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Is formulaic pop music produced by a corporate label that's designed to push all the right buttons more "human" than the average track you find published on Sun

Is formulaic pop music produced by a corporate label that's designed to push all the right buttons more "human" than the average track you find published on Suno? I wouldn't say so. Pop music was already to some extent a commodity.

gilrain 6mo ago
> Pop music was already to some extent a commodity. And as everyone knows, some commodification of some thing means we must go ahead and totally commodify all the things.
- lotyrin 6mo ago
  Also, a lot of the people who hate and resist AI slop also hate and resist corpo slop, we're just outnumbered.
- smallerfish 6mo ago
  That's disingenuous. The point is that "human" isn't a particularly good dividing line if you want to distinguish music with value vs music without.
w00ds 6mo ago
Actually, it is more human, because there are humans involved at each level. Doesn't matter if you think the music sucks, it's definitionally more human than AI music.
- SoftTalker 6mo ago
  It is sort of a blend now. Beats and rhythm tracks are often generated. Vocals are auto-tuned. There's still some humanity in it, but it's not what it used to be.
- userbinator 6mo ago
  AI music is generated from the result of training on far more human-made music than any human could ever consume in their lifetime, so there are even more humans involved in its creation.
  - BoiledCabbage 6mo ago
    Just like AI comments are more human than any human could ever produce... /s
    - userbinator 6mo ago
      There's a difference between entertainment and thoughtful content.
      - throwawa34214 6mo ago
        Music also is thoughtful content.
- yellowapple 6mo ago
  I mean, maybe in the sense that any other corporate activity is technically “human activity” because humans happened to be the ones doing the formula-dictated tasks, but it's ultimately the formula at the helm, not the human.
- lxgr 6mo ago
  On the other hand, humans made these AI models... I feel like the more important distinction might be whether the creator(s) are expressing themselves or are solving an optimization problem of maximizing audience approval. The latter seems true for both some human and AI pop songs. One is a form of communication that requires (at least to some extent) meeting both sides to meet in the middle, the other is unidirectional broadcasting.
throwaway27448 6mo ago
> Pop music was already to some extent a commodity. The commodification of humanity predates human history. It may be a negative trend that alienates us from each other and from the products of our labor, but it is truly ancient.

gilrain 6mo ago

> Pop music was already to some extent a commodity. And as everyone knows, some commodification of some thing means we must go ahead and totally commodify all the things.

lotyrin 6mo ago
Also, a lot of the people who hate and resist AI slop also hate and resist corpo slop, we're just outnumbered.
smallerfish 6mo ago
That's disingenuous. The point is that "human" isn't a particularly good dividing line if you want to distinguish music with value vs music without.

w00ds 6mo ago

Actually, it is more human, because there are humans involved at each level. Doesn't matter if you think the music sucks, it's definitionally more human than AI music.

SoftTalker 6mo ago
It is sort of a blend now. Beats and rhythm tracks are often generated. Vocals are auto-tuned. There's still some humanity in it, but it's not what it used to be.
userbinator 6mo ago
AI music is generated from the result of training on far more human-made music than any human could ever consume in their lifetime, so there are even more humans involved in its creation.
- BoiledCabbage 6mo ago
  Just like AI comments are more human than any human could ever produce... /s
  - userbinator 6mo ago
    There's a difference between entertainment and thoughtful content.
    - throwawa34214 6mo ago
      Music also is thoughtful content.
yellowapple 6mo ago
I mean, maybe in the sense that any other corporate activity is technically “human activity” because humans happened to be the ones doing the formula-dictated tasks, but it's ultimately the formula at the helm, not the human.
lxgr 6mo ago
On the other hand, humans made these AI models... I feel like the more important distinction might be whether the creator(s) are expressing themselves or are solving an optimization problem of maximizing audience approval. The latter seems true for both some human and AI pop songs. One is a form of communication that requires (at least to some extent) meeting both sides to meet in the middle, the other is unidirectional broadcasting.

throwaway27448 6mo ago

> Pop music was already to some extent a commodity. The commodification of humanity predates human history. It may be a negative trend that alienates us from each other and from the products of our labor, but it is truly ancient.