Balancing Creativity and Technology

Since she was young, Hayley Brooks Reicher, a sophomore at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, has always loved music. Reicher, who has worked hard for the ability to sing and songwrite, decided to enter the industry as a pop artist.

As an independent artist, however, Reicher does not have the same resources and tools as many established artists. She has found that artificial intelligence technology has helped make the industry more accessible for up-and-coming artists, like herself, specifically to make her songs “radio-ready” through the use of AI music production programs.

“(AI) can never replace the professionals here and doing the work yourself. I think it makes the music industry a lot more accessible for more people,” said Reicher, who plans to release her third pop single in May. “It’s not something that replaces an artist in terms of their ability to songwrite, and their ability to produce and their ability to perform.”

The debate surrounding artificial intelligence has emerged as one of the most popular topics in the music industry, instilling fear that creativity is at risk and causing many industry professionals to question the potential risks and benefits it carries.

Ben Camp, an associate professor in Berklee College of Music’s Songwriting department, noted a division at their campus, explaining that some students believe they are losing jobs, especially to AI record mastering services — which enhance and optimize a song for listening across various mediums. A mastering engineer’s salary can range from $22,000 to $143,000 per year, according to Music Gateway.

“Students are very upset about the idea of a thing that they’re paying to learn how to do will no longer be a skill that people will pay them for,” Camp said. “Students are pretty freaked out about losing opportunities.”

Camp noted that other students have found benefits in the technology, which allows users to quickly and inexpensively master their records.

“I'm not an engineer. I'm not an audio engineer. I don't really know how to master, and a lot of artists signed to labels will have professionals with this state-of-the-art equipment mastering their songs and now I have access to an AI-powered mastering tool,” said Reicher, who is looking to follow in the footsteps of her grandfather and record producer Clive Davis.

Behind every big song by a major artist is a table of people who have their own role in its creation, Reicher said. Utilizing AI technology can eliminate other responsibilities, such as engineering and posting, allowing artists to focus on their art.

“For more underground people who don't have that funding and don't have that team, it could potentially be a very good tool to help aid in the areas that they're not that they haven't mastered.”

Maria Graham, a public relations representative at º1824 — Universal Music Group’s central creative solutions team — said AI has helped musicians and artists learn more about music production, whether helping people find beats per minute for a song or a specific sound.

“When it comes to like originality and music, I think that a lot of the same parallels can be found with using AI to write a paper it just doesn't sound very human. But I think for educational purposes … there's a good and bad to it,” said Graham, a senior at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Cherie Hu, an adjunct professor in Syracuse University’s Bandier Program for Recording and Entertainment Industries, said many of her students have been more receptive to utilizing AI in other aspects of their careers, such as social media marketing, to provide them with more time to do more creative or strategic thinking.

“I can see there being a lot more resistance to generating a song versus helping to automate certain marketing processes around that song that a lot of people in the industry just see as a chore or very frustrating,” said Hu, who specializes in emerging technologies.

Reicher agreed that the technology can be useful in marketing and advertising. However, she said it is important not to become “too reliant” on AI because it does not replace the “ear of a professional human being.”

“Choosing the path that you want to master is so important, I think, and having the ability to focus on what you truly want, and having a little bit of help with AI isn't the end of the world if they don't even have the funds to pay someone else to do it in the first place,” Reicher said.

In addition to AI-powered mastering tools, many industry professionals have grown weary of programs such as Suno and Udio — two AI music generators. The programs can create a finished record with chords, melodies, lyrics and vocals at the level of Camp’s average and below-average students in his entry-level courses, they said.

In her research, Hu said she has not seen Suno and Udio participate in any music industry partnerships.

“They’re just kind of running with it and seeing how far they can get,” Hu said. “The industry is really on the edge of their seat waiting for some kind of lawsuit to happen.”

More than 200 artists, including Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, Billie Eilish and Jon Bon Jovi, have signed an open letter to warn against the “predatory use of AI.” The letter, released on April 1, states that efforts to incorporate AI-created sounds and images that dilute royalty pools for artists could be “catastrophic” to musicians, artists and songwriters.

The letter called for transparency about what the technology is being trained on, Camp said, and the ability to “opt-out” of having their music sent to the AI models.

“We call on AI developers, technology companies, platforms and digital music services to pledge that they will not develop or deploy AI music-generation technology, content or tools that undermine or replace the human artistry of songwriters and artists or deny us fair compensation for our work,” the letter states.

Taylor Contarino, a rising R&B and soul artist, said she has never thought about using AI for songwriting, as penning lyrics has been her “first love” since kindergarten. In the future, she said she could envision herself exploring the technology for mixing and mastering her music.

“I don't think there would ever be a world in which I would ever rely on anyone to write something for me … I'm kind of protective about my words,” said Contarino, who released her debut EP in April.

Contarino said she partially attributes her lack of AI knowledge to her work as an artists and repertoire representative with º1824 because of UMG’s AI regulations. UMG has emerged as a leader in AI regulation, from suing Anthropic — an AI developer — for copyright infringement in October 2023 to releasing a set of clarifying statements encouraging the responsible use of AI in its “Principles for Music Creation with AI” with Roland Corporation in March 2024,

It can be intimidating to think about AI technology as a songwriter, Contarino said, but she remains hopeful that there will always be a place for human artists.

“There's something innately human about writing songs, about writing poetry, about writing lyrics and about creating art as a whole. So, I really hope that no matter what direction AI goes, I really hope that there's always going to be a space at the end of the day for real people to make real art,” Contarino said. “That's not to take away from maybe the positive capabilities of AI because I'm sure that there are very positive capabilities when it comes to AI. I just have yet to really explore it enough to know.”

Anjali Engstrom of Luna and the Carpets said costs have dissuaded her from experimenting with the technology, as many programs utilize paid models. Through the different innovations she has seen in her classes as a sophomore in SU’s Bandier program, she said she would subscribe if money were not a factor.

Engstrom said AI technology can also be stressful for musicians because of the need for more legislation surrounding the technology.

“(Artists) want to copyright and make money off of their art and their work and be able to own that,” Engstrom said. “Not having any legislation around (AI) is kind of scary and weird and I think that deters a lot of people from using it or wanting to accept it.”

More artists may be inclined to use AI if the industry embraced clear guidelines for copyright and the relationship between the writer and their AI platform, she said.

“Now more than ever, people who are musicians and people that are in the industry need to not necessarily fear AI but find a way to make it work for industry,” Engstrom said. “Everyone in the music industry was really scared when streaming dropped and now it's everything, and I feel like AI could be super beneficial to industry professionals and artists if we find a way to control it and get legislation around it.”

On March 21, Tennessee became the first state to prevent the use of artificial intelligence to copy a performer’s voice. The Ensuring Likeness, Voice and Image Security Act will aim to protect musicians from artificial intelligence by adding penalties for copying a performer’s “voice” without permission, the New York Times reported.

Camp said regulations like the Ensuring Likeness, Voice and Image Security Act will allow artists and labels to further monetize the creations of the artist.

“That’s a net positive because the alternative is to let them keep doing what they’re doing, and the artists and labels don’t capture any of the income stream from work derived from their work,” they said.

Engstrom said the emergence of AI has not impacted her desire to pursue a career in the music industry, whether working with other artists or as an artist herself.

“This is my path, this is what I need to do,” Engstrom said. “Honestly, it’s a little exciting to be entering the industry with such a pivotal technology entering it.”

Source List:

Hayley Reicher

Ben Camp

Cherie Hu

Maria Graham

Taylor Contarino

Anjali Engstrom