What will the future hold for AI and music? Things may be starting to become clear – National

Singapore hosts a conference called All That Matters every September prior to the F1 race. Thinkers, creators and entrepreneurs from across Asia come together to discuss the latest trends in sports, technology, marketing, gaming and music. I try to go every year because Asia is already living the future in many ways. (Actually, that's not true. They live in the present. It's part of the West that clings to the past. But I digress.)

Artificial intelligence was central to many of the sessions, especially those dealing with music. There was a lot of discussion about how AI will be incorporated into music production, music distribution, copyright, etc. I took notes.

The internet is changing again

The internet we have become accustomed to is once again changing rapidly. Thanks to AI-powered search, the browser wars are also back. I'm trying out Comet, a new browser from the developers of the AI ​​program Perplexity. It still has some rough edges, but I find myself liking it more than Google. Again, Google has its own AI called Gemini that is going up against Microsoft's Co-Pilot.

5:22
How AI helped the Beatles and how it impacts the music industry

AI programs that create music are coming soon

The past quarter century has been a time of change in consumption, from CDs to MP3s, piracy to streaming, and a detour into vinyl. The next decade will see major changes in creation. All you want to do is ignore or despise it, but it will happen.

Get daily national news

Get the day's top news, politics, economics and current affairs headlines delivered to your inbox once a day.

When it comes to synthetic music creation, the main stars are Suno and Anthropic. These two generative AI programs continue to improve when it comes to creating music based on user prompts. Both companies are deeply involved in litigation with rights holders and labels, but it is expected that a licensing agreement will be signed with a major label sooner or later. This means more human-created music will be used to feed the models behind the AI ​​programs. By this time next year, these programs will be able to analyze trillions of data points when responding to prompts. More data points means (theoretically) more real, and this is important, emotional music. This is predicted to usher in a new era in the recorded music industry.

One way to achieve this is to simplify the user interface. One of the biggest problems with computer programs is learning how to use them. Today, the idea is that less is more when it comes to user interfaces (UI). We're getting closer to a situation where the program says, “Tell me what to do, and I'll pull all the tools that exist in the cloud and do it.” There are already programs that allow you to just hum an idea and get the music produced back to you.

But what about artists?

This time, the bulls outnumbered the bears. Let's take a look at how AI could benefit musicians in the near future.

AI gives fans the opportunity to collaborate more directly with artists and contribute directly to intellectual property. They will be involved in “worldbuilding,” the creation and execution of an artist’s vision, which can lead to fan monetization. In other words, fans will be collaborating on new songs with their favorite musicians. Traditionally, fans have invested a lot of money into artists. New technology allows artists to give something back to their fans. Artists should do that. You should! — Benefit from negotiations between labels, publishers, and generative AI companies. This could be a new form of licensing. — Be more profitable and long-term than the revenue generated from streaming. In that regard, independent and emerging artists are likely to benefit the most. The music supplied to these models comes from all over the world. Artists who learn how to use AI as a music production tool will have access to far more influences than they currently have. They are all stored in the AI ​​model, waiting to be used. AI will further explode the number of people creating music. In Mozart's time, there were probably 50,000 people actively and regularly making music. Today estimates put the number at over 100 million. With AI, even more people will be able to do that. Not all of them are good or worth listening to, but new stars will be discovered. The cost of music production will drop further, even approaching zero. And what about this? Could the rise of AI music accelerate and increase the value of human-created music?

current trends

Very rosy. What about the drawbacks?

Every time some promising technology comes along, there's always some part of humanity that tries to bring it down to the lowest common denominator. (Hello, social media!) There are also ripple effects. For example, if generative AI programs predictably explode, what will happen to real musical instruments and the people who make them? What will happen to traditional recording studios and the people who staff and equip them? Will people in the future go to the trouble of practicing for 10,000 hours to learn to play traditional instruments?

There are others. How is copyright divided? What about unintentional copying, imitation, and derivation of existing works? Is AI training a fair use under current law? What about data privacy?

How will anyone discover new music when music begins to flood, perhaps billions of new works a year? How can future artists find hope? If AI creates billions of new songs every year, could very average music rule the future? What will happen 20 to 50 years from now when AI is indistinguishable from human intelligence?

So, what does the current record label system look like? Is it ethical to sign a recording contract with an AI artist? (Spoiler: It's already happening. Have you heard of Zania Monet yet?)

All conference participants agreed that there are still more questions than answers when it comes to AI and music. But they also agree that the field is moving quickly. Ignore it at your peril.

Curator's Recommendations

© 2025 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.