AI Music Revolution: How Artificial Intelligence is Shaping the Future of the Music Industry

《Lee Min-kyung's Siren》
Lee Min-kyung from TenAsia sounds the alarm on the rapidly evolving entertainment industry. She highlights unseen issues and alerts us to the threats and changes surrounding the entertainment world.

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) music has captivated millions on YouTube, even catching the attention of pop star Selena Gomez. Industry insiders lament that the era where humans mechanically crafted music is fading. The essence of music—expressing personal stories through melody—remains a uniquely human domain.

AI artist Sienna Rose recently made waves with three of her songs entering Spotify's 'Viral 50 - USA' chart. Selena Gomez used her song 'Where My Heart Unwinds' as background music for her Golden Globe post, sparking controversy over AI music, leading to its removal and further attention. According to international media, the song earns approximately $24,000 daily from streaming.

Globally, AI-generated music is consumed alongside human-created music without distinction. The Velvet Sundown band was the first to show AI music's potential for mainstream appeal, achieving over a million plays on Spotify before being revealed as an AI artist.

YouTube channels featuring AI music are also gaining popularity. The most renowned, 'Masters Of Prophecy,' produces intense electronic music with AI, amassing over 35 million subscribers.

In the domestic market, AI artists with mass appeal like those overseas are absent, and AI music is mainly consumed as background music on YouTube. The Korean AI music channel 'SISO Wave' has over 113,000 subscribers, while 'bgmMP3' has around 46,400.

Music-generating AI like 'Suno' and other algorithmic technologies are threatening the livelihoods of human arrangers. A late-20s arranger expressed, "I'm considering quitting music, my livelihood, because of AI. New arrangers share this concern. Who would pay much more for a single song when hundreds can be made for the price of a few coffees?"

This shift is due to Suno's evolution from producing low-quality, non-commercial tracks to generating music suitable for commercial demos with its September update to Suno V5. For emerging hip-hop and indie artists who don't require high-quality tracks, AI can replace human arrangers.

The limitation that "AI music lacks emotional depth" has long been overcome. With the 'Cover' feature added to Suno in 2024, humans and AI can collaborate on music creation. Humans provide melodies, lyrics, and arrangement direction, while Suno delivers the final product.

Additionally, the recent introduction of the algorithmic instrument-playing program 'Tonalic' on the 14th has begun encroaching on the domain of instrumentalists, replicating even the subtle nuances of human performance using vast original performance data.

A recent Reddit discussion saw over 500 comments debating whether 'AI music is already better than most songs on streaming platforms.' The topic starter noted, "Over 86% of songs on major streaming services have fewer than 1,000 streams," arguing that not all released music is of high quality.

In response, a user countered, "People seek music that entertains and moves them, even if the sound quality isn't top-notch. AI can only create 'familiar music.' Even if AI music is of high quality, it can't produce truly great music."

Multiple music industry professionals emphasize, "Ultimately, it's about how AI is utilized. These technologies are efficient tools to assist humans." They stress that popular AI-generated music isn't solely a machine's work. "Humans must take the lead in editing to produce quality music," they assert.

Experts believe that AI won't encroach on human composers' territory for at least a few years. As long as AI handles composition and lyrics, melodies and lyrics will lack distinctiveness. This is because generative AI operates by providing 'statistically plausible' answers.

Lee Min-kyung, TENASIA Reporter 2min_ror@tenasia.co.kr