The Future of Creativity or a Copyright Nightmare?
By: Tessa May
Credit: Billboard
In a digitally inclined world undergoing extreme transformation, artificial intelligence has become a leading force by reshaping nearly every modern industry. From facilitating STEM learning to revolutionizing healthcare and enabling self-driving cars, AI is pushing human innovation into newfound territory. Unsurprisingly, even the music industry has seen its fair share of AI-associated breakthroughs. But while AI-generated music offers stimulating opportunities, it also raises questions about creativity, ownership, and the future of the art form as a whole.
The Root of AI in Music
AI's role in music creation dates back many decades. Alan Turing, the famous codebreaker and computer science enthusiast, produced the first computer-generated music in the 1950s. What started as simple experiments has now grown into a sophisticated concept where AI can compose entire albums, develop detailed symphonies, and even mimic the style of famous songwriters.
One of the most prominent examples of AI-generated music is AIVA (Artificial Intelligence Visual Artist), the first AI assistant to be officially recognized as a composer. AIVA uses deep learning algorithms to comprehend thousands of classical music scores, analyze patterns, and develop analytical systems to compose original pieces. Through this process, AIVA has created melodies, film scores, and background music for video games. This is quite an impressive accomplishment, but it provokes a critical question: is AI the future of creativity or a foreshadowing of a copyright nightmare?
The Benefits of AI in Music Creation
AI-generated music offers a variety of benefits, specifically in terms of accessibility and innovation. For many, the idea that anyone can compose music with the help of AI democratizes the art form by making it accessible to those who may lack traditional musical training. With AI tools, both artists and enthusiasts can experiment with new sounds, designate rhythms and even score films without needing to play an instrument.
AI also promotes innovation by pushing the boundaries of what is possible in music creation. Composers can collaborate with AI to develop previously unthinkable sounds, producing a hybrid process that blends human intuition with machine-generated precision.
“The excitement of technology can be a distraction from the real mission—finding ways to put the power of machines at the service of the imagination.” - composer Brian Eno.
Copyright Concerns and Creativity Threat
However, the rise of AI in music composition is not without its challenges, especially regarding copyright infringement and the potential deterioration of human creativity. Since AI tools like AIVA rely on understanding algorithms that analyze extensive amounts of existing music, questions arise about the ownership of AI-generated works. If an AI program "learns" from copyrighted music, does its output belong to the creator of the original works, the developer of the AI, or the user who instructed the AI to compose the music? These legal hesitations are beginning to materialize as AI pieces become more common in commercial projects.
The debate surrounding AI-generated music came to the forefront in 2019 when OpenAI’s Jukedeck, a platform that created royalty-free music using AI, shut down abruptly due to concerns over intellectual property. Some argue that the lack of clear copyright rules in AI-generated music could lead to exploitation. This is due to developers and companies profiting from algorithmically produced songs without compensating the original creators whose works are used as training data.
Moreover, critics argue that AI’s increasing role in music creation could lead to the devaluation of human creativity. Music has always been regarded as a deeply personal form of expression, with artists drawing on their experiences, emotions, and cultural backgrounds to create art that speaks to others. If machines begin to dominate this process, there is concern that music could lose its human touch and become a product of data patterns rather than natural emotional expression.
“Music is suffering because technology is being prioritized over human engagement, and we are losing our connection to music's spiritual power.” - musician Nick Cave.
Real-World Trends
Despite the concerns, AI already plays a significant role in several areas of the music industry. Spotify, a leading music streaming service uses AI algorithms to develop personalized playlists for users based on their listening habits. These playlists often include AI-generated tracks blended with human-made songs. Similarly, startups like Amper Music and Boomy allow users to create custom music tracks using AI tools. This allows businesses, content creators, and individuals to formulate music for projects without the need for any professional composers. AI-generated music has also been used in advertising and video game soundtracks in the commercial space. In one notable example, the BBC collaborated with AI to compose a “new” Beatles song, using AI to merge the sounds of different Beatles tracks into a cohesive new piece.
Our Future - Balancing Innovation and Regulation
As AI continues to gain significance in the music world, it is important to maintain a balance between adopting the benefits of this technology and protecting the rights of human creators. Music industry stakeholders, including artists, developers, and legal experts, must work together to establish more transparent guidelines for the use of AI in music production. Governments and regulatory bodies will also need to update copyright laws to address the specific challenges posed by AI works, confirming that both human creativity and technological invention can coexist harmoniously.
Today, AI-generated music represents an exciting step forward in accessibility and creativity, while also introducing a potential minefield of legal and ethical issues. As AI tools like AIVA continue to mature and reshape the industry of music composition, society must wrestle with the implications for legal matters, creativity, and the very nature of human expression.
But what about tomorrow? Whether AI-generated music becomes the future of ingenuity or a copyright nightmare remains to be seen, but one thing is certain - the undecided harmony between humans and machines will define the next chapter of the music industry’s story.
Tessa May is a third-year online editorial writer at Rowdy and an advertising student at UF. In her free time, she enjoys doing yoga, mindless Pinterest surfing, and creating excellent playlists for her every mood.
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