If you haven’t heard, there is an insane amount of buzz about a band called The Velvet Sundown. This band isn’t just any regular ol group of 70s esque, Americana long haired California soul rockers…they are Ai generated, all the way down to their instruments and the images of them perfectly posed and glistening for their album cover. This band is gaining hundreds of thousands of listeners on Spotify (and other platforms) by the second. In fact, since I started writing this, they already hit over a million listeners on Spotify….I mean look, we are talking about it, so who ever “they” are, they are doing something right(or majorly wrong.)
As a songwriter a computer can never feel the soul of the words. Computer generated songs will become heady more than heart. It takes a human soul to touch a human soul. Songs written by a computer can make some rhymes but they lackthe ability to move a heart in a way that only a human can.
I've seen you play live probably 10 times or so. I love your albums but in person you absolutely sound a thousand times better. The only artist I've seen that is better live. You can't get that with AI. You can't get a person pointing your direction in a crowd, see the sweat on your face, get your shirt autographed at the end. I don't think live music will ever die.
I couldn’t agree more. The live music is where the artist is able to connect with their fans. Sure AI can create music, but that in person visual of how everyone connects to the artists music will never be matched.
I had been wanting to go to Brett’s Christmas Show and I finally did with a friend this past December in Chicago! It was amazing! So glad we went! Well done, Brett and team!
I couldn’t agree more. The live music is where the artist is able to connect with their fans. Sure AI can create music, but that in person visual of how everyone connects to the artists music will never be matched.
I couldn’t agree more. The live music is where the artist is able to connect with their fans. Sure AI can create music, but that in person visual of how everyone connects to the artists music will never be matched.
I don't think AI will be the death of real true songwriting. Will it be used to make music that fits into a cookie cutter mold of what some executive thinks the people will want. ABSOLUTELY 💯! The only reason, easy in and easy out. The first to market concept, but as easy as it might be, remember it can also be a flash in the pan. Popular briefly, copied to multi genres for a quick buck. AI cannot replace the songwriters memory that inspires the love song, when maybe the words never came or the heartbreak felt that couldn't be described but just sat with the artist as a muse until it was ready to be shared with the world. An creatives connection with their work can never be artificially recreated because it is the creative who breathes life into their creation. Really great article. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Yes! AI is a revolutionary invention (one I fear may just run us over), one more branch off the digitally wrapped, (hu)man-invented entity, that of which we cannot control. The Internet.
Hadn’t considered Ai’s fingerprints on the anatomy of music. Since I am a purest by nature, ‘melomaniac’ by nurture, can’t imagine myself enjoying absolute perfection (nor artificial organics) in music and its place in my life.
Give me the figuretip brush on the guitar and the broken vocal pieces of truth in the story of a song. AI generated. No thanks.
I have lived life before the computer era and cell phones. Yes you can say I come from vintage years. Seen technology take off in all directions. Seen how families and jobs are being taken over by all this computer technology. Seen the loss of so many fundamental skills being taken over by machines. I long for the days when life was simple. Not only the music industry is feeling the hurt, but every aspect of humanity is being hurt. People are losing the simple things. Humanity is losing control of portions of what life is meant to be felt.
AI can't ever replace the blood, sweat, and tears of a true artist like yourself or jobs or anything else for that matter! It sounds like some sort of dystopia to me if that's how life will be, stuck behind phones, listening to artificial music on these phones like zombies. It already bugs me that AI is in some drive-thru's, and I actually didn't want that extra ice cream believe it or not, but AI drive-thru thought I ordered it and I was stuck with it so good thing there was room in the freezer. Lol. But personally, I like REAL. Like you said, I also hope AI keeps most of their tools in the toolbox. It sounds like AI music would be for the birds.
There’s nothing like a song that you can tell comes from the heart and personally I don’t think AI will ever be able to mimic that. There’s songs that instantly break me into a million pieces, songs that heal just a small piece and songs that instantly stop my anxiety in its tracks. I’m sure there will be more AI bands, but I know there’s so many artists out there that have yet to be heard and our hearts naturally gravitate towards human connection.
There’s nothing like a song that you can tell comes from the heart and personally I don’t think AI will ever be able to mimic that. There’s songs that instantly break me into a million pieces, songs that heal just a small piece and songs that instantly stop my anxiety in its tracks. I’m sure there will be more AI bands, but I know there’s so many artists out there that have yet to be heard and our hearts naturally gravitate towards human connection.
There’s nothing like a song that you can tell comes from the heart and personally I don’t think AI will ever be able to mimic that. There’s songs that instantly break me into a million pieces, songs that heal just a small piece and songs that instantly stop my anxiety in its tracks. I’m sure there will be more AI bands, but I know there’s so many artists out there that have yet to be heard and our hearts naturally gravitate towards human connection.
So well said. I just started writing music a few years ago and am just now sharing at 40 years old.
Completely vulnerable and I know my music is far from perfect, but it's authentic and straight from my heart.
I have one friend in the music business and his immediate feedback was that my lyrics could be more powerful and that I should use Al. The second he said that, I thought, what's the point then??? It wouldn't be therapy for me to share Al written songs... but it sure is therapy to share my deepest and darkest thoughts put into songs, hoping it will touch just one person.
Will continue to try to tune out the noise and continue down this therapeutic journey that is called songwriting.
being mercilessly optimistic...AI is another genre. it can never replace the unique creativity and soul that only a human artist can bring to their work!
i believe two things to be true. 1. being a singer-songwriter has and always will work in your favor, no matter the size of the audience. 2. there are two types of listeners...there are the people who listen to music, and there are connoisseurs.
just as some people collect NFTs and confuse da Vinci with Mozart, others might collect da Vinci's and confuse an NFT with an NSF at the bank. for me, as a connoisseur, it's about getting to witness an artist grow along with their catalog over the years. it's that thing you know + LOVE about a song/album that the average listener can't quite put their finger on, adding a level of depth that a computer could never recreate...it's the LIFE in the music. that's what makes it art.
so now, with AI, anyone can make music. sure. but art comes from the heart, and NO ONE can take that away from you. there's a magic in the music created from blood, sweat, and tears that AI can't touch - the vulnerability and boldness to go deeper and show your heart. you have the ability to connect to your listeners through music in a special way. i recently heard someone say that "you don't have to be an expert, you just need to be one chapter ahead." i hope that brings anyone reading this a flicker of hope + peace.
remember that you have what it takes...the magic is somewhere there within you, and your next level might require assembling some of the best + most vulnerable parts of your heart. be brave. ♥️
As a songwriter a computer can never feel the soul of the words. Computer generated songs will become heady more than heart. It takes a human soul to touch a human soul. Songs written by a computer can make some rhymes but they lackthe ability to move a heart in a way that only a human can.
I've seen you play live probably 10 times or so. I love your albums but in person you absolutely sound a thousand times better. The only artist I've seen that is better live. You can't get that with AI. You can't get a person pointing your direction in a crowd, see the sweat on your face, get your shirt autographed at the end. I don't think live music will ever die.
I couldn’t agree more. The live music is where the artist is able to connect with their fans. Sure AI can create music, but that in person visual of how everyone connects to the artists music will never be matched.
Never, its unbeatable!
I had been wanting to go to Brett’s Christmas Show and I finally did with a friend this past December in Chicago! It was amazing! So glad we went! Well done, Brett and team!
I absolutely agree!!! I have always said he sounds better live. Such a talent!
I couldn’t agree more. The live music is where the artist is able to connect with their fans. Sure AI can create music, but that in person visual of how everyone connects to the artists music will never be matched.
I couldn’t agree more. The live music is where the artist is able to connect with their fans. Sure AI can create music, but that in person visual of how everyone connects to the artists music will never be matched.
I don't think AI will be the death of real true songwriting. Will it be used to make music that fits into a cookie cutter mold of what some executive thinks the people will want. ABSOLUTELY 💯! The only reason, easy in and easy out. The first to market concept, but as easy as it might be, remember it can also be a flash in the pan. Popular briefly, copied to multi genres for a quick buck. AI cannot replace the songwriters memory that inspires the love song, when maybe the words never came or the heartbreak felt that couldn't be described but just sat with the artist as a muse until it was ready to be shared with the world. An creatives connection with their work can never be artificially recreated because it is the creative who breathes life into their creation. Really great article. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Wasn’t it once…video killed the radio star?
Yes! AI is a revolutionary invention (one I fear may just run us over), one more branch off the digitally wrapped, (hu)man-invented entity, that of which we cannot control. The Internet.
Hadn’t considered Ai’s fingerprints on the anatomy of music. Since I am a purest by nature, ‘melomaniac’ by nurture, can’t imagine myself enjoying absolute perfection (nor artificial organics) in music and its place in my life.
Give me the figuretip brush on the guitar and the broken vocal pieces of truth in the story of a song. AI generated. No thanks.
Great piece, I look forward to reading more.
I’ve used AI music creation. I asked an AI to create lyrics about a person losing work because ai took over)
It’s scary how good it was. And yet there was an edge missing.
Then I asked a music AI to put the lyrics from that experiment to the style of modern gospel music.
It took less than 1 minute for AI to do the lyric and music.
It was amazing but it was also very mediocre and predictable.
True creativity has to combine the unexpected with emotional truth.
AI will change my life work too. It’s unrelated to music.
I believe that AI will be destabilizing to many but also revolutionary.
Like the Industrial Revolution there will be some challenges and a lot of social change.
Plot twist, this is actually AI
Not possible for anything artificial to duplicate the soul in your voice.
Yes AI is the end of many things,
Music written by AI won’t make your heart sing like when a human is behind it.
I have lived life before the computer era and cell phones. Yes you can say I come from vintage years. Seen technology take off in all directions. Seen how families and jobs are being taken over by all this computer technology. Seen the loss of so many fundamental skills being taken over by machines. I long for the days when life was simple. Not only the music industry is feeling the hurt, but every aspect of humanity is being hurt. People are losing the simple things. Humanity is losing control of portions of what life is meant to be felt.
AI can't ever replace the blood, sweat, and tears of a true artist like yourself or jobs or anything else for that matter! It sounds like some sort of dystopia to me if that's how life will be, stuck behind phones, listening to artificial music on these phones like zombies. It already bugs me that AI is in some drive-thru's, and I actually didn't want that extra ice cream believe it or not, but AI drive-thru thought I ordered it and I was stuck with it so good thing there was room in the freezer. Lol. But personally, I like REAL. Like you said, I also hope AI keeps most of their tools in the toolbox. It sounds like AI music would be for the birds.
There’s nothing like a song that you can tell comes from the heart and personally I don’t think AI will ever be able to mimic that. There’s songs that instantly break me into a million pieces, songs that heal just a small piece and songs that instantly stop my anxiety in its tracks. I’m sure there will be more AI bands, but I know there’s so many artists out there that have yet to be heard and our hearts naturally gravitate towards human connection.
There’s nothing like a song that you can tell comes from the heart and personally I don’t think AI will ever be able to mimic that. There’s songs that instantly break me into a million pieces, songs that heal just a small piece and songs that instantly stop my anxiety in its tracks. I’m sure there will be more AI bands, but I know there’s so many artists out there that have yet to be heard and our hearts naturally gravitate towards human connection.
There’s nothing like a song that you can tell comes from the heart and personally I don’t think AI will ever be able to mimic that. There’s songs that instantly break me into a million pieces, songs that heal just a small piece and songs that instantly stop my anxiety in its tracks. I’m sure there will be more AI bands, but I know there’s so many artists out there that have yet to be heard and our hearts naturally gravitate towards human connection.
So well said. I just started writing music a few years ago and am just now sharing at 40 years old.
Completely vulnerable and I know my music is far from perfect, but it's authentic and straight from my heart.
I have one friend in the music business and his immediate feedback was that my lyrics could be more powerful and that I should use Al. The second he said that, I thought, what's the point then??? It wouldn't be therapy for me to share Al written songs... but it sure is therapy to share my deepest and darkest thoughts put into songs, hoping it will touch just one person.
Will continue to try to tune out the noise and continue down this therapeutic journey that is called songwriting.
being mercilessly optimistic...AI is another genre. it can never replace the unique creativity and soul that only a human artist can bring to their work!
i believe two things to be true. 1. being a singer-songwriter has and always will work in your favor, no matter the size of the audience. 2. there are two types of listeners...there are the people who listen to music, and there are connoisseurs.
just as some people collect NFTs and confuse da Vinci with Mozart, others might collect da Vinci's and confuse an NFT with an NSF at the bank. for me, as a connoisseur, it's about getting to witness an artist grow along with their catalog over the years. it's that thing you know + LOVE about a song/album that the average listener can't quite put their finger on, adding a level of depth that a computer could never recreate...it's the LIFE in the music. that's what makes it art.
so now, with AI, anyone can make music. sure. but art comes from the heart, and NO ONE can take that away from you. there's a magic in the music created from blood, sweat, and tears that AI can't touch - the vulnerability and boldness to go deeper and show your heart. you have the ability to connect to your listeners through music in a special way. i recently heard someone say that "you don't have to be an expert, you just need to be one chapter ahead." i hope that brings anyone reading this a flicker of hope + peace.
remember that you have what it takes...the magic is somewhere there within you, and your next level might require assembling some of the best + most vulnerable parts of your heart. be brave. ♥️