When it takes a few keystrokes to generate songs, “What’s the point of musicians anyway?”

I set up a call with Vic Icasas, CEO and managing partner of Hit Productions, and composer BP Valenzuela. Hit Productions works with clients to create engaging audio for advertising and entertainment. We discussed AI, how it’s affecting music, and what’s exciting about both human and AI-driven possibilities.

BP says, "I think when it comes to AI music and AI jingles, you could do that, and it's functional music, technically.” But, “When it comes to music you would listen to on your own, music you seek out that appeals to you as a person,” The idea here is we could have ‘“functional music” but that’s not what goes to our hearts. It’s just meant to, “be there.”

The conversation goes to the idea that AI is part of the history of technology making an impact on music. When synthesizers became available, musicians experimented and created new forms. Same with drum machines, samplers, autotune. Rather than replacing musicians, they led to new forms of expression.

Even when someone is using a synth or drum machine, there’s the impulse to infuse your humanity. As Vic says, “...the amount of obsession that goes into perfecting that beat, that sample... You're not just grabbing four bars off a loop library…But you have to add your own personality to it. You have to tweak it…you're trying to counteract the mechanical (nature) of the drum machine by adding a human element on top.”

We noted that apps like Suno and Udio are constantly updating to have richer sounding production, more features, and a better feel for music. Very much like the chatbots we use almost every day, are built on incredibly large datasets. Imagine the level of musical “knowledge” these apps hold, and how they are able to draw from all that training to generate new music. At the same time, we need to mention that these apps are being sued, like some LLM companies, because of alleged copyright infringements in their training data.

Operating alongside that are teams like BP’s made up of composers, arrangers, music producers, and musicians who collaborate, making jingles for ads or incredibly personal and artistic songs. There’s a joy to the process of creation and discovery that is different from quickly generated prompts.

The joys I am writing of might sound like a fetishizing of the manual and physical, but anyone who has stuck with an instrument or gone through a recording process knows that there is a chance to disappear into the music that is special.

Vic says, “...with AI, it's just all about the product, and it starts and ends there."

And BP replies, "It's all about the endpoint. It's all about the lack of the process, cutting the middle."

This cuts out the element that makes human collaboration and discovery so meaningful and fulfilling. Sometimes the end point of a good song is a bonus to having gone on a journey.

I mentioned my Spark Amp has a Smart Jam feature: if I start playing guitar, it can track my playing and generate bass and drum tracks. BP responds, “I would love an AI jamming partner. Honestly, if they could make that and it's trained on the stuff I like, that would be cool."

Vic says, "That's where I see everything going. Even what BP was saying about having a jamming partner or having it as a collaborator, I would love that to happen because at the end of the day, I would still listen to artists that did that, put music out that way. But if it was a music track from something that was completely AI, it would be hard to work up the enthusiasm…"

BP again, "It cuts out all of the fun parts about making music, like the things that I like. You learn who you are as a musician when you make things…I always say that you have to be bad before you get good at anything."

This gets us to the crux the challenge Generative AI presents. There are parts of craft and process so it “makes things easier.” But in removing those, we lose the value of working through a problem, developing craft, and enhancing skill.

When you’re already skilled, AI can supercharge your creativity, helping you create things you couldn’t before. It could lead to new ideas and new creative process.

But if you’re just starting out, it might be worth spending time cutting your fingertips on guitar strings or messing with knobs until you figure out how to EQ. There are things that take more time, but lead to joy, self-discovery and, self-expression.