Milli Vanilli and A.I are related

I saw an article on an updated documentary on the duo Milli Vanilli the tarnished musical duo of late 80's early 90's. The guys had a international hit record named ''Girl you know it's True''. There names were Robert Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan. They were of German-French lineage. However, they never sang on the album and were just essentially ''eye candy''. The two got busted lip synching during a performance! This collapsed and ruined there careers. At the end of the day the two were just hired hands that were actually singers. The producer of the project Frank Farlan hired them after the project was finished. Sounds like in this era not earth shattering with all that has happened since then.

The album sold seven million albums and won best new artist Grammy. They were the scapegoats because the artist is the face and most think the artist does everything when the artist is just the front. These two gentlemen were not the brains of the operation. The greater story was they were not authentic! Milli Vanilli was a facsimile. Now let's fast forward 34 years later and fake/facsimile is being heralded as innovative. We are now in a era where the facsimile is the future. Fake/artificial is hailed as okay. The derivative is being heralded as a real thing for consumption. In this time period what Milli Vanilli did would be a blip in the news or it wouldn't even be news.

What Milli Vanilli did would be called innovation or innovative. It would be hailed as genius. We now have A.I copies of Drake, Rihanna which are being heralded by certain interest as the future! They are being uploaded to the streaming sites and generating hundreds of thousands of streams before take down. In 2023 artificial is not the end of a career but now a beginning.

The music industry is a unpaid merged business owned by the ''Digerati'' all of this derivative is heralded! The Digerati in the zeroes into the teens (late 2010's) didn't pay any usage fees and became a trillion dollar economy! The Digerati controls the agenda and the narrative. The musicians, producers, labels, managers and the artists do not have the power and decision making of the pre 2000's. It is the zeroes and ones people who are the controllers! Once Napster was placed out in the wild, it was a just a ticking bomb. The Digerati needed/needs the music (low hanging fruit) to feed their pipes but without paying. The music types had no clue what they were up against! The execs at the time were just collecting 19.99 per cd and the profits were quite yummy.

In 1999 I was just starting out and had no clue. I thought it was about the quality of artist and the song. I was into the romance of it all. That was no excuse because in your business plan you are suppose to investigate anything that comes out. I can now admit I did not. I did know change was coming but didn't have a vision because as a independent record label I was using on the digital tools but the masses were not there on the sites. I was using the sites because of the cost rationale. Those companies (startups) you could talk to the decision makers directly. There was no bureaucracy in those early days. I went to many start up offices! I was seeking any edge I could acquire because I knew I couldn't win on budget but maybe on tactics and strategies. We made a lot of headway but never got above that glass ceiling.

I was always short because I couldn't have enough dollars. I would always have to prioritize which is never good. I was always playing the chasing dollar game when I should have been playing the creative vision game during the 00's. I was everywhere I could be 41 states out of the 50 states.

Now back to the main subject! The A.I is doing things that Milli Vanilli was accused of. Faking it! Yet now it is being considered a genius move. What changed in thirty years? For me the Digerati agenda is prominent now. The Digerati being considered God like. The Digerati having an unlimited war chest due to their trillion dollar economy. Just look at Apple Music. Apple could purchase the remaining major labels for 130 billion estimated and could purchase from cash not debt. But as I said they purchased without buying two decades ago.

The majors were like ''Debeers'' of the diamond industry thirty years ago. The majors similarly to Debeers controlled the flow of music. Now since the emergence of digital tech/Algorithms/ A.I you have 120k records a day! The majors were seeking artists! The Digerati platforms are seeking creators. Those are two different individuals. Two different mindsets. I will state here that the artist is the long game and the creator is the short game.

The music industry does not control the supply anymore. The strength of A.I is faster and cheaper! The A.I folks do not say more valuable. Also the hidden bomb of the A.I is a covert assault on the copyright! More and more free music. This will eventually attack the master rights value! The original song will lose value because the Cover or copy could now be made. You just would have to deal with publisher. This is already happening with this newer generation growing up with music being a utility. The trend will only grow with all of the A.I's being quote unquote trained. I call it collecting all human inputs available. the human condition dictates that this ''creative output'' will increase because of the speed of A.I. The speed is the overwhelming key.

The words utilized so much by the Digerati are fair and democratic. Music is never fair and music isn't political. The verbiage is delusional yet this verbiage will increase this tsunami. Music is now seen through ''political theatre''. The artist is not the conscious of society anymore like in the 60's - 90's. If the artist can't speak up who can? The creator can't because they are beholden to the platform! Creators are not artist in my vision. It is time we stop seeing them as equals. Artists stand alone!

A very eye opening cultural commercial moment was a Door Dash commercial I see always on the Tubi App. the premise is you can Door Dash at anytime while you chase your dream releasing music from your bedroom. Every time I see this it say's this is where music is now..... in your bedroom! Message: Door Dash allows you to create. Door dash allows you to become a ''fragment of data''.

A.I only cost you time not cash!! That is the new bottom line. Time on the internet....time on ChatGpt! This means time is the premium in the A.I economy! Time not dollars is your budget.

To close, if there was a ChatGpt in 1989 the producer would have spat into ChatGpt and it would have spat out a solution over and over until may be Milli Vanelli would have come out.

#music #ai #musichistory #musicarticle #musicalthought #musicchatgpt

#milliivanelli #doordash #musicproduction