Musician Aidan Sammut spoke to the industry after he complained about a live music event designed to promote new artists where AI-generated material was produced. The event sparked a renewed interest in the influence of AI on the music industry, as well as concerns about the availability of opportunities for human musicians.According to 702 ABC Sydney, Aidan Sammut was rehearsing with his bandmates preparing for their gig somewhere in Sydney’s inner west when they learned that one of the artists on the line-up, Afro Charles, was using AI-generated content in their music.“We were like, ‘How does that work? What’s the real show?'” Sammut said. “Shock and then the shock kind of turned into anger, I guess. Kind of hurt by the fact that this could happen.”The event is held on Wednesday and is designed for small bands trying to establish themselves in the music scene. Sammut expressed his displeasure about the similarity of the line to an AI action. “My biggest issue is that the place given to the AI artist could be given to a human band. That event is especially for small bands trying to start the scene,” he said to the outlet.
Creator defends AI approach to music
Damian Amamoo, the creator behind Afro Charles, defended his decision to use artificial intelligence in his music and said that his use was clearly exposed on social media in the musical act. “There’s a post there that says we’re a band of three, made up of two avatars or robots and a human. And the human does the live performance vocals,” he explained.Amamoo started his afro pop band last year using an AI music generator platform. Afro Charles consists of three members. Amamoo and two “virtual avatars” whose vocals are AI-generated. He describes AI as a tool similar to traditional instruments used in music production.
The event organizer takes responsibility
The music service company that booked the event released a statement acknowledging their management. “We take full responsibility for not checking the artist’s social media and do not encourage the use of AI,” the statement read. “The organization and the venue do not know and will never book people who use AI to create music,” they added.
Sammut’s critique of: AI in music
Sammut fundamentally disagrees with Amamoo’s view on the use of AI music generators. “It’s basically based on this theft of human art. I think it has a long way to go and a lot of things to talk about before it becomes an accepted part of making music,” he said.The emerging musician emphasizes that even digital music creation using other tools remains fundamentally driven by human creativity. “With drum machines, DJs and with electronic dance music, that kind of thing, even if it’s digital, it’s still the creativity of the person that drives the work. To program a good pattern on the drum machine or whatever, you need to understand fundamentally what it takes to make a good rhythm,” he explained.
Sammut argues that creativity and live performance should remain driven by people, not algorithms or artificial intelligence. Image credit (Instagram)
Concerns about: emerging artists: Opportunity:
Live performances represent one of the few sources of income available to budding musicians like Sammut. He expressed concern about AI performers becoming more common and potentially reducing paid opportunities for human artists. “As someone who’s trying to make a career out of performing live and releasing music, it’s sad to see that it’s becoming more and more pushed by the music industry as a cheap alternative to actually paying people,” he said.Sammut expressed hope that venues will be more careful in the future when booking artists. “I think what I’m concerned about right now is that it’s a possibility that these kinds of things can slip through the cracks,” he said.
Area response and policy changes
The venue’s licensee explains the confusion surrounding the booking. When approached by Amamoo, they were told that Afro Charles is a producer with live vocals. “To me that can mean a lot of things, someone on stage with a synth,” Rory Summers said.The venue emphasized its desire to remain neutral in terms of musical preferences while providing space for a variety of artists. “As a venue, we don’t want to be the arbiter of taste. We just want to be a place for people to come and connect. Not all the music played here is my cup of tea,” Summers said.In response to the controversy, the venue donated the bar’s proceeds from the night to a charity that supports those in the music industry. In addition, the venue has now changed its booking process to explicitly ask artists if AI is used in their music, ensuring greater transparency at future events.