Summary

  • Collins is CEO of music tech company Splice, which provides a platform for musicians to share samples and creative tools for composing tracks.
  • The sample model was once specific to certain music genres, but now all music uses it, from country to K-pop.
  • Samples start as other people’s sounds, but musicians make them their own, a “profound creative process,” Collins says, essential to modern music.
  • He denies that AI is promoting a trend of simply assembling music from pre-made components, anticipating a backlash against the use of AI in music.
  • As with art, two musicians can take the same sample and create different pieces, and the evolution of music has always involved stealing and reworking other people’s sounds, he says.
  • Protecting the rights of the artists who create the samples is a key priority for the industry, he adds.
  • AI can master music for listeners, but he believes the industry will resist its use to fake entire tracks.

By Nilay Patel

Original Article