How AI is destroying artists' livelihoods on music streaming platforms
What's the story
The rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) is posing a major threat to real artists on digital platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. These platforms have been criticized for their low royalty payments, often amounting to just fractions of pennies for an artist's work. Now, with the influx of AI-generated music flooding these services, many musicians are losing out on royalties and production contracts.
Genre disruption
Lo-fi community feels overwhelmed by AI-generated music
As explored by Pitchfork's Kieran Press-Reynolds in his latest column, the lo-fi genre, which gained popularity in the 2010s, is now being overrun by AI bots. This once close-knit digital community of artists who shared skills and new tracks on social media is now struggling to tell apart human-made tracks from those generated by algorithms. Many artists have even left the scene altogether as they feel their work has been overtaken by AI.
Artist sentiments
What struggling artists have to say
Mia Eden, a beatmaker, told Press-Reynolds that the once tight-knit community of lo-fi artists has now become nameless, with many tracks being AI-generated. Alex Reade, who streams under Project AER, saw his monthly listeners drop from two million to less than 500,000. He is now looking for ways to reduce his reliance on lo-fi due to the stress it causes him.
Band controversy
Indie rock band The Velvet Sundown is entirely AI-generated
The indie rock band The Velvet Sundown, which has over 750,000 monthly listeners, appears to be entirely generated by AI. Its name is suspiciously close to Lou Reed's influential band The Velvet Underground. The group's track names are also similar to existing hits like Dust on the Wind, which is not a coincidence but rather an example of how AI can mimic real artists and their work.