I’m a musician and in our circle we’re talking about AI quite a bit. I think AI will have a dramatic effect on popular music and culture, but not just yet.
Soon, it’s going to be incredibly easy to generate stars. Like fully fledged characters with relatable back stories that have TV shows, books, albums, the whole shebang. I think we’ll see something akin to the K-pop movement, with fans having a specific ‘ idol ‘ that they obsess over. Difference here is that the idol won’t be a real person, and fans will be able to generate personalised content of their chosen idol (you can see the subscription and addiction potential here from a mile off). I’m pretty convinced that the tech will be there within 5 years, but it may take a bit longer for it to become prominent.
I feel comfortable presuming that the majority of us here have felt a connection to characters in a book, show or movie in the past. Most casual listeners couldn’t care less about what’s going on behind what they’re hearing, they just like the music. They’re not going to mind it not being ‘ real ‘, because these stars are going to come across as real as anything we have today.
Couple in accessible VR/AR glasses and it’s going to get wild. VR livestream with (insert AI star here) that other people can jump in on? Yep. We’ve already seen Metas Codec Avatars and long distance communication via VR in action. Won’t be too difficult to import an AI generated character into the same scenario. Things like VR experiences with AI Stars/real life legends playing a gig and giving you a shoutout and a meet and greet will be loved and purchased by many. This is of course, a little further away than 5 years but I’m sure you get my point.
Before all that, I do think we’ll slowly begin to see AI generated music entering the charts. I don’t think we’ll have a complete takeover by any stretch of the imagination, but I think it’s naive to believe that the music industry isn’t for profit, which means that the more efficient, affordable and profitable option is going to be the one that the suits go for (AI generated stars).
The beauty of all of this though, is that real musicians will realise that trying to ‘ make it ‘ is futile and won’t ever feel pressure to compromise their output in order to try and garner mass appeal/sustain themselves again. We’ll see creativity back at the forefront and though it’ll be niche, there will always be people that want to see/hear real music from real people. It just won’t be on the internet as you won’t be able to tell what’s real or not anymore.
In a way, music in the future will be more authentic, if that’s what you’re looking for.
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