Kim Hyun-suk, a composer renowned as a “hit song machine” in South Korea, recently shared his experience as a judge at a recent songwriting contest on X (formerly Twitter). His remarks humorously expressed surprise and confusion upon discovering that the winning song was created by AI.
According to market analysis firm Market Dot Earth, the global music market utilizing generative AI is expected to grow elevenfold from approximately 290 billion won in 2022 to about 3.38 trillion won by 2032. With AI now capable of understanding harmony and creating compositions with natural chord progressions, it’s possible to create popular music in minutes without knowledge of harmony.
Google’s “MusicLM,” released last year, can produce jazz from abstract instructions like “suitable for a dinner party.” Meta’s “MusicGen,” announced as open-source, can generate 10 seconds of music in just 80 seconds.
With the advancement of AI technology, it has become possible to save on labor costs and time in the arrangement and creation process. Consequently, investments in related technologies are increasing in South Korea’s music industry. For example, Genie Music acquired the startup Juice in 2022 and used its technology to arrange singer Tei’s “Same Pillow,” which was used as a drama insert song.
However, alongside technological advancements, copyright issues have also emerged. Current copyright laws restrict rights to humans, meaning works generated by AI are not recognized. The Korea Music Copyright Association registered an AI-composed piece “Love is 24 Hours” but ceased payment of copyright fees.
In the future, establishing systems to recognize collaboration between humans and AI will be necessary. Lee Jong-hyun, CEO of Creative Mind, pointed out the importance of creating systems that recognize diverse forms of creation, stating, “There are cases where human composers are involved in post-processing along with AI.”
As AI technology evolves, the impact of human-AI co-creation on the music industry is immeasurable. As legal frameworks and technological advancements progress, the music creation process is expected to become increasingly diverse, leading to the emergence of new musical forms.
