Are these the AI music industry jobs of the future?

AI is opening up new job categories in the music industry. Some of them are pretty cool. Others are concerning.

When the internet first came along, many businesses thought it was a fad, and websites could be built and maintained on a part-time basis by some geeky kid already on staff. However, as the years passed, it became evident that the internet was here to stay and that to compete in the new world, companies needed a dedicated webmaster. Or two. Or three. Or more.

A similar phenomenon later occurred with social media. Facebook? What’s that? Twitter? Never heard of it. But as social media platforms gained traction, businesses realized that they needed a social media manager, complete with supporting staff.

Today’s paradigm-shifting technology is artificial intelligence, something that’s iterating and becoming more powerful practically on an hourly basis. Companies are now investing heavily in AI, and not just in people who can write a good prompt. AI departments are sprouting up everywhere. This tech is in the process of changing everything.

Last week’s column focused on the things I miss about the old (i.e., pre-2000) music industry. Now let’s give some equal time to the future.

After a rough decade of trying to adapt to the realities of the digital world in the 21st century, the music industry is evolving at an accelerating rate, embracing new AI technologies and practices. This includes the creation (or potential creation) of jobs that didn’t exist even five years ago. Let’s speculate wildly, shall we?

When synths went mainstream in the late ’70s and early ’80s, synth players were decried as not being “real musicians,” people whose talent was getting machines to do something. Who needed any formal musical training to create songs? The British Musicians’ Union even called for the U.K. government to ban synthesizers because they were taking jobs away from working musicians who spent years on their craft.

That’s nothing compared with what’s happening with AI.

Oh, you write your own songs, do you? And when you go into a studio to record them, you pay for a producer and engineer, correct? Record labels are looking for ways to get rid of as many unreliable humans as possible. With platforms like Suno capable of generating super-realistic songs, companies are looking for ninjas at that sort of thing.