When I started writing my book, Survival of the Artist, everyday use of AI in the home wasn't that common. Now, there are a lot of options available to creatives and “regular” people, starting with ChatGPT. Now we have writing programs like GoogleBard, ChatSonic, and Grammarly. By the time you read this, AI may be even more prevalent.
(For more information, see “Survival of the Artist.”)
One of the most amazing things about AI language models is that they can solve problems very quickly and do things that you don't know how to do. I use them a lot. I wish AI Writing had existed when I started writing this book.
While playing around with ChatGPT, I asked for an outline for a book on the importance of social media for artists. It provided great information, some of which was already in my book, some of which wasn't. It wasn't enough to write an entire book, but it gave me great ideas for an outline. What was missing was my personal touch, tone, and life experiences, which can't be replicated.
So how can you use AI to your advantage? (Syntax Creative illustration)
1. Create a marketing plan
A marketing plan for a music release is essential to build awareness, generate anticipation, and maximize your music's reach. It allows artists to strategically engage with their audience, build excitement, and increase the chances of success by ensuring efforts are effectively coordinated and targeted. Yet for many artists, creating a marketing plan is their biggest challenge. With simple prompts from AI tools, artists can come up with an outline to follow and ideas to build on.
2. Write Social Media Copy
Social media has become an essential tool for artists. Writing copy can be exhausting. When your brain needs a break, AI provides a basic structure. Just customize it to fit your brand, voice and audience.
3. Write a press release
Writing large professional documents like press releases and project proposals can seem daunting. Sometimes all you need is a starting point to edit. AI is the tool to fill in the blank page, and sometimes that's all you need to get started.
4. Create a unique image
Stock photos are boring. Good graphic design takes time and money. Sometimes you need something fast. Let Canva or MidJourney's AI image models help you create your image.
5. Use music and voice AI
Have you ever heard the Beach Boys singing Flo Rida or Taylor Swift rapping Snoop Dogg? You can have an AI model create music in the style of any artist, using other people's lyrics or yours. Suddenly your song features Kanye West. Creating music in this way, outside of parody or experimentation, would be highly censurable. But there are already examples of AI artists and songs. This is a dangerous path, rife with legal issues.
Instead, look for ways for AI to enhance your music or help you with chord or key changes. If you need help coming up with harmonies, go for it. Just don't make the high harmonies sound like Michael Jackson singing them.
Conclusion
There are amazing resources out there, but you can't rely on them for everything. You need to tweak, tweak, and reinvigorate. You need to know how to do each of these things yourself.
Use AI for everyday tasks and learnings, and save up money to hire experts for bigger jobs. AI will help augment the work you do, not replace it.
This article is an excerpt from Justin Salachik's book, Survival of the Artist. If you found this information helpful, be sure to search for his books on Amazon for even more tips and strategies to help independent artists succeed.
