KANE LINCOLN

LinkedIn·Bluesky
26 Aug 2025 at 12:019

What they've done at Eleven Music is pretty incredible. I don't mean that in either a good or bad sense; it's as disturbing as it is impressive.

What role will "performing artists" – the Taylor Swifts, Kendrick Lamars, Ariana Grandes, etc. – play in a future wherein anybody can produce vocals that, while artificial and synthetic, are indistinguishable from human voices? Will they fade into irrelevance, or will their "real", human voices command a premium, available to license?

Another related point is that, as far as I know, the vast majority of artists earn very little through the streaming of their music; most of their earnings come from live performances. Live performances seem to bind people together around the experience itself as well as what is represented through the music — the heartbreaks, triumphs, nostalgia, et cetera. For lots of reasons, I think it's unlikely people will choose to abandon this sort of collective experience.

Lots of songs that go on to become the most popular in their category activate the above through distinct vocals and compelling narratives; storytelling based on real-world, human experiences, conveyed through a unique, human voice (even if the performer is not necessarily the writer of the lyrics). This raises a question, though: in a future that disconnects the "vocalist" (does a synthetic voice count as a vocalist?) from the "lived" or "experienced" substance entailed not just in a song's lyrics, but also in the act of giving those words life, exposing them for all to see and hear, how will artists using tools like Suno and ElevenLabs connect their audience to the art?

In any case, the cat seems to be out of the bag as far as the technology is concerned.

9 - Kane Lincoln