Country Stars on AI: ‘Real Country Writers Are Going To Be Around Forever’

Published: June 8, 2023

Country Stars on AI: ‘Real Country Writers Are Going To Be Around Forever’

By Movieguide® Contributor

Country singers and songwriters are the latest to speak out against the growing popularity of AI technology.

AI can be used to generate all kinds of artistic content, from digital paintings, to movie scripts, to song lyrics. However, many of country music’s biggest stars don’t think they need to worry about competing with the technology.

“I would struggle to think something that couldn’t feel could really write a song, to make somebody else feel,” singer-songwriter Riley Green told Fox News Digital.

“Whiskey On You” singer Nate Smith echoed Green’s comments, saying, “I mean, the world’s always going to change. Anything’s going to happen. Nothing’s worth freaking out over, I think is the main thing. … Real country writers, I think, are going to be around forever.”

Green and Smith might not be concerned about AI, but others expressed concerns about the lack of regulation on music created by AI technology.

Mitch Glazier, chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), said they are prioritizing removing artificially created music that infringes on an artist’s name or likeness.

“When you’re an artist, you spend your whole life grappling with what you want to put out to the world, how you want to express your ideas, what is your art,” he said of artists’ fears. “And a lot of times it’s very personal, and it reflects your lived experience.

He continued, “It’s your genius. … It’s the essence of who you are. So, to have that taken from you is a very personal and objectionable act, and even if it’s done, you know, sometimes by people who might love your work … that is not the art that the artist is … agreeing to make and that reflects who they are. Having your name and your likeness and your image and your voice appropriated is an incredibly scary and vulnerable act that I think that [artists] take very personally.”

Glazier did admit that there are benefits to using AI technology in the music industry, naming different production methods and access to data that could help artists decide where to tour or how best to manage their music.

Singer Tyler Hubbard sees both sides of the debate, calling AI “pretty awesome and also pretty crazy and scary, too.”

“As long as it doesn’t learn how to write songs and perform on stage, I’ll be OK. But you never know,” he laughed.