The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

It was a fascinating chat because – quite frankly – their career is fascinating. However, there were 3 things that made the conversation especially interesting to me ..

1. They’d achieved a highly successful career over decades.
2. They’d witnessed change in almost every are of what they do and how they do it.
3. They’d embraced these changes in ways that only made them more successful.

Now I appreciate the music industry is a fucking basket case, but as Paula and I discussed in our talk at Cannes last year for WARC, there are some artists – of which we’re very fortunate to work with a few of them – who have proven to be better at managing the long term value and relevance of their brand than 99% of companies, consultancies and agencies out there. Add to that, they are able to drive greater greater financial returns and true customer loyalty [contextually speaking] from their audience even though they have neither the budgets, marketing theory or media that we’re increasingly told are the only ways to be effective and efficient in today’s commercial landscape.

But I digress.

The reason why my conversation with this musician was especially interesting to me was because of their view on AI.

Put simply, while they recognized it would have a huge impact on how people did things, his view was that it was not as black and white as many like to portray – to which he used the drum machine to reinforce his point.

Back in the 1980’s, technology had evolved to a point where the ‘electronic drum machine’ was a reality.

Suddenly musicians – whether in bands or in their bedrooms – could create music with even greater freedom and control.

Better yet, drum machines always stayed in time, turned up on time, didn’t need loads of space for their equipment, could play at much quieter volumes and didn’t have opinions.

It was a revelation.

In fact it was more than that, it was in many ways, their first experience of ‘artificial intelligence’.

However …

While these machines helped explode the electronic music genre, it did not kill music.

Or drummers.

Sure, there was a period where this technology was ‘flavor of the month’ as artists of all genres experimented and explored what was possible with this new tech – including drummers – but it didn’t kill all drummers, it didn’t stop kids wanting to be a drummer, it didn’t stop new bands starting and it didn’t make every drum manufacturer go out of business.

Yes, some had to evolve.

Yes, some parts of the industry changed.

But it didn’t signify the end of days for drummers, drumming or music as a whole.

If anything, it elevated it, inviting and encouraging more people to come in.

To try.
Explore.
Create.

What’s also interesting is that it also helped some musicians appreciate the human drummer.

Their ability to create new patterns to music.
To play off the beat rather than perfectly to the bar.
Their unique skill in bringing different energy to songs.
Their contribution to the chemistry of the moment and the creation.

In the case of the musician in question, they absolutely use drum machines – both to demo music and when they perform – but they still also have a ‘human drummer’, for all the reasons I’ve just mentioned.

Or as they put it:

“Technology offers musical consistency. Humans offer musical interactivity.”

We are obsessed with looking at everything in binary terms.

One person wins.
One person must lose.

And while there are cases where that can and will happen – the drum machine is proof there’s a whole lot of other possibilities and outcomes that are available. The key is seeing the technology as something that liberates far more than just ‘commercial efficiency’ … and while companies may be unable to see anything but that, humans can.

Not just because our life depends on it. But because our life depends on being able to express who we are and how we feel.

And while AI may be able to execute at levels we could never previously imagine, it doesn’t have a point of view … it doesn’t see, let alone understand, the invisible energy that can lie between people and it doesn’t know how to feel.

So while the tech companies are telling us we need it, the reality is it needs us.

The best of us. And then maybe we’ll all remember life isn’t binary, it’s filled with possibility.

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Please note:

So here’s to you having a great weekend … maybe playing with AI on your terms, rather than using it as seemingly every influencer and Tiktoker is trying to push you into using it, for cheaper holidays, making your first million or signing up for their ‘course’ to learn how to become a business icon. Ahem.