At the Changing Tunes: The Role of AI in Music Creation panel, hosted by individuals at the forefront of music innovation, BACARDÍ presented a first-hand look at one of the most innovative projects in the world of modern music production, The Concept A.I.bum.
“We’ve done quite a few of these programs now, and there’s this beautiful intersection of tech meets music,” Booker says. “This one was a special moment for all of us.”
The Concept A.I.bum album consists of five tracks from five up-and-coming artists that were hand-selected by Boi-1da. Among these artists were musicians specifically known for their innovative and versatile music styles including Bellah, Blackway, Floyd Fuji, Kyle Dion, and Savannah Ré.
“We had a lot of dope artists to pick from,” Boi-1da says, admitting just how impressed he was with the final product. “It came along perfectly.”
Using a first-of-its-kind AI tool, developed by Tuney in partnership with BACARDÍ, the artists recreated and published more polished versions of their original demo tracks with custom-generated music in the style of Boi-1da’s production.
After uploading an original demo, each song was broken into stems using Audio Shake to separate the vocal track from the instrumental. Built on Tuney’s API, the tool then generated an original track to sit under the vocals, matching the beat, tempo, cadence, and key of the vocal track.
Because the technology uses samples and real assets from the producer’s catalog, the artists were then able to go in and adjust everything from tempo, chord progression, and miscellaneous microscopic musical details to create a final product that’s both interesting and authentic to the signature Boi-1da sound.
This tool shows that, when done thoughtfully and with buy-in from all parties and correct licensing for all training data, AI can be used to augment human creativity rather than compete with it.
“The purpose of the tool was to level the playing field for artists when it comes to accessing the talents of someone like 1da – showcasing their songwriting ability and giving them a new way to bring their ideas and demos to life at a much higher standard,” Booker says.
The final tool was able to spit out around 3.6 billion different iterations of a track, allowing artists to work at a rate they could “never normally work at.” The panel’s guests agreed the tool is a perfect way for musicians to maximize their creative output while maintaining their fast-paced rockstar lifestyles.
“It’s kind of more productive than destructive to me because I’m basically just multiplying myself and maxing out my efficiency,” Boi-1da stated. “I was able to work with all these amazing artists sitting right here at the same time at different places on the planet.”
