Rage Against The Machine: AI Music is Here, What Are You Gonna Do About It?

My worst nightmare happened the other day: I was listening to my “Discover Weekly,” a playlist curated by Spotify to give me deep cuts and songs from artists I haven’t heard before. I’ve never thought Spotify’s algorithm was fool-proof but, I will say I’ve discovered some gems because of it. A song came on that I was enjoying: a neo soul/ jazz track. As a devout fan of music I decided to dig deeper, to see if there was an album to listen to, learn more about the artist, and get to know the world behind the music. I was shocked to discover this artist had released 22 albums in the last year (2025) alone! 

To be honest, my first reaction was a bit envious. As a musician myself, struggling to keep up with the output demand this industry has placed on aspiring artists, I wondered how this was possible? So I looked into the artist, this superhuman who is immune to burnout and creative fatigue. I came to find out the artist wasn’t an artist at all-it was an algorithm. I wonder how you can create soulful music, if you don’t have a soul? I also wondered why in the world Spotify would suggest this song? But I guess it's a numbers game. If you’re pumping out song after song after song, the Spotify gods favor you. 

I can’t say I’m immune to the temptations of the efficiency that AI provides. I myself have used ChatGPT a number of times to help me with my social media content-creating calendars, generating hashtags and captions that I never used because they were never quite right. It even helped me to create an EPK (electronic press kit). I’ve also used LANDR before, an AI mastering platform, to master tracks that I’ve released on Soundcloud, or the Logic Mastering tool when I want to send a “professional sounding” demo. As an independent artist with a slim to none budget, those tools are honestly helpful. But where do you draw the line? 

I believe creation of art takes a real-life point of view. It takes the feeling of love, hurt, lust, despair. “Art imitates Life,” a famous quote that’s often clipped. Oscar Wilde actually wrote “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life,” meaning we build our ideals for reality based on the art we perceive. If the art we are perceiving is not based on life at all, then we are en-route to a lackluster future indeed. 

So if you are a consumer of art that craves connection, rejoices in the feeling you get when you listen to a song, read a book, or watch a movie that makes you feel seen within the work, then there has never been a more crucial time to be a fan. Ask questions and dive deeper into the art you are consuming. Go to shows, buy merch, interact with the artist you love on socials or even better, IRL (in real life). Otherwise “The Artist” archetype might be forever extinct.