Introduction of the Phases Project - It's a Corporation (Rough Take)

Here is an audio version so you can close your eyes, stretch, or just breathe as you listen.

With increasing frequency, all industries are being infiltrated by artificial intelligence. Be it “personal assistants” or tools for creation, offers for help from AI are unavoidable and unrelenting. This is pretty obvious to most of us.

Some are wholeheartedly leaning in.

And some, like me, are standing our ground. I’ve actually never logged onto any AI large language model. And I’m hoping to never have to!

In the music world, we’ve now been introduced to AI-generated songs and viral AI groups. We’re also shown holographic performances during which the audience has no clue that they’re interacting with a digital representation of an artist until the end…

Crazy!!

People are flocking to shows where some of the most famous deceased artists are giving “live” and believable full performances. Companies that specialize in producing these shows are aiming to capitalize on the public’s apparent indifference to whether the performers that entertain them are humans or not.

Let’s Collab!

I saw a friend of mine post the other day about a touching song that a buddy of his wrote for him as he was going through a big life transition. I listened to the song, and it was beautiful, as were the lyrics! I went to check out the site it was on, wondering if it was something I should explore for my own music. Thoughts about collaboration with the artist were crossing my mind, as he had a beautiful voice.

It turns out the song (lyrics/vocals, arrangement, melody, instrumentation, etc.) was created by AI based on a few sentences that served as a prompt.

I was shocked!!! A few prompting sentences, and voilà! A brilliant song appears.

The friend’s song was being lauded as a beautiful tribute.

The song creation site, Suno, has been sued, along with one of their competitors, by the three major record labels a year or so ago. But don’t worry, they’re working out a deal now that will both protect the artists and level the music creation playing field…

Turns out you don’t have to be a songwriter to write a song!

Thanks to a friendly collaboration between the major record labels and the AI companies they’re currently litigating, that culture of exclusion is coming to an end!

And although they’re not including artists in the conversation, per the usual, don’t worry — they’re negotiating in the best interests of artists, per the usual.

But I don’t lose sleep over any of this. They can do whatever they want over there and I’m going to focus on what I’m up to over here. All good! I don’t want any part of that dark, dead system anyway.

The Phases Project

My aim with this series is to pull the curtain back on actual music creation. We need to keep the creative process intact and REAL for future generations. Similar to the negative cultural impacts of airbrushed, perfected images of influencers in the media, allowing humanity to create “art” that requires zero independent thought, skill, or grit does society a disservice.

Releasing various stages and iterations of a song is my response to an industry that is speeding towards transhumanism and robbing us of our will to do what only humans can do = create.

It will be messy and off-tune.

But that’s an important part of the process! Songs don’t begin as butterflies —- they all have their caterpillar stage, too.

I hope this undertaking will help me move my songs along! Knowing that incomplete and unrealized versions of songs are out in the world is real incentive to continue crafting!!

For every song, reaching a point of satisfaction is tricky for me, but it’s something I’m working on improving. I’m not aiming for perfection, just committing to the creative process, letting it unfold, and revealing the typically private creation stages along the way.

Here is my first Phases release, a song titled It’s a Corporation. It’s relatively new, compared to others I’m working on, some that were written 10+ years ago. I tracked the keys and vox late one night, from about 12am-3:30am.

My kids think I sound tired! I think the first verse is a little sleepy, but I soon find the vocal groove.

My producer friend added his sauce and I think it’s got potential.

I have so many ideas for its next iteration… the arrangement and chord structure have already evolved, as have the vocals, drums, and lead line. We’re getting bassline ideas down, too.

The final version will be a nice and rich acoustic/electronic hybrid with, inevitably, a few imperfections to prove I’m human.

But I hope you enjoy this initial rough sketch:

I’m excited to continue sharing! I’d love your thoughts and feedback.

Thank you for being here.

Much love,

Mikkel

I am a musician, educator, holistic practitioner, and founder of Aethers Reach.

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