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Clarifying Complex Ideas, LLC

Name That Tune | Sustainable Content #19

Published about 2 months ago • 3 min read

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A tale of Whamageddon

I need to take a break from the crushing onslaught of batshittery that is the U.S. news right now and talk about something lighter: the weird stuff that's going on with AI in music.

I should preface this by saying that I have a weirdly good ear for music. (I also always have an earworm which may or may not be related. This morning I woke up to Simon and Garfunkel.) When something is out of tune, or in an unexpected octave, or just plain wrong, there is this weird mental friction that happens. Sometimes it's just a light friction, but other times the mental gears will fully grind to a halt.

Over the last year or so, I've experienced that friction in an increasing number of restaurants and supermarkets. Maybe the beat is too fast or too slow. Maybe the register is off. Maybe the words are different. But something is decidedly not right.

And then it was Christmas season, time of Whamageddon. Now usually I get knocked out of the Whamageddon competition within the first week. This year — in spite of being out in public a lot more than usual — I never heard the Wham! version of "Last Christmas."

This. Is. Weird.

And then, shortly after the holidays, we were waiting for our pizza and the Eagles "Take it Easy" was playing. At least I thought it was. The cadence was right. It sounded like Glen Frey singing. But the lyrics were wrong.

Well I'm a standin' on a corner in southern Arizona
And such a fine sight to see
Oh that girl, my Lord, played a guitar chord
As I leaned against a big oak tree

Now anyone who has ever heard the Eagles song knows that the actual lyrics involve Winslow, Arizona — the town even has a park to commemorate the song.

This sent me down a huge rabbit hole of weird conspiracies about major streaming services trying to pass off AI music as originals just to get out of paying artists that extra fraction of a cent per play. But the less talked-about thread is that these almost-exactly-but-not-quite AI versions save businesses money because they don't have to pay to license songs for use.

Now of course, given the sustainability impacts of AI, I find it weird (and weirdly fascinating) that there's an entire submarket of recreated music just to save shops and restaurants $40/month in licensed streamed music. AI music creators make many sustainability arguments in favor of AI-generated music. After all, you're not hauling artists and equipment all over the planet to record new music together. But there is no explanation of why we would need to use AI to recreate the Eagles with alternate lyrics.

Next time you're out in the world, keep one ear on the music and let me know what you hear.

"When it comes to content, it’s a party trick. Granted, it can be a super cool and fun party trick, but AI is intended to be a tool that solves big, complex, data-driven problems. It’s not supposed to power your chatbot so your customers can find the tracking number for their order or generate truly user-centric content."

 

Alisa Bonsignore
​Sustainable Content: How to Measure and Mitigate the Carbon Footprint of Digital Data ​
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What I've been reading

As of autumn 2024, "63% of registered voters [U.S.] think developing sources of clean energy should be a high or very high priority for the president and Congress." And yet they voted against that in the November election. Humans are baffling.

In January, the MacArthur Foundation announced $6 million in grants to fund climate journalism.

​Some U.S. states are taking a stand in favor of climate progress, in spite of what's happening in the federal government.

​The AI boom is reshaping investment in climate tech. While it sounds great that investors are pumping money into cleaner data centers, that's also money that's being diverted from other programs. Rather than funneling billions into AI tools to make funny pictures, we could be funding actual climate tech.

Shameless and unsolicited cross-promotion of good stuff!

I know that I've previously hyped David Dylan Thomas's forthcoming short film, White Meat: Appetizer.
But now the Kickstarter for the project is open! Beneath Washington Square Park in Philadelphia, a lovely green space about a block from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, lie the bodies of hundreds of enslaved people. This is the setting for David's zombie movie. Check out his Kickstarter to learn the details. It's amazing.

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People are saying good things about Sustainable Content

"It’s tempting to dismiss digital sustainability as too big of a challenge to tackle – especially when we’re only really starting to understand it. But the value can extend beyond simply reducing emissions. It can build a better user experience too."

- Zosia Poulter. Content Strategist at Substrakt

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Alisa Bonsignore

Founder, Strategist, and Author

Clarifying Complex Ideas, LLC

Talking about sustainable content: how to measure and mitigate the carbon footprint of digital data.

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