There’s a LOT happening in the world of music and AI today. Here’s a round-up.

Nothing is sucking up more oxygen in the world of music than the topic of artificial intelligence and the implications the technology has for the future. Because things are moving fast, ignore these discussions at your peril. Here’s a round-up of stories for day.

Another potential tool for AI

This video is required viewing, especially the performance at the end. Holly Herndon held a TED Talk where she asked the question “What if you could sing in your favourite musician’s voice?” Me, for example. I haven’t been able to carry a tune since puberty. Can AI turn me in Bono? Yes. Yes, it can.

Does AI mean the end of pop?

Seth Gordon says this in his blog: “Creating music (or writing) is an inherently human activity, and it doesn’t go away. What does go away, though, is the commercial dynamic of thousands of someones in Nashville or Hollywood hitting it big big big with nothing but a typewriter or a guitar.” A bit frightening, no?

Some artists are really excited about the possibilities of AI in music.

Both Peter Gabriel and Chris Stapleton think so. And Grimes has gone all-in.

Deriving Value from Derivative Works

It’s just a matter of time before all the legalities are worked out and we see an explosion of AI-assisted music. There’s the potential for a lot of people to make a lot of money. It’ll be just like what we saw with sampling 40 years ago. However, there are a lot of copyright implications that need to be worked out first.

Spotify bans Boomy

Boomy is an AI music app. Spotify determined that a bunch of Boomy uploads involved “stream manipulation” and have deleted them all.

Here come the AI voice scams

Fed up with the spam calls about duct cleaning and weird Bitcoin accounts that you don’t have? Just wait. AI has progressed to the point where a three second sample of someone’s voice is enough to clone it. Bring on the voice scams.