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Main Authors: Collins, Nick, Grierson, Mick
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.14589
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author Collins, Nick
Grierson, Mick
author_facet Collins, Nick
Grierson, Mick
contents As future musical AIs adhere closely to human music, they may form their own attachments to particular human artists in their databases, and these biases may in the worst case lead to potential existential threats to all musical history. AI super fans may act to corrupt the historical record and extant recordings in favour of their own preferences, and preservation of the diversity of world music culture may become even more of a pressing issue than the imposition of 12 tone equal temperament or other Western homogenisations. We discuss the technical capability of AI cover software and produce Taylor's Versions of famous tracks from Western pop history as provocative examples; the quality of these productions does not affect the overall argument (which might even see a future AI try to impose the sound of paperclips onto all existing audio files, let alone Taylor Swift). We discuss some potential defenses against the danger of future musical monopolies, whilst analysing the feasibility of a maximal 'Taylor Swiftication' of the complete musical record.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_14589
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Avoiding an AI-imposed Taylor's Version of all music history
Collins, Nick
Grierson, Mick
Computers and Society
Machine Learning
Sound
Audio and Speech Processing
As future musical AIs adhere closely to human music, they may form their own attachments to particular human artists in their databases, and these biases may in the worst case lead to potential existential threats to all musical history. AI super fans may act to corrupt the historical record and extant recordings in favour of their own preferences, and preservation of the diversity of world music culture may become even more of a pressing issue than the imposition of 12 tone equal temperament or other Western homogenisations. We discuss the technical capability of AI cover software and produce Taylor's Versions of famous tracks from Western pop history as provocative examples; the quality of these productions does not affect the overall argument (which might even see a future AI try to impose the sound of paperclips onto all existing audio files, let alone Taylor Swift). We discuss some potential defenses against the danger of future musical monopolies, whilst analysing the feasibility of a maximal 'Taylor Swiftication' of the complete musical record.
title Avoiding an AI-imposed Taylor's Version of all music history
topic Computers and Society
Machine Learning
Sound
Audio and Speech Processing
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.14589