Should We Really Be Worried About AI Music?

Me playing my guitar in Zocalo Square outside the Cathedral in Mexico City.

Should We Really Be Worried About AI Music?

I discovered AI music creation almost two years ago. It is exciting. There is definitely a lot of chatter around it.

Musicians are worried.

It's the same old story.

Labels have been exploiting artists for over 100 years, and for some reason, now they care about artists' rights.

I can tell you that zero artists will receive royalties from these products, even if record labels work out rights deals with the AI companies.

Labels are mad because a savvy producer—or even some high school kid—can now make a product that is better than mainstream music that costs millions of dollars to produce.

The question is: Should we be worried about this? Or, more specifically, am I worried?

Not at all.

After working with these AI music platforms, as cool as they are, I can tell you that the product they produce is noticeable. That may change in the future, but what won't change is the fact that making great AI music does not make you a great live performer, and that's ultimately what people buy concert tickets to see.

People buy tickets to see a Pink Floyd laser light show, but tickets to see the actual group Pink Floyd—or Roger Waters or David Gilmour—are exponentially more expensive. If reproducing what already exists were equivalent to the real thing, that would not be the case.

The general public cannot tell the difference in blind tests of AI vs. "real music."

But that doesn't mean it's going to translate to the stage.

Ultimately, AI music will probably just end up being a different product. Not a replacement. Not a supplement.

The same thing happened with DJ music and rap. Both of those are more accessible means of production. It doesn't take five years of learning an instrument to become semi-professional.

Now, with Suno and all these platforms, hundreds of thousands of new creators are flooding into the marketplace.

But how will they monetize it? If everyone's doing the same thing, where is the value-add?

I have seen variations of this happen over the last 20 years with whatever is new. Now rap music and many of these top-listened-to genres struggle to sell concert tickets. The reason is that just because you can rap doesn't make you a live act worth seeing.

Live performers who have actually committed to the process of entertaining their audiences will always hold the key.

AI music, rap, DJ music, or any other type of production that doesn't involve mastering an actual instrument such as guitar is just a different product.

It's really just a symptom of a larger problem: Everyone wants a shortcut to something that doesn't have a shortcut.

Commercial pilots don't get to skip flight hours, and ChatGPT is not going to accelerate that process.

Music is no different.

You can make things that sound cool, but even that won't make you a great songwriter, much less a great live performer—or a performer at all.

If everyone is doing the same thing and the market is saturated with all this sameness because it's easy, it does not become valuable.

That's sort of the whole point.

Artists, musicians, producers, or anyone else actually committing to a process of mastery should not fear all this stuff.

Yes, there will be people who make AI music who will somehow be able to monetize and tour that product, but it's not going to be just because they created the product itself. Just like anything else, the marketing infrastructure will matter just as much as the product itself.

That's my view on it. Take it for what it's worth.

— Mike Dyson

Is the Story of Blues Legend Robert Johnson actually true?

The story of Robert Johnson a first hand account

I knew a Blues legend named Robert Lockwood, Jr. He was the only known student of famed bluesman Robert Johnson—the man who, according to legend, "sold his soul to the devil."

But Lockwood didn't tell the story that way.

I also personally knew David "Honeyboy" Edwards, who was with Robert Johnson the night he died. His recollections didn't involve anything supernatural either.

Over the years, the music business has built a lot of mythology around artists. Some of it is true, some of it is exaggerated, and some of it simply makes for a better story. Robert Johnson may be one of the greatest examples.

The explanation Lockwood gave me was much simpler.

Johnson essentially disappeared from the scene for about a year. When he returned, he was a dramatically better musician.

What happened during that time?

Most likely, he worked.

He honed his craft away from the people who had known him before. And if you devote a year of your life to your art with real intention, you can come back sounding like an entirely different musician.

In some ways, I think that's more interesting than the legend.

Lockwood certainly acknowledged that Robert Johnson was an extraordinary and unique player. But when he talked about Johnson's disappearance and transformation, he offered a much more human explanation for it.

There are a lot more stories—and stories within the stories—about these people that I'd like to share.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel, follow me here, or join my email list. I'll be sharing more of them.

Where I Was on September 11, 2001

“Bullets All Over My Head” Mike Dyson

Everybody remembers where they were on September 11, 2001. It was our generation’s Kennedy assassination.

I was in my business law class in high school. I came in early that day to take a test I had missed.

Sometime during this, the teacher came in the room and shortly thereafter turned on the tube television that used to be on those roller carts.

We saw the towers, at least one of them from what I can remember, on fire.

It seemed strange to me.

My dad was actually at the Twin Towers in the 90’s for a meeting 10 days before the first time it was hit by a terrorist attack. That time someone detonated a truck bomb in the parking garage or something like that.

Anyways, I can’t remember if we saw the second plane go into the building live or not. I had come in early, so that actually is probably what happened. Of course the second plane was validation that the 1st was not an accident.

I could go on for days about September 11th, the aftermath, the geopolitical landscape and war.

If you listen to my material, you know I am someone who has seen the way things are in other parts of the world.

One thing I’ve learned from traveling is that things are not always as simple as they appear from where we happen to be standing.

Impressed by You - One of the First Songs I Ever Wrote

A clip from one of the first songs I ever wrote called "Impressed by You".

It doesn't really follow a traditional song structure but it doesn't really have to.

That's sort of the benefit of being a guitar player based in the blues. You can just take it where it goes and it doesn't have to make sense.

There's a lot of songs that were like that. I mean yes there is some general structure but think about songs like Whipping Post by Allman Brothers or Inside Looking Out by Grand Funk Railroad.

Those songs would not work today but that doesn't make them any less relevant or impactful.

I mean today's music is what it is but it's largely based on this rigid structures to give people a predictable outcome.

There is nothing wrong with that but people shouldn't confuse art with product.

-Mike Dyson

Jimi Hendrix "Hey Joe" Cover | Club Sessions Raw Footage

I really like this cover I do of the Jimi Hendrix classic "Hey Joe."

Here is a list of his most popular songs in order of popularity based on Spotify

streaming numbers:

1. All Along the Watchtower - 877 million

2. Purple Haze - 424 million

3. Hey Joe - 365 million

4. Little Wing - 356 million

5. Voodoo Child (Slight Return) - 243 million

6. The Wind Cries Mary - 137 million

7. Foxey Lady - 119 million

8. Castles Made of Sand - 99 million

9. Crosstown Traffic - 91 million

10. Red House - 76 million

11. Fire - 64 million

12. Bold as Love - 48 million

13. Manic Depression - 31 million

14. Angel - 21 million

Of course I agree they are great songs. Hey Joe is one of my favorites.

My favorite song of his, Machine Gun, is not even on the list. That's crazy to me.

I don't know exactly when I discovered Hey Joe but I think it's a very linear song for me to play with a lot of room for improvisation.

I haven't covered Machine Gun yet and I may at some point, but I feel like that song is significant from an intensity standpoint and I just haven't really put in the effort to see what sort of spin I can put on it.

I really don't cover a ton of songs but when I do I definitely put my fingerprint on it. My versions of "Goin' Down" and "John the Revelator," for example, are my own arrangements.

Anyway, this is from a club show I did. I continue to keep this song in my set and really like how naturally it works every time. I'll also post it on my Youtube channel.

Let me know how you like it.

-Mike Dyson

The Story Behind "Living in a Pipedream

This is a clip of me discussing the story behind my song "Living in a Pipedream".

This is from a longer story which I will probably post on my YouTube channel but it tells the whole story in detail about being detained by the Mexican police and everything associated with that encounter.

The song itself is a blend of many experiences but it's really a contrast between the American existence and what else occurs around the world.

What it boils down to is many people who complain or comment on things that happen in America really only do so because they don't have an actual reference point for where their own freedom sits on the spectrum.

You can make of it what you will but that's the essence of it.

As songwriters we do have opinions but a lot of what we chronicle is really observation for the most part.

Storytelling about things as they are or putting it in whatever context that might help people understand.

-Mike Dyson

Early beginnings as a musician and artist

This is a clip of me discussing some of my early influences in the town where I am from called Irving, Texas.

For those of you who know this is where the Dallas Cowboys used to play before they moved to Arlington and it's a metropolis of its own right.

Irving used to be a dry town and to get alcohol you had to drive across the bridge to Dallas. They have since changed that rule.

It was a very musical town and my uncle ran in a lot of the same circles as some of Dallas' most notable musicians such as Stevie Ray Vaughan.

He was a huge influence on me and as I describe in the video I'm not sure he's really aware of that.

He used to play at this local jam hall called The Pigeon Hole that was run by a local musician and some of the most amazing players came in there.

I never played because honestly I didn't really think I was good enough. Of course that changed over time and I still never played there before it closed but it still became a den for inspiration for me.

One of the best summers of my life was right after I graduated high school. We used to go there every weekend. It was a blast.

Take a listen to the video.

- Mike Dyson