Future of music in the AI world

Inspired by Agnieszka W?clewska comment I've decided to create an article discussing the fate of music as a field of art in the light of modern technology. Below I've answered a few questions that she put.

Would AI allow for creating totally new genres?

Music genres are evolving. In most cases, a new genre is a conjunction of some other genres. The more groups of different cultures the faster music is evolving. New Orléans at the beginning of the 20th century was a thick soup of variety cultures (African, Cuban, European, and many others). This conditions resulted in foundations of modern entertainment music - blues and jazz. 

You can't really imagine music without technology" ~ Brian Eno

It's obvious that today without technology we will be listening to the same music as hundreds of years back. Evolution of music is closely related to the development of technology. Just take a look at music revenue across years. The biggest impact in music growth was always connected with introducing new music supporting technology to the world.

• Vinyl - 50's, 
• Cassette - 80's, 
• CD - 90's 
• Mp3 - 00's
• Streaming from 10's

"New formats and devices changed not only the way music was consumed, but the very way artists created it" ~ Edgar Bronfman

In my opinion, a new considerate genre can permanently emerge only if two of the conditions are met:

• There is a new area in the music industry, new space to create this new 'kind' of music.
• There is a group of people, that creates new energy, capable to push unknown music being into life.

How does AI compare to musicians or artists?

A lot of my musicians' friends asks me the same question over and over, fearing for their future.

Will Artificial Intellignece replace musicians or life music?

As well as electric guitars, music effects, and vocoders, AI is only a tool, that can be used in the music creation process. Music is something more than just periodic air disturbances. Music is an act of expression performed by and to people. It's a language that everyone understands, but we can only attempt to grasp its complexity.

What are the most likely possibilities?

"The thing that's going to make artificial intelligence so powerful is its ability to learn, and the way AI learns is to look at human culture."~ Dan Brown

A huge barrier for uneducated musicians is the understanding of harmony. They often try to mimic a certain style, but in more advanced music it didn't end up well. Let's look at electronic music producers. They are searching for new sounds, trying new rhythms and harmonic patterns. Is jazz harmony forbidden for these people? I guess it's not. You don't have to understand everything you are using. There is plenty of space for AI in the automatic generation of musical content like harmony. We can only guess how useful will be a tool that proposes jazz sounding patterns for house producers.

Did you ever felt a lack of inspiration? What can help then? Going outside, simple talk maybe some other refreshing impulse, that gives you new energy to continue the act of creation. Sometimes even one word suggested by another person can give you a fresh view from another perspective. What It will be if we will have such an advisor with us when we want? ... Wait! Isn't that a job for AI? Yeah, that's what it's made for. Imagine rainbow box (black is overrated it's killing creativity) that offers you ideas that match your creation.

It's up to you how will you use the power of AI, there is no need for developers but for innovators that creates solutions for problems, that we don't even know we had. Be creative.

Mateusz Dorobek - 16 July 2019