A few months ago I was playing with an app called Suno that makes AI music. It was impressive. It was crazy how quickly it could output entire songs and arrangements. I remember staying up way too late working and trying to get things just right. I ended up making an entire album in a weekend of work. It was a little crazy, felt like cheating, and I set it aside.
Fast forward a few months and I saw someone mention that they are tired of people making money on Spotify with AI music and I thought, “Hey, money, I know what that is. I wouldn’t mind having some.” So I decided to revisit that album and finally put it on Spotify.
Getting back into things after just three months is even crazier. My instinct is to push the technology and back in April it felt like I was at its limits. Now it feels like I am barely scratching the surface. The first set of songs I worked on was a concept album based on famous American hauntings that took on the personality of their location like polka for Pittsburgh and thrash metal for San Francisco. Everything was layered through a voice I created in the app and turned into a cohesive sound.
Between the AI writing, my weird combinations of music, and everything else it took about an hour or more to get each song done. We kept hitting the limits and the struggles of both ChatGPT and the Suno app, and at times frustration overwhelmed.
After publishing that album I decided to work on the next, and with less effort and far more efficiency I am getting much better results. This time the concept is exploring the seven deadly sins and what they say about current modern institutions. The musical style is a little more consistent this time, but ChatGPT has gotten far better at writing and Suno far better at outputting. That combination is making things go fast, almost too fast.
This is in three months and we’ve barely scratched the surface of what this technology will do. Which brings up all the complications with it. I compare it to the textile industry and the change that the electric loom brought about. Instead of mass producing clothing we are mass producing intellectual property.
Things that are human made, handmade, home made are still better. They will always be better. Just like clothing and automobiles. AI lowers the entry point and shrinks the middle, but it doesn’t eliminate the expert.
David Huzzard Writes 