61. Technology and Creativity. AI in the Music Industry.

Music is an Art, an expression of human creative skill and imagination. 

Music is everywhere. At the forefront, or in the background. Coming through speakers, or headphones, or an unplugged performance in the street. Making us dance, think, cry, smile, or frown… sleep, jump, relax, get stressed… remember, forget, wish, long, hate, love... Music is an intrinsic element of what it means to be human.

The way we create music, record it, mix it, and share it with others, continues to change as technology advances.

But changes were never as drastic as what we see today with generative AI. We live in a time where AI can assist us, not only in mixing and production processes, but also in the creative act of coming up with a new song. In 2023 we were already able to ask AI to create lyrics instantly; and now we can ask AI to create entire songs through prompts...

Change is so fast, we don’t even know how we are supposed to feel about it. Can AI generated music elicit the same feelings that human made music does? Is AI going to displace musicians, or create new opportunities? Is everyone going to start creating music with AI and stop listening to music made by real musicians? How do musicians create music and how much were they already leveraging technology to do so? What is the creative act and when does creativeness stop and plagiarism begin? How are these AI models training themselves? 

These are just some of the questions that I asked my friend Daniel Rowland in an amazing conversation about Technology and Creativity, AI in the Music Industry.

I could not have thought of a better guest for this episode. Daniel is a music producer, tech executive, and educator. He holds both a B.S and M.F.A. in Music Technology, and is currently Head of Strategy and Partnerships at LANDR, co-founder of Audiotool, and longtime instructor at MTSU. For nearly a decade, his primary focus has been on the empowerment of music creators via ethical AI powered tools and accessible design, sharing that message on dozens of panels and podcasts.

He has been in the industry for decades. He helped grow LANDR to 5 million users, refining their industry-leading creator tools platform, AI mastering engine, plugins and services. As a creative, he produced the music for an Oscar-winning Pixar film (“Piper”); and mixed and mastered multiplatinum/Grammy-nominated projects for artists as varied as Nine Inch Nails, Seal, Jhene Aiko, Phillip Glass, Gwen Stefani, Gayle, Gucci Mane, David Foster, Jason Derulo, Burna Boy, Nina Simone, YG, and Flo Rida, along with dozens of film and game soundtracks for Star Wars, Marvel, Disney, John Wick, The Sandbox, and others. Including projects with actors Benedict Cumberbatch (The Simpsons), Jeremy Renner, and Steve Martin (Only Murders In The Building).

And… on top of that? and most importantly? He is an amazing human being. A fun, passionate and down to earth person, who was nice enough to sit with me for an hour to talk about technology and music and answer whatever question I had in mind.

I am very proud of this episode. 

Listen to it! Learn, and enjoy.