AI-generated jazz solos

[Grigoris]

(Rant mode on
Maybe I'm late to notice that, but I was listening to an album in spotify while at work on my computer and when the album was over, spotify moved on to a playlist of similar music

So after a couple of tracks, this thing came on:


which for the first few seconds it sounded like jazz, but then I started paying attention to the music and it was non sensical; in fact it was as if someone was pretend playing the idiom

so I looked up the "artist" and it's obvious that this is AI crap. The guitar solo was never been played by a human

I let the playlist carry on a bit and then more creepy AI garbage came on, this time a "band" called Seoul Spin Club with another guitar solo, convincing enough to casual listeners

a similar thing happened a couple of weeks ago when a track came on that sounded corny and uncanny at the same time, by "The John Scofield Band"



here it is on the left and on the right, next to real Scofield albums

It shouldn't perhaps bother me as much as it does, but I find it unsettling...

(Rant mode off)

[AllanAllen]

AI needs to be regulated, swiftly and strictly.

[Tal_175]

Computer generated singers have been selling out concerts in Japan for 15 years. That's before all the AI invasion in music:

[mr. beaumont]

My favorite quote on AI so far:

"I want AI to do my laundry and dishes so I can do Art and Writing, not to do Art and Writing so that I can do my laundry and dishes."
--Joanna Maciejewska

[Tal_175]

My favorite quote on AI so far:

"I want AI to do my laundry and dishes so I can do Art and Writing, not to do Art and Writing so that I can do my laundry and dishes."
--Joanna Maciejewska

I don't know, it's hard to understand to what extend our relationship to art is shaped by our perception of it being a culturally significant activity. There is a big element of art that is striving for greatness. Even if we know we'll never get there, we feel like we are climbing the same sacred mountain with an invisible summit that many of the greats once travelled. If one day our phones can produce art that's beyond any humanly achieve summit, we'll be living in a world with a different value structure. Art will lose its status and mystery in that culture I'm afraid.

[ragman1]

Someone showed me those AI programs, like Suno. They're not bad at pop stuff and lyrics.

Instrumentally, they do a style of tune, like jazz, and generate a progression. Chord progressions aren't copyright so they don't really do solos, rather they generate sort of generic single-note lines which cover the chords. To be honest, it's not bad in its way.

sider by @rhapsodicmusiccritic665 | Suno

Other styles, especially classical, merely outline the chord sounds. I suspect this avoids charges of plagiarism which producing actual tunes might incur.

But in the end I didn't last very long because it bored me.

[RJVB]

AI [...] bored me.

Doesn't everything artificial do that in the end?

[mr. beaumont]

I don't know, it's hard to understand to what extend our relationship to art is shaped by our perception of it being a culturally significant activity. There is a big element of art that is striving for greatness. Even if we know we'll never get there, we feel like we are climbing the same sacred mountain with an invisible summit that many of the greats once travelled. If one day our phones can produce art that's beyond any humanly achieve summit, we'll be living in a world with a different value structure. Art will lose its status and mystery in that culture I'm afraid.

Ummm...that's exactly what I'm saying.

Though I'm not sure everyone makes art to strive for greatness. I make art for a lot of reasons. Some are simply because I enjoy it.

[ragman1]

Doesn't everything artificial do that in the end?

Possibly, but not necessarily. It could be improved, I suppose.

Btw, it didn't understand 'modal' :-)

[RJVB]

Btw, it didn't understand 'modal' :-)

Modal, modal.... in dialogues those are the ones that block out all others, no?

Oh, wait, no, dialogs

Not looking forward to the days AI will have learned to stop boring us. Who's going to be doing the boring stuff then ... us?

[Bobby Timmons]

The bot is my best friend besides my dog.

[ragman1]

Your dog doesn't understand modal either

[JazzPadd]

The AI phase seems to coincide, at least in my limited case, with dwindled interest in listening to most recorded music, but with a heightened awareness of joyful musicking out live with others.

[bako]

MWA

This is a link to an organization working on this issue and others of import to musician workers.
Marc Ribot and Jerome Harris are 2 musicians that were involved in the formation.

[ragman1]

When I see the phrase 'Collective Action' I turn off.

[bako]

Playing in a band = Collective Action (on a good day)

Organizing for protection of workers has generally emanated from progressives and hence uses some of that jargon.

Jargon aside, what is your sense of how we can protect the intellectual property of artists from the imminent AI thievery.

[DawgBone]

A great big solar storm will take care of AI before it takes care of real music made by humans. Soon it will all be clean.

I don't sweat this stuff cause even the dumbest person has a brain more advanced that the greatest computer. I don't care what it comes up with it'll all still be fake. Can a machine be soulful? I think not. It can only impersonate soul. Therefore, nothing to freak out about. If you don't like it, stop listening to it because clicking on trash only amplifies it's presence. I never use any AI stuff.

[RyanM]

Need to figure out how to report that AI music being listed in John Scofield Band.

[dot75]

Spotify is apparently (?) trying to do something about this...

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Spotify ejects thousands of AI-made songs in purge of fake streams Platform cracks down on bots posing as listeners as flood of content rattles music industry Spotify’s website on a laptop computer About 100,000 new tracks are added each day to Spotify’s streaming platform © Tiffany Hagler-Geard/Bloomberg Spotify ejects thousands of AI-made songs in purge of fake streams on x (opens in a new window) Spotify ejects thousands of AI-made songs in purge of fake streams on facebook (opens in a new window) Spotify ejects thousands of AI-made songs in purge of fake streams on linkedin (opens in a new window) current progress 98% Anna Nicolaou in New York May 9 2023 56 Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Artificial intelligence myFT Digest -- delivered directly to your inbox. Spotify has removed tens of thousands of songs from artificial intelligence music start-up Boomy, ramping up policing of its platform amid complaints of fraud and clutter across streaming services. In recent months the music industry has been confronting the rise of AI-generated songs and, more broadly, the growing number of tracks inundating streaming platforms daily. Spotify, the largest audio streaming business, recently took down about 7 per cent of the tracks that had been uploaded by Boomy, the equivalent of “tens of thousands” of songs, according to a person familiar with the matter. Recording giant Universal Music had flagged to all the main streaming platforms that it saw suspicious streaming activity on Boomy tracks, according to another person close to the situation. The Boomy songs were removed because of suspected “artificial streaming” — online bots posing as human listeners to inflate the audience numbers for certain songs. AI has made this type of activity easier because it allows someone to instantly generate many music tracks, which can then be uploaded online and streamed. Boomy, which was launched two years ago, allows users to choose various styles or descriptors, such as “rap beats” or “rainy nights”, to create a machine-generated track. Users can then release the music to streaming services, where they will generate royalty payments. California-based Boomy says its users have created more than 14mn songs. Spotify confirmed it had removed some Boomy content. “Artificial streaming is a longstanding, industry-wide issue that Spotify is working to stamp out across our service,” the company said. “We are always encouraged when we see our partners exercise vigilance around the monitoring or activity on their platforms,” said Michael Nash, Universal’s chief digital officer. The crackdown comes as music industry power broker Lucian Grainge has spent the past few months speaking out about the proliferation of songs on platforms such as Spotify, where 100,000 new tracks are being added each day, and growing manipulation of the system. Grainge, Universal’s chief executive, told investors last week that “the recent explosive development in generative AI will, if left unchecked, both increase the flood of unwanted content on platforms and create rights issues with respect to existing copyright law”. Recommended John Gapper Writers vs AI bots is more than a Hollywood drama Members of the Writers Guild of America picket outside Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles While the use of artificial intelligence to create songs is not new, the issue has escalated to the forefront of conversations in the music industry in the past few months. The streaming boom has given rise to an array of services offering artists the chance to buy their way to success. A Google search for “buy Spotify streams” yields millions of results, with sites such as “spotistar.com” offering 1,000 Spotify plays for $6. The Financial Times reported last month that Universal sent a letter to streaming services asking them to crack down on the use of generative AI on their platforms. That same week, a song that used AI to mimic Drake and The Weeknd’s voices went viral on streaming platforms. Spotify’s chief executive Daniel Ek last week told analysts, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it in technology”, regarding how fast AI technology was progressing. Boomy at the weekend resumed submitting new tracks to Spotify. The two sides are negotiating over reinstating the rest of Boomy’s catalogue. The company said: “Boomy is categorically against any type of manipulation or artificial streaming. We are working with industry partners to address this issue.”

[Grigoris]

About 100,000 new tracks are added each day to Spotify’s streaming platform

this is concerning

I read somewhere else that much of academic literature has been polluted in the same way

[emanresu]

this is concerning

I read somewhere else that much of academic literature has been polluted in the same way

Haha

[emanresu]

One way to regulate: AI has to save all it's output crap forever. So it can be tested if a thing is from there by anyone.
Should be the law.
And further: AI should have the copyright, or the company. That would make people cautious to present the work as their own.
Seems harsh but.. can't see any other way.

Btw, the energy consumption is ridiculous for AI.

edit: having said that, got to go to chat with the bot now..

[docsteve]

Look at Ted Gioia's substack for more on how AI is destroying culture in general and music in particular. He is no Luddite, and actually does the math, which makes it all the more convincing.

The way I understand, Spotify isn't even cracking down on Boomy because it floods the service with zillions of AI-generated content, but because it siphons the revenue away from Spotify's own dubious content. Apparently, Spotify themselves launch zillions of generic tracks that they themselves own the copyright to, therefore directing revenue away from actual artists to the company.

[Tal_175]

Ummm...that's exactly what I'm saying.

Though I'm not sure everyone makes art to strive for greatness. I make art for a lot of reasons. Some are simply because I enjoy it.

I am saying something a bit different though.

When you see a beautiful painting, or read a deeply moving poem, or hear the most gripping solo guitar piece you've ever heard, and then find out that these were AI generated, I think there is a disillusionment that comes from that. This hasn't happened yet but it seems inevitable. The next generation may have a very different relationship to "art" than past generations.

[ragman1]

To repeat, AI generated music doesn't do 'solos' per se, presumably and sensibly to avoid plagiaristic imitation. It generates chord progressions (harmonies) and then plays generic, legally safe, lines over them. Arpeggios, pentatonics and blues sounds are the usual.

Like this:

Nighttime Serenade by @rhapsodicmusiccritic665 | Suno