FOFSTOCK Decries the Increasing Use of AI in the Music Industry!

[Maurice Ali]

May 10, 2023


FOFSTOCK Decries the Increasing Use of AI in the Music Industry!




In addition to promoting the music of musicians through our activities and upcoming events, FOFSTOCK is also an advocacy organization promoting the interests and concerns of its members and the music industry as a whole. By a polling of the membership and Board of Directors, we at FOFSTOCK wish to make the following statement:




We at FOFSTOCK are concerned and alarmed at the growing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the music industry but most especially when it supplants creativity and self-expression of human musical artists, and the music made by human artists, flawed though it may be when compared to AI productions.



Music is a reflection of the lives, concerns, emotions and creative artistry of humans each in their own community reflecting the diversity of human culture in all its creative forms. AI may be able to copy, imitate and produce its own form of music geared by algorithms to be popular to the largest share of human tastes. This will have the effect of supplanting human empathy and influence and ultimately human culture and human self-determination, and possibly even making human musicians of all kinds incapable of reaching and expressing themselves at all to a mass audience.



This existential threat will have an enormous influence on the mass of human listeners with messages and cultural leanings that may not be derived from human minds. Human culture is for humans and music should be the domain of humans as ugly and as flawed or excellent as they may be. We need to communicate directly with each other and music is one way of forwarding this expression.




On the strength of the above arguments, FOFSTOCK wholly condemns the use of artificial intelligence that has any impact on creativity in the music industry in all its forms by human artists. This includes the mimicking of human voices and lyrics, melodies, beats, individual instrumental performances, videos, performances and all the usual copyright protections and any other form of human intellectual property AI may infringe upon including the artist’s brand. Humanity needs expression by individual people, in other words humans, to entertain and shape the ever developing human culture to whatever ends it may reach.

[Maurice Ali]

May 15, 2023


The AI Song! Testing the Reach of AI Without Theft of Intellectual Property!







When FOFSTOCK declared its stance on the increasing use of AI in the music industry, we only saw its effects mimicking major artists voices and music and imagery. However, how far would an AI get in social media of it had no ability to use human intellectual property. What if the AI could only use what ordinary musicians used.



It was a spur of the moment thing, but we decided to test this with what was just a recording to test some sound samples. A Gibson Les Paul was hooked into a Line 6 POD HD500X using one of its effects and then hooked up to a cheap 10 watt amplifier. Then a Fender Stratocaster was also hooked up to the same amplifier and we (actually I) played the two guitars at the same time. This was just random stuff and we dubbed it “The AI Song” as most of it was just electronic with some minor strumming that has no intellectual proprietorship as it’s no even a proper chord. It really is something an AI could extract from the equipment and the web without violation any intellectual property laws - and we also decided against any video and thumbnail as it’s too hard to come up with video or photos that did not derive from human hands. Then we uploaded it to YouTube and watched to see what would happen!



Not much happened, but the song did come in the early searches in the beginning. Three days later the song was in the 40 view range which is completely different from the millions of views an AI gets when using famous artists to mimic and steal from.



We will keep the link alive here and a few places and see if anything changes in the passage of time, But right now it seems that an AI by itself would get nowhere just using the tools every human artist uses to make music from scratch.



Click the link below to hear The AI Song and we will update the results as they evolve over time.





The AI Song: https://youtu.be/xabP7Pv3cDw