Golf Wang designer Tyler, The Creator and Vultures 1 musician Kanye West have both come out to speak about the dangers of artificial intelligence and the impact it could have on the music industry in the future following a post by British singer James Blake.
Blake wrote a statement commenting about how the TikTok algorithms could destroy the sanctity of original music, reading, “It’s worth noting this is just an example I used in a post talking about the wider effect of TikTok on music. Just seeing this part makes it seem navel-gazing, but I’m speaking on a thing that’s affecting artists all over the world.”
He continued, “Something I keep seeing is ‘if you’re lucky enough to go viral, just use the exposure to generate income some other way. Musicians should be able to generate income via their music. Do you want good music, or do you want what you paid for?”
Blake concluded, “If we want quality music, somebody is gonna have to pay for it. Streaming services don’t pay properly, labels want a bigger cut than ever and just sit and wait for you to go viral, TikTok doesn’t pay properly, and touring is getting prohibitively expensive for most artists. The brainwashing worked, and now people think music is free.”
After the posts went viral, James Blake continued to express his thoughts on Instagram. Akin to artists like Snoop Dogg and Nicki Minaj, Blake called out the adverse effects streaming has had on the music industry, writing, “The industry is beyond fucked, and musicians are getting fucked harder than anyone”
He also professed he was lucky to achieve fame just before streaming became extremely prominent, writing, “I’m extremely lucky I got in before streaming took over and before all these shady deals were made behind our backs.”
Blake continued in this vein and received praise from Tyler, The Creator, who wrote, “@jamesblake talk ya shit!” Even Metro Boomin, who has worked with the Grammy-winning singer, commented, posting, “They suggested for me to release the acapella, sped up, and slowed down versions of ‘Creepin’ and I was like nooooo way lol.”
You can view Blake’s post in the video below.