AI and the future of music

Shrug.

if it “creates” something pleasing: So what?

However, no AI generated music should be copyrightable.

I wouldn’t take an AI too long, relatively speaking, to create music scores that cover every way to put notes together in a “song”.

That would destroy any the ability of any human to create and copyright their own music.

”AI, create 3 minute audio tracks, different from each other, that covers every permutation of arranging notes within each file”.

AI, remove all 3 minute files with more than an 80% match to existing copyrighted music files (reference allmusic or some such) “

AI — send all remaining files to US copyright office under {this name}.

AI —build list, and update list, from copyrights granted from US Copyright office.

AI — monitor all released music tracks, compare against granted copyright list.

AI — forward all matches from last statement to {my troll lawyer firm} and send out the standard form to {new music author} informing them of copyright breach.

profit.

And actually, those copyrights could be sought in any country… or all countries, then suit brought in whichever country I could pay to grant the copyrights…

bah.. change the logic a little..

AI — md5 hash all copyrighted music files referenced by one or more places like allmusic.. or just copyright offices.

then do the build files, but drop any that match the hashes from the step above.

I meant as a consumer of music, the origin of the music doesn’t much matter from an enjoyment of the sound.

But the rest of the post was my critique of AI from an ethical, and practical, standpoint.

Music is mathematics.

Anything based on mathematics of discrete values can be computed.

AI could, in theory, compute all possible values of arrangements of those discrete units (notes and their timing).
Of the “songs” created, some will be pleasing, most will probably be displeasing, and still others will be the computed duplicate of music already created.

Probably don’t even need AI, just a really good background in music theory and requisite skill with a chosen programming language. AI will just make it easier for the … less skilled, to be able to implement “copyright” monopoly and copyright litigation farming.

Though, if AI were creating movies, maybe it could be taught to NOT create so many duplicate, derivative, boring and bland “rewrites” or “reimagining” of past works that do nothing more than change the sex, gender or skin color of the characters.

Music is analyzable as mathematics.
 

yes.  But that does not refute the point that given sufficient processing power, any, and all arrangements of musical notes, in any possible time domain, can be computed, stored and then be used, in the absence of appropriate laws, for copyright lawsuit trolling.  It is the arrangement, and the similarities, between two works that subject the “artists” to copyright suits.

https://forum.audiogon.com/posts/2582616
 

@mahgister 

Either you missed my point, or more likely I just didn’t articulate it well.

Music, as played by the interpretation of the artist and the inference of the listener through their “world view”, ethics and values, is not what I was trying to describe with respect to creating an “arrangement.”

Just the arrangement of the notes, in any combination, with any set timing pattern, can absolutely be mathematically derived.  As such, given sufficient processing power, storage and time, the entire universe of those arrangements can be calculated and stored and the pattern used in a copyright attempt.  Which is what I find objectionable.