The Work of Music in the Age of Commercial GenAI: Politicisation, Prophecy, and Participation

Peer reviewed Journal Article in Organised Sound, Cambridge University Press

Abstract

Technological advancements have historically reshaped how music was produced and distributed, causing disruptions while offering new opportunities. While generative AI can be seen as an extension of this paradigm, its current commercial implementation poses a unique series of challenges. Using machine learning, commercial generative AI platforms turn millions of musical recordings into statistical distributions and generate new outputs from learned patterns. This paper analyses the sociocultural and socioeconomic implications of this disruption. Engaging Walter Benjamin’s analysis of mechanical reproduction, Christopher Small’s concept of musicking, and Jacques Attali’s theory of music’s prophetic function, we examine how this process reconfigures the conditions under which music operates as a social and political practice. We further analyse the political economy of AI, drawing on frameworks of extraction, technofeudalism, and the displacement of musical labour. We argue that current trajectories are not intrinsic to the technology itself but to commercial imperatives, and through practice-based research showcase interventionist approaches that contest the conditions commercial GenAI platforms have created. As generative AI increasingly mediates cultural production, the contest over music’s social function prefigures wider struggles over creativity, labour, and democratic participation.

Keywords

Artificial Intelligence, Generative AI, Mechanical Reproduction, Political Economy, Fragmentation

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