Last updated on January 4th, 2025 at 05:05 pm
Zany Editor :I will now embarrass myself by being totally honest. I had not heard anything about AI-generated albums prior to this blog post from the Boing Boing webzine. I know there are AI songs out there—I recall reading an article about these songs making it to the top of music charts. There was concern about these tracks taking the top spots away from from music created by real singers and bands made up of actual people playing instruments.
On the one hand, there are artists who use mixers, computer programs, and other electronic equipment to create songs made up of a digital track and sometimes a singer that fall under the umbrella of EDM that is still considered to be “human-generated” music.
On the other hand, AI-generated music doesn’t use the talent of a person to create it. So there is a difference between music that is digitally generated by an artist and music generated without the talent and creativity of a musician.
Is it fair to allow music created by artificial intelligence to reach the top of music charts? Perhaps we need to consider creating a separate rating system for the two. It isn’t fair that music created using a computer is climbing the charts ahead of music that actual people have put hard work and creative talent into recording.
An AI experiment that transforms The Beatles’ 1965 album Rubber Soul into Motown-style arrangements, reimagines all 14 tracks from the 1965 album. “It’s like a Pandora’s box has been opened,” wrote one of the 130,000+ viewers, capturing the mix of wonder and worry in the comments section.
“I’m digging this, and I really don’t want to,” admitted another commenter, echoing many viewers’ internal struggle.
The project was uploaded by creator Kail Tescar, with precious little information as to how it was actually created. The only notes for the YouTube video are “Alternate reality recordings. All lyrics written by The Beatles. Music by The Ai Overlords.”
Music professionals seem rattled by the AI’s sophistication. “As a musician, this is both amazing and terrifying,” wrote one commenter. Another observed, “I’d buy this if it came out in the ’70s – it would have already been in a dozen movies and shows and mainstream in our minds!” The AI even nailed period-specific production details, with listeners noting the authentic “Motown style mic pre-amp overdrive” and vintage tape hiss.
“In an alternate universe, the Detroit Spinners did a cover of Rubber Soul in 1976 or 77 – turns out it was a hit record and sold millions,” said one fan, while another noted, “The Beatles were right back in 1967: ‘Nothing is real.'”
“I’m no longer sure that I’m even real,” wrote another listener.
While all the songs retain the original lyrics, most of the melodies aren’t the same as the Beatles’ recordings. One commenter said, “It is interesting that Norwegian Wood seems to retain the original melody, if the songs were generated solely from the lyrics,” to which Tescar replied: “Agreed. It’s rare that the original melody comes out on only a few. It’s my belief that the structure and cadence of some lyrics just naturally dictate how they would be sung.”
This article was originally posted on BoingBoing and republished here, with permission, under a Creative Commons 4.0 license.