4 ms·

The response of the industry seems like a bit of a distraction to me - this stuff is clearly not organic, is it? These tracks are being injected into common pla

The response of the industry seems like a bit of a distraction to me - this stuff is clearly not organic, is it? These tracks are being injected into common playlists to inflate playtime or something, surely? If these tracks are so (organically) popular why are they restricted to Spotify, why aren’t they on other services?

RobotToaster 9mo ago
Isn't that just what organic artists have been doing for years? Tailor Swift's father bought a record label and most of the copies of her first album
dust42 9mo ago
They are just fully AI driven on every level but also there are people listening to it. Youtube currently gets swamped with AI generated content - music is only one part of it. For example there are now endless history documentaries. To get these of the ground there are lots of fake comments and fake views but after a while these videos gain traction and then the algos pick them up for organic views. Search youtube for "female vocal blues" or "female country songs" and it is all AI and it is really good - good in a sense that you don't realise it immediately. But they garner millions of views. They are not McDonald's but fine dining cooked with convenience products. I am quite split about algorithmically generated music but I have to admit that I have fallen once into the trap. And only when I searched for the artist I figured out it is AI. Though once you know it you immediately hear it. Edit: I went to one of the websites offering this as a service and in 5 minutes it creates a very decent song including lyrics. I forgot which but remember it was something like $20 for 1000 songs. Not a surprise that youtube gets swamped with it - it costs next to nothing to produce, neither time nor money.
- josefritzishere 9mo ago
  I like this POV. Casting AI as "McDonalds" is kind of the right metaphor. But I might go a little further and call it a TV Dinner. They share that synthetic, artificial nature.
mrbluecoat 9mo ago
YouTube music is awash in AI too
input_sh 9mo ago
It's not that complicated, you just agree to give up 30% of your royalties and Spotify autoplays your track more than any other track (and includes it more in Release Radar / Discover Weekly / Daily Mix / Radio): https://artists.spotify.com/discovery-mode https://artists.spotify.com/discovery-mode No serious label does this as there's no benefit from those drive-by listens other than making the number go up, but you can bet that nearly every artist without a label that somehow reaches over a million listens on their first release does. Editorial playlists on the other hand actually require you to do good in some of the niche ones before you get "promoted" to the bigger ones.

RobotToaster 9mo ago

Isn't that just what organic artists have been doing for years? Tailor Swift's father bought a record label and most of the copies of her first album

dust42 9mo ago

They are just fully AI driven on every level but also there are people listening to it. Youtube currently gets swamped with AI generated content - music is only one part of it. For example there are now endless history documentaries. To get these of the ground there are lots of fake comments and fake views but after a while these videos gain traction and then the algos pick them up for organic views. Search youtube for "female vocal blues" or "female country songs" and it is all AI and it is really good - good in a sense that you don't realise it immediately. But they garner millions of views. They are not McDonald's but fine dining cooked with convenience products. I am quite split about algorithmically generated music but I have to admit that I have fallen once into the trap. And only when I searched for the artist I figured out it is AI. Though once you know it you immediately hear it. Edit: I went to one of the websites offering this as a service and in 5 minutes it creates a very decent song including lyrics. I forgot which but remember it was something like $20 for 1000 songs. Not a surprise that youtube gets swamped with it - it costs next to nothing to produce, neither time nor money.

josefritzishere 9mo ago
I like this POV. Casting AI as "McDonalds" is kind of the right metaphor. But I might go a little further and call it a TV Dinner. They share that synthetic, artificial nature.

mrbluecoat 9mo ago

YouTube music is awash in AI too

input_sh 9mo ago

It's not that complicated, you just agree to give up 30% of your royalties and Spotify autoplays your track more than any other track (and includes it more in Release Radar / Discover Weekly / Daily Mix / Radio): https://artists.spotify.com/discovery-mode https://artists.spotify.com/discovery-mode No serious label does this as there's no benefit from those drive-by listens other than making the number go up, but you can bet that nearly every artist without a label that somehow reaches over a million listens on their first release does. Editorial playlists on the other hand actually require you to do good in some of the niche ones before you get "promoted" to the bigger ones.