My music is now on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and all the rest. Screenshot by David Gewirtz/ZDNET
Some time ago, during a particularly dark time in my life, I found some solace in composing music that reflected my various moods. After that, the tracks sat, all 12 of them, waiting for — I don't know — something.
Many musicians have similar experiences. They create music, write songs, and compose tunes, but never really get them “out there.”
Back in the day, the only ways you could share your music were through live performances, a self-published CD shared with all ten of your friends, or getting signed by a record label (a very high barrier of entry rife with considerable difficulty and risk).
But all that has changed. You may not realize it, but Americans still buy CDs and vinyl (about half “like to purchase physical copies of their music”). That said, music streaming services have become popular and even more mainstream than physical album sales.
Launching a new music album or EP no longer requires catching the eye of an A&R (artists and repertoire) executive at a record label. You can use a digital music distributor to push your music out onto streaming services without having to be considered marketable enough by some record executive, which really helps if your music doesn't fit neatly into a popular genre.
This really is a golden age for indy music, because music releases are no longer solely dependent on the approval of mainstream sound gatekeepers. Anyone can launch an album and get it onto Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, iTunes, Deezer, Tidal, and the rest.
So I did. And I used AI to help me make it happen.
TL;DR
AI was not used for:
- Composing, mixing, or mastering the actual music
- The website setup and design
- Doing all the various deals to establish distribution
AI was used for:
- Album cover art
- Music genre identification
- Music promotional prose (descriptions of the…