AI Insights: The Future of Music with AI-Generated Tools
Music is continuously changing and the “new wave” reshaping the industry – Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated music tools. Over the next few months, innovative technologies from Adobe and others promise to transform how video creators with limited resources can enhance their content and empower musicians to explore new genres and styles. While the creative potential is intriguing, AI music will impact the livelihood of musicians and could lead the music industry to an even more homogenized sound.
Updates! Check under Current Legislation for several changes in the past week. New content is highlighted in yellow.
In this article, we will delve into some of the AI music tools that are in development as well as many that are already available here at Toolfarm. These tools can create beats, seamless loops, harmonies, and chord progression. In addition, AI can remove unwanted sounds, correct vocal pitch, extract stems from songs, master audio, and even generate full soundtracks. Finally, we’ll cover the potential challenges that inevitably lie ahead and some of the legislation that addresses these challenges.
In this Article
The Rise of AI-Generated Music Tools
AI Audio Plugins, DAWs, Beat Generators, and More
Challenges and Ethical Considerations of AI Music
- Copyright: Who owns AI artwork?
- How the Viral AI Drake Song “Heart On My Sleeve” was made
- What’s being done to protect artists?
- Current Legislation
The Rise of AI-Generated Music Tools
In this section, we highlight a selection of tools that empower users to create music based on prompts. Among the notable players in this field are industry giants such as Adobe, Google/YouTube, and Stability AI. These established companies offer innovative solutions that leverage AI to turn creative prompts into musical compositions, providing users with a diverse range of options for musical expression.
Adobe Project Music GenAI Control
At the end of February, the Adobe Research Team announced Project Music GenAI Control, the generative AI music and editing tool that allows users to create music from text prompts.
Google’s MusicFX
MusicFX is an experimental AI tool that allows users to write a prompt and it will generate a song for you. It’s not yet available to everyone but if you’re in a few countries (US, Kenya, New Zealand, and Australia) you can try the beta. Try Music FX here.
DeepMind Dream Track from Google
Below, listen to an example using a vocal clone of singer Charlie Puth on a Dream Track creation.
Read more about Dream Track at maginative.com.
Stable Audio – Generate music with AI
From the makers of Stability AI, Stable Audio uses text prompts to generate music and sound effects
Suno AI V3 Alpha Music Generator
Another new tool that’s currently in alpha testing is Suno AI.
A few other notable AI tools
DAACI. A generative AI copilot for natural-sounding drums. Join the open beta for Mac.
Audacity adds AI audio editing capabilities. Audacity is an open-source DAW and now uses OpenVIO plugins from Intel for AI audio editing.
AI Audio Plugins, DAWs, Beat Generators, and More
AI tools should be a playground for artists, allowing artists to work more efficiently, not replace musicians and engineers. And don’t we all want to spend more time creating and less time doing the more tedious tasks? Below, see a table of the AI-enhanced audio tools available at Toolfarm.
| Vendor | Product | Short Description | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audio Design Desk | Audio Design Desk | Sound Design DAW. v2, currently in Beta, uses generative AI for sounds. | DAW |
| Audiomodern | Playbeat | Playbeat is the Next Generation Creative Groove Engine. Train the app to learn your preferred patterns using AI. | Beats |
| Audionamix | XTRAX STEMS | Created for DJs, producers, and musicians, XTRAX STEMS automatically separates songs into Vocals, Drums, Bass and remaining music stems for sampling, practice, and mor | Stems |
| Evabeat | Melody Sauce | Evabeat Melody Sauce is now a full audio and midi plug-in that helps you create awesome melodies in seconds. | Melody Creation |
| Hit’n’Mix | RipX DAW | With its award-winning 6+ stem AI separation, this powerful software allows you to dive deep into the intricacies of your tracks and take complete control of every element. | DAW Stems |
| Hit’n’Mix | RipX DAW Pro | Audio Repair and Separation for Music and Post-production | DAW Stems |
| iZotope | Neoverb | Neoverb’s AI-powered EQs listen to your audio to make suggestions. Unmasking technology helps your reverb stand out in the crowd, or blend into the mix. | Reverb |
| iZotope | Ozone Standard | Elevate your audio to the highest level with our definitive mastering suite. Cutting Edge processing and AI workflows. | Mastering |
| iZotope | Ozone Advanced | Elevate your audio to the highest level with our definitive mastering suite. Cutting Edge processing and AI-workflows. | Mastering |
| iZotope | RX Standard | Audio repair and separation for music and post-production | Repair Stems |
| iZotope | RX Advanced | Award-winning audio repair suite for Music and post-production | Repair Stems |
| iZotope | VEA | Takes any voice recording and makes it more powerful, more polished, and more professional. | Voice Enhancer |
| Sonible | Studio Bundle | 9 trailblazing plug-ins powered by AI, including tools for EQ, compression, source-adaptive reverb, content-aware gating and limiting, and more. | Filters |
| Sonible | pure:bundle | 4 AI-powered audio plugins for EQ, processing and characteristic profiles, and sound-shaping | Filters |
Challenges and Ethical Considerations of AI Music
AI tools have streamlined the music generation and audio enhancement processes, presenting an array of benefits. However, these advancements also bring forth challenges and ethical considerations, including concerns about artistic authenticity and copyright issues. If AI-generated music becomes both high-quality and cost-effective, video producers and other content creators will gravitate toward its use. Yet, akin to the distinctive visual style often associated with AI-generated images and videos, AI-generated music could also sound homogenized. Could an AI Swiftpocalypse happen?
While the allure of efficient and budget-friendly AI-generated music is undeniable, there’s a looming risk of sound homogenization if it becomes the predominant choice. Not only that, the potential for displacement of traditional jobs in music creation, such as engineers and musicians, adds another layer to the potential future.
Despite the universal desire for art and music, creative skills are not always adequately valued financially. Moreover, AI may only make this worse for those working in the music industry. In response to these challenges, legislative efforts are underway to support musicians. For instance, the US Congress is considering a Living Wage bill, aiming to compensate artists with a penny per stream on various streaming platforms. To emphasize, this marks a step towards acknowledging the financial value of creative work.
Copyright: Who Owns AI Artwork?
Below, read an excerpt from my previous article AI Insights: Should we be worried about Sora?, published February 20, 2024. The article dives into OpenAI’s Sora and generative AI video but applies to generative audio as well.
The US Copyright Office has ruled that AI-generated art without human input cannot be copyrighted under US law[1]. However, the US Copyright Office released newer guidelines, stating that copyright will protect the human-authored aspects of a work that contains AI-generated material, which is independent of and does not affect the copyright status of the AI-generated material itself.[2] This new ruling came after an artist used Midjourney for a comic book. A copyright was granted for individual images in the book, but not the entire book.
On the flip side, AI developers trained generative AI on copyright-protected art without permission or compensation to the artist. We’ve seen several class action lawsuits for copyright infringement from artists who claim that AI tools like Midjourney and Stabile Diffusion violated their copyright because the AI was trained on their artwork without consent.[3] Getty Images also sued Stable Diffusion for copying more than 12 million images from its database without permission or payment.[4]
We are still early in the development of AI so I expect the litigation to continue. But, despite these challenges, I suspect that artists will continue to use AI for its creative potential, even if the resulting work cannot be copyrighted. AI will be used as a tool to generate assets more than it will be used to generate full sequences or films, due to copyright laws.
How the VIRAL AI Drake Song “Heart On My Sleeve” was Made
Last year TikTok user Ghostwriter977 released “Heart on My Sleeve”, a viral song that featured the AI-generated voices of Drake & The Weeknd. The beats and lyrics were written by Ghostwriter977, but the vocals are AI, trained on the music of Drake and The Weeknd. The track was quickly scrubbed from social media platforms. While it violated ethics, did this go against copyright law? Louis Tompros, a Harvard Law expert, said that it doesn’t necessarily go against copyright but it does violate a law on impersonation, a law made famous by Bette Midler in 1988.[6]
What’s being done to protect artists?
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) released a set of AI principles called The Human Artistry Campaign, calling for best practices with Artificial Intelligence. In addition, it addresses copyright and transparency with the use of AI.
In the video below, Google addressed the topic of using AI as a tool to generate music, as opposed to replacing the artist. YouTube published a set of principles for partnering with the music industry on AI technology. These principles include putting the appropriate protections in place for musicians and artists. Read Our principles for partnering with the music industry on AI technology, YouTube Blog, by Neal Mohan, CEO of YouTube.
Well-known musical artists like Robbie Williams and Roger Daltry voiced alarm at the speed of AI use in the music industry. President Biden recently talked about putting protections into place for musicians. In the State of the Union address, President Biden called for a Ban on AI Voice Impersonations to protect artists. The SAG-AFTRA strike also discussed the concern of replacing actors and musicians with AI copies.[5]
NEW: AIforMusic.info, a partnership of Roland and Universal Music Group, is “a guideline for the responsible use of Artificial Intelligence in music.” They have 7 principles for music creation with AI.
Current legislation
In Illinois, Senate Bill 3225 just introduced by Senator Edly-Allen, would protect artists, music labels, and studios from AI cloning a voice without permission.[7] Similarly, in Tennessee, home of Nashville, the creatively named ELVIS Act (Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security) passed in February 2024, with bipartisan support.[8] The ELVIS Act protects musicians from AI infringement.
Update: The ELVIS Act was passed on Thursday, March 21, 2024, and will go into effect on July 1 [Source: MusicTech].
The European Union approved the AI Act, the world’s first regulation to govern AI (CNBC, March 13, 2024). his ACT affects generative AI, especially in the area of deep fakes and other forms of misuse.
NEW: The UN Adopts global resolutions on AI to protect human rights and personal data, in addition to monitoring for risks created by AI. UN adopts first global artificial intelligence resolution, Reuters, March 21, 2024.
Other AI Audio News
Below are a couple of recent stories that may pique your interest.
New AI bassline generator by Sony can create accompaniments that match the “style and tone” of your input music, MusicTech, March 7, 2024
TikTok’s parent ByteDance has locked down AI-music patents in the US – as its researchers develop a model trained on 257,000 hours of songs. Music Business Worldwide, March 12, 2024
Embracing the Harmonious Future
It’s imperative to recognize that AI is a tool, not a substitute for an artist’s creativity. While AI can enhance efficiency, it should be integrated thoughtfully to preserve the unique touch of human expression. Musicians and industry professionals must strike a delicate balance, understanding that AI is a valuable asset that necessitates adaptation and upskilling rather than posing a threat to artistic integrity.
We’ll continue to follow the latest AI news and legislation, as this directly affects our customers at Toolfarm.
AI Insights Series
We know that AI affects us all so we are educating ourselves on the latest news and tools and sharing them with you.
References
- Why This Award-Winning Piece of AI Art Can’t Be Copyrighted, Wired, by Matthew Allen, September 6, 2023.
- New US copyright rules protect only AI art with ‘human authorship‘, The Art Newspaper, by Daniel Grant, May 4, 2023.
- In a Blow for Artists, a Federal Judge Has Sided With Three A.I. Companies in a Copyright Dispute, artnet.com, by Adam Schrader, October 31, 2023.
- Getty Images sues AI art generator Stable Diffusion in the US for copyright infringement, The Verge, by James Vincent, February 6, 2023.
- President Biden Calls for Ban on AI Voice Impersonations During State of the Union, Variety, by J. Kim Murphy, March 7, 2024
- AI created a song mimicking the work of Drake and The Weeknd. What does that mean for copyright law?, Harvard Law Today, by Rachel Reed, May 2, 2023
- Edly-Allen introduces artist protections from AI, Illinois State Democrats, March 12, 2024
- Tennessee House advances ELVIS Act to protect musicians against AI infringement, by Savannah Fortis, CoinTelegraph, February 14, 2024.
Posted by Michele
'%3e%3cg id='Final-Copy-2_2_' transform='translate(1275.000000, 200.000000)'%3e%3cpath class='st0' d='M7.4,12.8h6.8l3.1-11.6H7.4C4.2,1.2,1.6,3.8,1.6,7S4.2,12.8,7.4,12.8z'/%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/g%3e%3cg id='final---dec.11-2020'%3e%3cg id='_x30_208-our-toggle' transform='translate(-1275.000000, -200.000000)'%3e%3cg id='Final-Copy-2' transform='translate(1275.000000, 200.000000)'%3e%3cpath class='st1' d='M22.6,0H7.4c-3.9,0-7,3.1-7,7s3.1,7,7,7h15.2c3.9,0,7-3.1,7-7S26.4,0,22.6,0z M1.6,7c0-3.2,2.6-5.8,5.8-5.8 h9.9l-3.1,11.6H7.4C4.2,12.8,1.6,10.2,1.6,7z'/%3e%3cpath id='x' class='st2' d='M24.6,4c0.2,0.2,0.2,0.6,0,0.8l0,0L22.5,7l2.2,2.2c0.2,0.2,0.2,0.6,0,0.8c-0.2,0.2-0.6,0.2-0.8,0 l0,0l-2.2-2.2L19.5,10c-0.2,0.2-0.6,0.2-0.8,0c-0.2-0.2-0.2-0.6,0-0.8l0,0L20.8,7l-2.2-2.2c-0.2-0.2-0.2-0.6,0-0.8 c0.2-0.2,0.6-0.2,0.8,0l0,0l2.2,2.2L23.8,4C24,3.8,24.4,3.8,24.6,4z'/%3e%3cpath id='y' class='st3' d='M12.7,4.1c0.2,0.2,0.3,0.6,0.1,0.8l0,0L8.6,9.8C8.5,9.9,8.4,10,8.3,10c-0.2,0.1-0.5,0.1-0.7-0.1l0,0 L5.4,7.7c-0.2-0.2-0.2-0.6,0-0.8c0.2-0.2,0.6-0.2,0.8,0l0,0L8,8.6l3.8-4.5C12,3.9,12.4,3.9,12.7,4.1z'/%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/svg%3e)
Your Privacy Choices Notice at Collection