The Illiac Suite - Music and AI

The struggle is real: Musicians are currently trying to find a way to handle the fact that artificial intelligence companies are scraping their music from the internet to train their models...without paying for it. Rights holder on the other side want to know what music is generated by an AI so that they can proof in the future - when money should flow - which music of their catalogue was used for training purposes. I talked with two people who are currently trying to help these two parties with their programs: Syed Irfan Ali Meerza and his team developed HarmonyCloak, a software that "poisons" music so that artificial intelligence can not train with it. MatchTune claims that they have cracked the Suno's AI music generating model. 

In the beginning of September I attended the "New Visions For Music & Sound" Festival in Berlin. As the moderator I led a panel about "Generative AI and Music". That is where me Toronto-born SENAIDA (pronounced “Shuh-nay-duh”). They are a Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary artist-technologist, sound architect, DJ, curator, and creative entrepreneur. Their work delves into the intersections of sonic cyberfeminism, post-humanism, generative art, and sustainability to create collective experiences. And currently they are working on an AI-album called "Kunst Kaputt". We talk about this in this new episode.

The space of AI and music is heating up: A couple of labels sued Suno and Udio with the argument that the platforms are infringing copyrights of their artists. The tech companies responded so far with the argument that all their practice is based on "fair use". No solution on the horizon yet. But why create problems when you also can avoid them? A couple of weeks ago LANDR announced its "Fair Trade Program". Musicians can opt-in to their artificial intelligence. Once the AI is ready they will get paid for their participation. Sounds good? Let's have a deeper look into that! I talked with Frédérick Ranger from LANDR for the new episode. 

This time I invited the Italian Alex Braga to talk about his view on artificial intelligence and which role it plays in his works. Braga is a musician, a conceptual artist, an inventor, an enterpreneur. He has already worked with AI in 2020 for his album Spleen Machine. His new project "Automatic Impermanence" is shown until the end of September at the Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone in the AuditoriumArte space. 

Suno or Udio are everywhere right now. Their users create whole songs with prompts. The fact that the two companies have probably trained on millions of musicians who did not give their consent for using their music does not really seem to bother them. So far no judge has ruled if they are infringing copyrights. But there are also artificial intelligences that take care of the users in the datasets, like for example Delphos. The platform allows musicians to train their own "Soundworld" with their own songs. Each Soundworld has a special style of an artist and other can use them to create music. I have talked with one of the founder of Delphos, Ilya Tolchenev, about their AI and approach.Any feedback? Contact me on my homepage:Dennis KastrupI produced all of "The Illiac Suite" myself (with a little help from A.I.):Voices: ElevenLabsMusic of the episode:Music generated by DelphosThanks for listening!...and check out my agency:Wicked ArtistsDISCLAIMER: The content displayed in this podcast, including but not limited to the musical renditions and AI voice synthesis, is intended solely for entertainment.

Crazy times in the AI world, again. ChatGPT-4o is making headlines these days and more and more generative AIs are out there, most of them with copyright protected music in their datasets. I had many discussions about that online recently. There are tech friendly persons who don't agree with paying artists for the use and others who say that they must be paid. I belong to the second group. Arguments were exchanged,  always in a respectful way. But this is not always like that. Hate speech is unfortunately everywhere. Besides politicians, a lot of musicians face it. The startup "Penemue" is filtering hate with the help of an artificial intelligence. I talked with Sara Egetemeyr, one of the founder, about the current status quo in the world of hate speech and how Penemue wants to control it.Any feedback? Contact me on my homepage:Dennis KastrupI produced all of "The Illiac Suite" myself (with a little help from A.I.):Voices: ElevenLabsMusic of the episode:Music generated by SoundfulandAlbert Nussfelder ProductionsThanks for listening!...and check out my agency:Wicked ArtistsDISCLAIMER: The content displayed in this podcast, including but not limited to the musical renditions and AI voice synthesis, is intended solely for entertainment.

We often talk about artificial intelligence and its development. What is new? What is on the horizon and what are the problems? That is exciting, no doubt about it. But we often also lose sight of the fact that the news is limited to a few continents: America, Europe or Asia. But what is happening in Africa? Companies there are also trying to conquer the market with artificial intelligence. SenMixMaster is one of them. The AI masters music. I spoke to co-founder Boubacar Djiba about his AI and the situation in Africa.Any feedback? Contact me on my homepage:Dennis KastrupI produced all of "The Illiac Suite" myself (with a little help from A.I.):Voices: ElevenLabsImage: Stable DiffusionMusic of the episode:Adee: https://www.youtube.com/@adeeofficiel411Intro  Music generated by MubertUdio/ChatGPT - Digital Outlaw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixiHIGoYhgcEd Newton-Rex: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/suno-is-a-music-ai-company-aiming-to-generate-120-billion-per-year-newton-rex/Albert Nussfelder ProductionsThanks for listening!...and check out my agency:Wicked ArtistsDISCLAIMER: The content displayed in this podcast, including but not limited to the musical renditions and AI voice synthesis, is intended solely for entertainment.

It was that time of the year: The SXSW invited music, film and tech enthusiasts for another edition. Music and Artificial Intelligence was of course also a topic at the festival. I met some really interesting people, had some nice conversations and listened to a lot of interesting panels. Listen to the new episode to find out more.Any feedback? Contact me on my homepage:Dennis KastrupI produced all of "The Illiac Suite" myself (with a little help from A.I.):Voices: ElevenLabsImage: Dall-E 2Music of the episode:Music generated by SoundfulThanks for listening!...and check out my agency:Wicked ArtistsDISCLAIMER: The content displayed in this podcast, including but not limited to the musical renditions and AI voice synthesis, is intended solely for entertainment.

A few months ago, OpenAI the company behind ChatGPT, reportedly asked the British Parliament to authorize the free use of copyrighted works. Their argument: It is impossible to train artificial intelligence without this type of data. The statement sounds like a free pass for copyright infringements until the law clarifies what is really allowed and what is not. The topic is particularly debated in the music industry. This is because pieces of music are used in large datasets to create new songs. Ed Newton-Rex did not want to accept this. Last year, the American left Stability AI - whose AI can be used to generate music among other things - because too much was being stolen. He has now launched “Fairly Trained” to counteract this. We talked about this. Also Diaa El All will join later. He is the Co-Founder of Soundflul which is a generative AI company that uses the service of Fairly Trained.Any feedback? Contact me on my homepage:Dennis KastrupI produced all of "The Illiac Suite" myself (with a little help from A.I.):Voices: ElevenLabsImage: Dall-E 2Music of the episode:Neverending Story "by" Freddie Mercury:Music generated by SoundfulAlbert Nussfelder ProductionsThanks for listening!...and check out my agency:Wicked ArtistsDISCLAIMER: The content displayed in this podcast, including but not limited to the musical renditions and AI voice synthesis, is intended solely for entertainment.

In 2018 Hazel Savage started Musiio, wich combines AI technology with specialist music knowledge to solve a range of problems facing catalogue owners.  They automate tagging, supercharge search and provide highly detailed music analysis and reports for customers around the world. In 2022 Soundcloud acquired Musiio with the goal to amplify SoundCloud’s existing music intelligence capabilities and allow the company to further leverage its data to identify what’s next in music trends and talent. I spoke with Hazel about "her" artificial intelligence: What it does? How it works? And why Star Trek was just such an amazing TV Show...Any feedback? Contact me on my homepage:Dennis KastrupI produced all of "The Illiac Suite" myself (with a little help from A.I.):Voices: ElevenLabsImage: Stable DiffusionMusic of the episode: GinkintaDankton - STP(Warnings: The songs contain explicit lyrics!)Music generated by Mubert and Suno.AIThanks for listening!...and check out my agency:Wicked ArtistsDISCLAIMER: The content displayed in this podcast, including but not limited to the musical renditions and AI voice synthesis, is intended solely for entertainment.

Daniel Stein is a producer and musician in the dubstep and drum and bass scene. He is known there under the name "DJ Fresh". The Brit has released several top ten tracks. When artificial intelligence appeared on the scene a few years ago, he was worried about the music industry. Together with his partner Nico Pellerin, he came up with the idea for "Voice Swap". There you can officially and legally clone the voice of a known singer. He and Angie Brown, who is in his roster, talked with me about the use of a cloned voice.Any feedback? Contact me on my homepage: Dennis KastrupI produced all of "The Illiac Suite" myself (with a little help from A.I.):Voices: ElevenLabsImage: Dall-EMusic of the episode:Music generated by MubertAnna Indiana: Miles of SmilesFreddie Mercury: All I Want For Christmas Is You (AI Cover)Thanks for listening!...and check out my agency:Wicked ArtistsDISCLAIMER: The content displayed in this podcast, including but not limited to the musical renditions and AI voice synthesis, is intended solely for entertainment. 

 It was the news of the last weeks: The Beatles published a new song called "Now and Then" which theoretically is not true as George and John unfortunately have already passed away. But it shows in which direction we are heading in the future. We can create music now that would not exist without the help of artificial intelligence. So how did they do it? Paul and Ringo took an old recording of John Lennon and an AI separated the voice from the piano (and then they also added old demos of George). The technology is called “stem separation”. Audioshake offers the same service. I had a chat with CEO and Co- Founder Jessica Powell.Any feedback? Contact me on my homepage: Dennis KastrupI produced all of "The Illiac Suite" myself (with a little help from A.I.):Voices: ElevenLabsImage: Dall-EMusic of the episode:Music generated by MubertLana Del Rey - Fade Into YouJohnny Cash - The Sound of SilenceWith the permisson of Audioshake:Famous Yesterday - Make YouThanks for listening!...and check out my agency:Wicked ArtistsDISCLAIMER: The content displayed in this podcast, including but not limited to the musical renditions and AI voice synthesis, is intended solely for entertainment. 

Music has played with artificial Intelligence since decades but it was not until 2016 when a little song got the attention of the whole world: "Daddy's Car", a song that was composed in the Sony CSL Research Laboratory with the help of the musician Benoit Carré and an AI. Since then a lot has happened, AI is everywhere and Carré started the project "Skygge" in which he also uses artificial intelligence. How he does it and what he thinks about it, find it out in the new episode.Any feedback? Contact me on my homepage: Dennis KastrupOr on instagram: The Illiac SuiteI produced all of "The Illiac Suite" myself (with a little help from A.I.):Voices: ElevenLabsImage: Dall-EMusic of the episode:Mubert generated TrackGangsta's Paradise (AI Toothbrush Version)Benoît Carré: Daddy's CarSkygge: "Ballad of the Shadow" from the album "Hello World"Skygge: "One Note Samba" from the album "Hello World"Skygge: "Multi Mega Fortune" from the album "Hello World"21 Savage x Travis Scott - Whiplash by @GhostwriterSkygge: "Black is the Colour" from the album "American Folk Songs"Skygge: "Amazing Grace" from the album "American Folk Songs"Skygge: "The Fall of the Rebel Angels" from the album "Melancholia"Thanks for listening!...and check out my agency:Wicked ArtistsDISCLAIMER: The content displayed in this podcast, including but not limited to the musical renditions and AI voice synthesis, is intended solely for entertainment. 

There are many AI models where you can enter text and generate songs. So words should describe the music you want to listen to in the end. But how does an artificial intelligence learn what music sounds like? Metadata must be associated with the songs so that descriptions are assigned. But that's not as easy for music as it is for images, for example. I talked about the difficulties with Paul Zgordan from Mubert and Roman Gebhardt from Cyanite. Any feedback? Contact me on my homepage: Dennis KastrupOr on instagram: The Illiac SuiteI produced all of "The Illiac Suite" myself (with a little help from A.I.):Voices: ElevenLabsUnderlaying Music: Mubert Image: Dall-ELinks of the episode:Whitney Houston - Bohemian Rhapsody  Queen AI coverTrack: "13 Degrees", ShryneMusic provided by https://slip.streamFree Download / Stream: https://get.slip.stream/s1lqwcTrack: "This Is The Sign You’ve Been Looking For", RINGOMusic provided by https://slip.streamFree Download / Stream: https://get.slip.stream/P80cQpTrack: "Nice Dream", RINGOMusic provided by https://slip.streamFree Download / Stream: https://get.slip.stream/pF9c1A Track: "Dancefloor Therapy", Mom BodMusic provided by https://slip.streamFree Download / Stream: https://get.slip.stream/oNlEGsThanks for listening!...and check out my agency:Wicked ArtistsDISCLAIMER: The content displayed in this podcast, including but not limited to the musical renditions and AI voice synthesis, is intended solely for entertainment. 

In this episode we dive into the realm of the artist Portrait XO. Her album "Wire" was released end of the last year. For that she trained with CJ Carr from the Dadabots an AI on her own voice. What came out of this was then each time woven into the songs in different ways. How Portrait XO did that, what her take on AI in general is and what other artists she likes, you will hear it in this new episode of "The Illiac Suite".Thanks to Portrait XO for the nice chat.Contact me on my homepage: Dennis KastrupOr on instagram: The Illiac SuiteI produced all of "The Illiac Suite" myself (with a little help from A.I.).Photo Credit: Portrait XOVoices: ElevenLabsUnderlaying Music: MubertLinks of the episode:Kanye West: "Summertime Sadness"Where to buy the album of Portrait XO: Link Reeps One ft. A.I.: 'Second Self'Thanks for listening!...and check out my agency:Wicked ArtistsDISCLAIMER: The content displayed in this podcast, including but not limited to the musical renditions and AI voice synthesis, is intended solely for entertainment. 

For this episode I did a deep dive into the current status of the A.I. music scene: What is out there? Who is making music with the help of A.I.? And most important: How do they do it? I talked to some of the artists behind the songs and will play their music, among them Max Weisel and the Matt Chu (MelloFlowz). Thanks to Max and Matt for the nice chat.Contact me on my homepage: Dennis KastrupOr on instagram: The Illiac SuiteI produced all of "The Illiac Suite" myself (with a little help from some A.I.).Photo Credit: Dall-EUnderlaying Music: MubertMello: https://www.youtube.com/@MelloFlowz/videosRihanna: https://soundcloud.com/user-328414592Frain Sinatra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWlR83k4N9AGrimes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWlR83k4N9AGrimes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vmHTHJyqP8Grimes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6fVOoZxdQQThanks for listening!...and check out my agency Wicked Artists! DISCLAIMER: The content displayed in this podcast, including but not limited to the musical renditions and AI voice synthesis, is intended solely for entertainment. 

It was just a question of time when the first label for artificial intelligence artists comes up. So here it is: Oper AI! In February 2023 the two Italians Remo De Vico and Jacopo Solari decided to start it as an art project. On this episode I talk with them about how they create music, visuals and characters of Oper AI. And no surprise: All is made with the help of AI. How that sounds you will find out in this episode.Thanks to Remo and Jacopo from Oper AI for the nice talk.Contact me on my homepage: Dennis KastrupOr on instagram: The Illiac SuiteI produced all of "The Illiac Suite" myself (with a little help from some A.I.).Photo Credit: Oper AI RecordsUnderlaying Music: MubertThanks for listening!...and check out my agency Wicked Artists! 

Who am I? What do I do? What are my thoughts about AI and music and what to expect in this podcast. Find out in this first trailer!Credits:Underlaying Music: Mubert...and check out my agency Wicked Artists!