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A British man named Oliver McCann, who himself has said has no musical ability, just got signed by a music label. He did this by using AI to make his music.

McCann was signed by independent music label Hallwood Media after one of his tracks hit three million streams. This is being reported as a first for an AI music creator to be signed by a label.

This new precedent could open up the doors on a whole new type of musician and, indeed, may have repercussions on the music industry as we know it.

How did an AI musician get signed?

While the likes of ChatGPT from Open AI is fast becoming more useful and widely adopted, creating AI music is a bit more niche. Nevertheless this is also growing in popularity and, it now seems, prospects.

McCann, a visual designer, began using AI tools as a way to experiment with his creativity. While he cannot play an instrument or sing, he does write lyrics and wanted to use AI to bring those words to life.

As such his music spans indie-pop and electric soul to country rap. The use of AI song generation tools like Suno and Udio is becoming more common as a new wave of synthetic music begins to appear online.

iPhone (Image credit: Beyerdynamic)

While AI song generators are democratising song creation, there are fears that this could disrupt the music industry. The example of Velvet Sundown is a good case, where it shot to viral fame despite its songs, lyrics and album art all being AI generated.

The $29.6 billion global recorded music market now generates $20 billion of that from streaming. Deezer streaming service estimates that 18% of songs uploaded to its platform, daily, are AI generated.

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Some see AI as a new tool for musicians while others see it as eroding quality. McCann said he uses it for hours, changing prompts, hundreds of times, to get the perfect end result.

"I think we’re entering a world where anyone, anywhere could make the next big hit," said McCann. "As AI becomes more widely accepted among people as a musical art form, I think it opens up the possibility for AI music to be featured in charts."