One day soon, AI-driven algorithms could be directing music fans towards AI-generated tunes, in preference to songs written by human musicians.

This possibility has been sketched out for a parliamentary inquiry looking at Australia’s live music industry, in a recent submission by researchers at the University of Melbourne.

“In this scenario, a small number of big tech companies use their distribution dominance to preference music distribution from an AI music generation business they also own,” the submission from the School of Computing and Information Systems states.

It is a dark, dystopian scenario, and the technology to do it certainly exists, according to University of NSW Associate Professor Oliver Bown.

If and when it happens, listeners may not even be able to tell, he said.

Yet Prof Bown’s guess is that big streaming companies want to be seen to support human musicians, and are cautious about heading down this path.

Up-and-coming tech firms would be more likely adopters as they try to undercut their more established competitors, he told AAP.

“If they convince people to spend $5 a month instead of $10 to have their music needs taken care of, there’s no musician in the loop at all,” Bown said.

Crucially, songs generated by artificial intelligence would be royalty-free and thus more profitable for streaming services.

The technology is moving quickly: a service that can generate realistic songs from short text prompts, Suno, launched in March, followed by competitor Udio.

Another company, Endel, already creates personalised soundscapes using AI technology, specifically designed for activities such as relaxation and sleep.

Apple reportedly acquired the soundtrack-generating company AI Music in 2022, while Spotify’s AI-driven personalised DJ service has been available in Australia since August.

“The DJ is a personalised AI guide that knows you and your music taste so well that it can choose what to play for you,” the company states.

The developments threaten original songwriting, and make it even harder for musicians to make a living, the University of Melbourne researchers said.

Nick Cave put it even more bluntly in 2023, after a fan used Chat GPT to generate lyrics in the style of the singer-songwriter and asked Cave what he thought.

“This song is bulls**t, a grotesque mockery of what it is to be human,” he responded.

In April, the US-based lobby group the Artist Rights Alliance issued an open letter signed by more than 200 artists calling on AI developers, tech companies and music streamers to “cease the use of artificial intelligence to infringe upon and devalue the rights of human artists.”

It was signed by the likes of Aerosmith, Katy Perry, Billie Eilish, Stevie Wonder, R.E.M. and Pearl Jam.

The union for arts workers on Tuesday told another parliamentary inquiry into the technology that Australia should urgently restrict the use of AI.

But local AI companies argued limitations would see the nation out of the race to develop the technology.

Major record labels in the US are suing AI music companies, alleging they infringed the copyright of artists on a massive scale while training their machines.

 

Liz Hobday
(Australian Associated Press)