DESTEP Analysis: AI Music
Demographic: On a micro level, this trend aims towards artistic individuals, mainly the ones that strive to retrieve their daily earnings from the art industry. The main threat of this possible future trend is that it affects the target group immensely, as their jobs will be taken over by robots, essentially.
Economic: On the organizational level (maxi), this trend allows companies in the music industry to expand their business network and employ more people behind the desks, rather than signing artists that make their own music. It can be seen both as an opportunity for the music industry to become more efficient, and a strength because these companies do not rely on artists to be consistent in their output, emotionally stable, etc.
Social & cultural: Depending on the musical preference of the average individual, this may or may not affect the way in which people interact with music. On a long-term basis, there is little to no impact, as musical trends have developed over time for as long as we know. A big cultural weakness could be that we would be less able as people to express ourselves and our culture to other cultures.
Technological: On a mega level, this is modern technology being put to effective use, which is the main aim of developing said technologies. For one, this creates the opportunity of doing further research on what elements comprise the perfect music for certain moods and situations, to which these AIs could make fitting music and playlists. Music as a whole would become more formulaic and systematic, but as long as the result is pleasant to us as people, there would not be an issue with it.
Ecological: -
Political: There are already movements antagonizing the makers of ‘mainstream’ and ‘electronic’ music claiming that it does not have enough emotional depth or musical depth to be considered ‘art’. If we take it one step further and music will actually be fully programmed, there is no telling how these movements will react, but it could stir up political debates for sure. Thus, this could be seen as a threat to modern society in a way.