Google’s MusicLM can turn text prompts into music
Artificial intelligences are also striking in the field of music. Is nothing really safe anymore, or is MusicLM’s music still too bad?
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Piece of music based on a piece of text
Artificial intelligence can be used with all forms of structured information, and what is music but a structured series of sounds? Music is also language in a sense and can therefore be generated by the computer with a GAN (generative adverse network) or other form of AI.
That is exactly what MusicLM does. You provide a textual description of music, and Google generates the matching music. That based on a dataset of around 5000 music fragments, for which music experts provided a description.
The results are quite impressive. Then you have to consider that according to Google this product is not yet good enough to launch. So the final version will be much better than this.
Samples of music by Google’s MusicLM
Prompt: The main soundtrack of an arcade game. It’s fast-paced and upbeat, with a catchy electric guitar riff. The music is repetitive and easy to remember, but with unexpected sounds, like cymbal crashes or drum rolls.
Prompt: Epic soundtrack using orchestral instruments. The piece builds tension, creates a sense of urgency. An a cappella chorus sing in unison, it creates a sense of power and strength.”
source: Google Research. More examples in their article.
More concerts and more original music
We spend about €30 per person per year of our income on music. In that respect, there is certainly a market for this AI. And given the hackneyed formulaic music that is being made these days, you could have a large part of it made by an AI like MusicLM.
For musicians, there is no man overboard yet. Apart from a few toppers, they earn almost nothing from music that is streamed via services such as Spotify and sold. Like the Grateful Dead, for example, they can make the music for free and make money from live performances and concerts.
Still a happy note by MusicLM?
Or of course, invent your own style of music. Because if music doesn’t exist yet, the AI can’t reproduce it. Will MusicLM become the ultimate punishment for artists and sound studios that are not very original?
