The AI Music Epidemic, and 5 Music-Related Substacks We’re Loving
How much AI is okay in the music creation process? Plus: where architecture meets songwriting, re-discovering cassette collections, and more
Howdy! This is installment #6 in our 🦺Under Construction🚧 series, since we’re still pre-launch, but keep an eye on July. That’s when we’ll kick off our official newsletter and our podcast, The J-Card.
In today’s newsletter:
The AI Music Epidemic 🤖
5 Great Music-Related Substacks 💻
The Word Cloud with Swampbug 🌦️
🤖The AI Music Epidemic
A few times a week, I’ll browse Bandcamp, a couple Discords I’m a part of, and some music-specific subreddits to try and dig up some underground artists who are making music and are eager for people to hear it.
It’s really incredible how low the barrier to entry is to making and releasing tunes. There’re free/low-cost DAWs (that’s Digital Audio Workstations, aka the programs you use to record the music), there’re apps you can download on your phone or tablet, there’re free plugins to help you get all the sounds you’re looking for, there’re places like Splice to get samples, there’s cheap publishing from places like Distrokid, etc, etc.
It’s easier than it has ever been to create music, and there’s so much new music out there to discover, that it’s actually overwhelming. Which is why I was shocked to hear the co-founder of Suno (a program that uses AI to generate music from user prompts), say: “It’s not really enjoyable to make music now… it takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of practice, you have to get really good at an instrument or really good at a piece of production software. I think the majority of people don’t enjoy the majority of time they spend making music.” I was gobsmacked.
This quote is from January of this year, so it’s old news, but it doesn’t make it any less tone deaf. It’s the embodiment of the disconnect between tech bros and artistic expression. Not everything needs to be optimized. Not everything is for everyone. If practicing a craft or a hobby is “too hard” for someone… then maybe they’re just not that interested in it.
As I’ve scoured the internet looking for underground music, one thing I’ve been seeing more of is folks who unfortunately sit squarely in that tech bro’s target demo. These folks create music completely by inputting prompts and using generative AI to spit out results, and they go on to pass themselves off as musicians.
On one hand, it’s a complete grift. If you can’t be bothered to create the music yourself, then how can you claim this is your expression? On the other hand, I could see the tech being refined and used in ethical ways (for example, Adobe’s audio clean-up tool). All in all, there’s a fine line in how it’s used, but in this wild west of AI that we’re currently experiencing, it feels like there’s more people than ever who are grifting hard.
I remember hanging out with some Brainrot Radio folks at a meetup last year, when I had first discovered Suno. I literally downloaded it on my phone to play with it probably a half hour before we met up, and I remember walking up to the group in sort of a daze. “Yall have to see this… this shit is scary.” We thought of something we wanted to hear, and input the prompt, and within a minute or so it generated a tune that we probably wouldn’t have been able to distinguish from a truly hand-crafted song.
The reactions spoke for themselves. The silence was deafening.
So, remember, if you’re just getting into making music, and the programs are too confusing, or your fingers hurt from the guitar, or you just can’t get the sounds you want… nothing worth having comes easy.
💻 5 Substacks We’re Loving
We’re pretty new to this whole thing, but here are five great music-related Substacks we’ve discovered over the past few months.
pictoria vark is online - A look behind-the-scenes with one of the hardest working artists we know. Keep an ear out for our upcoming podcast; Pictoria Vark might be a guest!
Tape Study - Writer and musician Josh Ejnes takes us through his cassette collection, alphabetically, a few tapes at a time.
New Bands for Old Heads - We found Gabbie (who runs NBfOH) on TikTok a few years ago, appreciated the Ted Leo reference in the username, and appreciate the music recommendations even more! (Also, we were so on the same page last week.)
An Earful - Longtime music curator and writer Jeremy Shatan brings us weekly and monthly listening insights, along with some great Spotify playlists.
Building Songs - Brianna Bartelt connects the dots between seemingly disparate pursuits – architecture and songwriting. This one-of-a-kind perspective on two worlds I find endlessly fascinating is a great read.
If any of those sound fun to you, go subscribe!
📈 Help Out By Sponsoring The Tape Club
If you want to help out a small-time art project, support DIY creatives, and shine a small spotlight on physical media, get in touch!
🌦️ The Word Cloud with Swampbug
While we’ve been writing this newsletter since February and preparing for our launch, this isn’t the only music-related thing we’ve been up to.
If you’re a fan of independent radio, consider tuning in to a show I (Alexei) host on Wednesdays on Brainrot Radio. It’s called The Word Cloud, and it airs every Wednesday at 11pm Eastern. The show is 90 minutes of music (and a little bit of chatter every so often) usually inspired by one word, hence The Word Cloud.
Last week, for example, the word was “try” – of course I played some Macy Gray, but I also played a lot of other amazing songs. If you want to listen to past recordings, the ten most recent episodes are always available on Mixcloud.
Here’s last week’s episode to round out the newsletter (if you listen on Mixcloud, you’ll have all the song names and artist names) – enjoy!
🫶 Your Support…
We sincerely thank you for being a part of the Tape Club. Your support doesn’t go unnoticed, especially in these early stages.
We’re currently seeking music submissions for the first tape. If you’re interested in submitting or know anyone who might be, here’s the submission form: https://forms.gle/Mc7En6K8Tb2BbgxJA
We’re also happy to hear your general thoughts and ideas. There’s a form for those, too: https://forms.gle/nTgxrqL6oLfVKms27
Thanks again, and talk to you soon!
-RDTC