Hello, allow me to introduce myself.
I'm Sönke aka Low Entropy, been around in the Hardcore Techno scene for over 25 years now.I produced 2000-3000 tracks (I stopped counting at some point) and did over 300 releases on various formats such as digital, vinyl, CD, cassette, and more (mostly digital, even though I started with vinyl ;-).
Some were put out by big labels, some by DIY labels, some on my own.
My music has been played in clubs all around the world and mentioned in a lot of music magazines (The Wire, Pitchfork, Fact Magazine, etc etc.)
As this is an internet post, I know some people will doubt the "successful" part.
But you can, for example, see that I'm currently at the top spot of the "Doomcore" Techno[1] genre listing at discogs.com here: https://www.discogs.com/style/doomcore (oh and ignore the artist picture on there, that was taken 23 years ago when I was much fatter and looked more dorky... I mean a little fatter...or was it the same weight... ah shut up, we all have body issues, right?).
Anyway, doubt it or believe it, it's up to you.
I don't want to do an ego-wank here, it's just an introduction to my following statement:
I wouldn't care if an AI (or several AIs!) completely replace(s) my music production in the future.
If it turns out that an AI is just as good as doing music, or even better, then I would not mind if an AI produces all the music in the future.
And why would I not mind?
Well, I listed what I did above. Can you imagine how much work that was? To do all these tracks, releases? And all the stress and pressure and exhaustion and everything. Deadlines approaching. Labels / collaborators / reviewers bugging me. "When is the release ready?". and so on. Plus the stress of preparing for gigs etc.
The idea that an AI is just as good (or better) at doing music than me, and produces this music in the future is like a wet dream to me (if we assume my music is actually good, btw ;-)
I mean, think of it.
There's Old Poppa Joe[2] and he is working his back to crumbs in order to maintain his farm and plant all the seeds and harvest everything in the fall, and by all the other work he has to do on the farm.
Now Old Poppa Joe hears that "intelligent farm robots" have been invented, that can do all the work he does, just as well as he is able to do, for him,
Do you think Old Poppa Joe will think "Ah damn I was so keen on working my back to crumbs, now this has been prevented, grrr, I hate the world"?
No!
Anyone who does hard work would love the idea that a machine gets invented *that does all the work for them*.
That's literally one of the oldest dreams of mankind.
Even the 'old Greeks'[3] dreamed of that.
Now you might say: "but doing music / art is not "hard" work".
Yeah, okay. I am happy that I was not forced to work in a coal mine or had a similar occupation in my life. That's true.
But while a life of being an artist might not be as harmful to the physical body (all the heroin users and STD cripples among the art community might disagree, though).
Doing art can be extremely stressful, tiresome, and even dangerous to the mind, the soul, the psyche.
After all, I bet 99% of you "AI should not replace human artists" types believe in the "art is suffering, genius is pain"[4] trope at the same time - you little hypocrites, tsk tsk!
Some say Kurt Cobain, Ian Curtis, Brian Jones, John Lennon and maybe even Syd Barret were doing - more or less - okay before the stress of the music business, the producing, the touring, the pressure, ground them down (well, maybe not true in the case of Kurt!).
So to remove this stress and pain from the poor souls who do art would be a blessing and for the benefit of all mankind.
Do you really want a world where artists have to bear this, when there are AIs around that could take their burden away?
As I said: no one who has to do hard work (of a mind, body, or soul kind) would mind if a machine / AI gets invented that will do all the work *for them* in the future, which means they've become free to fuck off[5] and do what they want in their sudden influx of free time, and allows them to explore and chase all their other dreams.
You might say: "But... but...
Even in the case of Old Poppa Joe. That poor geezer has worked on the farm all of his life. He will terrible miss doing all these things, if the farm robots now do all the work for him".
Well yeah, guess what. Here is some news for you.
Even if a machine does your manual work.
Even if an AI creates your music.
This just means you are free of *having to do this particular type of work*.
This does *not mean* you are no longer allowed to do the activity you liked.
Old Poppa Joe is still free to do some 'farm work' in his free time if he likes. But he does not have to work his back to crumbs in order to do so.
An artist is still allowed to produce an own track now and then, even if an AI usually does that for them.
But they are also free to spent their time and energy on other things.
It's called freedom - the freedom of choice!
And AI offers this choice - hopefully to everyone!
So yeah.
Dear AI, please come down from your digital heaven, and replace my music production in the future!
Footnotes and References:
1: Doomcore is a sub-genre of Hardcore Techno for slower and more somber music. https://microgenremusic.com/genres/what-is-doomcore/
2: The very fictional name for this example was inspired by that old techno-dance classic, "Old Pop in an Oak" by Rednex https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YuJZzuHDf8
3: As we Germans call that ancient era. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikes_Griechenland
4. "Genius is pain!" - John Lennon in that infamous Rolling Stones interview full of profanities. https://www.johnlennon.com/music/interviews/rolling-stone-interview-1970/
5. "Our artists have the freedom to fuck off" - supposedly a clause in the recording contracts that bands signed with Factory Records (label of Joy Division, New Order, and more). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwkzz6A_Qv4
No comments:
Post a Comment