Some Thoughts on Generative ML

Speaking as a musician, there is both a "here's the thing" aspect to music, and an "appreciation that one has accomplished the thing" aspect on the part of the listener. They may or may not co-exist in any particular listener. Musicians themselves are most likely, I am fairly confident, to deeply experience both aspects.

People who appreciate both will consider, and triage by, the aspect of accomplishment, because that is a human metric of note, and if nothing else, we are opinion-generating animals.

People for whom the thing itself — the resulting music — is the only aspect that deeply impinges upon them (e.g. can I boogie to this, or not?) are likely to be fine with generated music, presuming only that it meets their standards of boogie, or whatever moves them.

I think this will hold true for any artistic endeavor. It has to do with the distinct domains of the creation of art on the one hand, and the appreciation of art on the other. The painter and the observer. The musician and the listener. The writer and the reader. The cook and the diner. And so on.

Consequently, I think we will in fact see a change in the monetary and social values of the acts of artistic creation such that if nothing else, supporting one's self as an artist will become more difficult. It won't be the "death" of any art, as one of the inherent and fundamental values of art is how one's own person reacts to both one's own creation and performance; but I anticipate it will be an active and notable stressor, financially speaking.

For myself (anecdote is not data, but on a per-individual basis for this type of assessment, anecdote is all there is), the fifty plus years I've put into my musicianship have created value for me far beyond the financial, and far beyond input from an audience. I appreciate other musicians and some genres of music, but I don't rate myself against them. Nor do I require an audience beyond myself. Which makes me impervious to worries about generative music.

Originally posted on Medium; slightly edited for context.