I recently found out about Suno, a new web-based AI music generating program:

https://www.suno.ai/

It's got all the caveats associated with AI:

Quote
Are the songs that I generate using Suno subject to copyright protection?
The availability and scope of copyright protection for content generated (in whole or in part) using artificial intelligence is a complex and dynamic area of law, which is rapidly evolving and varies among countries. We encourage you to consult a qualified attorney to advise you about the latest development and the degree of copyright protection available for the output you generate using Suno.

Assuming the example songs posted on the site are representative, there are a number things that really impress me about Suno.

I'm not sure I could distinguish a song generated by Suno from a commercial song. While there are some artifacts with some of the vocals, the audio quality otherwise seems to be very good.

Suno can take user's lyrics and generate a full arrangement from it, in a wide variety of styles. Genre appropriate arrangement, catchy melodic lines, full harmonies - everything.

Chat GPT lyrics still sound like Chat GTP lyrics, though. wink

The singers are very good - expressive, and genre appropriate. Rap music gets a rapper; country music gets a country singer. And it supports multiple languages. Want German, French or Korean? It can do it.

Instrumental parts? It's got that as well. Just write "[instrumental]", and it'll render something appropriate.

Now, I've still got the same reservations about using AI to generate music and lyrics. And I've got to wonder where it got all the training data from. That's somebody's voice it learned, and some writer's melody that it's copying, and some instrumentalist that's been sampled. Unlike BiaB, I'm sure that none of these people have been compensated for using their recordings as source material for the songs.

So ethically and legally, I don't see how anything created by this could be protected by copyright. (The lyrics still retain copyright, but that's a different matter).

But again - except for the occasional glitches in the vocals, I'm not sure I could distinguish what Suno generates from non-AI music.


-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?