AI is doubling the amount of songs in existence & WHY IT REALLY MATTERS

If you’ve read previous issues of the Best Tech newsletter, you’ll already know that I’m bullish on AI music for its positive implications on mental health, the democratization of music creation, and what I believe AI music will unlock for businesses and emergent business models as we all push forward into further disruption of the human experience. A new term has begun to be used for those of us who use generative AI to create music (and, often, subsequently videos), that I really like and resonate with:

AI MUSIC DESIGNERS

but there’s a lot more to unpack about what’s developing in the AI music space presently. As a quick aside, I am now hyper-focused on creating a completely new genre of music using generative AI that truly can’t be characterized as any other type of music, nor direct influences perceptible. But so now, to quickly set the stage for this issue, for many years the video game industry has been worth more than both the music industry and film industry combined. I believe that AI is about to flip that on it’s head.

Although concrete numbers on this vary considerably, a number that we can use to think of the number of unique songs in the human records from the beginning of recorded history is somewhere south of 200M. This includes all cultures, written, sung, performed, alternative versions.

By my assessment after many hours of deep research on all the various platforms as well as my personal, human diligence, it seems as though today, somewhere along the lines of 300,000 new songs (or more) are being generated every. single. day.

At this rate, the total number of songs in the human catalogue would double in less than two years, except that we are seeing more and more human users adopt AI music daily, and users seems to be generating progressively more and more songs - meaning the number could double in closer to a year, particularly as it seems that real human musicians and producers also seem to be producing a particularly high volume as well.

I believe that this is indicative of an increased desire for what is human created, and not generated by AI. I think more people are reconnecting with their physical instruments, as well as picking up new ones to learn. There truly is something about feeling the vibrations on an acoustic guitar on your lap, figuring out how to blow into a woodwind instrument ‘just right’ to create great sound, to figure out how to get all hands and feet working together but separately on a drum kit somehow keeping rhythm with yourself and others - this is undeniable. I can relate as a multi-disciplined musician of nearly 40 years myself.

But that said, beyond being a musician and singer-songwriter, producer, recording artist, vocalist, lyricist, etc., I’m a music lover at heart, truly - most genres, generations, from the unknown to best known, and I have a phonographic memory, so I’ve never forgotten a song, melody, hook, etc I’ve ever heard. I was also a touring music (who never really made it) as well as a nightclub DJ for years ‘in a past life’ and I still have a music-tech startup, am advised by some of the bigger names in the global music industry etc., so while I don’t claim to be an expert, I also reject any preconceived notions that I’m unqualified to put out music generated by AI - particularly as I’ve made it a point to label all my music as AI generated on the artwork, thumbnails, videos, names, titles, and metadata.

I’m ALL-IN for transparency, and don’t seek to trick anyone into hearing my AI music inadvertently, but simultaneously I truly think that the music I’m putting out the is truly getting great, and worthy of sharing with my audience at large. Here’s a great example of one of my recent songs (it IS AI, to reiterate):

please let me know what you think, and consider subscribing if you’re not already HERE.

But so now that we’ve got to dig into how I get my assertion that AI is on course to double the amount of songs in the human record, let’s get to why it may really matter, and where the business models may be hiding in plain sight.

Soon Google will release a piece of technology that allows users to turn any video they generate into a playable video game, in a step toward reverse engineering a simulated reality, We the human experiencers will be able to gamify any parts of our lives from our work, our creative outlets, our learning, our entertainment, and everything will move to a fully customizable (often intuitively) immersive experience, and what do all experiences especially gamified ones and ones that resemble video games need?

MUSIC.

In the case of AI music, it’s royalty free, ‘unique to us’ (“knows us”), is fluid (can match any scene, outcome), and much more. Additionally, music has the potential to unify, to raise vibration of one or all of us, to amplify messages and yes, even to sell.

So to me, this is why being on the bleeding-edge of gAI music, or to be an AI Music Designer, is so important right now. Additionally, at least as of now, when we users of the AI use it to generate songs, we own the IP, and can build out monetizable catalogues, assets, franchises, and more. We’re seeing AI artists getting signed to record labels, going viral, generating revenues from huge downloads/streams, and much more.

Also, for those following my music videos, you’ll have noticed a change in the video production recently - namely, I came across a new video generation platform called OpenArt that is truly best-in-class, particularly when it comes to generating music videos. It saves me like 80% of the time it did to create music videos previously, using AI, and the results are the best yet as well (faster and better, yes - you know me, I couldn’t not share that alpha).

Another piece of alpha I have shared here previously is my growth hack that answers the question I’m asked multiple times daily in some form or fashion these days which is ‘how are you doing so much’ (getting so much done, involved in so much, keep starting new stuff, etc etc and it’s true our Space Tourism company (Ascend), our proof-of-humanhood startup (VRFD), our AI company (LovingIs…), our music-tech company (We J), our brick-and-mortar home health care company (Acolher e Cuidar), my viral growth coaching (Coryconnects), my public speaking (via PepTalk), my work as an influencer and my work as a national mentor and Entrepreneur In Residence at the Founder Institute all do have many moving parts that all require daily attention and momentum) in addition to my two newsletters, traveling, testing and reviewing newest AI tools etc and the short answer is:

my virtual assistant (shout-out Tina).

Having a human who knows me, my businesses, who’s more than proficient at all best AI tools, and who can hold me to talk while taking as much off my shoulders and plate as possible is nothing short of a bonafide game changer. A huge shout out and massive endorsement of The VA Group for what they do and empower me and thousands of others with, with their highly trained, well-supported, systematized network of incredible human virtual assistants. I highly recommend checking them out. If it weren’t for them, there’s no way I’d have the time to put into my AI music, which is proving to be beyond enriching, rewarding, liberating, empowering, enjoyable, and an absolute labor of love.

Thanks for tuning in.