Will AI Change How Music Works?

James Alvich, MAS (Music and Strategy)’s co-founder and president, has music running through his veins. He’s spent time working at the world’s top agencies and with household name brands, including Verizon, AT&T, Amex, and American Eagle. Over that time, he’s made a habit out of producing original music which resonates with people. It’s the kind of thing which is as far from predictable, auto-generated fare as it’s possible to get. 

As a result, James has been thinking about AI. Not just in the context of our own industry, but also on the deep, emotional level on which we all encounter music in our lives. Many of us fall in love with music in the formative periods of our lives - as teenagers, we obsess over the albums and tracks that speak to us. So could it ever be possible that AI-generated tracks might elicit the same kind of genuine passion and connection to music for future generations? 

“I don’t think it’s wrong to fall in love with any kind of music”, he says. “However, let's dissect what it means to ‘fall in love’ with music. When I started exploring different genres, it wasn’t just the music that intrigued me - it was the lifestyle and the stories behind it. Take The Velvet Underground, for example. When I first discovered them, everything they did pre-my existence on this planet was incredibly interesting. Despite their relative lack of commercial success, they are one of the most influential rock bands ever”. 

The MAS co-founder goes on to explain how, when we listen to music, it’s not just the music that engages our imaginations. “AI simply can’t create those stories by itself. If there is a human behind the music using AI to create new tunes, like Drake did in his rap battle with Kendrick, that’s interesting”, he continues. “Culture informs music, and when you fall in love with something, whether it’s country, rap, or punk rock, you also develop an affinity for the culture”. 

That kind of cultural, community-driven relevance is a far cry from the intensely personalised outputs of AI, James suggests. “If a machine creates an amazing punk rock track that reminds me of Fugazi, then what? Typing in some words to produce a well-produced track isn’t what music is all about”, he says. “Four and a half million people showed up to watch Taylor Swift. That’s not just about her music; it’s about her story, her persona, and her connection to the audience”. 

Robot Rock? 

In the world of commercial music, that ability to connect with people on a deeper level is abundantly clear. But does it also apply in the world of advertising? 

Earlier this year, one of James’ LinkedIn posts ignited discussion after he pointed out how certain CMOs might be looking towards AI as a cost-cutting measure, in turn “treating [music] as a line item rather than a creative essence”. Following up on that, I asked him whether this was really about AI at all, and more connected to a longer-term problem of devaluing creative work in which AI is simply the latest symptom. 

“Absolutely. Look, the CMO I referenced in my post would never work with a company like MAS anyway. We offer a white-glove approach to music. If he weren’t using AI, then he’d use some dollar-a-track library”, he says. “I do think corporations, while being more profitable than ever, have gone cost-cutting crazy in all facets of production - not just in the music category - which has affected creativity. There is still great work being produced, but my personal feeling is that we’ve lost focus on what people react to”. 

However, James isn’t all doom and gloom. Whilst the ability to cut costs with AI leaves a sour taste, there’s a much broader picture when it comes to AI’s impact on creative work. 

“I actually think AI is going to help us become more creative”, posits James. “Certain hard skills might be lost in the process, similar to how adjusting an f-stop and using a light metre on a camera became less common with the introduction of digital cameras and iPhones - and yet amazing, artful photography very much still exists”. 

Along the way, however, there are going to be hurdles to overcome. Not least among them is the vague legality of using AI-generated music, and precisely who needs to be credited - and paid - when working with AI tracks. “It’s a huge question, and I think we will eventually see a royalties-style system of remuneration for artists”, suggests James. “However, enforcing this will be incredibly difficult given the sheer volume of music that will be created daily, especially since AI models are trained on all existing music”. 

For James, the ideal creative workflow of the future will involve high-quality artists working hand-in-hand with AI. “I’m sure that MAS will soon start receiving sketches from agencies of tracks created by AI, and they might even have demo love - especially for music-fronted campaigns”, he says. “If I were an agency creative who just wrote a script involving music and lyrics, I’d want to hear it come to life. If there’s a platform that could give me an idea with my words to help sell this idea, why not use it?”

At that point, however, human expertise would step in to drive the process. “We may need to adapt versions, create different language versions, or rewrite the whole thing based on client feedback”, predicts James. “We will be very much involved, especially since most lawyers are not allowing anything AI-generated on the air due to too many unknowns… for now”. 

Going back to that sensation of discovering a life-altering piece of music for the first time, there’s a strong chance that the impact of AI on music will be equally profound. But, this needn’t be a story of people being replaced by machines. After all, the magic of music has always been its ability to connect to our organic imaginations - whether that be through albums or ads. 

As James puts it, there’s every reason to believe that “AI can help to continue the creative journey, and enable us to make better work”.