AI can have my job
G'morning. Sunny, gorgeous day here in Dartmouth. We leave on tour in three days! First of all, a quote to be elaborated upon later:
"I really think how you feel about AI comes down to whether you believe art is about producing things (images, objects, data files, “content”) or about a way of operating in the world as an intellectual, spiritual, and emotional creature."
-Austin Kleon, "AI can't kill anything worth preserving"
After a few months of pitching, booking, poster making, band rehearsing, merch ordering, posterer hiring, van and hotel coordinating, tour outfit ideating and sewing, advancing, promoting, and posting relentlessly on Instagram, we are finally hitting the road.
This year, I have released two singles and am now going on this tour to promote them. After that, I will play some festivals throughout the summer, chip away at my full-length record, and then tour again in the fall. I expect my Instagram followers to grow by 15-20% and my hard ticket value to increase in target markets. Ho hum*.
One thing I am confronted with again and again in this industry is the idea of a roadmap for emerging artists. As far as I can tell, the landmarks are generally to play showcase festivals, export to markets like the USA and the UK, and tour regionally on repeat, releasing singles every 6-8 weeks and trying to get more followers on social media.
It's amusing that in the pursuit of something inherently creative and ostensibly free-thinking, we are still drawn into a formula, comfortably confined. I don't mean this to be condescending- I have been head-down trudging this path for seven years.
The problem is, I think a robot could do this better than I can. If AI is coming for our jobs, it can have this one. Anyone who has ever sat on a grant jury can tell you that AI already writes a large portion of funding applications.
In the age of AI, curation and personality are more important than ever. We must be art directors and employ what AI can't replicate- taste.
Taste is not a gift or a talent that someone is either born with or not, it is just noticing. Taste is a lifetime's accumulation of noticing what moves you.
Am I naive not to be concerned about the future of artistic livelihoods in the face of AI? (Dad, don’t answer that; I know you think I am.)
I would love for AI to take over the spreadsheet mania, logistics, and ad campaigns for me. Then I'll be more free to connect with people and create moments of meaning together that will last our tiny, human lifetimes.
Speaking of co-creating ephemeral and transformative moments, I AM SO EXCITED TO GO ON TOUR! Tell your friends that live in Saint John, Fredericton, Toronto, Hamilton, St Catharines, Kitchener, Montreal to come out! Tickets can be purchased here.
*I can’t bear that anyone might mistake this sarcasm for ingratitude- coming in with a last-minute edit here to say I AM SO GRATEFUL to be able to pursue what I love. I also have some (loving) critique. xoxo