I loved programming since I was 14. This was an acceptable passion to spend time on because it would allow me to be successful (read: make money).
My sister always loved visual art, and is now in art school. This is an unacceptable passion, and when she tells people that she's in art school the first response is almost always "oh so what are you planning to do with that degree?"
We have been conditioned into a very narrow definition of success. It's not surprising then that we start seeing art as "the next big problem to solve", and you have all these tech bros frothing at the mouth to be the first to "solve" it and become the next startup billionaire.
Low-effort art and music has always been around. You don't see anyone bumping those inoffensive cover albums and lounge remixes that you hear at the mall or the driving range in their cars though. Anyone who doesn't already love listening to music isn't in that position because of a lack of options in the (sigh) market. So I promise you won't see "billions of new customers" dying to consume derivative slop music.
We have been conditioned into a very narrow definition of success.
Not quite. It's that there have always been very few people throughout history who were actually able to make a decent living based on solely being an artist - and in most cases, this required wealthy patronage. Spitzweg's "Poor Poet" remains timeless and relevant for a reason.
This kind of reaction isn't irrational. The fact of the matter is that if you want your children to not be poor, you won't tell them that they can turn art into a career, but instead encourage their passions while also providing them with everything in your power so that they they'll be able to reliably feed themselves. Let them paint, draw, write, play music as a hobby, but also make sure their grades are good outside of those areas.
I still wish this CEO would have an unfortunate accident with a Roomba that cures him of his brain-dead thoughts on art and AI, but let's be real for once.
Might sound petty I won't even listen to artists I'm convinced aren't legit enough.
You have family in the business, born rich or something? Probably not on my playlist. I need the artists who scraped their knees and slept in shitty tour vans and were thugs and losers.
End of the day music is a mode of communication. It's not a medium for consumption but a conversation. If you don't have that then you're just going to end up with bad music and no innovation.
The fact is most people don't regularly make music. This is probably because it takes years of practice to make something that they think sounds good. If we make it easier to make music that sounds good, more people might express themselves through music.
I honestly don't understand the concept of it being "easier" to make music. Like, okay, instruments can take a little time to learn. But, like, can you not whistle? Sing? Hum?
Music, to me, largely makes itself. Refining and recording music, okay yeah that's kinda hard. Memorizing other people's music and learning to play it the way they do? Sure. Composing something you're really happy with? Fair.
But just.. making music? I can't think of anything easier or more natural. You just.. make sounds happen.
Like, do y'all not whistle little original tunes and write silly little songs to sing while you're wandering around going about your day? It isn't rocket science. It doesn't have to be for anyone else or be flawless. There's joy and beauty just in letting it out of you. It feels great.
Getting an AI to write and compose some shit for you will never feel like that. It's just screwing yourself out of the joy and catharsis of expression.
This is not how it works historically. This is the horrible modern trend to make pastimes turn in to gigs. Who cares if it is not perfect? It feels good to make music. People would just get together at night and make music, tell stories, and generally just do fun things together to feel closer. We have focused too much on profit, again, in regards to an integral part of the human experience.
You don’t have to be a pro at something creative to enjoy doing it.