MAIN FINDINGS · AI AND MUSIC SURVEY

Artist Monitor Results

So far, 2024 has been characterized as a year in which innovations in AI have truly taken off. New tools are launched weekly, rapidly reshaping several sectors, including the music industry. Such drastic changes and fast-moving scenarios bring great challenges that deeply concern professionals in the field.

The 2024 edition of the Live AM: Artist Monitor coordinated by Prof. Dr. Francisco Tigre Moura from the IU University and SoundTrack_Cologne, headed by Michael P. Aust, revealed important findings regarding the perceptions of music professionals towards artificial intelligence (AI).

Among many other things, the study particularly revealed that those who most know about Artificial Intelligence applied to music are precisely those who are less excited about the use of these tools in the industry.

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Perceptions towards AI

A significant portion of participants in the survey expressed to be very concerned about the devaluation of music as an art form, the potential for being replaced by AI tools, and the implications of the AI revolution on the distribution of revenue in the music industry.

The people classified as beginners were the ones who expressed the greatest concerns in general about the possible impact of AI on music, being the "attribution of creative input" and the "plagiarism of my work" the issues that concern them most.

Although a large majority of respondents claim that AI can enhance the creative potential of music composers, a majority also believe that AI generated music does not have the power to evoke the same emotional response as those created solely by humans.

 

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Copyrights and legislation

Despite the high level of concern among music professionals about the impact of AI, there is an alarmingly low awareness of the actions taken by political parties and organizations to protect the rights of composers. With more than 50% in all cases, with the exception of GEMA, respondents said they did not know what political parties and music organizations are doing to defend their interests from the impact that AI may generate in the industry.

In fact, the survey results evidenced a low level of awareness regarding the AI Act promoted by the European Union to regulate the devolpment and use of AI.

Of the respondents, 90,0% agree or fully agree that they are concerned about the ownership and copyright issues in the AI era, and 21.2% stated that under no circumstances would approve the use of their work by others using an AI.

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Co-creation with AI tools

The results showed that not many participants use or are willing to use AI tools in the near future. This reluctance to use AI tools is much deeper when they were asked if they would use them for their creative processes related to musical production. Only 19.8% said they would use them to compose new music and 15.3% to change or adapt existing music, while a majority (53.2%) would use them to create promotional content.

When asked how often they use AI tools for different tasks, only 30.1% of the participants reported using AI tools somewhat often, very often, or consider it a great deal for "music production (e.g. mixing, mastering)."

The survey revealed a strong belief that the use of such tools diminishes the significance of the creative output they produce. Furthermore, most respondents reported that using AI tools did not enhance their creativity or productivity.

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Employability

The results indicate that participants recognize the necessity of adapting to the AI revolution and developing new AI-related skills. However, there is significant concern about job loss and a loss relevance of their profession due to AI. On this regards, 44.3% agree or fully agree that they fear losing their job to AI and 40.5% agree or fully agree that their profession is now less relevant due to AI.

Only 12.1% of respondents indicated they felt motivated by the impact of AI on the music industry. In contrast, 40.6% said they felt unmotivated to continue their careers in the music sector. 43.7% declared themselves indifferent.

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A total of 222 respondents answered the survey. A final valid sample of 163 respondents over 18 years old was used for the analysis. Out of them 76,1% were male, 17,2% female and 5,5% prefered not to say.