CEO of AI music generation firm Suno claims majority of people don't "enjoy" making music

[Pinback]

https://musictech.com/news/music/suno-ceo-music-making-ai/

I mean, why go through the drudgery of learning scales, chords, and rudiments, or understanding production and recording gear and techniques when you could just type "Generate power ballad in E" into a computer interface?

From MusicTech:
The executive’s latest take on music creation has the industry up in arms.

Suno CEO Mikey Shulman has claimed that most people don’t actually “enjoy the majority of the time they spend making music”. The AI music generation startup executive shares his controversial take on the creative process in a recent interview on the 20VC podcast, during which he asserts that music-making is “not really enjoyable” due to the amount of time and practice it demands.

Expounding on his vision for the future of music — one he believes Suno is poised to help realise — Shulman explains: “We didn’t just want to build a company that makes the current crop of creators 10 percent faster or makes it 10 percent easier to make music. If you want to impact the way a billion people experience music you have to build something for a billion people.”

--- SNIP ---

For many, Shulman’s comments underscore a fundamental misunderstanding of the creative process — where fulfillment is found not solely in the result, but in the very act of creation itself.

Describing Shulman’s interview as “very revealing”, one user on Twitter/ X wrote: “The solutionist language just doesn’t make sense for art, or for other things where the work is the enjoyment, but the tech companies seem stuck in their story”.

- more at link: https://musictech.com/news/music/suno-ceo-music-making-ai/

This is the same guy whose company has fed copyrighted music into its Artificial Intelligence model with no compensation paid to artists or recording labels, similar to the way OpenAI and others have ripped off creators of copyrighted text and visual art. As a result, RIAA has filed a lawsuit seeking $150,000 in damages from Suno and fellow AI music purveyor Udio for each infringed work.
https://musictech.com/features/opinion-analysis/will-riaa-lawsuit-against-generative-ai-udio-suno-win/

This technology may explain the jazz-lite swill I heard in a coffee shop the other day (probably a Spotify playlist of "Jazz for a rainy afternoon" or some such). The tune was pleasant enough -- or at least unobtrusive -- and sounded vaguely like a formulaic standard from years gone by, played with the requisite degree of languor by a piano trio. The pianist (or AI-generated MIDI piano track, more likely) was inconsistently rushing the whole time, except when they got to the bridge, when the piano part was suddenly 100% locked into the rhythm played by the "bassist" and "drummer" (quotes assuming they were as robotic as they sounded). I guess somebody quantized that part but randomized the rest, or something. The result was inoffensive as sonic wallpaper, but annoying for a jazz aficionado paying attention.

This all dovetails neatly with Spotify's "Perfect Fit Content" program, as described in the current Harpers Magazine cover story, "The Ghosts in the Machine."

[Think. Again.]

1. That's probably why the majority of people....

...aren't musicians.

[RainCaster]

2. He didn't ask his employees...

I found through many decades in high tech that software engineers have an extraordinary aptitude and passion for music. In every engineering department would be a large number of engineers with guitars or keyboards in their offices. Many others had woodwinds. It's just part of the needed skill set to be a good programmer- you need to think in a variety of languages. Most are also multi-lingual.

[Pinback]

5. Yes, my experience also.

I worked in IT for quite a few years and met many more musicians in those roles than in any other previous fields I'd worked in. One of the best software developers I ever worked with was also a professional-caliber acoustic guitarist. Just one of many examples.

[highplainsdem]

3. Shulman really put his foot in it. LBN thread:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143372401

[Pinback]

4. Thanks - I missed that thread. (nt)

[highplainsdem]

6. I'm glad you posted about it here, too.

[msongs]

7. recent generations decided music should be free. now they get. music not worth buying lol. nt