Music is known all around the world for being many things: an artistic expression of self, a way to connect with others, an emotional release for both listeners and artists, and in the future, possibly another creative field dominated by AI. The ever improving technology seems ready to be in a position to cause significant change in the music industry, and for the artists themselves.
Whether these changes are positive or negative has been the subject of much debate, with supporters arguing that it opens these fields to a wider group of people, and critics arguing that AI lacks the emotional connections that come naturally to human artists.
One concern that some highlight about the usage of AI in music is ownership. An argument could be made that the credit belongs to either the creators of the software, or to the artist who used it (for partial or full creation of the song). Or maybe it belongs to both, but in that case, you would have to figure out to what extent each party played a role in the creation of each individual project. To further complicate things, the process behind AI created music involves finding patterns among other material scattered throughout the internet and following those patterns to make something new. So, we can end up with generated songs sounding suspiciously similar to already existing music- which is of course an issue in itself.
Already, generative AI is being used worldwide as a tool to help artists along in the creative process. According to a 2023 survey, around 60% of independent artists who were asked if they’ve ever used AI in their music replied with a yes. Of course, this would include a wide range of uses, including one time uses, or even the most minor of uses for polishing. But it doesn’t end there. Creators who decide to rely more heavily on AI can make a greater number of songs, as it takes them less time. According to a music streaming service known as Deezer, which has around 10 million paid subscribers, 18% of all uploaded music on their platform is fully AI generated. That number will likely get higher in the coming years, which raises the question: How will this really affect the music industry? A CISAC study predicts that musicians will lose around 24% of their revenues by 2028 due to generative AI. To put it plainly, this introduced competition will most likely lead to a tangible change in how often you hear GenAI music compared to human written works when you listen to any streaming services.
All of these factors aside, I asked some students of Broad Run what they think about the topic of Artificial Intelligence in the music industry.
“I’ve seen some of this AI generated music, and to be wholly honest, it’s not bad,” comments senior Wilbert Wang. “The problem that I have with it, is that it’s not made by a person.” This reflects a wider view that seems to be shared by many. The quality alone isn’t the issue: it’s the concern that AI creating something as personal as music just feels wrong in a distinctive way, and lacks the ‘emotional’ connection that drives most traditional artists. “You generally see a lot of art being a connection to something; some people write sad songs because they went through some tragedy, they write happy songs because they enjoy life, and it’s the same thing for love… but AI doesn’t feel that. It’s not human.” Wilbert continues. And he’s not alone in his opinion; when asked about the idea of AI increasingly being used in the musical and artistic fields, senior Jerry Lou comments, “AI can actually be a great tool, but I disagree with the use of AI (specifically) in music… AI is just something that isn’t really regulated well right now.”
At the end of the day, it’s an undeniable fact that changes will come, and it’s reasonable to assume they will be big changes. Whether we should focus on creating restrictions for AI remains a question with many different answers, depending on who you ask. But in a sense, us consumers will have the final say: We cast our positive or negative votes every time we click on a song.
Citations
“Global Economic Study Shows Human Creators’ Future at Risk from Generative AI.” CISAC, CISAC, 2 Dec. 2024, www.cisac.org/Newsroom/news-releases/global-economic-study-shows-human-creators-future-risk-generative-ai.
Wendel, Jesper. “Deezer Reveals 18% of All New Music Uploaded to Streaming Is Fully AI-Generated – Deezer Newsroom.” Deezer Newsroom, 16 Apr. 2025, newsroom-deezer.com/2025/04/deezer-reveals-18-of-all-new-music-uploaded-to-streaming-is-fully-ai-generated/.
