This is a half-formed thought but ... the panic about AI taking jobs from creatives feels more of an indictment of (American) capitalism than a threat to any concept of "art". AI slop on Spotify only matters because the recording industry hasn't had a business model since 1998.
The job portion is certainly true. I don't think AI slop on Spotify is only threatening to the record industry's model (which you could argue hasn't changed since Baraka was reading it for precisely what it was in Blues People, which could easily be about the 1990s, 2000s, and beyond if you only switched the genres and formats covered). I think it's dangerous because it is confusing to undiscerning consumers, it crowds out art created by humans (and even humans using AI in interesting, challenging, or truly imaginative ways). Unfortunately, I think we're long since past a time when it's easy to disentangle notions of art and commerce. Even definitions of legitimate art before AI entered the picture tend to prove slippery and subject to the eye of the beholder. A glut of generative works that seem like human creations when you squint, but don't hold up to prolonged scrutiny could be good for actually highlighting "hand made" art in the long run and also reinforce some less capitalistic definitions. While I can hope for that, I also imagine that AI music with smoothed edges that amalgamates and imitates the most discernible characteristics of famous bands and genres will, unfortunately, influence what other human beings choose to make by its very presence in playlists and social media feeds.
ok a week later -- I guess my feeling about all of this is that making art is compulsive for artists, even bad ones, so there will always be new music ... and people will always want to pay for good art made by people they like ... that last part is what AI can't really compete with. Like, it's always going to be a Tyler, or a Kendrick, or a Dwight Yoakam, or a Rihanna, or a Prince, or a etc etc. The music industry is rotten, but that's a different issue. AI will homogenize the already homogenizing but increasingly irrelevant monoculture, the every-growing fringes will keep doing whatever.
Spotify's ability to make AI slop is a threat to the b-tier artists ... Tyler will be ok but [insert 6/10 rapper from 2011 here] is going to struggle because they are more replaceable. There are only so many opportunities for artists, and a generic version made by a computer will do the job in a lot of cases. Now, that has a lot more to do with how and why money gets thrown around where than anyone's talent, but it is what it is. If the bar is low, AI will eat your food.
however, most of those opportunities are bullshit! sync money is cool but what if you didn't have to rely on getting a Toyota commercial to eat? what if you were just adequately compensated for your streams? what if you could press up vinyl without wondering if a sudden Adele drop will push your shit back a year? what if small clubs still existing and you could make ends meet touring without having to sleep on floors? what if you didn't get strong-armed into giving half your merch sales to the corporate venue? etc etc etc
really this is just about the wealth gap and the precarity of life in america in 2025. you don't have to zoom out that much to see AI as a (relatively large) straw on a camel's back. everyone's margin of error is razor thin, and this is just another reason to worry.
This is a half-formed thought but ... the panic about AI taking jobs from creatives feels more of an indictment of (American) capitalism than a threat to any concept of "art". AI slop on Spotify only matters because the recording industry hasn't had a business model since 1998.
This piece also really gets to some of my fears: https://substack.com/home/post/p-166902584?selection=6eb9adeb-2468-4fc9-a9de-ba37ee4b2d6a#:~:text=Without%20attribution%2C%20consent%20and%20remuneration%20though%2C%20generative%20AI%20can%20accelerate%20and%20automate%20value%20extraction%2C%20making%20it%20possible%20to%20replicate%20the%20style%20of%20a%20culture%20without%20ever%20needing%20to%20engage%20with%20the%20people%20who%20created%20it
The job portion is certainly true. I don't think AI slop on Spotify is only threatening to the record industry's model (which you could argue hasn't changed since Baraka was reading it for precisely what it was in Blues People, which could easily be about the 1990s, 2000s, and beyond if you only switched the genres and formats covered). I think it's dangerous because it is confusing to undiscerning consumers, it crowds out art created by humans (and even humans using AI in interesting, challenging, or truly imaginative ways). Unfortunately, I think we're long since past a time when it's easy to disentangle notions of art and commerce. Even definitions of legitimate art before AI entered the picture tend to prove slippery and subject to the eye of the beholder. A glut of generative works that seem like human creations when you squint, but don't hold up to prolonged scrutiny could be good for actually highlighting "hand made" art in the long run and also reinforce some less capitalistic definitions. While I can hope for that, I also imagine that AI music with smoothed edges that amalgamates and imitates the most discernible characteristics of famous bands and genres will, unfortunately, influence what other human beings choose to make by its very presence in playlists and social media feeds.
ok a week later -- I guess my feeling about all of this is that making art is compulsive for artists, even bad ones, so there will always be new music ... and people will always want to pay for good art made by people they like ... that last part is what AI can't really compete with. Like, it's always going to be a Tyler, or a Kendrick, or a Dwight Yoakam, or a Rihanna, or a Prince, or a etc etc. The music industry is rotten, but that's a different issue. AI will homogenize the already homogenizing but increasingly irrelevant monoculture, the every-growing fringes will keep doing whatever.
Spotify's ability to make AI slop is a threat to the b-tier artists ... Tyler will be ok but [insert 6/10 rapper from 2011 here] is going to struggle because they are more replaceable. There are only so many opportunities for artists, and a generic version made by a computer will do the job in a lot of cases. Now, that has a lot more to do with how and why money gets thrown around where than anyone's talent, but it is what it is. If the bar is low, AI will eat your food.
however, most of those opportunities are bullshit! sync money is cool but what if you didn't have to rely on getting a Toyota commercial to eat? what if you were just adequately compensated for your streams? what if you could press up vinyl without wondering if a sudden Adele drop will push your shit back a year? what if small clubs still existing and you could make ends meet touring without having to sleep on floors? what if you didn't get strong-armed into giving half your merch sales to the corporate venue? etc etc etc
really this is just about the wealth gap and the precarity of life in america in 2025. you don't have to zoom out that much to see AI as a (relatively large) straw on a camel's back. everyone's margin of error is razor thin, and this is just another reason to worry.