The music industry has undergone a massive transformation over the last decade. At one time recording artists went on tour to promote a new album. Now album sales have been replaced with digital streaming services which pay little (if anything) to all but the most popular music professionals. Recording studios are shutting down because of cheap and easy access to powerful computer-based audio engineering tools. And now in the last few years, musicians and vocalists are finding new competition from artificially synthesized music which is getting increasingly difficult to distinguish from human performances.

Who Profits From Artificial Vocals?

• The music producers who use AI vocals? Even if the quality of artificial vocals is such that it is impossible to distinguish them from natural vocals, what is the revenue model that could make such music profitable? In a world where thousands of plays on a streaming platform may only earn a few pennies, live performance is the bread and butter of today's working musicians. But who wants to go to a show where the singer is effectively a computer?
• The singers who were used to train AIs? Hundreds of thousands (or perhaps millions?) of natural vocal performances are used by AIs to learn how to generate artificial vocal performances. The singers who created these natural vocal recordings are not reimbursed for their efforts.
• AI Companies? Yes. It would seem that musicians are being used by AI companies in the same way streaming platforms use recording artists. As usual the corporations make massive profits and the artists get little or nothing. It is basically an extension of how the music business has always been run: Music labels take the majority of profits leaving recording artists with only a small share.

What is the purpose of this web site?
"Natural Vocals" will be the focal point to gather information and consider ideas about how to best adapt to the new reality of AI and it's effect on the music industry. The hope is that this research will result in a tangible project proposal launched by developer and music producer C.P.Bryan. C.P.Bryan has been recording and releasing songs, electronic soundscapes, dance grooves and audio collages since the late 1990's using a variety of artist names (including "Glitch", "FSMXL", "Space Experiments" and "Protoflake" to name a few). Since 2010 Bryan has been administering the online platform freesoundtrackmusic.com, designed for video producers so that they may easily browse, preview (audition) and download compositions to use in their productions on a royalty free basis. Following recent improvements in the quality of AI vocals, Bryan has remixed much of his back catalog of compositions which either had poor quality vocal tracks or were not originally recorded with lyrics or singers. An example of some of these most recent productions can be previewed HERE.

You are invitd to contribute your feedback and ideas: Contact cpbryan@interannex.com.

More information about C.P.Bryan can be found at CPBRYAN.COM.