No, typing an AI prompt is not ‘really active’ music creation
(Terrence O'Brien)
Honestly, that’s insulting.
Suno, the AI music startup being sued by the big three major labels, the RIAA, and even some indi Suno is primarily known for its text-prompt-based, push-button Create feature, which generates entire tracks using an AI model. (I tried it — it’s technically impressive, but has all the soul of a PowerPoint presentation.) As a musician myself, I find the idea that asking an AI for a “live band, jazz rap track with Rhodes piano, a trumpet solo and gravely vocals at 96BPM” would be considered “really active” downright insulting. And I know I’m not alone. Countless other artists and critics have been very clear that they see AI music as an abomination that they’ve even tried to sabotage. Feeding the art of countless people who worked hard perfecting their craft to a machine, and allowing anyone who can string a few words together to whip up some approximation of said art, hardly seems like it’s valuing music at all.This is not democratizing access to the tools of creation — that has already happened. You can create music for free, or very cheaply right now with your computer or cellphone. Decent guitars and synthesizers are cheaper than ever. What Suno is offering is a way to bypass the development of skill, the effort required to make art, and the development of creative instincts. In short, Suno is doing away with the creative process entirely.
From MTV to
TikTok: Why Creativity Dies Without Cash Flow
In 2026, Attention Is the New Currency
The story of music marketing is really the story of who controls attention. In 2004, it was MTV, MySpace, and iTunes—tight pipelines where a handful of gatekeepers decided who got the spotlight. By 2014, influence shifted to music blogs, online magazines, and digital tastemakers, where surprise drops could hijack culture overnight.
By 2019, the algorithm took over. Success meant feeding the stream: first-week numbers, playlists, and momentum charts. Now, the game runs on communities. Artists (and the labels supporting them) are building living, breathing worlds across Discord, Roblox, and TikTok. Fans aren’t watching from the sidelines; they’re producing, remixing, stitching, and spreading.
This era gives creators endless freedom. But behind that freedom sits a quiet killer: financial friction. Every campaign’s creative heartbeat depends on its behind-the-scenes payout workflows, payment methods, and currencies. When that system falters, even the best idea collapses. Global, community-driven rollouts live or die on operational precision. When the financial side runs smoothly, creative ideas scale with less drag and more reach. It’s the difference between keeping up with the moment and shaping it.
The future of music marketing will belong to the teams that treat their financial systems as part of the creative process. The art stays wild. The engine stays solid. That’s how great campaigns last.
The Art of Rewriting Songs
“If you knew your career was riding on it, how many times would you rewrite your song?”
It’s been said that great songs are rarely written—they are rewritten. Sometimes magic happens and we get a “gift”—a first draft of a song that truly needs no polishing. But more often, successful songwriters have to dig to find those gems.
What is the chance that every word and every note you compose are such utter perfection that not even one line of lyric, one note, or one chord could possibly be improved? But how can you know what needs to be rewritten?
If someone points out what they perceive are weak links in your work—and their feedback resonates—then you know what to target. But what if you are trying to figure it out on your own? If you knew your career was riding on making each melodic and lyric phrase as strong as possible would you attempt to strengthen them? How many times would you rewrite them? Your success might indeed be contingent on coming up with that “wow” line or melodic phrase that makes an artist—or an audience—say “YES!”
You don’t need ten or fifty or one hundred more “good” songs—you need one incredibly strong song that will blow the competition out of the water. We can’t know what our “best” is until we explore multiple possibilities. Don’t hamper the initial rush of creativity or censor your instincts when the song starts coming through you. But after that original burst, challenge yourself to rework every line of lyric until it is fresh, original, and exceptional, and every melodic phrase until it is both unique and memorable. Remember … if you don’t prefer your revision you can always return to your original version.
Purely AI-generated art can’t get copyright protection, says Copyright Office
Generative artificial intelligence output based purely on text prompts — even detailed ones — isn’t protected by current copyright law, according to the US Copyright Office.
The department issued this guidance in a broad report on policy issues regarding AI, focused on the copyrightability of various AI outputs. The document concludes that while generative AI may be a new technology, existing copyright principles can apply without changes to the law — and these principles offer limited protection for many kinds of work.
The new guidelines say that AI prompts currently don’t offer enough control to “make users of an AI system the authors of the output.” (AI systems themselves can’t hold copyrights.) That stands true whether the prompt is extremely simple or involves long strings of text and multiple iterations. “No matter how many times a prompt is revised and resubmitted, the final output reflects the user’s acceptance of the AI system’s interpretation, rather than authorship of the expression it contains,” the report says.
A mysterious stranger rode into town and topped a country music chart. He's
not real.
Breaking Rust adds to a growing list of artists either found to be or suspected to be fueled by generative AI. This much is known: “Walk My Walk,” a song by an artist called Breaking Rust, entered its second week Wednesday as the top song on Billboard’s country music digital sales chart.
After that, everything about Breaking Rust — the artist’s identity, whether Breaking Rust’s songs were created by artificial intelligence, and whether the songs’ popularity has been artificially inflated — quickly devolves into uncertainty. Is the s Breaking Rust adds to a growing list of artists either found to be or suspected to be fueled by generative AI, which has evolved rapidly in recent years including in its ability to create realistic if generic music. Breaking Rust’s most popular song on YouTube, “Livin’ On Borrowed Time,” now has 4.6 million views. Commenters there seem unbothered — or unaware — of its AI nature. ong entirely AI? Partially AI? Maybe even a song meant to sound like AI? And who is behind Breaking Rust?
Songwriter royalties hit record high in 2024 with $13.6 Billion collected
Global songwriter royalties just hit a record $13.6 billion in 2024, find out what’s driving the surge and what it means for the future of music creators.
Songwriters and music publishers saw another strong year in 2024, with global royalty collections reaching an estimated USD $13.6 billion. The figures, released by CISAC, show a 7.2% year-on-year increase and mark a new all-time high for creators represented by the network’s collective management organisations across more than 100 countries. The report also highlights new concerns. A commissioned study warns that artificial intelligence could significantly reduce creator revenue if rights frameworks fail to keep pace. The research suggests up to 24% of music creator income could be cannibalised by AI-generated content by 2028 without stronger protections and licensing systems.
WMG CEO vows to ‘legislate, litigate, license’ in the era of AI music creation
Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl has laid out his company’s three “non-negotiable principles” for AI partnerships, in a pointed message arriving just hours after WMG struck two key AI deals. In a blog post published late Wednesday (November 19), Kyncl outlined WMG’s approach to generative AI partnerships, emphasizing that the major label will only work with companies that commit to licensed models, properly value music economically, and give artists control over the use of their name, image, likeness, and voice. Suno, meanwhile, which faces ongoing copyright infringement lawsuits from major labels, as well as Denmark’s Koda and Germany’s GEMA, has recently raised $250 million at a $2.45 billion valuation and is generating $200 million in annual revenue, all without securing licensing deals from the major music companies. “This is the moment to shape the business models, set the guardrails, and pioneer the future for the benefit of our artists and songwriters,” Kyncl wrote in his blog post, framing AI’s current phase as a critical juncture for the music industry. “We’re approaching this new era with one priority above all else: protecting and empowering the artists and songwriters who are our reason for being,” Kyncl stated.
AI’s Impact On Music: Licensing, Creativity And Industry Survival
The music industry is entering a critical phase where technology could either amplify its value or decimate its foundations. The disruptive effects of AI, coupled with industry inertia, have already set the stage for seismic shifts in the coming months. The industry is facing a technological reckoning, as AI models grow more sophisticated and political landscapes shift in ways that could either protect creators or dismantle their livelihoods further. The question is no longer “if” AI will disrupt the music industry, but “how much damage will it do, and can we contain it?” Generative AI models are now creating songs indistinguishable from human compositions. These models are trained on vast, unlicensed datasets scraped from internet and music platforms. This practice allegedly violates the copyrights of millions of artists, yet accountability remains murky. Courts are just beginning to grapple with the implications of AI-generated works, leaving creators vulnerable. Existing copyright laws are ill-equipped to handle ownership disputes when machines compose songs using fragments of thousands of existing works. The economic fallout of this legal gap is profound. Platforms like Spotify increasingly integrate AI-generated music to cut costs, further shrinking royalty streams for human artists. Why license a costly catalog when AI can generate something “good enough” for free?
Spotify Expands Song Credits, Introduces New Features
Spotify is providing users with deeper insight into their listening experience through the expansion of Song Credits, as well as the introduction of SongDNA and About the Song. The new credits will initially appear on mobile devices before being displayed on desktops in the coming months, and labels and distributors will provide the information to the streaming service. Elsewhere, Spotify will introduce SongDNA, described as an “interactive view that maps out connections between songs, showing collaborators, samples and covers all in one place. The company will also debut About the Song, a feature sourced from third parties that offers deeper context behind any given song and can be accessed via swipeable cards in the “Now Playing” view.
Spotify, NMPA strike deal to expand direct-licensing ‘audiovisual opportunities’ for independent publishers
Spotify and the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) have struck a deal that sees the launch of a new Opt-In Portal for NMPA members to “enter into a direct license agreement for expanded audiovisual rights in the US”.
According to a press release issued today (November 11), these new agreements will result in “higher royalty payouts for independent music publishers and songwriters, and in exchange, Spotify will receive new rights to build video features that better connect artists and fans” The Opt-In Portal is open as of Tuesday (November 11), and onboarding will continue until December 19, the NMPA said in a statement. “This new partnership with the NMPA will increase revenue for songwriters and independent publishers who are the heart of the industry,” said Alex Norström, Spotify’s Co-President and Chief Business Officer, and soon-to-be Co-CEO.
The NMPA’s cooperation with Spotify on the opt-in program doesn’t include a resolution to the ongoing dispute between US publishers and Spotify over the streamer’s decision last year to bundle music and audiobook services in the US, thereby allowing it to pay out lower mechanical royalty rates.
