r/NoAIJustMusic

In high school, social media wasn't widespread. Spotify was unknown, and music didn't come to me through endless algorithmic playlists.

I spent hours on Youtube, jumping from one song to another, reading comments, checking out related videos, and slowly building my own little music map.

I even had a journal where I wrote down and rated the artists, bands, and albums I listened to.

Looking back, I think those years shaped my taste more than anything else. Discovering music was slower, more personal, and more conscious. It wasn't just background content. It was more like I was actively engaging with the music.

I wonder, how did you discover music before streaming platforms, algorithms, and AI-generated content became so dominant?

Did you have mixtapes, CDs, blogs, record stores, radio shows, videos you discovered on Youtube, older siblings, friends, forums, magazines, or something else?

I'd love to hear your stories.

Recently I got back into writing my own music. One of the things I've gotten into doing is seeing what other independent artists are doing.

Deception

So getting on Facebook, I joined some songwriter and musician groups. I'll often see people posting a song and saying "I just wrote this song with my friend on guest vocals"- with this being an explanation for all of their songs having different vocalists- because they were AI generated.

So I'll find myself clicking on their bandcamp, youtube, or spotify or whatever, and digging it. And then I start looking for things like credits- who played what. And then I realize, I've been duped, the whole thing was AI generated.

Delusion

A lot of people think that, because they write the lyrics, or they "describe" what they prompt, it is somehow "their" music and "them" doing it. And they'll go on rants and defend it.

It's gotten to the point where unless I turn on a song and it has imperfections in audio engineering, vocals, or clearly human played instruments, or the person has clips of themselves playing.

In both cases, I can't seem to figure out what motivates people. Part of me wonders if people are trying to make a profit off of misleading streams.

At some point I'm just wondering- wouldn't it just make more sense to buy a $100 guitar and learn?

Well, that's it from me. Stay real my fellow musicians.

Are you watching Eurovision this year?

I used to love Eurovision much more when I was younger. I still don't think it's terrible, and there are still good songs, but it doesn't give me the same feeling anymore.

Maybe I miss the old chaos. The bizarre performances, the different languages, the dramatic ballads, the random songs that somehow stick in your head for years.

Now it feels more polished and sometimes more "made for the internet."

Am I the only one who feels this way, or do you also think Eurovision has lost its old magic?

I'm thinking about how much our attention spans are changing.

With short videos, endless scrolling, rapid dopamine bursts, and algorithms constantly presenting us with something new, I feel it's becoming increasingly difficult for people to engage deeply with music.

Sometimes songs are treated like fast-paced content. If the chorus doesn't come fast enough, people skip it. If an album requires patience, many people don't dedicate time to it.

Do you think this is changing the way we listen to music?

Are we losing our ability to appreciate slow, emotional, flawed, or complex music?

And do you think AI-generated music could make this even worse by creating even more endless background content?

I’m trying to understand how people here think about AI music in a more specific way

For people who make AI-assisted music, what part of the process feels most creatively satisfying to you?

Is it the writing of lyrics, prompting, selecting generations, editing, arranging, mixing, or something else?

I’m also curious about the listener and creator side of it:

What do you personally get out of making AI assisted music?

Does it feel similar to songwriting/production, or more like directing and curating?

What separates low-effort output from something you’d consider real artistic work?

On the copyright side, I know this is a complicated topic, but I’d like to hear thoughtful opinions:
How should ownership work for AI-assisted songs?

Does meaningful human input change where people think the line should be?

How do you think training data and influence should be handled ethically?

More broadly, what do you think AI adds to creative spaces, and where do you think its limits are?
I’m not looking for “AI is amazing” or “AI is ruining music” answers. I’m more interested in nuanced views from people who have actually used these tools or thought seriously about them.

Played to an old riff/song of mine last night and wondered what the genre would be.

1. How would you categorize this?
2. Got any music recommendations that sound similar?

Hello everyone,

I wanted to make a clear statement about what r/NoAIJustMusic is actually about.

This community is for people who value human-made music, genuine creativity, musicianship, artist rights, and the labor behind the music.

The goal is not to attack people or turn every AI discussion into a fight. The goal is to protect and support music made by humans.

As a community, we do not support music or music videos produced entirely by AI.

We also do not support AI replacing the creative aspects of music production. For example, if AI is writing the lyrics, melody, harmony, chord progression, vocals, arrangement, performance, or producing the actual parts of the song, that doesn't really fit the purpose of this space.

However, this doesn't mean every use of AI is the same.

AI can be discussed here when used as a support tool for the creative process, not as a replacement for it. For example:

• AI to learn music theory
• AI to understand chords or song structure
• AI to organize ideas
• AI for research
• AI to plan practice routines
• AI to help someone learn an instrument
• AI for workflow support
• AI to discuss tools that help, but do not replace, musicians, producers, artists, and listeners

The crucial question is simple: Is AI replacing human creative work, or is it merely assisting the creator?

Another major concern is the number of AI models trained on artists' work without explicit permission. This is one of the reasons why this community values ​​artist rights, transparency, and respect for creative labor.

This is not a place to accuse artists without evidence. We must be careful, fair, and respectful. If we are not sure whether something was produced by AI, we should not attack people.

Hopefully, this community will become a space where musicians, listeners, producers, songwriters, composers, and music lovers can freely discuss music, creativity, technology, and the future of artists.

Different opinions are welcome, as long as they are respectful.

The main idea is simple:

No AI-generated music.

No fake AI artists.

No music replacing human creativity.

Only music made by real people.

I just discovered this subreddit, joined, and am most interested in exchanging ideas and music. Just so we are clear ... I am a retired software developer, now past 70 and happily retired.

Obviously, a hobbyist - mostly interested in electronic music, no particular or specific genre.

My wife defines my music as "you're out of your mind". My daughter loves most (not all) of my music. My five-year-old grandson - for inscrutable reasons - just dances to plenty of the stuff I do.

The one question I have for this community is, probably, about a controversial subject.

So, we are all questioning the use of A.I. for creation and performance of music. I stand behind that myself.

But what about algorithmic composition and algorithmic performance? Where do you stand on that?

Maybe, because of my professional trade, I have been drawn to it. I have composed, performed, and recorded my own compositions. I have experimented with existing tools; I have written my own tools. I have created the most ridiculous crap and have created interesting tracks. I have even created tracks that sound performed by a human (or some entity very vaguely resembling a human). I have mixed (with varying degrees of success) human performance with algorithmic performance. I know, I am weird like that.

Before I even post some of my stuff ... what are your thoughts?

For context, I'm a professional musician, full time performer/singer-songwriter.

I record mostly in my home studio but don't have the ability (experience or desire) to record live drum sets. With most other instruments, I can record them myself.

The feature in Logic Pro called "Virtual Drummer" (I'm sure there is something similar in Pro Tools and other DAWS), can "create" beats for you. You can tweak the patterns endlessly, from "swing" feature for feel, or include/exclude any parts of the kit you want to use or not use.

So you could literally use just hand claps or a snare hit on "2" & "4", and that could be all you use the feature for. You can also use full beats, complete with drum fills going into difference sections of the song. You can make the patterns busy or simple (or anything in between), and can choose/tweak the exact drum sounds, kits, and intensity of hits as well to make them fully customized.

However you do this, it's not the same as directly recording a vocal or guitar part, since you aren't literally performing the recorded part.

Virtual Drummer has been a feature in Logic Pro and Garage Band for many years, long before anyone talked about using AI to record (long before Suno and similar software that is).

My question is, in this day and age of so much controversy around using AI to record, what are peoples' takes on Virtual Drummer? I don't view it as using AI, but I also don't see it as performing a direct part.

I support human-made art in the fullest. I would be disappointed if I wrote a song, recorded all the instruments and vocals myself, and used Virtual Drummer for inspiration or aid in adding the drums, only to be accused of using AI to write the song. I don't see it that way, but I'm curious as to what other artists and fans think?

Disclaimer: I have never released a song where I used Virtual Drummer feature for the drums. All of the original songs in my catalogue are either using a human drummer (recorded live in studio), or professionally programmed drums (outsourced to my mixing engineer who is also a real drummer & producer).

I'm getting much better at programming drums and am considering trying to program my own on an upcoming release. I wouldn't call myself a pro when it comes to complicated drum fills and have experimented with using Virtual Drummer fills. I convert them to MIDI tracks so I can fully customize them to compliment the main kick/snare/cymbals beats that I perform live via MIDI. Any thoughts on this specifically?

Hey everyone! I'm u/chainofchance, a founding moderator of r/NoAIJustMusic.

This community was created for people who care about human-made music, real creativity, musicianship, and the emotions behind the music.

We are not against every use of AI. We understand that AI can be used as a helpful tool in music — for organizing ideas, learning, improving workflows, analyzing sounds, or supporting musicians in different ways.

But we do not support music or videos that are fully generated by AI and presented as creative work without real human effort.

Here, you are welcome to share your thoughts, ideas, concerns, questions, experiences, and discussions about music, creativity, AI, and the future of artists.

The only thing we don’t want shared here is fully AI-generated music or fully AI-generated music videos.

This is a space for people who want to protect human creativity while still having honest conversations about technology.

Thanks for being here. 🎧