AI

Just finished teaching my third year of songwriting to college students. I’m turning off the ring light until August. Teaching is not something I aspired to do but life sometimes deals us delightful twists and turns. It’s a joy to have a 14-week conversation with a new group of 12 kids every semester. Each class is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.

I always start the first class by telling students that everything I say is my opinion. But I’ve earned my opinion and they are wise to consider it. With that, we move forward with a sense of adventure and open minds.

We welcome a special guest every week - someone who brings their own brand of wisdom. Publishers, hit writers, non-hit writers, managers, musicians, producers, recording artists, music supervisors. We talk about it all. Including, sadly, AI. But that we talk about as little as possible.

The students know all about it. They know who it will replace. They hate it. And I am in denial.

I ask my guests to stick to topics like creativity, collaboration, song splits, publishing deals, because if AI does what it’s gonna do, there won’t be much to discuss. Why even register for the class? Why write songs as all? (I’ll give you my answer later.)

I walked into my kitchen the other day where my husband was reading something on his phone. He muttered, “We’re fucked.” My guess was we were being audited. I said, “What?” “Udio,” he said. (Yet another new music generating software.) Adam is an advocacy committee board member of SONA (Songwriters of North America) a grassroots organization that’s been fighting for higher streaming rates in a creator-unfriendly digital economy. We’ve been doing it for 9 years. Pushing rocks up hills, I tell you. AI disruption is going to make that challenge look simple. This is too Goliath for David. This is a tsunami.

Big sigh.

“I have an idea,” I say to Adam. “What if content 🙄 were watermarked — a user was warned (just as we are for explicit material) if the content was derived with any kind of artificiality. I know, I know, some of that content is stellar. As good as music made by humans. I probably listened to a faux-mediation playlist this morning during yoga.

Dreamscapes may be the easiest genre for Spotify to replace. Just vibes. No lyrics. They could even take the human-made meditations off the platform so they wouldn’t have to pay mortal creators any royalties.

But the thing is if it’s on the menu I want to know what the ingredients are so that I can make a choice as to whether I want to click on it. Even if I desire a burger, I might not opt in if it’s not good for me.

Adam reminds me that it won’t always be all or nothing. Many artists themselves will be incorporating AI into their tracks. I argue, “that’s the record. The production. Not the actual song.”

“Not so fast,” he says. “An artist could theoretically ‘import’ a lyrical cross between Joni and Bob and not disclose this when registering the song or entering their meta on the MLC. Or on the DSP credits. And no one could prove otherwise.” True. Yet that seems like karma. Songwriters sticking it to Spotify for a change.

But enough of the what ifs.

I’ll stay in denial for as long as possible.

Although it’s happening now.

When I came up there were other obstacles. Like for instance … competition. I wish competition was all my kids had to worry about.

All the more reason to encourage them to find their own unique voice. The culture of the algorithm is a goldmine for the AI industry. It’s pulling from everything there ever was. All that came before. But if a writer is novel in their melody, their lyric or production, so much so that there’s little prior art to import, they have a better chance of standing out and standing up to this imminent threat. If no one’s heard it before they’ll break ground.

It’s a tough sell. So many of my girls mimic Taylor. Taylor is great at being Taylor. Be yourself! If you don’t have a strong sense of who that is do something else. Trust me. You’ll thank me.

In the meantime, I’m gonna stick to going out to the Bluebirds and such and listening to singer-songwriters gift me their offerings. No tricks, gimmicks, tools, auto tuning, confusion. Just a singer, a guitar and a song. That’s how I like it.

*********

Thanx for reading me! You can subscribe to my blog here. Get a signed CD or a copy of “Confessions of a Serial Songwriter.” And here’s My Serial Songwriter Facebook Page! I’m just not that into X 💋