Suno has raised $125M to build a future where anyone can make music • Hacker News Board

Re: Suno has raised $125M to build a future where anyone can make music

#51

Post by robxorb » Tue, May 21, 2024, 7:00 PM UTC

IronWolve wrote: post #37

Suno has some advantages and cons, it can make any music style and can render 2 minute songs in seconds. Its lyric generator is also a tad nicer than others right now. Vocals are horrible, I think about 25% of the vocals sound nice. Its training on musical styles gives it a lead, its vocals needs much improvement. Its a great tool for creativity, but its a tad far from music ending up in my playlist due to vocals. Fo…

Having used it a bit, I'd agree - but when it does good vocals, they have typically been very good. When it's failed it often is because it keeps layering on more "takes" in what ends up as a thick mess. Seems to progress worse as it goes if it does it.

Re: Suno has raised $125M to build a future where anyone can make music

#52

Post by norwalkbear » Tue, May 21, 2024, 7:01 PM UTC

sergiotapia wrote: post #24

Uber fought transportation in huge cities. Very mafia/gang/backdoor dealy right? They ultimately won or bribed the right people. Isn't the music industry like 10x more gangster? Will guys with bats go into the Suno CEO's office and hang him by his heels over the balcony? I wonder how it plays out.

The big acts have been computer gen or inspired music for 10 years.

Re: Suno has raised $125M to build a future where anyone can make music

#53

Post by scop » Tue, May 21, 2024, 7:02 PM UTC

Does anybody know whether these services prevent a user from copying an instrumentalist's specific style? For example, let's say I input:

> "make a song with Johnny Cash singing about X"

That would result in IP/copyright issues, no? I don't really know the legal specifics here, so grant me some slack if I am not using the correct language. But, assuming that input does create a legal problem, does the same apply to these sort of prompts:

> "with a guitar solo by Zakk Wylde"

> "with drum fills like Thomas Stauch"

etc...

Are there similar legal protections around instruments as the voice?

Re: Suno has raised $125M to build a future where anyone can make music

#54

Post by robxorb » Tue, May 21, 2024, 7:05 PM UTC

scop wrote: post #53

Does anybody know whether these services prevent a user from copying an instrumentalist's specific style? For example, let's say I input: > "make a song with Johnny Cash singing about X" That would result in IP/copyright issues, no? I don't really know the legal specifics here, so grant me some slack if I am not using the correct language. But, assuming that input does create a legal problem, does the same apply to t…

I tried it and sometimes it worked, other times it complained an existing artists name was in the description and wouldn't allow generation.

Re: Suno has raised $125M to build a future where anyone can make music

#55

Post by chefandy » Tue, May 21, 2024, 7:11 PM UTC

mtalantikite wrote: post #28

This is about generating something to consume though, not make? Making music is about so much more than the end product. It's the path not the destination etc. You learn so much about life when you have an artistic practice in general (not just music). I'm perfectly fine embracing AI tools, but clicking some buttons to generate a song isn't making music.

Ostensibly, many folks here philosophically believe either that amalgamating other people's art is tantamount to making art, or that the artistic process is irrelevant. I think many of the former are inexperienced artists that see generative AI as simple art tools. From that vantage point, it's tough to understand how many specific, artistically consequential decisions other people made to create the end product, and have a hard time understanding why people who make those decisions are rankled by people copping them. The latter seem to think tech + art = neat regardless of the context, economics, etc. Either way, I think I've seen exactly zero people budge on either stance. My gut says folks with those perspectives are probably over-represented in SV-focused spaces.

Re: Suno has raised $125M to build a future where anyone can make music

#56

Post by hackermatic » Tue, May 21, 2024, 7:13 PM UTC

I don't think the Big Three record labels will want to stop this, even if it's massive copyright infringement, because it's not a threat to their business model. Labels create a whole ecosystem around a limited set of artists through marketing and tastemaking, then capture multiple revenue streams (streaming, licensing) for the few artists who people mostly play and pay for. They aggressively persuade musicians to sign away the rights, so the labels control the terms of payment, and they work together with a tiny group of companies in streaming/radio/etc. who have the same self-interest.

Everything outside that structure is an afterthought. The occasional indie hit songs and labels have failed to upend the music industry power structure for a century (they tend to get acquired if they get big enough). Tons of people making songs mostly for themselves will only dilute the power of smaller players.

The labels will probably extract some licensing fees off the stolen copyrighted training data, but they famously don't care about their musicians earning a livelihood.

Re: Suno has raised $125M to build a future where anyone can make music

#57

Post by GaggiX » Tue, May 21, 2024, 7:13 PM UTC

divan wrote: post #42

Highly recommended video from Adam Neely – Why AI is Doomed to Fail the Musical Turing Test https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8NyEjB_XeA

I haven't watch this 26 minutes long video but I have already seen AI music being used as like theme song of indie games and people do bot realize it's AI, even under a Youtube video that just upload the music.

EDIT: The video only claims that AI would not be able to pass a "Musical Direction Test", but a blind Turing test only on output, yes.

Re: Suno has raised $125M to build a future where anyone can make music

#58

Post by spacechild1 » Tue, May 21, 2024, 7:16 PM UTC

A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #36

p0w3n3d wrote: post #13

Not make but generate. The time comes when music played by real people, even with mistakes, will be valued more than electronically generated performance. Thus spoke me

> The time comes when music played by real people, even with mistakes, will be valued more than electronically generated performance. Robin Hanson recently said something to the effect that this might be the last era of human-dominated artistic production. As such, that works produced in these days -- these final days of the human arts -- might be especially prestigious and valuable in times to come. I believe it. Su…

Suno et al are trained on existing music created by humans. What happens when "real" musicians will stop publishing new material out of frustration because they will drown in a sea of AI generated garbage?

Re: Suno has raised $125M to build a future where anyone can make music

#59

Post by recursive » Tue, May 21, 2024, 7:16 PM UTC

orthecreedence wrote: post #11

jsheard wrote: post #2

Yeah I've heard this story before. What's actually going to happen is that Spotify and every other music streaming service will be filled with 50 million functionally identical AI generated songs made by people looking to scrape off a few cents when people listen to them by accident.

Right, this will probably end up being like how autotune was for singers. I don't really want "anyone" to make music. I want people who are good at making music to make music. Yeah we should remove barriers for those people, but honestly nothing beats practice and dedication. Tech seems more and more focused on regurgitation instead of creation.

Autotune sounds different than non-autotune regardless of whether it's used by a good or bad singer. As a result, it can be used for creative purposes, even by good singers.

Drum machines sounds different from kits, which doesn't mean that drum machines are an inferior version of drum kits. They are different, and there's room for both.

Maybe you will never like any song with autotune in it. That's fine. But the idea of objectively "good at making music" leads to some nonsense. There's no accounting for taste.

In my opinion, the more music made, the better. There's something for everyone.

Re: Suno has raised $125M to build a future where anyone can make music

#60

Post by kadushka » Tue, May 21, 2024, 7:18 PM UTC

sebzim4500 wrote: post #26

kadushka wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're looking for control, check out https://www.aiva.ai It's MIDI based, and provides a piano roll interface for editing.

The example song is the best instrumental I've seen generated with AI, and it isn't close. Since you have a lot of customization though, it's hard to judge how much is the AI and how much is the human.

Yes, it's part AI, part human. How it should be, in my opinion.