10 hours ago
(This post was last modified: 7 hours ago by C C.)
RELATED (scivillage): At least one AI-generated music “artist” is charting every week now, says Billboard
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Can AI music ever feel human? It’s not just about the sound
https://www.scientificamerican.com/artic...-the-sound
EXCERPTS: Our relationship to music has changed in lockstep with technology. In a 2002 interview, David Bowie mused that everything about music would soon change. He predicted the transformation of its distribution and the disappearance of copyright. And to emphasize how easy it would be to access, he said, “Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity.” That hardly seemed to be a prophecy.
[...] I struggle to see how AI music will win us over. By 2015 and 2017, research was already showing that people couldn’t distinguish between human- and computer-made music. And years earlier, in 1997, composer and computer pioneer David Cope created music software. An audience that heard a pianist play its output alongside a piece by Johann Sebastian Bach thought the software’s composition was the actual Bach.
[...] So while it’s reasonable to fear that talented musicians might never be heard because millions who don’t play an instrument or sing are flooding the Internet with AI songs, I suspect most AI music will, like most other music, be forgotten or never noticed. Even with exceptional human music, we want more than virtuosity—an origin story, a connection. Similarly, a few rare, extraordinary AI songs will no doubt be attached to cultural moments—movies, videos, memes—or will be created by AI-music studios that give people more control over the output than text prompts can and that may allow for the creation of more innovative and personal songs.
This isn’t to say that we shouldn’t be cautious of musical machines... [...] In comparing music to electricity, Bowie was speaking of a similar loss. He said musicians should be prepared to do a lot of touring, implying that live performance would be the only way to create genuine connection with audiences—“that’s really the only unique situation that’s going to be left,” he added... (MORE - missing details)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Can AI music ever feel human? It’s not just about the sound
https://www.scientificamerican.com/artic...-the-sound
EXCERPTS: Our relationship to music has changed in lockstep with technology. In a 2002 interview, David Bowie mused that everything about music would soon change. He predicted the transformation of its distribution and the disappearance of copyright. And to emphasize how easy it would be to access, he said, “Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity.” That hardly seemed to be a prophecy.
[...] I struggle to see how AI music will win us over. By 2015 and 2017, research was already showing that people couldn’t distinguish between human- and computer-made music. And years earlier, in 1997, composer and computer pioneer David Cope created music software. An audience that heard a pianist play its output alongside a piece by Johann Sebastian Bach thought the software’s composition was the actual Bach.
[...] So while it’s reasonable to fear that talented musicians might never be heard because millions who don’t play an instrument or sing are flooding the Internet with AI songs, I suspect most AI music will, like most other music, be forgotten or never noticed. Even with exceptional human music, we want more than virtuosity—an origin story, a connection. Similarly, a few rare, extraordinary AI songs will no doubt be attached to cultural moments—movies, videos, memes—or will be created by AI-music studios that give people more control over the output than text prompts can and that may allow for the creation of more innovative and personal songs.
This isn’t to say that we shouldn’t be cautious of musical machines... [...] In comparing music to electricity, Bowie was speaking of a similar loss. He said musicians should be prepared to do a lot of touring, implying that live performance would be the only way to create genuine connection with audiences—“that’s really the only unique situation that’s going to be left,” he added... (MORE - missing details)