Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly making its way into the world of music, transforming both the creative process and the music industry itself.
Ilze Kalve/Latvijas Avīze
I recorded a Latvian folk song, Pūt, vējiņi – “Blow, little wind / Drive the boat / Carry me off / To Courland.” Let’s see what artificial intelligence can do with that.
After uploading the recording to one of the many AI generation platforms – Suno.ai – I could choose what to do with it next. Perhaps a dance remix? As AI struggles to understand Latvian, it’s best to provide the correct lyrics manually. A wide variety of styles is available. AI seems to favour hip-hop, though the sound quality in the free version isn’t great. Reggae works too, although the original song becomes barely recognisable. The techno version sounds rather odd. But the electronic dance music version turns out surprisingly well.
I also requested a choral arrangement – the result was very impressive. Based on the lyrics, the AI understood that the song was about a boat at sea and generated a fitting image. An improvisation on the folk theme for piano also turned out well. Meanwhile, on another site – artlist.io – I generated a five-second video, which is available free of charge.
It’s now possible to generate music like this endlessly, and AI has already entered the Latvian music scene – although often without disclosing that AI was involved in the creative process.
At the Brighton Music Conference in the UK, a dedicated panel discussion addressed the problems and challenges posed by AI. Participants included both representatives of companies working with AI in music and members of the opposing camp – those who refuse to use AI-generated music, at least for now.
Sammy Dean, a DJ and producer, said:
“I personally wouldn’t do that. I think if you’re a creative person, you enjoy the creative process. So using AI to make a whole piece of music takes away all the creative elements. But AI can help with some things.”
Taz Matter, head of the recording studio at the UK’s largest independent music company, Cavendish Music, said he hasn’t yet felt the full impact of AI:
“I think mastering for labels, music companies, and production libraries could be threatened. There are a lot of AI mastering services online. AI is still in its infancy in terms of music creation. Perhaps some lower levels of the industry, like electronic bed music and background music for TV, may become AI-based.”
Several experts at the conference stressed that the question is no longer whether AI will change the music industry – it already has, even if we haven’t fully noticed. Rebecca Brook, a music and technology consultant, argued that it’s important to clearly distinguish between assistive AI tools and generative tools that create content independently:
“I’m a big fan of assistive tools, but I think we’ve got to be cautious around generative music tools.”
Meanwhile, Gareth Deakin, a co-founder of an AI company, is convinced that AI represents the next wave in music history:
“Someone said the question isn’t really about how music survives – because it will – but how the music business survives. That’s the more pertinent question.”
Norwegian composer Hedda Roste, who works in film and television music, admitted that she was initially wary of AI, fearing it might take her job. But that now seems unlikely – at least for the foreseeable future:
“People are so focused on using real music, and there are always consequences when you use AI music. You can get cancelled. I don’t think any big show these days could use AI music and get away with it – people would check who’s behind it, what’s the name, who’s the composer, and if it’s AI, I don’t think they’d gain a good reputation at all.”
During the Brighton Conference discussion, special attention was paid to the role of big tech companies such as Meta and Google. The general conclusion was that their priorities lie in profit and market dominance – leaving musicians and the broader music industry as collateral damage.
