What to know
- iHeartRadio has banned AI-generated music and AI hosts across its stations, launching a “Guaranteed Human” campaign in response to listener concerns.
- Toronto expert Dalton Higgins warns that AI will only flood the music industry with generic, lifeless tracks, making it harder for emerging Canadian artists to break through.
- York University’s Ken Rogers warns that in addition to threatening creative jobs, without regulation, AI poses copyright concerns.
Industry experts are sounding off on AI in the music industry, after iHeartRadio announced a ban on AI-generated music and hosts on its platforms.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere these days, from our social media platforms to spellcheck, but one place it is not? Any radio station operated by Texas-based iHeartRadio, according to an internal memo shared with staff and obtained by The Los Angeles Times.
“We don’t use AI-generated personalities. We don’t play AI music that features synthetic vocalists pretending to be human,” Tom Poleman, the programming chief for iHeartRadio, wrote, adding that podcasts published by the company are all “Guaranteed Human.”
This comes as part of the company’s Guaranteed Human campaign. A report from iHeartMedia, the parent company of iHeartRadio, shows that 9 in 10 respondents in a recent study believe it’s important to know the media they consume is created by a real person.
TORONTO EXPERT SAYS AI IS ALREADY AN ISSUE IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY
So, how is AI affecting the music business? Toronto-based expert Dalton Higgins says that the industry is already dealing with a quality control issue with a large bulk of the commercial output in contemporary music, and this tech won’t help.
“AI-fuelled music will just expedite this phenomenon,” Higgins told Now Toronto.
“So what we can project and predict is that because AI can quite literally produce hundreds of tracks instantly, there will be an exacerbation of this flooding of the marketplace with mid music, and a ‘flattening out’ effect as I call it, of music output,” he explained, adding that this music will begin to sound pedestrian, predictable, cliche and almost lifeless, becoming eerily similar across genres.
“Which makes sense, once you remove much of the human life element behind the music creation,” he explained. “That’s what AI models do, they use training data to find a formulaic, pattern-driven middle, versus creating truly original, innovative sounds.”
Higgins says the proliferation of AI-generated music will also make it increasingly difficult for actual human artists to stand out and gain traction.
“I would especially be concerned for burgeoning up-and-coming Canadian artists who can’t rely on built-in fanbases and past work that has already gotten them in the door. Emerging artists would be cooked,” he said.
York University Professor Ken Rogers explained that another major concern is how AI will affect jobs in the music industry.
“There are downstream concerns around some of the ways in which AI might create erosion and job loss,” Rogers told Now Toronto.
“Creative jobs in general, in every part of the creative sector, are in jeopardy,” he explained. “Particularly when you think of some of the production pipelines that involve digital sound mixing, and you have new AI tools such as Amber Music or Avia that are platforms that let artists generate music tracks using AI assistance.”
He says he believes that, in part, the announcement by iHeartRadio is a gesture reassuring people that they will not replace traditional DJs or music with automated voices, just because it’s cost-effective.
AI IN THE INDUSTRY: WHAT EXPERTS THINK SHOULD HAPPEN IN CANADA
So, while American giant iHeartRadio is pushing back against AI, what should officials be doing to combat the issue? Higgins explained that musicians and creatives mostly loathe AI-driven music, so there will always be a critical mass of musicians and indie music businesses pushing back on the ground level, but it’s important for the big players to get involved, too.
“Right now, that push back has to begin from the top down,” Higgins explained. “The suits, the industry gatekeepers, have to draw a line in the sand.”
“Without companies like iHeartRadio taking a stand, resistance will be futile. What iHeart is doing will benefit musicians AND listeners who won’t have to endure listening to future AI-dominated playlists that sound generic, cliché, cookie-cutter, and lifeless.”
So while the pushback from iHeartRadio is a good place to start, where do we currently stand when it comes to the issue of AI prominence in music? Higgins calls the current situation a “weird purgatory.”
“It truly feels like the wild west right now, as the music industry, corporations and government are playing catch-up, versus being able to stay ahead of the curve and develop laws and policies to restrict and/or limit the use of AI,” he explained, adding that until legislation can catch up with the ways that AI is permeating the industry, preserving the rights of artists is an uphill battle.
He says that while there should be some type of separation between church and state, because it’s not guaranteed that politicians will be aware of how this technology is impacting the industry, it might be time for the Canadian government to implement some regulations. But Higgins says that it is time for music companies to get involved.
“Large music organizations in both the public and private sectors need to fund and stage symposiums on this subject, and be open to artist-driven guidelines and solutions.”
Meanwhile, Rogers says that when it comes to regulations cracking down on AI, there are things to consider.
“There is a part of AI that is the genie is out of the bottle, and in some ways I think a smart regulatory policy has to embrace and support innovation,” he shared.
“If Canadian firms aren’t given that advantage and aren’t able to adopt some of these technologies, they’re going to be unable to innovate and compete on the global market,” he continued.
For example, as per Poleman’s memo, iHeartRadio does use AI productivity and distribution tools that help scale business operations, including for tasks like scheduling, audience insights, data analysis, workflow automation, show prep, editing and organization.
But Rogers says there are ways, particularly when it comes to copyright or artists’ remuneration, that cracking down on AI is important, as a strong regulatory regime can protect artists’ right to their creative content.
“There is a lot of fear that AI-generated content in the way that the regulatory regimes have not really restricted the way in which data scraping and the acquisition of large language models can be construed as copyright infringement,” Rogers explained.
“So in terms of artists’ rights and creators’ rights, I think it is an important space where the government should step into the regulatory capacity.”
