I can’t keep quiet about this any longer. It needs calling out.. I’ve recently been alerted by a good friend and colleague, to the fact that there are now new albums circulating in the prog world that have been 100% created with AI. No, not just the artwork, literally albums of songs with NO musicians playing on them at all.. completed songs made from text prompts!. Fake guitars, fake vocals and the music written with AI generated algorithms based on original music.

I always knew this was coming, but I didn’t quite factor that it would happen so fast.. There is now a new breed of AI software out there, the leader in this field being an app called Suno that enables anyone with no musical ability whatsoever and little imagination, to create an ‘original’ song…from the briefest of instructions, anything from audio riff ideas down to a simple text prompt.

But what is much sadder than that is that I’m already seeing people that have skin in the game of reviewing, playing and promoting works from original hard working artists, that are seemingly endorsing this crap…And let’s not make any bones about it…it is crap…Utter bollocks in fact…

My friend sent me a link to one new prog album that is out there now, doing the rounds, getting airplay, getting reviewed as if its some sort of work of genius… No, it’s the work of AI that ripped off decades of genius before…the original work of thousands of artists that probably didn’t even get paid.

It took me about 30 secs to spot the fakery… The chopped up intonation on the vocals, the horrendous AM broadcast sound quality full of compression artefacts…and the guitar and keys samples that have no playable dynamics or nuance in the expression of the instrument. There are other clues…100% AI artwork, Mysteriously anonymous band members…,AI generated ‘band photos’, and a distinct lack of track record and traceability to the project.

My only hope is that the people lapping this stuff up have momentarily let their collective guards down or just don’t realise what they are listening to… If they are knowingly promoting this kind of AI slop whilst hard working and dedicated bands are busting a gut for thousands of hours and risking their life savings making that one killer album the proper way, then I have nothing but contempt for them…

Or perhaps it’s time for anyone like me that believes in the true craft of making a proper album, to step aside.. and accept it’s Game Over…?

Like most of you I use AI outside of music, and we live in a digital world, but if you claim to love our music and don’t at least insist it is made by ACTUAL REAL MUSICIANS, you will get what you deserve…

(Please don’t ask me to speculate about names here. It’s up to you do to the due diligence, if you care about real music)