology continues to advance in sophistication, so does its potential for transforming the music industry entirely. Yet despite all these advances, many people are still unaware of how AI is actually being used in music today. Let’s take a closer look at this exciting field of technology and what it means for us now and in the future!
What the heck is AI in music?
Artificial Intelligence – the concept of a machine being able to think for itself – has long been debated by scientists. Despite the popular notion that AI cannot possess the ability to solve tasks through problem-solving and evaluation with data previously gathered by humans. All this without possessing free will or consciousness, at least as we know them today. However, these concepts may be further explored down the line, ultimately pushing us closer towards making science fiction a reality!
AI is a tool that provides the opportunity to explore infinite possibilities in music and gadgets. Its capacity for creating new melodies, robotic actors and lyrics with predetermined emotionality makes it an invaluable asset for musicians or anyone looking to innovate. Such technology can even aid in discovering unknown musical genres – truly making AI one of our most valuable allies when aiming to create something entirely fresh.
Impact on the music industry
Artificial Intelligence has had a transformative impact on the music industry for years, from AI-generated mindfulness ambient music to streaming services personalizing recommendations based on user behavior. Additionally, rights-free music generation and automated mixing and mastering are areas where AI undeniably makes an enormous difference in efficiency as well as innovation. All of these advancements have been setting new standards within the past five years – so it’s safe to say that without question it is changing how we experience and interact with sound today.
Despite potential risks, the fear that AI-powered music could replace human musicians and send them into unemployment is unfounded. Artificial intelligence cannot create its own creativity like humans can – it instead relies on data from existing recordings. There’s also little risk of oversaturation in an entire genre due to repetitive sounds or styles; consumer tastes will simply evolve away if they become bored with a certain sound. If anything, AI powered music may lead only to an oversaturation within itself as listeners look for new experiences.
Trying to decode Mozart’s genome
To celebrate the 100th Mozart Festival in 2021, a research team from the University of Würzburg developed an AI called “Mozart Jukebox” and an accompanying AR app. These projects demonstrated how artificial intelligence can be used to explore music composition in creative ways that involve human users too! As these examples suggest, AI is constantly evolving as we interact with it – making any development possible.
Reviving Musicians of The Past
2021 marks the return of “The Lost Tapes of the 27 Club,” featuring voices from musicians who paid homage to their idols. However, unlike earlier versions, a Google AI Magenta was used to (re)compose songs by Kurt Cobain from Nirvana, Jim Morrison from The Doors and more – then digitally recreate masterpieces via computer-controlled instruments. This isn’t even close to being the first project that embeds artificial intelligence into music; compositions in styles ranging from Bach & Beethoven through alliterative Beatles tunes have already been produced.
A Special Machine/Human Bond
Taryn Southern made waves in 2018 when her album, “I am AI,” enabled listeners to explore the depths of artificial intelligence-generated music. The entire record was composed and produced with a quartet of cutting-edge music programs–AIVA, Google Magenta, Watson Beat, and Amper Music–highlighting how far technology has come in generating musical works that could easily pass for human creations.
Guessing the Style
It’s interesting in this context that researchers have repeatedly attempted to analyze and recreate the individual stylistic nuances of musicians. For example, scientists at the SONY CSL Research Lab have had the first complete songs written by AI, developed on FlowMachines, a system that learns musical styles from a huge database. This song “Daddy’s Car” is not by the Beatles, but it is composed in their style – at least as the scientists understood it.
The influence of artificial intelligence on the music industry has been undeniable – from streaming services to AI-generated compositions, it is clear that AI has become an integral part of modern music.
What will the future hold for us when it comes to AI in music production? Well, we’re just about to find out.
