In our creatives, we use triggering and, at times, even slightly provocative language. The reason is to show the pain point and then immediately present its solution right after. Triggering emotion through pain; that’s what we do.
From what I see around me, there’s a common belief that in creatives, “we should explain the product.” But I think it’s the exact opposite. You shouldn’t explain the product, but what the person using the product will obtain. If you can bring that outcome to a point where it triggers an emotional state, that’s when the clicks will come. And this method is working right now.
Does this language have a destructive effect? Yes, it does. Let’s look at the evolution of modern music. When The Beatles first appeared, what did people feel? Fear; the unsettling destructiveness of something new and undefined. Then the thesis they introduced evolved, and band culture hardened. Black Sabbath emerged. What did people feel? Fear. Metallica emerged, what did people feel? Destruction and fear. Nirvana exploded, what did people feel?
Producing music with AI and turning it into a meaningful act is, in fact, exactly the final and inevitable link in this natural course of events, and the first feeling it will give people will again be fear and destruction. Why? Because all dogmas are suddenly being pushed aside at once. You don’t need to learn guitar, you don’t need to learn music theory, you don’t need your friend’s approval, you can produce immediately and keep going. Every single layer of this AI music revolution, by its very nature, is threatening the classical way of making music in a destructive way.
I’m not even going to get into the artistic side of it. Nor the output quality issue… As I always say, someone who has experienced a wood-burning stove once may still long for it even after 50 years, but nobody installs a wood-burning stove in their home anymore; they continue with air conditioning. Music is in that transition right now. A transition from the wood-burning stove to air conditioning. A bit unpleasant, maybe not the same feeling, but the new order is so comfortable that those who get used to it won’t be able to quit.
I’ll explain the quality issue in my next piece through Rick Rubin. What makes this man special is that he produced for the biggest bands in the world without knowing any music theory, without playing an instrument, without using any editing tool. And what made him special was something very surprising.
