I have heard colleagues in recent months declare, “There is no way that I am going to use AI!” Well, that’s too bad, I think. For creative people, AI tools provide some fabulous opportunities.
Firstly, I’d like to remind you that if you use Google or any software program, you have been using AI tools for a long time now and maybe didn’t realize it. Your phone is totally an AI machine!
Secondly, AI tools have become increasingly effective and useful, even in the last couple of months. Some of the early versions of some platforms produced outright goofy results, but the efficacy is becoming better all the time.
Some AI platforms are better than others. Yes, they all “train” on copy protected work, but our individual critical faculties and musical tastes are also trained on copy-protected work—including any great song that you have heard and have tucked away in your brain and heart during your entire lifetime. We are always inspired by lyrics and music we know and love.
I teach music business classes at Chapman University, where I have had to develop guidelines for how AI can and cannot be used by students in their coursework that are in line with the University’s Academic Integrity Policies. Many faculty are inclined to tell students, “Don’t use it!” but that is ridiculous. Students are using it; they just need to learn where the boundaries are. When is AI doing your work for you and when is it a useful tool?
So, let’s talk about lyric writing. When writing a song, creating or obtaining good lyrics is necessary. Some composers are fortunate enough to have found a lyricist with whom they can collaborate and are fine with assigning 50 percent of the writer’s share (and the copyright to them). [If you have a fabulous lyric writing partner, kiss and hug them daily!] Many songwriters, however, have not found a writing partner for lyrics, and in this regard, AI can be very helpful. I’ve been writing song lyrics for a few months with the help of AI, and I have some observations to share.
If this is your first foray into songwriting, there are some excellent books and videos available with songwriting tips. Studying them can be useful especially to refresh your mind about what works and what to avoid.
AI can be very helpful if you have basic concepts about what the song is about, you have a draft of a lyric, and you need help improving it. If you simply ask AI to provide a song lyric and your prompt only has a vague description of the subject matter, you will probably just get garbage, something totally useless. However, if you have given AI a couple of lines, say a draft of a chorus, and ask, “Please help me improve this musical theater song lyric. This is my draft for the chorus,” AI may give you some useful suggestions that may stimulate your own creative juices and help you dig deeper and improve the lyric. Be sure to include in your prompt what type of song you are writing: pop, musical theater, country western, rap, etc.
If you establish a dialogue with AI about the lyric as you develop it, the suggestions could be very good and inspire you to become a better lyric writer. Rely on your own good taste and experience to decide what works and what doesn’t. As a composer, you probably have good judgment about what makes a good lyric, and you know not to rely on AI to come up with it. AI platforms are particularly good with rhyming for song lyrics and for consistency in rhythmic patterns.
I would suggest that you do not copy and paste from the AI platform into your word processing document; but adapt the ideas in your own original document. It is not clear at this point what embedded coding may accompany that cut and paste from AI into your document. Until we know that it is better to retype the words and phrases that AI comes up with, if you’d like to try them on for size.
Basically, I ignore the compliments AI spews about my ideas. AI is very liberal with praise of its users. Don’t get sucked in by it, but work to hone your own critical faculties.
One prompt I use that works for me is: Your suggestions are full of cliches! AI responds with, “Yes, you are correct. How about this?” and will come up with alternatives that may or may not work.
Using AI to assist in lyric writing in the way that I’ve described is ethical and results in your own useful intellectual property, that can be copy protected. If you simply ask AI to create a lyric and you use it entirely as your lyric, there will be a reckoning at some point. Yes, there are songwriters out there who openly attribute the lyric to an AI partner, but it would be interesting to learn if those songwriters have a clue how copyright and royalty splits actually work. If the track goes viral, they may be shocked to learn that they may not be able to secure a copyright for the song.
I would encourage you to play with AI tools and see what happens. The process can be fun. Don’t let it frustrate you; maintain your sense of humor. Some of the results can be hilarious, but you may have to wade through the junk to cull the juicy bits. I think if you have been a naysayer, a “purist” who has declared “I will never use AI,” that you will be surprised how helpful it can be.
