In The Number Ones, I'm reviewing every single #1 single in the history of the Hot 100, starting with the chart's beginning, in 1958, and working my way up into the present. The column is now biweekly, alternating with The Alternative Number Ones on Mondays. Book Bonus Beat: The Number Ones: Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal the History of Pop Music.
There's a line that AI music practitioners use habitually, a talking point that they've turned into an article of faith. Thus far, it's been hard to manufacture a whole lot of public enthusiasm around the idea of generative AI in popular music. It's a silly novelty at best, a plague that must be eradicated at worst.
Other than those who stand to profit from the enterprise, very few people are into that shit. As the midterm elections approach, almost no politician is willing to say that they want data centers built anywhere near where their constituents might live. But you'll still see AI-music foot-soldiers — possibly paid, possibly just doing it for the love of the game — who insist that the backlash is shortsighted, that every new development in technology has led to people coming along and saying that the music made with these gizmos is not actually music at all.
If I'm speaking honestly, this particular talking point is probably the most effective one that the AI music industry has managed to formulate thus far. That's probably mostly because their other arguments are such transparent bullshit. Companies like Suno don't level the playing field for untrained new voices who wouldn't have access otherwise.
If you can't be bothered to at least teach yourself how to put together beats on a digital workstation, something that has never been easier than it is right now, that's a you problem. Along those same lines, I think it's fucking stupid to argue that AI art is inevitable and that we should just roll over and accept it. I'm a human being with agency.
I can decide not to accept it. I can say: Fuck that shit. Shills can and will continue to use their talking points, and I will not be moved.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
