This. Is. Wild.
A US-based digital agency, Space150, recently thought it would conduct a fun experiment: model Travis Scott‘s sonic and vocal style via Artificial Intelligence, and see what original production AI might subsequently invent.
Every lyric and melody you hear in the below, says Space150, is entirely created by AI.
The track is called Jack Park Canny Dope Man.
Executive creative director at Space150, Ned Lampert, told AdWeek: “We were sort of fascinated with like, ‘What if we tried to make a song – like an actual good song – by using AI and basically creative directing AI?’”
Lampert said the agency chose Travis Scott because “he is just such a unique artist”. (He’s not that unique any more, though, is he – because he’s basically been cloned by a robot.)
Granted, the lyrics from TravisBott (yes, that’s literally what they call him) meander into the realm of the absurd. For example, as annotated by Genius:
“She got the crew on top of my chain (It’s lit); Wasted in the street like a pain (Straight up); You see the diamonds in the light of chain; They say I fucked the bad bitch like I’m rain; I was the bitch on the plane (Straight up).”
Abject nonsense.
But on first listen, with those trademark Travis-ism’s (“It’s lit”; “Straight up”) thrown in there, your fair-weather fan might have to do a double, triple, quadruple take.
And then they might just assume that a human being had skilfully ripped off Travis Scott… and that Jack Park Canny Dope Man deserves a spot on next week’s Rap Caviar.
Apparently, Space150 started out feeding real-life Travis Scott lyrics into a ‘text generator model’ for two weeks until it began creating its own rhymes. (These rhymes were initially food-obsessed, but got smarter as time went on.)
Then, according to AdWeek, the agency “used additional neural network programs to create melodies and percussion arrangements to accompany them”.
What plays below is the result of this experiment.
It’s kind of jaw-dropping.
But – in a music industry where barely a week seems to go by without a plagiarism lawsuit landing in the headlines – perhaps not completely in a good way.
Earlier this month, a new Los-Angeles based, “AI-enabled” indie label called SNAFU Records has launched with $2.9 million in seed funding.
The company claims to be “the first full-service record label built on AI-music discovery” and is operated by “technologists, A&Rs, producers, and creatives” including those previously employed by Universal, Sony/ATV, BMG, and Capitol, and who worked with the likes of Ariana Grande, Shawn Mendes, and David Guetta.Music Business Worldwide
