The Sound of AI Music
It’s good to have a career plan. It’s also cool if you can combine those plans with passion and purpose. Long-time Center Grove resident Keith Fechtman works as the Director of Events at UIndy where he’s in charge of external rental events. Five years ago, he was also part owner of a Books & Brews establishment.
After making it through the COVID pandemic, which did a number on many restaurants, he decided to pursue a back-up plan. Fechtman began working as an adjunct professor teaching business courses at UIndy. In addition, he started working towards his doctorate dissertation on AI in Higher Education.
“Teaching marketing and management, I knew how popular AI has become,” Fechtman says. “I thought perhaps I should start using it myself.”
One day he was listening to a podcast in which the hosts were talking about a music group on Spotify called The Velvet Sundown. Fechtman researched the group and found they had 160K followers. He listened to some of their music and thought, ‘That’s different. Kind of a laid-back 70s genre.’
The hosts then revealed that none of the band members from Velvet Sundown are real. They are a totally made-up group using AI. Fechtman was intrigued as he knew there is currently an ongoing debate regarding the benefits and downfalls of using AI. Some people fear AI will take away jobs. Others claim it will help or create jobs. As far as music is concerned, the question is, “Is AI going to take away an artist’s desire or ability to make music?”
Although the debate over AI use rages on, Fechtman points out that every bit of technology that’s been introduced has miffed people who are resistant to change.
“Someone was once highly upset when the typewriter was invented because they liked their cursive writing,” he says. “Then when computers took over typewriters, someone was upset about that change. AI is just the next step in the evolution of technology.”
An avid runner, Fechtman decided to create his own running playlist using AI. He downloaded a program in addition to finding a third-party app to stream the music. He learned that DistroKid was the easiest way to get his music on Spotify, Apple Music, TikTok, and 15-plus other platforms. He could release unlimited music, keep 100% of his earnings, and stay independent.
When musicians put their music on a streaming service, they use a third-party system to get it onto that streaming service and then they get paid every time someone listens to that song for 30 seconds or longer. The pay ranges anywhere from $.003 to $.005. While Fechtman estimates that major artists like Taylor Swift who have a huge following could make $30K in a day by having her followers listen to one of her songs for 30 seconds or longer, he admits that he’s not rolling in the dough quite yet.
“I’ve made five albums so far and have netted $7.32 since last summer,” he says with a chuckle.
Those five albums cover a wide variety of genres, including Country, Christian, EDM, Hip-Hop/Rap, and Jazz/Blues Christmas.
To make these albums, each of which feature 11 songs, Fechtman experimented by using prompts through a third-party app that creates AI music (MusicGPT). He admits that sometimes the result sounds terrible or offbeat, but other times it turns out great.
“I just keep prompting. Maybe I’ll copy and paste the lyrics and say, ‘Do this with a faster beat,’” Fechtman says. “Or I’ll change the wording. It’s not a perfect science, but it’s amazing how quickly it does it.”
Fechtman made each of his artist creations with the initials A and I (e.g., Ace Idol, Angels Inspire, Allen Ireland, Arrow Ivy, and Audio Ice). He even asked ChatGPT to help him with artist name suggestions. He used Google’s AI assistant Gemini and Meta.AI to create the photos for the album covers.
“I tried to use AI for the whole package, from the names to the song prompts, what’s popular today, and all the different components,” Fechtman says.
On average, it has taken Fechtman about a month, from start to finish, to create a name, an image, and an album (keeping in mind that this is a hobby he’s taking on in his spare time).
When he defends his dissertation in May, he hopes to blow the panel away by sharing examples of how AI is used today by playing some of his musical creations.
“Who knows? Maybe one of my songs will be so good that Michael Bublé will call me up and say, ‘Hey, I really like that song. I know it’s AI, but I’d like to sing it and put it on my next album,’” Fechtman says.
Dare to dream! Big things can happen when passion meets purpose.
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