AI in Music Enters 'Early Majority' Stage… Some Still Argue 'I want my art to be my own'

[Monthly Mixing] A survey shows that AI use in music production has entered the 'early majority' stage, but concerns about artistic and creative issues were the most significant.

According to the 'Tracklib Music Producer Survey 2024 - AI & Music' conducted by Tracklib in June, 25% of respondents said they currently use AI in music production. Based on this, Tracklib analyzed that AI adoption has entered the 'early majority'_[1] stage.

Among AI users, 73.9% use AI for stem separation, while 45.5% use AI-based mastering/EQ plugins. Only 3% said they use AI for generating entire songs.

Of those who said they don't use AI, 82.2% cited artistic and creative reasons, such as "my artwork should be my own." Low quality (34.5%), workspace compatibility (17.6%), and price (14.3%) followed, while 10.2% expressed concerns about copyright issues.

Respondents showed a clear difference in attitudes towards 'generative AI' and 'assistive AI'. While most were negative about generative AI, they showed a more positive attitude towards assistive AI.

Notably, younger age groups showed stronger aversion to generative AI, while older age groups showed less support for assistive AI.

71.9% of AI tool users said they only use free tools, while 18.8% said they use tools costing between $1-10 per month. The willingness to pay for AI tools tended to increase with higher expertise and age.

70% of all respondents expected AI to have a significant impact on future music production, while 29% thought it would have some impact. Only 1% said it would have almost no impact.

This survey was conducted by Tracklib in June 2024 with 1,107 participants, with 54% from EU/UK, 34% from North America, and 12% from other regions. The age group of 21-40 years old made up 53.4%, while those 20 and under accounted for 27.3%. Tracklib also noted that 94% of respondents were male, pointing out the gender imbalance in the music production field.

Meanwhile, Tracklib is a music licensing and sampling service company headquartered in Stockholm, established to address legal and ethical issues related to music and sample usage.

[1] 'Early Majority' refers to the third stage in the diffusion of innovation theory, which categorizes groups according to when they adopt new technological civilizations, following 'Innovators' and 'Early Adopters', and preceding 'Late Majority' and 'Laggards'.