Having spoken to representatives from my three main case studies, AI. Music, Amper Music and Jukedeck, as well as various others about the impact that Artificial Intelligence is going to have on the music industry in the future, my perceptions on this issue have certainly changed.

 

As I wrote in my blog post on Week 3 – 30/10/2017, I was very sceptical and pessimistic about A.I.’s impact on the music industry.

 

I wrote: “…although the opportunities and technology are so exciting and has so many possibilities and capabilities, I can’t help but feel that it will have a detrimental impact on musicians. Such technology could threaten the jobs of composers and DJs in the future as the A.I. could become more than capable of writing music to the standard that humans can.”

 

I am pleased to say that my opinions on this hot topic have changed and my eyes have been opened to the fundamental idea that companies are pursuing the development of this technology with the goal to widen peoples’ accessibility to music. They are trying to provide tools to people who have never had the opportunity to create music before. This may be due to the fact they haven’t been able to afford to buy instruments or music producing software such as Logic Pro and GarageBand.

 

Before, I didn’t realise that the companies main goal was to widen accessibility and not use A.I. in the music industry as a way of replacing musicians, but instead allowing them as well as other creative people to use this technology to their advantage. Amper’s Head of Sales Jaime Gillespie sums this up perfectly, wishing for Amper to become for musicians what Microsoft Word is to authors. I can definitely see that vision becoming a reality.

 

Of course, as good as this sounds there are still barriers, as for people to use this software they will need a decent computer and good internet speed, meaning for now, the impact the companies wish to have won’t be as far reaching globally as they hoped. However, this can certainly change in a few decades time.

 

Producing this documentary has made me realise we can use artificial intelligence as a highly valuable tool in music production and we should embrace the change that is heading our way. The functional music industry has certainly changed forever now following the emergence of Jukedeck and Amper Music and the game may be changing for creative music already as well, following Taryn Southern's experimental A.I. album and AI. Music's plans to roll out shape-changing technology.

​

We’re a long way off a computer being able to play the guitar to the same standard as Jimi Hendrix. We’re a long way off A.I. composing an Oscar winning film soundtrack. But I think one thing is for sure and that is that artificial intelligence has well and truly marked its arrival in the music industry and it is here to stay.

​

BACK TO BLOG POSTS