The legendary guitarist of The Rolling Stones was recently speaking at a Q&A alongside The Who’s Roger Daltrey and Yungblud, in an event marking the launch of the new book Buddy Holly: Words Of Love.

Speaking to those in attendance, Wood raised concerns over the growing reliance on technology, especially AI, in creating music. This has become a contentious talking point within the arts world as AI becomes more prominent.

The ‘Gimme Shelter’ musician can’t seem to get no satisfaction regarding how music is created today compared to back in his day, saying: “We were throwing shit at the wall and some of it stuck.

“There’s something about the technology… I feel personally, we’re losing the heartbeat. Maybe it’s because I’m older, but there’s not much new music.”

The Rolling Stones recently won the Grammy Award for ‘Best Rock Album’ with ‘Hackney Diamonds’, beating off competition from exciting and young bands such as Fontaines DC and IDLES.

This garnered lots of criticism from within the music world, but producer of the award winning album, Andrew Watt, offered his support to the band, appearing on the podcast Rolling Stone’s Music Now, he said: “They’re 82 and 83 years old. Tell me another band ever in history that has made a latter-day album that good in their 80s, with that level of songwriting, that level of performance?”

Yungblud offered an alternative perspective to the future of rock music at the Q&A event, saying: “Modern music’s been in a strange place, but it’s exciting because it’s really, I feel it’s very democratic again.

“If you have a story to tell, you can tell it and tell it to the world. You don’t have to go through seven steps.

“The balance has never changed. I think that’s what’s really cool about rock music at the minute, and modern rock and roll music, I really feel like it’s finding it’s bounce back, and it’s becoming hysterical again and it’s exciting. It’s becoming younger again. That’s really cool.”

Last month, the Doncaster born singer-songwriter released his newest single, ‘Hello Heaven, Hello’, check out what mxdwn.co.uk had to say about it here.

Ronnie Wood, Yungblud and Roger Daltrey were promoting the new hardback copy of Buddy Holly: Words Of Love. Hitting shelves on April 8, the book documents the career and legacy of original rock ’n’ roller Buddy Holly.

It will include stories from those close to him as well as never-before-seen photography and personal items. The ‘Peggy Sue’ singer left a heavy mark on the world in his short time, being known as one of the most influential musicians ever.

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He was killed in a plane crash at just 22 years of age alongside fellow musicians ‘The Big Bopper’ J.P. Richardson and 17 year-old Ritchie Valens, in what later became known as ‘The Day the Music Died.’

The hardback book will be available in stores with a RRP of £60, with proceeds from the sales benefitting Teenage Cancer Trust and Teen Cancer America.

Ronnie Wood is neither the first nor the last musician to speak out against AI. Back in February, over 1,000 artists, including Damon Albarn and Kate Bush, released a silent album to protest against a planned change to AI copyright laws by the UK government. Check out what we had to say about it here on mxdwn.co.uk.

When asked his thoughts on the recent advancements in AI platforms, the 76-year-old expressed his fear on it’s potential impact and how he thinks AI could change the music industry for the worse.

May told the magazine, “My major concern with it now is in the artistic area. I think by this time next year the landscape will be completely different. We won’t know which way is up. We won’t know what’s been created by AI and what’s been created by humans,”

He continued, “Everything is going to get very blurred and very confusing, and I think we might look back on 2023 as the last year when humans really dominated the music scene. I really think it could be that serious, and that doesn’t fill me with joy. It makes me feel apprehensive, and I’m preparing to feel sad about this.”

Whilst the English rock legend claims that “a lot of great stuff will come from AI, because it is going to increase the powers of humans to solve problems”, he is still apprehensive about the technological advance, stating “I think the whole thing is massively scary. It’s much more far-reaching than anybody realised — well, certainly than I realised”.

The notion of using computers to generate music is definitely not new, however, recent leaps in AI technology have expanded the possibilities of what computers can do in the music industry. For example, AI platforms such as ChatGPT are now able to replicate songwriting and music production to create entirely computer generated music, therefore eliminating the whole writing and recording process artists go through.

Brian May is not the first musician to share their thoughts on AI’s impact on the music industry, and he definitely won’t be the last.

Nick Cave revealed in his blog, The Red Hand Files, that he believes AI songwriting to be a “grotesque mockery of what it is to be human”, while Sting told the BBC that he isn’t impressed by AI, and songwriters will have to fight to protect “our human capital against AI”.

Some artists however, are seemingly big fans of the way technology is evolving in the music industry. For example, Canadian singer-songwriter Grimes is allowing fans to use her voice in AI generated songs, so long as they share the royalties with her.

I’ll split 50% royalties on any successful AI generated song that uses my voice. Same deal as I would with any artist i collab with. Feel free to use my voice without penalty. I have no label and no legal bindings. pic.twitter.com/KIY60B5uqt

— Grimes (@Grimezsz) April 24, 2023

Brian May‘s conversation with Guitar Player magazine is set to feature in the October 2023 issue, however, you can read the interview online here.

.@OfficialSteps‘ history-making Platinum Collection leads the Official Albums Top 10 ✨

See the Top 100 https://t.co/qA3DHUXugJ pic.twitter.com/gkxsbi8AU5

— Official Charts (@officialcharts) August 27, 2022

Those who buy Aitch’s new project will have a choice of unique NFT artwork to own; the collectable NFTs will be partnered with a physical copy of Close To Home. The new album is not only breaking ground within new media but has also sired Aitch his highest positioning release within the UK album charts. The 22 year old artist has also gained traction with the UK singles chart, his collaboration with Ed Sheeran has entered the UK top 10. The track, “My G”, has charted at number six and is the third single to be released from Close To Home.

Speaking to OfficialCharts.com, Aitch gave an exclusive statement, “A massive thank you to everyone who has bought my debut album, Close To Home. Also gassed to hear I’ve made Official Charts history, becoming the first artist ever to chart with an NFT project! Big up to everyone that has purchased an NFT from my collection, the support means the world to me. I’ll see you on tour very soon.”

Close To Home, my debut album is out now

Thank you to everyone who’s been involved and supported me, I can’t appreciate you enough.

My G is a song on the album that probably means the most to me, written for my sister Gracie. The video is out now https://t.co/UOmmkshgbK pic.twitter.com/KKnrJQaZai

— Aitch (@OfficialAitch) August 19, 2022

Since their creation in 2014, NFTs have been utilised by various musical acts to offer fans exclusive content. They have also gained vast popularity throughout all avenues of the entrainment industry. Standing for Non-fungible token, an NFT serves as a record stored on a blockchain typically attached to digital and physical assets. Each comes with metadata and unique ID codes; this information is used to separate each NFT. Their use has extended further than music, culture and the arts; this recent invention has even been used to represent properties and rights such as real estate.

The first instance of a release containing NFT data coming to the charts was made this April, it was confirmed that The Amazons’ forthcoming new album would be eligible to enter the UK album charts. The British rockers will release How Will I Know If Heaven Will Find Me? this September, the album will come with an attached digital boxset edition of the Vinyl release and additional NFT digital content.

The UK Official Charts Company CEO Martin Talbot has given the following statement, “We are delighted to approve this first-ever NFT for Official Albums Chart inclusion, it is an incredibly exciting moment for the chart and the UK music scene. As far as we are aware, this is the first release to include an NFT component to achieve chart approval anywhere in the world – so congratulations to The Amazons for this fantastic first. The UK’s Official Charts have always strived to evolve as music fans change how they buy and consume their favourite music, and this is another example of how we have always sought to reflect the pioneering spirit of the music industry and, in particular, the UK scene.“

Click here to buy/download/stream Close To Home.

The deal promises “a truly next-generation music service” as they plan to offer a combined streaming and immersive live music service. Ultimately the intention is to bring together Napster’s library of more than 90 million tracks with MelodyVR’s catalogue of live performances.

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“I spent two days in the studio and nothing was really happening. In the end, I sat down on the piano, played these three chords and I wrote a little song. The song that changed my life.” Can you guess which tune @mabel is referring to? Watch her performance in 360° video on our app to find out

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MelodyVR say, “It’s incredibly exciting to be unifying complementary platforms and fantastic audiences, rooted in a love of music and a deep desire to offer the very best experience to artists, fans, the wider music community and brands.”

Recently, MelodyVR hosted ‘Wireless Connect’, a virtual, ‘360°’ version of the well-loved urban music festival. Their live performance credits range from Nelly, in the series ‘Live from LA’, to Panic! At the Disco at the London O2 Academy. Coming up, live music fans can enjoy a new collaboration with London’s iconic venue, Brixton Academy.

The way MelodyVR works is that it established safe studios in London and LA for these socially distanced gigs, and fans then paid to watch on their app, using VR headsets. You can even select where you’re ‘standing’ in the crowd.

Napster has had a complicated history. In the 1990s it was an illegal downloading platform, but lawsuits from the likes of Dr Dre and Metallica ensured that it filed for bankruptcy in 2002. Since then, it has been owned by Roxio, the electronics company Best Buy and most recently, the streaming service Rhapsody.

CEO of MelodyVR, Anthony Matchett, says that “For music fans today, live and recorded music are intrinsically linked. We are as keen to see our favourite artists perform live as we are to listen to their albums. Our purchase of Napster, one of the music industry’s original disruptors, is born out of our wish to deliver the world’s foremost music experience, available seamlessly across audio and visual media and in turn presenting a truly next-generation music service.”

The CEO of Napster, Bill Patrizio, had this to add: “This is a tremendous outcome for two organizations with complementary platforms and loyal audiences, and we could not be more excited to be moving forward as one company.”

MelodyVR sees this as an opportunity for greater connection between fans and artists in the future. Additionally, they expect to share more and more of what goes on behind the scenes and what it’s like to be an artist, therefore opening the music world up to music lovers from the comfort of their own homes.