{"id":2281143,"date":"2026-02-13T21:34:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T21:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2281143"},"modified":"2026-02-13T21:34:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T21:34:29","slug":"will-ai-music-content-creators-start-competing-with-human-artists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/will-ai-music-content-creators-start-competing-with-human-artists\/","title":{"rendered":"Will AI Music Content Creators Start Competing with Human Artists?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tNicholas Arter<\/strong> dedicated himself to making AI music full-time when he was laid off from his job in government consulting amid federal workforce reductions. But while \u201cAI is making the job market for consultants in particular more difficult and more competitive,\u201d he says, \u201cwhen I was laid off, I actually doubled down on AI.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tArter \u201cwent in 100%\u201d on his AI music brand AI For The Culture \u2014 which now has 155,000 subscribers on YouTube, 110,000 on Instagram and 250,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. AI For The Culture also boasts over 250 Patreon subscribers, paying $5 monthly for full access to his catalog; across his income streams, he estimates he makes thousands each month.<\/p>\n

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\n\tArter, who also releases music under the name \u201cNick Hustles,\u201d is one of many musicmakers who now earn significant income from releasing AI generated (or assisted) songs online. And although the visibility of these creators is growing, thanks to a number of viral AI hits \u2014 including, most recently, songs by The Velvet Sundown<\/a> \u2014 most of them still have had little to no affiliation with the music industry establishment. They do not tour. They are not offered record deals. They do not issue physical releases.<\/p>\n

\n\tInstead, their careers more often resemble those of content creators, making money largely from social media creator funds, YouTube views and paid subscription platforms, like Patreon. And as this growing cohort increasingly posts AI music to official streaming services like Spotify, too, they\u2019re pioneering an emerging and controversial career path in music \u2014 one that increasingly competes for royalties with traditional artists.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

\n\tMuch of AI music content started as a joke. Around late 2022, as AI voice models improved, parody covers of popular songs \u2014 where a celebrity or popular character\u2019s voice replaced the original artists\u2019 \u2014 became more common. Then, in May 2023, Ghostwriter<\/strong>, an anonymous songwriter\/producer, posted his original song \u201cHeart On My Sleeve,\u201d which used AI to deepfake the voices of Drake<\/a> and The Weeknd<\/a> without their permission.<\/p>\n

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\n\tThe song made headlines and Ghostwriter became the poster child for a new, polarizing type of creative. \u201cHeart On My Sleeve\u201d was also confusing: many believed that the song was generated entirely by AI, even though the emerging tech was actually only used to swap out Ghostwriter\u2019s own vocal performance for Drake and The Weeknd\u2019s. (AI music generators already existed, but typically couldn\u2019t compose a song start-to-finish.)<\/p>\n

\n\tThis technological window was short-lived. In December 2023, AI music companies Suno and Udio debuted<\/a>, enabling the creation of songs that were nearly indistinguishable from human-made music to be made at the click of a button. Soon, AI musicmaking evolved from voice swapping pre-existing or original songs to an explosion of fully AI generated content. (The two companies have since been sued by the major music companies<\/a>, which allege Suno and Udio are engaged in widespread copyright infringement by training their models on copyrighted sound recordings without consent or compensation to artists). <\/p>\n

\n\tComedians-turned-AI-musicmakers like Will Hatcher<\/strong>, who releases under the moniker King Willonius, and Glenn Robinson<\/strong>, the creator of popular social media account Obscurest Vinyl, each tell Billboard they signed up for these new AI music platforms to help take their jokes to the next level. Soon after, in March 2024, Hatcher released his viral smash \u201cBBL Drizzy,\u201d<\/a> an Udio-generated song (with lyrics written by Hatcher) that mocked Drake at the height of his rap beef with Kendrick Lamar<\/a>. Remixed and popularized by Metro Boomin<\/a>, the track became another key moment in the development of AI music.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, Robinson was building an Instagram page where he posted funny, photoshopped album covers. Once he tried Suno, he started posting AI songs to pair with his self-made artwork. \u201cI start with the album cover and think, \u2018What would this sound like?\u2019 and I just write some lyrics and prompt accordingly,\u201d says Robinson, who, like Hatcher and Arter, had a background in making music before AI. \u201cIt takes a few tries, but if I can\u2019t get something I like, I\u2019ll record a demo myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tObscurest Vinyl now has grown to 295,000 Instagram followers and its top song on Spotify, \u201cI Glued My Balls to My Butthole Again,\u201d has over 3 million streams to date. Robinson says his biggest moneymaker is merchandise based on the music, but he earns royalties \u2014 sometimes hundreds of dollars a month \u2014 from YouTube and Spotify, too.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think we\u2019re still in the phase of AI music as comedy,\u201d says George Karalexis<\/strong>, co-founder\/CEO of Ten2 Media, a YouTube content strategy firm that works with AI For The Culture and Hatcher along with artists including Benson Boone<\/a>, BigXThaPlug<\/a> and Lil Tjay<\/a>. \u201cThere will always be some type of comedic music in this field, but I think we are entering the next phase, as this stuff gets really good, where people just enjoy the music for what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNow, it\u2019s clear that AI music is good for more than a laugh \u2014 it\u2019s an increasingly popular option for listeners. JPEGMAFIA<\/a>, for example, prominently sampled one of AI For The Culture\u2019s songs in his 2024 single \u201ceither on or off drugs.\u201d The Suno-generated doo-wop tune \u201cA Million Colors,\u201d released by Brazilian AI music content creator Vinih Pray<\/strong>, became the first-known AI song to chart on the TikTok Viral 50<\/a> in June, peaking at no. 46. And just a month later, a Reddit controversy around The Velvet Sundown made the AI band go viral worldwide \u2014 and its Spotify monthly listenership swelled to over 1.4 million.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

\n\tSome streaming services, including Spotify, still do not have policies specific to AI music.<\/a> As long as AI songs do not violate other rules, like ones against impersonation or spam, they are often allowed to accrue streaming money just like any human-made song. This lack of royalty differentiation was at the heart of the recent Velvet Sundown controversy, which prompted discourse about whether it\u2019s acceptable for AI music to compete in the same marketplace as human-made music \u2014 and what streaming services could do to regulate the incoming flood of AI music, which French streaming service Deezer estimates accounts for 18% of songs<\/a> delivered daily to its platform.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\u201cThere are a lot of misconceptions with AI music,\u201d says Hatcher. \u201cAt the end of the day, I think there is still a craft to it. You have to have a great ear. You can generate 20 songs and not have the ear to decide which is actually good. You might get lucky and just have a random hit [with AI], but the people, like me, who are doing this sustainably are very dedicated, consistent and continually improving. I think AI just empowers people to be more creative.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tArter says that he \u201cfirmly believes\u201d that \u201cthe human element\u201d of his songs, like writing his own lyrics and editing AI results in ProTools, is paramount to his success with the emerging technology. But he also credits the high quality of his songs to learning how to precisely prompt AI. \u201cI\u2019m at a point, since I\u2019ve used it so much, where I can hear a melody in my head, and I can get the AI to get that exact melody based on how I word my prompts,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\n\tStill, while Robinson, Hatcher and Arter all stress their respect for human artistry and their belief that AI musicmaking is a skilled creative pursuit, Hatcher admits that there\u2019s \u201ca lot of AI slop\u201d on the internet that doesn\u2019t take such a thoughtful approach to creating with the technology. Experts believe much of this AI slop is even used with the intent to steal royalties.<\/p>\n

\n\tLast fall, a North Carolinian named Michael Smith<\/strong> was indicted by federal prosecutors<\/a> over allegations that he used AI<\/a> to help create \u201chundreds of thousands\u201d of songs and then used the AI tracks to earn more than $10 million in fraudulent streaming royalty payments since 2017. Deezer, which has become a vocal proponent for AI music regulation, also reports a significant link between AI music and fraudulent streaming activities, claiming that \u201cup to 70%\u201d of streams for AI songs are artificial<\/a>, as of June 2025.<\/p>\n

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\n\tEven if an AI music content creator has good intentions with their work, voluntarily labels it as AI, and writes some of the lyrics themselves, the role is still stigmatized. This summer, Timbaland<\/a>\u2019s announcement of his new AI entertainment company, Stage Zero,<\/a> which would release songs by AI artist TaTa, provoked outcry from creatives online, including one producer, K Fresh<\/strong>, who accused Timbaland of taking his song without credit and running it through Suno. Timbaland quickly issued an apology to the producer and clarified that \u201cat Stage Zero\u2026nothing happens without people. Our focus is on building tools with creators, not at their expense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRobinson says that while the reception was largely positive when he started adding AI music to his Instagram posts, he still upset some followers by doing it. \u201cOf course, you do get people who are like, \u2018You shouldn\u2019t be using this,\u2019 and they\u2019re also completely valid,\u201d he says. \u201cI get why they\u2019re upset; if I wasn\u2019t doing Obscurest Vinyl, I probably wouldn\u2019t go anywhere near AI. For me, it just serves the purpose of helping me match the album covers I make in Photoshop to music of all styles and voices which I couldn\u2019t do effectively without AI.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe stigma, paired with the lack of clarity around how copyrightable these works are worldwide and how streaming services will regulate it in the future, has kept traditional record labels, publishers, managers and agents away from the AI music content creation game \u2014 for now. But JVKE<\/a>\u2019s manager Ethan Curtis<\/strong>, an early adopter of AI tools, says he thinks it\u2019s only a matter of time before the industry capitalizes on this growing field. \u201cIt\u2019s not far off,\u201d Curtis says. \u201cHonestly, I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if [record labels] didn\u2019t start creating AI artists themselves. I mean, why not? You don\u2019t have to share any revenue. You don\u2019t have to deal with moody artists. You don\u2019t have to fight for creative control. I imagine that is already on the roadmap.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tAI music may now be taking home part of the royalty pool previously reserved for just human artists, but Hatcher, Arter and Robinson all doubt that human-made music will go away because of projects like theirs. \u201cI like to use the analogy of AI music being fast food,\u201d says Hatcher. \u201cThere are people that will never, under any circumstances, eat fast food. They want a fine dining experience. And then there are other people who are like, \u2018I don\u2019t care where it comes from or who the chef is, give me that burger.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIf we are talking about pure output, there\u2019s no way humans can compete with AI music,\u201d says Karalexis. \u201cBut where artists can outperform is with meaningful connections with fans, live performances. There is a human element that people still want. I don\u2019t think this is a competition where one wins and the other loses, it\u2019s going to become two different games.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThis story is part of Billboard\u2019s music technology newsletter \u2018Machine Learnings.\u2019 Sign up for \u2018Machine Learnings\u2019 and other Billboard newsletters for free here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.billboard.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nicholas Arter dedicated himself to making AI music full-time when he was laid off from his job in government consulting amid federal workforce reductions. But while \u201cAI is making the job market for consultants in particular more difficult and more competitive,\u201d he says, \u201cwhen I was laid off, I actually doubled down on AI.\u201d Arter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2281144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[30218,344480,350654],"class_list":["post-2281143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-machine-learnings"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Will-AI-Music-Content-Creators-Start-Competing-with-Human-Artists.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2281143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2281143"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2281143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2281145,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2281143\/revisions\/2281145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2281144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2281143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2281143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2281143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}