I’ve noticed a trend after following Velvet Sundown news and commentary: namely, that every single influencer or content creator who has made some kind of post or video trying to shame The Velvet Sundown for being a “grift” is most assuredly themselves running their own social media grift fueled on begging for likes, follows, and all the rest. The grift goes all the way down…

TechRadar just published a piece, “AI music is fine until it starts pretending to be real people” and another site, MusicTech, seems to agree: “Hoaxes and scams are holding back the potential of AI music.” I get the sentiment, but I beg to differ in terms of actual outcomes. I can personally attest that the pretending to be real people angle is 100% where the media interest is. You can say what you want about whether or not that is holding up the emergence of some legitimate AI-assisted art forms or genres, but I don’t think we can or should try to separate out the “fakeness” side of this story. At least not just yet, because the entire evolution of these tools has to do with the mechanics of training and replacement, simulation, and even – dare I say it -“grift.”

From the MusicTech article:

One study showed that 60 per cent of music consumers would willingly listen to AI-generated music, while another survey revealed that 46 per cent of artists would consider using AI music tools in the future. The problem is: an even larger number are unwilling to admit it. In the same survey, more than 50 per cent of artists said they would hide their use of AI, fearful of how their audience might react.

Without being too controversial, I would submit that all these people are being babies about this topic. If they’re interested in trying it, just frickin try it holy crap. Sure, it’s new, it’s different, it requires us to rethink our basic assumptions and come up with new paths forward. I think that’s good. That means new opportunities, and that some old ones will dry up. But that is always the way of the flux of culture and technology over time. It’s no different. I’m old enough to remember in the 1990’s when it was still taboo to enter your credit card number on websites, because it seemed “unsafe.” Well, I guess it’s still sort of unsafe, but now we just deal with it & you get a new credit card or whatever if you become the victim of fraud. The point is though, it’s now archaic and passé to be so scared of putting your credit card number onto a website that you only buy things in person, and only using cash or a check. Times change. Do you still have a landline at your house? Well, I do, but most people don’t (so I hear).

MusicTech’s article ends:

It’s not too late for AI to find its legitimate place in music history, but it’s high time we bring it into the light of day so there can be greater transparency around its use. With that we can dispel the shadowy practices that concealing its real impact. There are many artists ready to experiment with AI, and plenty of listeners who will be the first to judge how good it really sounds. But only with an open culture between everyone involved will we find out what AI can actually offer music, and what it can’t.

Meh. I’m not sure anybody but the click-hungry pearl-clutchers really cares at the end of the day. And I think this bit from TechRadar’s piece is equally “meh”…

And while there’s nothing wrong with liking an AI song per se, there’s everything wrong with not knowing it is an AI song. Consent and context are missing, and that fundamentally changes the listening experience.

“Everything wrong?” Come on. It’s just a dumb AI song. I really dgaf. I’m not going to be somehow mysteriously harmed by listening to an AI song that I didn’t know was AI? This is just nonsense. And nobody asks for my “consent” to force me to listen to their stupid “shopping beats” if I go to the mall, or for motorcyclists blaring their radios when they drive by my house.

I think these authors are barking up the wrong horse & that their train has sailed. Grift is the new normal. And it is not a uniquely AI problem. It is a capitalism problem. It is, essentially, just capitalism. And nobody asked for my “consent” for that either, but here we are!