A.I. Must Be Minimized
The rise of AI in the music promotion process is a rapidly growing trend in the music industry. From algorithms that help curate personalized playlists to machine learning tools that predict which songs will be hits, AI is being increasingly used to help promote and discover new music.
The Future of Music Promotion: How AI is Transforming the Industry (wavymagazine.com)
Does anyone want a computer to decide the destination to their eating desires or a much needed vacation? Would we allow a software to choose our residence or a life-long partner? Will we accept a predetermined path of life that an algorithm calculated?
We allow programs to suggest options based upon our input but ultimately, we choose, or do we? When our list of options is reduced from 1,000 to 100 has our decision making power been reduced? Not when our interest is Chinese rather than Italian. But when you allow filters within that choice, e.g. mileage, or reviews to further refine then are we are handing over part of the decision making process to something else. It is only by eating at all restaurants that we can truly say, in our opinion, A is better than B. Thus, A will be my choice even though it is 10 miles further away.
The simple fact is that many optons can be overwhelming and do not always results in the wisest choice. Narrowing these options makes the decision making process efficient by managing our time better. This “saved” time can be used for other activities. But does this “allowing” result in the choices we need?
Who or what we choose to listen to is probably the most critical decision we make in life. For what we hear does impact us by directing our footsteps. Whom we live with, work for, where we go, what we do and many other factors are determined by the decisions we make from the processing of the words we read or hear. We do not operate in a vacuum. Words are ever present. Is our attentiveness to them our choice or the choice of others? What do we allow our minds to meditate on?
“With three, four, or five options, students can select the correct answer without fully understanding the material. The multiple-choice format makes it easy for students to guess, distorting their scores and making it difficult to evaluate their understanding of the material accurately.“
Deciding the music we are going to listen to is a very personal decision. If we are adventurous then we will explore genres that are new to us. Needing a certain sound, our list is narrowed to that which we know and are comfortable with. In today’s times there are a vast array of means to listen to music. When we choose a means other than going to a destination, selecting a file, inserting an item or placing on a turntable, we have handed our listening decision to another entity. A.I. is being employed to refine and fine-tune the choices available for our enjoyment. It is also being used to create the decisions available for us to choose from. Our playlist has been created by an understanding of another from the choices we have made.
Why is this bad? Why should I listen to something I do not enjoy? No one intentionally chooses to make a bad decision. But bad decisions are made because we lack the information or the ability to use the information we have correctly. Soliticing help is not a bad decision. But it is the manner of the help that I call into question. Would we take addiction advise from a drug dealer? Would we solicit marital advice from a pimp? Why then are we so willing to allow A.I. to refine and create our listening choices.
The happier we are in one place, the less likely we are to go elsewhere, even though our mental playground is confined. This is the issue. Being “satisfied”, our mind will not explore and will become lazy. Decisions of what to do are left to those who are satisfying us. This satisfaction has a price, advertisement. We will be forced to listen to advertisement “refined” to our “perceived” interests. (After all, the true goal of satisfying your interest is to sell you something you “think” you want, whether you need it or not.) As with insurance, when you hand over the payment of or decision making process to another entity, you abide by their rules. At this particular second, based upon the music you are listening to, you need to hear about a drug that helps with anxiety.
This refinement also reduces our “discovery” opportunities. We are no longer explorers for we are not in control of what is heard. The caterers to our static ear have created a playlist they want you to listen to. There is little to no effort to introduce something outside this realm of our “interests.” The narrower our “interests” the more specific marketing can be. Being a big player in a small pond is preferential. It is only when their needs grow that cultivation of your mind will begin. Your growth in musical taste is of little interest and secondary to the growth of their profit margins. A.I. will decide the interest your mind pursues.
New artists, of a different genre, will no longer expand our music environment simply because they are not introduced to us. These unproven, unpopular noise makers have no value at the moment. Only when they have an established accreditation to the multitudes will their value be looked at. Attention must quickly yield an instant return or they will not make it to your ears.
This future is now. It is a reality. You decide whether to perpetuate it or not. I write this as I listen to a particular channel on Pandora. It has its benefits. It fills the air with music that does not distract me from my focus, this article. I am using it as a tool and that is all it is to me. Just as a car is a tool to get me easily from point A to B, Pandora allows me to listen to the artists of a particular genre at a particular moment. This is not a contradiction to my music beliefs. I believe that music, to be truly enjoyed, to be appreciated, must be experienced, not listened to. To do this, we must be absorbed by it.
To be absorbed is not the goal of A.I. users. To be attentive to the company’s needs is the goal of the music A.I. selects for you. Just as hymnals are played at church to prepare your heart for the sermon to be delivered, the music A.I. selects for you is designed to prepare your mind for the forthcoming message they want you to hear. Whether it is an ad for a drug or an artist they have an investment in, you are being programmed to receive.
There is no better way to experience music than to attend live performances. This environment allows you to be absorbed. It allows you to forget. It allows you to be healed. You control your movement. You control your focus. You are focused on the drummer because you choose to do so. There is an interest but then you see, out of the corner of your eye, the lead guitar busting a move. You decide to watch. You are joining others singing the chorus. You are interacting. Though they be different you are connected because you decided to be there. You are not alone. You are present and music is being played for you. You are not listening, you are living.
Attending is a choice amongst the many entertaining options we have. Time spent at a live performance is time away from a 55″ screen that forces your focus. It requires effort. It is an investment of time that pays everlasting dividends for you will recall that moment when the song spoke to you and, more importantly, you were allowed to digest it in with your eyes. You were there, you saw and heard the words that penetrated your soul. You experienced an unrepeatable moment and no one can take that away from you. Such moments cannot be programmed for you by A.I. No “approved” list of “selected” songs based upon “recent” choices made, sprinkled with pertinent advertisements, can produce a desire for repetition. Moments to be reflected upon can only occur by attending live performances.
A.I. cannot be stopped but its importance must be minimized. It must remain a tool that we control and not the determinant of our actions. This acknowledgement, in the field of music, is critical because of its importance.
What is the importance of music?
Music has the ability to deeply affect our mental states and raise our mood. When we need it, music gives us energy and motivation. When we’re worried, it can soothe us; when we’re weary, it can encourage us; and when we’re feeling deflated, it can re-inspire us.Nov 3, 2021
“A Life that is planned is a closed life, my friend. It can be endured but it cannot be lived.” – Robert Donat
