Create a Billboard #1 in 60 seconds: How Suno AI Changes Everything For Music Creation

Welcome to this week’s Deep-fried Dive with Fry Guy! In these long-form articles, Fry Guy conducts an in-depth analysis of a cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) development or developer. Today, Fry Guy is exploring how Suno AI is transforming music creation. We hope you enjoy!

*Notice: We do not gain any monetary compensation from the people and projects we feature in the Sunday Deep-fried Dives with Fry Guy. We explore these projects and developers solely for the purpose of revealing to you interesting and cutting-edge AI projects, developers, and uses.*

Music paints the background of our lives. It rushes through headphones into the ears of those walking college campuses, exudes through the speakers of our cars, and plays softly as we stand in the elevator. But with the rise of generative AI, how we think about music might change forever …

AI music generation tools have been around for some time now, but there has been nothing like Suno AI. From a simple text prompt, Suno is able to create a song up to two minutes long, including high-quality background music and unique vocals. The release of this revolutionary tool is not only fascinating for users, but it is also sparking heated debates surrounding the future of music.

Let’s explore this groundbreaking new platform and then check out how AI-generated music might change our perception of music going forward.

CREATING A SONG

When one first enters the Suno creation platform, they are presented with a text box, home to a blinking cursor and ripe for creativity. Suno presents users with unique options for text-based creations, all tailored to the desires of the individual. Primarily, there are two options that one can take: an AI-driven option or Custom Mode.

The first option, the AI-driven option, allows users type in a brief description of the song they want. For example, one could prompt, “A song about Fry Guy’s love for artificial intelligence.” From here, the Suno model will generate unique lyrics and human-sounding vocals. The advantage of this approach is that it can be surprising and fun, as the AI often produces clever lines and a musical style that meets the theme, along with a witty but sometimes awkward title. This can be fun with a group of friends or for exploring the power of AI music. However, the downside is that this approach doesn’t give the user much control over the intricacies of the music, and in this way, the bulk of the song creation is done by the AI model.

The alternative option for users is to enter “Custom Mode,” where the user is presented with the option to write their own lyrics for the song or choose an instrumental, allowing the music to speak for itself. In the Custom Mode, users can also determine whether they want to use a random style determined by the AI system or set their own genre, tempo, and voice. This feature also allows users to determine the desired length of their song—up to two minutes—and give their song a personalized title. The Custom Mode option gives the user a lot of freedom and choice in the creative process without having to do the dirty work of actually creating the music.

Once these choices are all sorted out, the user simply presses “Create.” From here, the AI works its magic, creating a song that is, at times, indistinguishable from what is played on the radio or on streaming services such as Spotify.

When I first tried this platform, I had my expectations set relatively low. I had played around with AI-powered music creation tools before, and many are decent, but none of them sounded like human-made music that is played on the radio or that can be found on major music streaming platforms like Spotify or Apple Music. Nonetheless, I decided to give Suno a whirl.

I chose to go for the simple prompt approach, because I wanted to see what the model was capable of without much customization on the human end. I entered a simple prompt: “A country song about a french fry who loves artificial intelligence.” The result? In only twenty seconds, the Suno model created an epic minute and three second song titled, “The Fry and the Future,” which told the story of a French fry in a small diner who “dreams of gadgets and neon lights, of algorithms and endless nights, and wonders about the meaning of life in a digital world.” Upon first hearing this song, I was blown away. It was as if a professional country artist had written a song based on my prompt, including intricate harmonies and witty, flowing lyrics.

You can listen to this AI-generated song here:

THE END OF HUMAN MUSIC?

As AI-generated music becomes more indistinguishable from human-made music, the implications continue to spill over and drown the public in a sea of debates. Some believe the rise of AI-generated music will have extremely positive impacts on society, while others see it as a detriment to human authenticity.

The Positive

AI music is seen by many as a revolutionary tool to spark innovation and creativity. For instance, Generative AI music tools like Suno are putting creative music potential in the hands of those who might never have had the opportunity to access it before. Now, people without the musical talent or equipment needed to create and edit music have access to musical creation. Additionally, for those that already do possess musical talent and editing abilities, their job has gotten a whole lot easier, as they no longer have to manually edit their songs but will soon just be able to use prompts and AI tools to edit their music. This will free them up to focus on the fun part of music, creation, rather than having to spend countless hours trying to figure out how to edit their music in a way that suits their desires.

Along with lowering the burden on music creators, AI music also has the potential to lower costs for music creation and usage. Instead of spending vast amounts of money on editing equipment, artists can now use simple AI tools to edit their music in a cost-effective manner.

It’s also worth mentioning that AI music makes music more personal. One of the most beautiful and exciting things about the Suno platform is that it allows users to create songs tailored to them, to their stories, and which includes their names and interests. The future of AI music is that of personalization and customization, opening up a new and exciting way to listen to music, where you truly are the star.

The Negative

AI music is no longer characterized by the robotic-sounding bleeps and blips of its early days. Rather, the rise of generative AI embodied by tools like Suno are bringing to the scene songs that are almost indistinguishable from that of a human, and in many cases are better quality. On one hand, this is fascinating and presents exciting opportunities for creation. On the other hand, however, this means AI music might weaken the human heart and authenticity we get from hearing the guitar strings and resonating with the vocals. Not to mention, many worry that the rise of AI music means that talented humans who have spent years mastering musical and vocal abilities are now having their opportunities for downloads, awards, and features threatened by AI music.

If the concern surrounding authenticity was not enough, one of the large worries with AI music is the problem of copyrights. In order for these tools to work well, the underlying models need to be trained on sloths of data, including human-made music. What sources AI can and cannot pull from and use as training data is a blurry line that continues to be debated across the space. Many argue that AI should not be able to use human-made music as training data to generate songs without compensating the original artist(s). Others believe AI should have free reign, like a human, to learn from any publicly available source content. There is no clear solution in sight, adding another layer of complexity and difficulty to the development of AI music.

At the end of the day…

AI music is here, and there is no stopping it, as this music is already infiltrating major streaming services. Although many are concerned about AI music not being authentic, the concern proves reminiscent of the introduction of vocal recording and autotune, which many thought would ruin music. Although some still don’t enjoy those features of music, many now view them as innovative ways to engage with music and express creative talent. That is the beauty of music itself: it is an artistic creation. Tools like instruments, recording, editing, autotune, and more have become different ways to create and engage with music, and it seems AI will open up a similar box of wonder. So despite growing concerns, AI will not be the end of human music, but it will certainly continue to refine how we create and engage with it.