Music lives in a discourse that pushes the notion that everything is a zero-sum game. It’s not. Music is much more than that, music happens in multiplayer mode. It’s impossible to reduce music to binary settings. We see zero-sum thinking and reasoning time and time again, though. Most recently with the lawsuit by the major labels against Udio and Suno. The majors are seeking declarations, injunctions, and damages. Udio and Suno claim fair use and bang on how they seek ‘new music.’ The outcome is predictable: the labels will get their catalogues licensed and might even get a stake in the two companies. Where does this leave the artists? The ones whose music the gen AI music models have been trained on? The ones who want to engage with AI tools? There’s no mention of them. There was a brief moment last year where it looked like artists might get a seat at the table this time round. Voice-Swap shows that this can indeed be the case, but the seats at the top table seem far off now.
We’ve seen this before. Most recently during the Web3 boom in 2021. Artists could set their own prices on new marketplaces like SuperRare and then Catalog or through protocols like Nina. This then evolved to include more direct-to-fan interactions, finding cult fans, and opening up new music economies based around an artist. However, this didn’t disrupt the music industry - although it may have had a hand in kickstarting the current superfan hype.
What these two episodes tell us is that the music industry is not dualistic. There’s always a dominant narrative - right now that’s still streaming - but also always multiple other narratives. And the tussle between all of those is not a zero-sum game, there’s no single winner. Media arcs and even company statements might make it feel way, but it’s simply not the case.
Multiplicities
We love to share stories. We also love singular truths to guide us through our daily lives. The narratives that exist, however, are not singular. Even within the life of a single musician, there’s at least a dozen different narratives - from music maker to marketeer and from engineer to publicist. We can boil this down to talking about how this musician lives inside our broken streaming economy, but that takes away the multiplicity of their being.
We have long looked at history as this ever-increasing compression of space and time. From at least the Industrial Revolution onwards this is the dominant narrative of our human and technology evolution. There are counters to this, such as the Arts & Crafts Movement, which was as much about urbanization as it was about the industrial revolutions. Similarly, there are different ways of looking, and listening, to this unifying narrative of compression of time and space. Take the church bell in rural 19th Century, this created an aural space that is diametrically opposed to that narrative of compression. In other words, there was no unifying compression of speed and time. There were multiple versions of that all happening during the same time.
All this to say that while we love a story, we’re always at risk of falling into the trap of understanding the world through this unifying narrative. The further downside of that, is that it makes the world dualistic and brings into focus zero-sum game thinking.
Building new narratives of multiplicity
When you see headlines such as the major labels suing start-ups such as Suno and Udio, the tendency is to fall into zero-sum game thinking. To avoid this from happening, take the following into consideration:
There are always longer histories at play - consider the broader institutional knowledge that is relevant to the headline
Take a step back and look for music that you love, listen to it
Then consider what the constellation was that made that music a reality
If you then want to go back to the headline, put it into the context of the narrative of multiplicities that the constellation required to make the music you just listened to
When I think about emerging technologies specifically, I’m reminded of this quote by the artist Kevin Abosch:
“What I find so valuable in AI, and deep-learning algorithms in particular, is its power to surface that which I may not have been able to without assistance. In working intimately with AI, the artist has the opportunity to come under the influence of the machine. This is not a simple transaction from which one walks away unchanged. The machine can teach us a different way of looking at a subject, often leaving us with another understanding and with enhanced sensibilities. We are changed.”
There’s not a simple, single truth, way of doing something. New technologies, be it an NFT or a generative AI tool, will never provide a new single truth. Instead, they offer new paths, and new routes that augment our already multiplicitous selves. Understanding this, accepting this, taking the time to come to terms with this helps us move away from zero-sum thinking and towards embracing a knowledge-based perspective on new technologies.
Share MUSIC x
LINKS
💪 4 Lessons on training AI from the data debacles with Sony, Scarlett Johansson and more (Virginie Berger)
“AI risks stripping away incentives for humans to innovate and weakening artists' and audiences' sense of identity by reductively duplicating the essence of what people create - the pillars underpinning cultural evolution and exploring the human condition. Framing AI as a democratizing force follows a simplistic, rules-based view overlooking art's nuanced complexity.”
✘ Virginie’s writing about AI and music is a must-read for all readers. She’s specific about how Gen AI doesn’t democratize anything around music production. It’s important to highlight because it brings into focus our tendency for zero-sum thinking.
🤔 Metal Machine Music - Can AI think creatively? Can we? (Laurent Dubreuil)
“Of course, our machines are not “trying” to say anything. But the irony is that, despite all my reservations about Turing’s prophesies, part of my scholarly work in our GPT-3 experiment involved precisely reading, deciphering, and interpreting the sayings of the machine.”
✘ This is a great lesson on how engaging with AI critically and creatively works. It helps to showcase the multiplicities requires to even engage with a new tool in a way that embraces knowledgeable perspectives.
🎮 NewJeans in PUBG: K-pop joins forces with games to create synergy (Dong Sun-hwa)
“On June 12, Krafton unveiled NewJeans-themed in-game content and collaborative items such as costume sets, weapon skins and sprays for PUBG: Battlegrounds players. With this update, the number of concurrent users peaked at 661,283 on June 13, according to game platform Steam.”
✘ There’s more updates in the articles of other collabs. Overall, the relationship between KPop and game developers continues to get stronger. It’s smart to keep a finger on the pulse, even if just for inspiration.
💎 Taylor Deupree and Joseph Branciforte on transcribing an electronic classic (David Abravanel)
“The instrumentation on each track was often a combination of top-down thinking (i.e. “we think these instruments would be interesting”) and bottom-up (i.e. “this sound or register can only really be achieved by a certain instrument” or “we know the following people who are available on the following dates”). In this way, the arrangements evolved organically, in response to Taylor’s initial suggestions, my own orchestration ideas, and a roster of players with whom I had worked closely on previous projects.”
Joseph Branciforte
✘ I love good writing about music, especially if it’s about such a great project as this. There’s thoughtful analysis here from both artists involved and great questions from David. A must-read and must-listen.
👷 6 ways to involve and engage yourfanbase (Jamie Reddington)
“Co-create: this is really about making people feel a part of what you do, and there are many ways to do it.. But making stuff together is one of the best. It doesn't have to be making music, it can just be starting a conversation and letting people see themselves in what you do. A simple idea is co-creating or crowdsourcing art work and content ideas.”
✘ For those of you who read this newsletter regularly, you’ll know I supported Jamie in his latest SCENES project and record as Sound of Fractures. Here, he shares some take aways - all of them are great advice.
MUSIC
I love the curation of Opium Hum as Hyper Real Radio. The mixes he commissions from artists are all amazing. The latest one is by Softmatter, an artist I wasn’t aware of before. This isn’t a mix full of bangers, but it is full of thoughtful, deconstructed dance music that veers across a broad spectrum of sonic experiences.
