✍ *Sign up to the 21st Century Musician NEWSLETTER* www.maryspender.com/21stcenturymusician I promise I'll get back to releasing videos of songs ASAP. But this drove me crazy. Can't wait to read your comments.
It's the assembly line they always dreamed of. The label owns everything and just pay the assembly line pennies. It's sad that there will be a segment of the population that will embrace it.
The newsletter is a great idea Mary. Signed! Let's "build a new kind of music industry". "If we don’t look out for each other, no one else will". Damn right. Thank you for focussing on this.
I agree with your basic thrust completely. For myself, I come at this from a peculiar perspective, because as well as being a musician I'm also an illustrator, and in the world of illustration and image creation right now, there's a HUGE furore over AI - because in THAT knowledge and skill domain, AI content generation involves "scraping" millions of illustrations and images as datapoints in a vast dataset - and in EVERY case, the vast majority of these illustrations are being used without the artist OR IP owner's permissions, and with no ability for them to be accredited. It' s literally IP theft writ large, at a gargantuan scale, with little to no effort to manage, assign or track rights. As of this specific moment, that particular tech approach hasn't broadly been adopted and pushed in the music world, but it IS in development and there are folks ready to push that out... so as well as your very appropriate level of concern for resource allocation, inhuman expectations of "content producers" (i.e. musicians) once there are a significant proportion of any given are who ARE real AI, the very much non-tangential issue of intellectual property rights is both huge and so far *unaddressed in any meaningful way*. Who "owns" the works created by an actual "AI Artist" once there are some in circulation, even PRIOR to their being "signed" by a label? The coders who developed the codebase? The company / entity who employs them? The millions of artists whose songs have 'trained" the neural network or algorithm? How do we, long-term, develop a fair frame work for this when, in all fairness, all of us human musicians have in fact learned from being exposed to the summa of all previous music? Of course, the critical difference is that our learning is actually that, learning informing a conscious creative process, whereas at least in current neural network and algorithm coding, "learning" is in fact a process of content acquisition, catgorisation, database management and remixing to create "new" output. There's no *inspiration*, no human-to-human connection, no striving, no pain - no spirit, in essence. This is why you so accurately described the results as being so bland they were forgettable - great art, whether music, sculpture or imagery, is drawn from shared human experiences and emotion - everything else is just... infotainment.
🙄 I nearly just left the emoji as it sums up the way i feel about this. Howevee, this "thing" is not the first CGI artist, The Gorillas got there first (and are actually pretty good). It's also far from the first time labels have cashed in on novelty music. Mister Blobby, Crazy Frog, The Wombles, The Chipmunks, Baby Metal, labels will lap up this tripe because they know that young children and adult kids will buy into this crap in the millions. I am certainly not worried about this, popular music has always been plagued by trivial BS. It's great that artists now have platforms where they can bypass the labels 🤘
They see a future where the airwaves (radio and streamed) will be dominated by AI generated content and non-musician listeners who will make a name for themselves creating mash-ups and new creations from AI content, all of which the big labels want full rights to, so they are laying the foundation.... They want to own and operate the next Apple Music or Spotify, but a series that will exist for popular AI generated music with "creators" being listener manipulated AI content.... I bet this all will take place and actually be very successful for them. Independent artist will continue to carry the torch and create real music.
The end of the world as we know it... Wait while I head out with my band to play live music for live people with real instruments no dancers or green screens or motion capture or auto-tune and we might cover a Jimmy Buffett tune. Thanks.
@@postworld1185 I'm not going to confirm or disagree with your uglyness, I do not know what you look like, and that kind of stuff is relative (the most gorgeous black woman is still ugly for racist men, any men at all, myself included looks ugly to me, etc.). However, it is simply another problem with our modern culture. Do good looking people get a bit more of our attentions? Sure. But to me, other than just causing me to maybe do that light neck flexing to the side (I'll admit my weird habits), women's beauty will not really warp my mind like that. No one needs to look good (however you define it) to be a great artist. I don't need to fall in love with a woman, or to feel sexually attracted for her to be deeply moved by her music if she's good, and I will deeply respect her. Hell, there are artists that I like that are old and underground, and I've only found some CD or cassette on some obscure corner of the internet to listen to them. I don't even know what they look like. And if it isn't a singer, so I can tell what their voice is like, I know nothing about them. It could be a man, woman, child, elder, or from any nation on Earth. Who knows? But it is a person. The songs FEEL human. You can feel it too. Do not give up. I can't be the only one like that? And who knows, maybe you aren't even ugly. Oh, if you don't mind, now I'm curious. Could you just send a link to any music you made? I'd love to hear it.
I love ya Mary🎸 this post is so smart and eye opening in todays music world. I am a professional musician/ songwriter that just retired at 73 y/o after decades of touring, Tv, recording-and hearing your positive words give me hope! Work for myself is right! I get so worried about what is going on with A-I and creating real music anymore. What else do we have that’s real that we can hold onto? Musicical hugs to you - you inspire us all🎸 ☮️ 😇🙏 Thank you 👍 Ron Foos
Time for label artists to look after themselves, cut out the labels and do a 50/50 revenue split with anyone wanting to use their vocals on new songs. A bit like Grimes did (although she wasn't signed at the time).
Props to you for not actually throwing up while recording this video. I can only imagine how you feel. The music industry has ALWAYS been about making money for the people who run the music industry rather than the people who create the music, but in the last couple of decades it's been mush more open about its greed. (Look what's happened to country music.) I can only hope that one day, when we've all finally had it up to _here_ with people hyping the wonders of AI, the AI bubble will burst, just as the 3D TV bubble did. Don't give up, Mary. You're on the right path.
While maybe not "AI", Japan has had virtual performers for quite some time now. The most famous is Hatsune Miku, who opened for Lady Gaga on some US dates. The very first virtual musical artist came out in the late 90's and was known as Date Kyoko 96 or DK96
Exactly, plus the reason why vocaloid and such have gotten /so/ popular is because it's heavily community based. Miku doesn't exist to replace a real singer. Miku and the community around her exist as a tool to help springboard/connect people. There are so many famous singers, producers and illustrators who have roots in the vocaloid community
Mary... I just have no words? What kind of world are people building with this stuff? I'm dumbfounded! 😱🤯 Don't ever stop what you do or how you do it Mary... PLEEEEEAAAAS!!!
Go out to see small local artists and bands and have a chat with them after the show at their merch-tables. This is REAL and absolutely no domain for AI artist.
Mary, spot on! Thank you so much for posting this video. I’m going to recommend it to any of my friends and family who are musicians and even those that aren’t. I totally respect what you were doing here.
Don't know if I should thank you or hate you for making me aware of this THING called Noonoouri. I have never heard or seen anything Noonoouri and now will do my best to keep things that way.
I wonder what prompted them to address the *ahem* terminological inexactitude of referring to this thing as AI. Either their legal department informed them they’re equivocating too close to the sun, or they were threatened by someone in a position to potentially act on those threats - one of their (former) artists perhaps? Anyway, there’s nobody quite like a large corporation to be consummate aficionados of judicious ambiguity.
A few years ago a friend of mine lamented the "dings" in his new hardwood floor. As a woodworker, I tried to calm him down by saying "It's wood; it's a natural product, and you have to expect that, over time, it will show some natural wear. That wear is just due to you going about your everyday life with a hardwood floor underfoot. Just think of it as "Patina"." I don't know if he was convinced, but I really meant it, and to prove it, I have a hardwood floor that I worked hard to install, all by myself, and that accumulates "dings" regularly that I don't stress about. Changing media, whenever I listen to anything by Jimmy Page, I keep that idea in mind. Even in their biggest hit, Stairway to Heaven, there are flubbed notes that would have been autotuned away today, e.g., a few of them at "And it's whispered that soon . . ." I'm glad he left them in. It's human-generated "patina". His acoustic stuff is what I love most, and you don't have to listen long to hear a similar imperfection in any of it. My point? It proves that it was done by a human. It's a sign of life! I won't listen to something generated by a computer, even if it's AI generated. For as long as it's been around, I have turned off the source the second I detect autotune. I want to hear what talented, skilled and inspired humans have come up with, blemishes and all, not the output of an algorithm. If it weren't for the natural variations that human voices create, the best choir would sound monotonous and uninteresting. I want the "patina" that the natural human touch gives. I will never be able to listen to anything machine-generated, especially if it is associated with an ET-like cartoon character. I like my music real.
I'm signing up right now to your newsletter Mary, I've been a musician practically all my life, (I'm 49 and started when I was 16) and have seen and experienced the metamorphosis, the transformation, the "evolution" of things in the music industry, in the live performances, in the studio and so on. I'm feeling the same way you do, and it is devastating to realize the way things have become. I see you in your newsletter. and tanks for the rant!
If you swalow a tube into your throat by your own will you don't get to complain about being force-fed anything. Internet is a big place where a lot of smaller artists produce great stuff without compromising their integrity. Just make a small effort to find them instead of complaining that major labels pop stars are corrupt.
Mary, this also applies to the writing industry and authors. AI generated e-books have flooded the market. Yes, we have to just focus on our craft and not become distracted by AI, because we know our product is superior.
It is indeed a concern AI will get better .. But will humans always be able to discern real from generated music? .. It does matter to us now in this very moment as were in the transition period as technology changes our leisure activities.. A bit like the industrial revolution or the jet age .. In the future kids brought up on AI music won't know any different and perhaps have fully automated self driving cars - no human input required.. The latter is where this all ends ..
“The tune had been haunting London for weeks past. It was one of countless similar songs published for the benefit of the proles by a sub-section of the Music Department. The words of these songs were composed without any human intervention whatever on an instrument known as a versificator. But the woman sang so tunefully as to turn the dreadful rubbish into an almost pleasant sound.” George Orwell, 1984
The thing with AI, is that it basically only works when the person or people who do the input know what they want. My GF is acutally and artist. I told her about this, this first thing she did.... she started laughing. I asked why she was laughing. She responded that 90% of the time her clients don't even know what they want. THAT is the power of human experience and a professional. :) Knowing and understanding either the things that people don't know yet, or being able to organically evolve to something that is much greater than anyone was able to predict for.
At the moment AI doesn't have emotion so we will be able to discern real from generated music.. .. In the future AI might get better. After all it would just be copying human traits. I guess that makes us analogue music listeners/lovers. Giving way to digital (generated) music fan/lovers..
This is how I hope things go… as an artist and musician ai influence fills me full of dread and I hate it with a passion but the more I think about it the more I hope the truly passionate and true fans of real human creativity will turn away from this. Record companies have always pushed easily manipulated garbage when they can get a way with it and generally the masses buy into it. Real fans of music however don’t and I can only hope they turn to the truly independent creators for their entertainment and appreciation that if they don’t support them then it will be gone forever. People like you Mary are so important in this first wave of change and it does give me hope. Maybe if the big companies are distracted by peddling their disposable brain dead garbage to those that accept it, then we, the true creatives and fans can exit and enjoy our arts unfiltered, untampered and unhampered. I hope 🤞
Great rant…well spoken. This has been a concern I’ve had for many years in watching this trend away from real, heartfelt music and less regard for the careers and livelihood of the true artists. Additionally, sickened at the damage to the young listening audience having soulless, robotic music as a benchmark of musical “taste”. The good news is that with the current state of technology and the music business, independent artists can compete on a somewhat level playing field without having to be signed by a label. As depressing as it is to hear so much lame content, it’s equally inspiring to hear some great talent. Thanks for your good work, Mary.
Mary - I’m a full time musician and been following you for some time. I agree 100% with you and so glad you posted this. This is sick and very scary for the future of music. In our band we love writing and performing. It’s so fun to play live and connect with an audience. I hope this AI bull crap is not the beginning of the end.
Mary - thank you. I have been watching the new music industry and also have watched musicians lose many battles with labels. There is more at play than this one computer generated creation. Actually - the trend in technology is going to push this type of ‘fad’ further into goggles(don’t want to mention company’s names - fruit is the hint) and virtual reality. In my humble opinion there will be a huge push for this by the year 2030. I will join your email group but know you are not alone in this push. As a studio owner/label and artist - this new tech will not create and inspire young musicians. It will distract the imagination. Thank you!
Mary, is it not frustrating that those who do not need to be swayed were with you from the start while those who don't get it still don't? I am with you on this 100%. But however much I agree, what we understand or want is really of no concern to the people who steer this electronic figment. What matters is how much money do we have in our pockets that they can influence us to part with.
This was hilarious, love that seething rage just under the surface. I think humans will always want real emotions, it's why Nirvana, Eminem and Post Malone have all become big stars.
Doubt it. That strikes me as cope. Technology is the process of replacing the natural with the artificial. In early stages, it's mostly about environment. But as you can see if you look around, it's increasingly encroaching on what it means to be human. Will humans merged with machines or the result of gene-editing care about any of that? I don't see why. Turns out the way to bring about a utopia for mankind is just to do away with mankind, LUL! Oh well!
I think it's good that this is happening because it means the old record labels can get on with doing what they always wanted: being content producers with as little overhead as possible. Musicians and music lovers can move on to creating their own industry / eco-system.
I committed in the 1970's to a life of IT instead of a life of songwriting and performance. Big mistake. On my 18th birthday my prescient Dad gave me a card with a string binding a rolled-up $100 bill and a message saying he acceded to my desire to follow the musician career path, but also saying it came "with strings attached" for me to take singing lessons. Many decades later, and with a back catalog of many songs, I'm taking his sage advice. .If the passion moves you, don't ignore it..
This was news to me, but (sorta?) terrifying. I've used computers, automation, apps to help me write music since I was in middle school, so tech/AI doesn't scare me...the $$$$ of a major record label getting behind it is frightening for the industry. Excited for the new newsletter, Mary! Great reporting on the story, as always.
Interesting how the rebels of yesteryear are selling out. The rebels of today need the clout of Taylor Swift to sidestep "the systems" and get their music brand out the way THEY want. It will be an interesting war of philosophies and approaches to music development and distribution in the years to come. Thank you so much Mary!
Had no idea this existed until this video. Thanks for the heads up Mary. Also now you have an invaluable reason to keep your voiceover work going. (I enjoy your voice immeasurably) Kind regards from an old school music fan
Well said! I am in total agreement: the bottom line is all that matters with big labels! It would be great to have real artists setting up a label for artists - with the royalties being distributed fairly, no matter the visibility' of an artist on the platform. This is fair, empathetic, moral and just!
Signed up for the newsletter! And, thanks for the video! I've never heard of that AI Nanoorie(?) file before. Don't think I want to in the future. Yes, free money is what Warner is after. Totally. I've made about a $100 in my musical career, and spent thousands more. I keep saying I'm going to write and record an album (my last, as I'm old now!) as I love the act of recording music, and writing songs is just a way of getting to do that! I'm not passionate about writing songs anymore. But, I do love trying to get the sounds out of my head and onto tape. As I sit and watch friends put out album after album, I get so insanely jealous of their free time, of their energy, and their ability to tune out the world and just create. Just like I used to. I'm working on it, though. And, I'm working on myself. I want a little bit of life before I leave this mortal coil.
Back in the day, when I was young and America was America, this sort of entertainment was called "cartoons". They came on for four hours on Saturday mornings and featured dozens of various character with different stories. Outside of that time, we had a life out in the real world. It was mostly talking about cartoons, but it was better than just streaming one character 24-7.
Authors, photographers, and many other creators are feeling the sting of AI, so the thought of AI-created music isn't far-fetched. Technology is always a two-edged sword. We must find a way to adapt. Great video, Mary. Please, keep them coming.
I guess this unfortunate trash is the modern day equivalent of elevator muzak. No soul or emotion, churned out by a self aware toaster. It sickens me and of course it is entirely driven by naked corporate greed. Well articulated indeed Mary.
@@kennycube5126This is a great comment. I'm a musician, and I've spent 34 years of my life working to be the player I am. I played live for the first time in over twenty years last night, and it went wonderfully. Like most people, I enjoyed the music, the commeraderie, and the compliments. Most people don't realize that it's not second nature for me, or for most musicians. I have to work my ass off to be the player I am! Patience, practice, and determination have taken me a long way in the music industry!
No real effective difference between ai pop stars & other manufactured groups used to market music; it's a slightly more honest means of "exploitation" but it only feeds presumed demand if there was no assumed demand it wouldn't be a thing
Just think, once a mega corp like Warner decides what they want you to like, they'll just use a massive AI platform to force you into liking their music, their politics, their point of view on everything. Oh wait, that time is already upon us.
How exactely would they make you like their music? Also why do people care about the political (as an example) opinion of an artist more than their next door neighbour. The person is an artist nothing qualifies that person any more in the topic of politics as yourself or your next door neighbour. (a huge example for me in this case is Bono from U2. He is very vocal about politics and human rights, but U2 as a company is registered in a tax haven and they avoid taxes themselves, so i don't really have a high opinion of anything he says apart from music)
I was ok with this AI artist until the political activism.... .. Surely the subversive agenda of this artist other than music, would be to promote veganism and better treatment for animals as the target audience would be young..er... .. This is somewhat underhand in my book. Subterfuge....
Thanks for your thoughts on this. One thing that I enjoy and that might be a good opportunity for artists is small music venues and festivals. Small enough that TicketMonster, Live N@tion, etc. can't get their grubby paws into the bucket, and keep ticket prices reasonable. Small enough that artists can interact with their fans face-to-face. Small enough that artists can sell music, t-shirts, caps, etc. for additional revenue. There are small bluegrass festivals all around the country that are hosted on someone's property somewhere out in the country. A property owner can add a few dozen up to a couple hundred RV hookups, a tent area, a bath house with restrooms, a concession stand, maybe some food trucks, and a stage. People sit in lawn chairs or on blankets and enjoy the music. Don't tolerate excessive drunkenness or a$$hole type behavior. Impromptu jams in the camping areas are always fun. It doesn't have to be bluegrass, but that template is a good starting point. Anyway, there are still millions who love live music performed by real people, and there are plenty of artists willing to provide. I'd much rather go to a music show with 200 people in attendance than one with thousands.
Your rant was so very much needed and it was about time that someone with an audience the size of yours - and maybe even with some support of even larger channels - tells people what "benefits" to expect from this side of the music industry. Thank you so much for that! In the times when fake accounts on Spotify tend to dominate the playlists and consequently the revenue side of the business, real musicians - be it Pop, Rock, Jazz or whatever genre - are so very much needed to resonate authentically with their listeners and also simply bring real joy to the world instead of artificial emotional emptiness and customer demand synchronised with industry requirements through AI. Real music can get us better through hard times and brings even more joy to the good times! I have been working on the Hi-Fi side of the business for over 35 years now and I firmly believe that all my work would be in vain without real musicians producing emotionally touching music the best possible way. Without real music High End Hi-Fi simply means nothing!
I Don't buy from the major labels. I look out for unknown and upcoming talent. Mary Spender is at the top of my list and I recommend her to everyone I talk to.
Exactly the reason I've been saying AI won't leave musicians jobless, at all... The whole conversation about "AI" (which is just a marketing term to me) is extremely blown out of proportion.
This reminds me of the Black Mirror episode with Miley Cyrus: Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too. It featured a virtual CGI artist made to replace the main character.
Warner Brothers are trying to claim this as a new thing. Does anyone remember "The Archies"? They were a cartoon band originally started in 1968 to sing a song (Sugar sugar) which the Monkees had rejected.
Well, the good news is that this video is the first time I've ever heard of this CGI character or the record deal, so at least their promotion isn't working.
First, Mary you did a great job with this video; rant well deserved. This is wrong on so many levels that it is an assualt on human intelligence. The greed of corporate America knows no end, as such I hope this blows up in their face. Warner Bros. artist should boycott and go public with their disdain. AI and automation is quickly invading the work force, displacing human workers and affecting their lives with no thought on how people will replace lost income. Something like this happened back in the 80's with Max Headroom, it was nothing more than a fad and quickly died out. This Noonoouri will be short lived, appealing to tweens until they grow up and discover boys. Shame on Warner Bros. for even attempting this stunt and insulting their signed artists and our intelligence.
Here's the thing. The "problem" isn't that Warner Music signed and AI act or that it actually exists. The REAL problem is.....there's a MARKET for this?? Who is buying it and how did the bar get set so damn low?? If this is the "future" of music, why bother? I say that because there will not BE music if this is what people want and buy. Just because a couple of companies set things up and rigged this and that, doesn't mean its the only game in town. The "internwebs" work both ways. By 2001, I KNEW then I was done trying to make a living playing music (Austin, Texas area) So I went back to antique auto restoration. I retire from that next year and no longer have to work for a living. So, I will go back to having fun playing music....for free, in the few clubs left have live music in this town. Yes, thats right, the "live music capitol of the world" barely has any live music in it. Why? There's NO MONEY in it!! Everything is so expensive here clubs can't stay open just with live bands.
Too many people fail to realise that record companies are NOT 'music companies.' They do not exist to nurture and encourage artistic endeavour. They are not in business to help musicians achieve their dreams. They are financial investment companies, focused on making as much profit as they can out of as small an investment as they can make.
Cameron Hanes has it right….”nobody cares, work harder”…..work for yourself and earn the benefits (you also bear the risks) NOBODY is coming to save you. Keep it up Mary, you get it.
Well said. Artists think i to new areas. Take risks. Have beliefs. Create Change. Innovate. They do not create an ego massage based on what the generalized current trends are.
Can someone explain to me, like I'm 5, why this is a big deal? It's not like they're about to fire their flesh and bone artists just because there's this one novelty AI artist whose novelty will wear thin in about 10 months. Also, the music that thing sings is still being made by humans, so who cares? Besides, corporate culture has been anti-consumer and anti-worker for several decades already, the existence of this thing isn't what started it. Not to mention that most crappy flesh and bone popstars like Justin Bieber don't even write their own songs, and basically perform exactly what the corporate committees want them to perform, so they're no different from a CGI talking head.
The corporate music industry has been try to control what consumers listen to from the beginning. New ideas from artists have driven the trends and pushed music out of normal boundaries. Now the industry thinks they have figured out the golden calf. They can control the artist and the content completely with some type of AI but they will discover the trends will change and they will lose control. Music trends flow and change because corporations start churning out varying copies of original material. The consumers grow bored and only creative original music can fill the void. We can observe this all through the history. Examples would be the change from shred rock to grunge and prog to punk. How is AI going to figure out what is the direction. It follows. It doesn’t lead. Watching a computer play an instrument would be boring after a few minutes. Watching a human playing and instrument is captivating and will always remain so.
Totally agree that this is dystopian as hell. The only thing that gives me hope is that much of what they're doing on the tech/machine learning side can be done with open source tools. So while they're pumping out a bunch of milk toast trash for the masses, real artists and musicians will be able to make far more interesting and creative stuff.
From what I've heard in the past several years, it sounds like AI has been secretly slipped into pop music already. It certainly sounds like there isn't much human passion or love in a lot of it. This is probably just the mask coming off.
Baaaad Mary! You asked a question of Dua Lipa that she dare not answer. She cannot express her opinion of Noonouri because the same person "pays" both of them.
No soul, not art. The flaw/imperfections of humans/artists are what makes us unique. Hence the feel, the soul, and substance of the artistry. No soul, it falls/feels flat.
Good rant! It’s becoming increasingly important to spot that good music is alive and well, but now lives amongst the independents, like good coffee and cake 😁
A record label's only interest is in selling widgets. Nanoori is a widget. They've achieved homeostasis.Artists, like you and I, have always wrongly believed that the songs are the widget. They are not. If we're not willing to BE the widget, we need to continue the DIY process and stay true to selling our SONGS.
I so agree with your excellent rant. As well as music, I am also a photographer, which is becoming more AI driven every day. Algorithms that process text into digital pictures, or regurgitated 'music' from cartoon dummies are a potential blight on the real talent out there. I just hope people see the light before we lose it to the boring gloom of repetitively copied rubbish. Still, being positive I'm very much looking forward to receiving your CD :) You are a talent that I believe will survive, along with many others I hope. Take care, Rod.
The shortsightedness of huge companies never fails to boggle my mind. When the working class are all penniless, how do they think we will afford to buy their products? Morons.
I blame the fans more than the record companies. If fans rejected fake artists, and fake music over the past few decades - they'd reject this too. But they don't care. They don't care for talent, or authenticity.
First thing that came to mind is that he has more than a bit of Michael Shannon as Zod look, and as we all know, Zod’s mission was not evil, just misunderstood.
Instead of getting rid of artists, we should get rid of record executives, publishers, etc. They are parasites. Surely AI could run a real human's music, writing, or artistic career, without needing multiple mansions, yachts, vacation homes etc. I can see it now, a $100 software package running the careers of every type of artist, and a bunch of former executive parasites living under an overpass.
