Vibe Coding Has Come for Music Plugins; The Fight Over Who Profits From AI Music

AI-assisted software development is redefining how music software gets made, and by whom.

For most of the last century, the music business operated under a surprisingly simple idea: If you want to use someone else's work, you ask permission and pay them money. Want to sample a song? There's a licensing process. Want to use a song in a movie, advertisement or television show? The people who own the song get paid.

Beatport is the latest music service to clarify its policies on AI-generated music, and it’s leaning towards Bandcamp’s stance of barring it outright from the platform.

Tyga admitting AI built his album’s synths, Timbaland signing an AI pop star and a Pitchfork zero all point the same way: generative music has gone mainstream, and the fight over it is only getting louder.

The AI model, HappyShrimp 1.0, can generate melodies, arrangements, lyrics and vocals based on prompts describing an emotion, story or musical genre, Alibaba said in a statement Monday. Users can create full vocal tracks or instrumental compositions without technical music knowledge, or provide their own lyrics for the AI to generate a song.

Kobalt has signed on for Spotify’s upcoming AI-powered ‘fan-made covers and remixes’ features, with a licensing deal.

Music artists and songwriters are facing decisions right now about whether to opt in or out of the deals that their labels and publishers are striking with GenAI companies.

The following MBW op-ed comes from MusicInfra CEO and Co-founder Björn Lindvall.

It’s now been more than three years since generative AI music broke into the mainstream consciousness. So why is AI-generated music yet to produce a genuine hit?

• Suno launches Studio 2.0 with MIDI support, an AI chat bar… and no download limit

• Symphonic partners with ArtyShield to give artists tools that protect their music and voices from unauthorized AI use

• Round Hill Files $1 Billion Copyright Infringement Suits Against Suno, Anthropic

• BMG and Suno Reach Licensing Deal

• Jamendo drops its copyright infringement lawsuit against Suno, six weeks after filing it

• Kickstarter Launches $1 Million Artist Project Fund, the ‘Kickstarter Culture Fund’

• Music Tech Friends: Charting the Next Phase of Music Tech

• Presto Music now streaming on Focal & Naim

• The Metadata Debt Problem: How Independent Labels Lose Control of Their Catalogs

• The Music Industry Is Trying to Guess the AI Recipe After Dinner Was Served

• Music to confuse AI might be the next new genre

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