is that AI cover really worth it, buddy?

[moriendum]

I know, AI discourse is everywhere and it's starting to get annoying. I agree! I'm ready to let this entire AI art thing die already. there's a disconnect, however, that keeps bugging me: how a bunch of kpop fans seem totally okay with AI covers using the voice of their biases (or ults, if you're gen z) for songs said artists never actually recorded. does that feel weird and borderline offensive to anyone else, or is this just me being insane as usual?

because I mean, I grew up listening to gorillaz, spent most of my teenage years vaguely aware that hatsune miku was huge, and most definitely lived through the crazy frog era, so music that relies partially or entirely on technology isn't that new of a phenomenon. we have all consumed at least one kind of computer-altered music - the early 2000s had autotune everywhere! - and that's totally fine. most artists will want to make use of new technology when creating music, and good for them. they should!

what rubs me the wrong way is that AI covers kinda... take away all agency from artists. don't they? sure, I love my biases' voices, but I don't love their voices dettached from them. when they release a cover, I like to hear about their preparation process, their reasoning for choosing that song, how hard or how easy it was for them; I like the human aspect of it as much as I like the song itself. knowing they spent a significant amount of time on that particular song makes that cover all the more meaningful because it's not just a disembodied voice making sounds - there's intent there. same with mixtapes, soundcloud songs, featurings - as cool as the end product is, what really makes it special is that the artist took their time working on it. in an industry that is already way too happy taking agency away from artists, it means a lot to me that at least a small percentage of it can come from the artists themselves. in my head, their work and the effort they put into it is as valuable (if not more) as the song that results from it.

and if we go there - if we consider the implications of stripping away an artist's agency entirely to the point where ONLY their voice means anything - no one would be happier to see us gladly consuming a disembodied voice than kpop companies. and aren't kpop fans scared of that? of telling companies that "hey, you know what, I don't really care about how we get this song, just the end result matters"? how long until we get kpop companies releasing songs produced entirely without the consent of the artists? are youtube AI covers of hyunjae singing an american pop song really worth it?

because to me, what would be really amazing about hyunjae singing Generic North-American Artist's song would be 1) the fact that he chose a song in english anyway, despite how hard it is for him to speak english!, 2) his reasoning for choosing that song or artist in particular in a sea of other possible songs, and 3) how the process of practicing that song went. would the end result make me happy? absolutely yes! but it would be kinda pointless if 1, 2, and 3 weren't a part of it; if the human aspect of it was just completely ignored. I don't want a computer mimicing hyunjae's voice just because it's pretty - I want the real voice doing that! I want the real hyunjae doing something that would make me proud of how far he has come as an artist, and how his choices informed him getting to this point in his career.


I don't know how I would feel as an artist myself, seeing my fans happily consume a robot doing my job for me - maybe some of them could be even into it, who knows. maybe they find it funny, maybe it inspires them to try songs they haven't thought of covering before. I'm not saying AI is evil and we should kill it (even if I do personally feel like that lol), but just... are our idols really just voices in our headphones? don't their efforts count for something?

so yeah, I hate coming across tweets from fans sharing AI covers. we're in what is probably one of the most productive, content-filled music fandoms in the world, where there's something new quite literally every day, and turning to that kind of content borders on disrespect towards the artists, as if nothing they do will ever be enough to you as a fan. even wilder to see people I know to be hardcore fans who love their artists sharing that kind of cover, because it makes me question just what it means to be a fan in the first place, and where we're headed as a fandom.

besides, what happened to good ol' imagination? fanmade line distributions that don't actually mimic an idol's voice but let us consider the what ifs, in case the artist in question actually went ahead and decided to cover that song? what happened to communicating with the artist and suggesting songs for covers, since we happen to be in a fandom where artists actually *do* have a direct line of communication with us? is it really that much more exciting to have their voices digitally altered to say whatever we want instead of giving them the option to say things themselves?

and one last thing: the strikes in hollywood? very pertinent to us as kpop enjoyers, imo. the topic of AI and how far studios can go with someone's likeness is part of the conversation, after all. I'll leave some keanu reeves quotes here because the matrix guy agrees with me (thanks, keanu!) and he's an actual artist with skin in the game. from his interview for wired on feb 2023:

[Keanu] gives me a thoughtful look, and then he gets explicit: Corporations don’t care about paying artists. Well, what he actually says is this: “They don’t give a fuck.”