Beyoncé’s new album is something of a stand against AI. But she is not the only artist who is against AI in the music industry.
Beyoncé her latest album called Cowboy Carter has been out for a few days now and it is, according to the artist herself, the best music she has ever made. But in addition to Cowboy Carter being a record-breaking album, it is also a kind of protest against AI in music.
But Beyoncé is not the only artist who has ever made a statement against the use of AI in music. There are many other famous singers who were not happy when AI was used in their songs. AI in music is a rising trend.
Beyoncé vs. AI
In the middle of a press release for Beyoncé’s new album Cowboy Carter, the artist made an unexpected statement about the use of AI in music. Beyoncé says she would like to return to real music, with real instruments.
The statements are mostly about the fact that AI can create new songs in just a few minutes, including the artist’s voice. AI can study voices and recreate them mega realistically, which technically falls under fair-use. But Beyoncé disagrees.
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Beyoncé’s opinion also fits well with the album. Stealing music is a major topic in Cowboy Carter. Cowboy Carter is about how dark-skinned musicians have laid the foundation for country music, but that this honor often goes to Southern white culture.
Beyoncé thinks the same thing is happening now with AI in music. AI steals from musicians and this is detrimental to the artists. The artist feels that everyone should be able to make the music she wants, and no music should be stolen.
Artist responses
Beyoncé is far from the only artist opposed to AI in music. Indeed, research by the French Association of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers (Sacem) and its German variant (Gema) found that 71 percent of musicians are afraid of AI. There are some well-known examples of this as well.
Take Drake, for example. Many songs have been made where AI had been used to add his voice. So Drake’s voice can be heard in several songs. But when it was used on Munch by Ice Spice, the rapper called it the “Last straw.
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Drake reacts to an AI-generated cover of him rapping ‘Munch’ by Ice Spice:
“This is the final straw AI” pic.twitter.com/qetEnFI2DI
– Pop Base (@PopBase) April 14, 2023
Selena Gomez also did not react too positively to a song where AI was used to add her voice. At one point, an edited version of Starboy by The Weeknd/Abel Tesfaye had been circulated on the Internet. On this, Selena Gomez’s voice had been added using artificial intelligence. The artist called this scary.
Whether this negative attention from artists like Beyoncé to artificial intelligence in music is actually going to have an impact is not certain. What we do know by now is what AI is capable of. And as scary as it is, it is very impressive.