Rick Beato - Will These New AI Tools Make Songwriters Irrelevant In 2025?
The US Copyright Office released a report emphasizing that AI-generated works require human involvement to be eligible for copyright protection. This means that works created entirely by AI, without human input, cannot be copyrighted. The report aligns with court decisions rejecting copyright for non-human creations. Rick Biato discusses his testimony to Congress, advocating that fully generative AI works should not receive copyright. He explores AI music platforms like Murea and Sunno, noting improvements in AI's ability to mimic music genres, particularly country music. However, he critiques the synthetic sound quality and lack of authenticity in AI-generated music, despite some platforms producing surprisingly good results. Biato concludes that AI music will likely gain popularity, challenging the notion that people will only prefer human-made music.
Key Points:
- AI-generated works need human involvement for copyright protection.
- Fully generative AI works are not eligible for copyright, as per US Copyright Office and court rulings.
- AI music platforms like Murea and Sunno show advancements in genre mimicry, especially in country music.
- AI-generated music often lacks authenticity and has synthetic sound quality issues.
- AI music is expected to gain popularity, challenging preferences for human-made music.
Details:
1. 📜 AI and Copyright: New Developments
- The US Copyright Office released a report on April 2nd addressing the copyrightability of AI-generated works, emphasizing the necessity of human involvement for copyright eligibility.
- A human must translate an idea into a tangible expression to qualify for copyright protection, as stated in the report.
- Courts have consistently rejected the possibility of granting copyright to materials created entirely by nonhumans, such as AI-generated content using platforms like Sunno or Udo.
- The report implies that creators using AI tools must ensure significant human input in the creation process to secure copyright protection.
2. 🎶 Testing AI Music Platforms: Murea
- AI music platforms, particularly Murea and Udioso, have shown significant improvements in mimicking music genres, especially country music.
- There is a recommendation against granting copyright to fully generative AI due to its ability to replicate existing music styles.
- Murea is tested for its capacity to generate music, with a focus on exploring its trending songs and genre variety.
- A specific example of Murea's output, a pop song titled 'Holding on to love Can't let go' by Cadence Smith, is used to evaluate the platform's performance.
- The evaluation of Murea included assessing its ability to produce trending songs and its handling of genre diversity, demonstrating its capability in the AI music space.
3. 🎵 Exploring AI Song Variations
- The AI song creation process begins by selecting an option to 'create similar' from an existing song, allowing for the generation of multiple variations.
- AI generates two distinct variations of the original song, each showcasing different musical elements, structures, and styles.
- This process demonstrates significant potential for creativity and innovation, as the AI-generated variations offer more musical diversity compared to many contemporary songs.
- Specific elements varied by AI include melody, rhythm, and instrumentation, illustrating the AI's capacity for complex musical decision-making.
- The AI's capability to generate diverse musical variations highlights its role as a creative tool, expanding the possibilities within music composition.
4. 🎧 Genre Experiments and AI Limitations
- AI-generated music exhibits limitations in some genres, particularly noted with a 'fake guitar' sound in certain tracks, suggesting the technology's current inability to perfectly mimic traditional instruments.
- Pop and heavy rock genres tend to fare better in AI-generated music, often producing more satisfactory results compared to others.
- Vocals in AI-generated tracks can sound synthetic and not realistic, impacting the overall authenticity of the music.
- Even when vocals sound good in AI-generated tracks, artifacts from effects like reverb may still be noticeable, indicating room for improvement in audio processing.
5. 🖋️ Creating a Song with AI
- The process involved selecting a song title 'No Light to Follow' and using AI to write lyrics and compose the song.
- The intended genre was dark alternative rock with a mysterious and eerie feel, and a male vocal.
- The AI was used to generate lyrics, instrumentals, and the overall song composition.
- Specific challenges included poor quality of AI-generated music, with the guitar sounding like a keyboard and the overall output being unsatisfactory.
- The user noted the music as cheesy, highlighting limitations in the AI's ability to produce high-quality, genre-specific instrumentals.