As technology rapidly advances, Australia's music industry faces a significant threat from AI-generated music, which could impact the careers of musicians and the viability of the live music scene.
A parliamentary inquiry into the challenges and opportunities within the Australian live music industry is currently underway. A submission by a University of Melbourne team, including Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology experts Dr. Suelette Dreyfus, Dr. Greg Wadley, Dr. Chris Ewin, and Emma Baillie, highlights the potential dangers AI poses to home-grown musicians and the live music ecosystem.
"Live music is a 'unifying glue' of society. In an era of social fragmentation due to social media, the federal government needs to prioritize strengthening this industry which not only contributes to the happiness of individuals but also the richness and diversity of culture," said Dr. Dreyfus.
The Rise of AI-Generated Music
Machine learning models can already produce music that sounds authentic and is difficult to distinguish from human-made music. Although this technology is in its early stages, these programs can produce a large volume of work quickly and at a lower cost than traditional musicians.
Dr. Wadley explained that musicians now primarily rely on live performances for income, as record/CD sales and streaming service revenues have dwindled. If listeners lose their emotional connection to human musicians, their motivation to attend live performances may decrease, significantly impacting artists' livelihoods.
Artists also face the risk of losing audience exposure if music streaming services, owned by big tech companies, alter their algorithms to prioritize AI-generated music or even create their own music. "What if these businesses steer listeners to tailored music that's purely AI-generated, effectively putting audiences in a 'music filter bubble,' devoid of any human songwriting?" Dreyfus warned. "Reducing the ability of artists to connect with listeners will significantly affect their bottom line, and it's the emerging, lesser-known and community artists who would ultimately pay the biggest price."
Recommendations for Safeguarding Live Music
The submission to the parliamentary inquiry includes recommendations for greater protections for the live music industry. These measures aim to safeguard the pipeline of musical talent and ensure pathways for emerging artists to hone their craft and build audiences.
The authors suggest that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) review the remuneration arrangements for Australian artists under digital platform services and examine the potential impact of AI-generated music on the sector.
The cultural value of music is also at stake. "AI-generated music has little to no cultural value as it lacks genuine emotion, which is the essence of humanity," said Dr. Ewin. "A blind study has shown people preferred AI-generated classical music to that created by humans, but this may be due to the lack of transparency around how AI music is made. Ultimately, music fans will be worse off if AI ends up dominating the industry."
"The distinctively Australian character of local performers is unlikely to be replicated by AI-generated music, which trains its models on global datasets," added Baillie.
AI-generated music joins a set of factors threatening the future of Australia's live music industry, including changes in social habits, cost-of-living pressures, increases in venue insurance costs, and weather events such as fires and floods.
More: https://techxplore.com/news/2024-07-ai-coffin-australia-music-industry.html
