Joe Bonamassa has weighed in on one of the biggest debates currently facing the music industry: the growing use of artificial intelligence and what it means for working musicians.<\/p>\n
During a recent interview with Blues Rock Review at Eric Clapton\u2019s Crossroads Guitar Festival in Austin, Bonamassa was asked about AI\u2019s impact on music. The conversation quickly turned to Eddie Dalton, an artist whose presence on the Billboard blues charts has raised questions within the blues community.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you know who Eddie Dalton is?\u201d Bonamassa asked.<\/p>\n
Bonamassa said, \u201cNever seen him play live, never met him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a legitimate artist in the eyes of some,\u201d Bonamassa added.<\/p>\n
But Bonamassa also made it clear that listeners ultimately have the right to decide what they want to hear.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fans will respond to what they respond to,\u201d he said. \u201cThe reality of it is this: when people want to zone out, and they want to put music on in the car, if they like AI music, that\u2019s 100% their right. There\u2019s nothing wrong with that. If they want to put on a Marcus King record, if they want to put on an Eric Gales record or whoever, that\u2019s their right.\u201d<\/p>\n
His concern is less about telling listeners what they should enjoy and more about whether AI-generated projects should compete directly with living musicians.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever they particularly enjoy, that\u2019s 100%. This is a supply and demand business,\u201d Bonamassa said. \u201cShould those artists be in the same category as living people out there? No. That\u2019s a horrible thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bonamassa believes AI use is already considerably more widespread within the music industry than some musicians may be willing to acknowledge publicly.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody\u2019s on the honor system,\u201d he said, pointing to artists being called out for using AI to assist with lyrics and other parts of the creative process.<\/p>\n
Bonamassa acknowledged the rising popularity of SUNO, which is being used to create songs through AI while at the same time understanding the entertainment business.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf someone uses SUNO to write a lyric, okay, it\u2019s not a high crime, a misdemeanor,\u201d he said, adding that he personally has never used it.<\/p>\n
What he does reject is the idea that musicians can simply pretend AI has not become part of the industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnless you\u2019re living under a rock, now, do I think, do I hear it in some music? Absolutely. Did I just listen to 200 blues records and heard it a few times? Absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bonamassa believes the pressure to get noticed makes AI particularly tempting for emerging artists. In an industry dominated by social media, streaming platforms and constant competition for attention, he argued that some musicians will use whatever tools are available if they believe those tools can advance their careers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I can use this program to get a leg up and maybe I get a few more people out of my show, you know that\u2019s happening,\u201d Bonamassa said. \u201cWe\u2019d be very remiss to just bury our head in the sand, say it\u2019s not, because it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the rapidly changing technology surrounding music, Bonamassa\u2019s broader philosophy remains rooted in something far more traditional: the ability to perform.<\/p>\n
As AI-generated music becomes increasingly difficult to separate from human-created recordings, Bonamassa\u2019s comments highlight a distinction that could become increasingly important: creating something that sounds convincing is one thing. Walking onto a stage and convincing an audience is another.<\/p>\n
Watch the full interview with Joe Bonamassa below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joe Bonamassa has weighed in on one of the biggest debates currently facing the music industry: the growing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[365,363,364,224230,305266,111,139,69,145],"class_list":["post-620192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-eddie-dalton","tag-joe-bonamassa","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}