RE: Talking about AI replacing musicians...

one of the most controversial topics in the music space, for sure.

personally, i haven't been in resistance - embracing technological changes, and am even possibly a bit excited about what could come of it, as it sort of forces an evolution of artistry. i.e. if anybody can use AI to make the same types of music people have been, how are artists going to adapt and start innovating in ways AI can't (yet)...?

and to be bluntly critical, there is already SO much manmade music that hasn't even been anything particularly original or different - so much commercial stuff especially has been a regurgitation of same chord progressions, melodies, styles, etc, etc. some seem offended by AI doing what they do... while they're just doing the same stuff countless others are doing. if AI can duplicate what people make... is it really AI that's the problem, or that there aren't enough artists pushing boundaries into new territory that stands out from both what AI and other artists make...? like so much stuff coming outta Hollywood & K-pop - they're already products of an industrial machine. the "artists" are already pretty much an interchangeable face, in alot of cases, with the songwriting & production done via time-tested commercially-viable formulas. The RARE artists doing something different have always stood out, even if not "commercially successful" - and always will... perhaps especially moreso now, given that there's just an increasing amount of content (irregardless of whether manmade or AI-made) indistinguishable from the rest.

(and you're kind of a good case-study here: testing, fusing, alchemizing boundaries as blending metal & techno - still living & breathing as an artist that stands for something, bringing heart & soul into your art as experimenting in uncommon territory... and may continue to make discoveries and create what AI cannot, as expanding your engineering capacities in tandem, not just songwriting, but architecting soundscapes & sonic aesthetics. And IF you were to bring some AI tools into the picture as components for parts of those processes, all the power to ya - and the outcomes would be something that AI alone could still not do.)

and surely, there will be artists that embrace the technology as a tool - using it constructively as a collaborator, doing stuff that could've previously be possible. i.e. there's a difference between just creating a song from a single prompt and using AI tools as one/some of many in a larger creation process. like the old saying goes: "I thought using drum samples was cheating, so I got a real drum machine and sampled my own. I thought using a drum machine was cheating, so I got a real drum set and learned how to play and record it. I thought buying a drum set was cheating, so I learned how to stretch some pig skin over some hollow wood. I thought buying pig skin and hollowed wood was cheating so I bought a a pig pen and some trees…"

☯️😎🍻