Music and technology go hand in hand. Musicians performing on stage have been using tech equipment. Since then music has received a new technological push on account of AI. AI is getting better at generating music that sounds like the real thing — let us call this vocal deepfakes. There are imitations of super stars which are pitch perfect. Generally, they appear without the express consent of the artist.

AI has created issues for $26 billion music industry. Artists fear their royalties will get affected as machines copy and replace recorded music catalogues. Machine-manufactured music would be a dampener for the music industry.

Of course, AI has created some opportunities for the artists, Music companies want withdrawal of deepfakes which are unauthorized. Grimes thought of a new business model — let the artist decide about this. Anyone can use her voice clone, but when a song is released officially, the royalties will be shared on equal basis (50-50). It is a way of partnering. There is no paperwork. There are no gatekeepers. Grimes casts herself wider and is capturing new markets.

Tech augments jobs. It does not replace them. Grimes, it so seems, believes in this economic theory.

There is no clarity about the actual demand of AI music. Grimes AI song reached a respectable 1.6 million streams. Still, we are not in a machine-first world. Many US workers still identify their occupation as singing. They would resist the pressure of supercomputer music.

Grimes too is cautious enough to insist on artists consent, and some control over her gains. Record labels too are making AI music of their own.

We know music industry is not known about caring for its artists beyond a point. If musicians survive the AI’s onslaught, there is a hope for other professionals too.