"When songwriter Patrick Irwin moved to Nashville last year, he was entering a lottery. Each day hundreds of sessions take place where writers create a song demo to pitch to a publisher. Publishers then share those songs with labels and managers, who may share those songs with the artists. Even if a major country star records ("cuts") the song, it still takes a stroke of luck for that song to become a No. 1 hit."
"Instead of booking studio time or calling a "track guy" to produce a demo, one co-writer opened Suno, an AI music platform, uploaded a voice memo with just guitar and vocals, and typed in a prompt: "traditional country, male vocal, folk country, story telling, 90s country, rhythmic." 30 seconds later he had two fully produced demos complete with drums, electric guitars, bass, and backing harmonies. There were no studio musicians, no invoices."
"'You tell it the genre and it totally does the whole thing, it's insane,' says Irwin. He was as astonished as he was disturbed. This was not the Nashville, a city with a storied 200-year history of producing much of America's greatest music, that he had imagined. Irwin isn't alone in this feeling. In the background, AI is taking over the city. At the start of 2024, few professionals had even tried these tools, but in the past six months, songwriters and producers have embraced them to work faster and cheaper - and for some, more resourcefully."
A songwriter moved to Nashville and faced extremely low odds of placing a demo with publishers, labels, managers, and artists. Even a major country star recording a song rarely leads to a No. 1 hit. Co-writers used Suno, an AI music platform, to convert a simple voice memo into two fully produced demos within 30 seconds, complete with drums, electric guitars, bass, and backing harmonies, without studio musicians or invoices. AI tools have spread rapidly since early 2024. Songwriters and producers are using these tools to work faster, cheaper, and sometimes more resourcefully. Some industry professionals feel astonished and disturbed by the shift.
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