Ron Maxwell “Is Your Radio Station Playing AI-Generated Music..”
Is Your Radio Station Playing AI-Generated Music Yet? It Might Be Soon!
If you’re saying “no,” you’re probably with the vast majority for now—but I’d say never say never. AI-generated music is advancing at an astonishing pace. Not long ago, my trained ears could easily spot a synthetic track—it had a flat, artificial sound, kind of like a slightly worn needle playing a vinyl record. But what I thought would take five years to evolve has already arrived in just a few months. Even I’m surprised by how far AI music quality has come.
Take my wife, Mayda, for instance. She’s deeply involved in auditioning music for the radio stations I program. Over the past few months, she’s sent me tracks that sounded like prime candidates for airplay on Beyond Country Radio. When I tried to track them down, I realized they were actually AI-generated Christian Country songs. The quality was so impressive that I had to do a double-take. After a bit more digging, I found myself on YouTube channels loaded with a vast array of AI-generated music.
Like it or not, AI is gaining traction, and I understand the skepticism. If you’re an artist or musician, you probably feel uneasy about the rise of AI in music. Even many radio professionals I know have a hard time wrapping their heads around it. I have to admit, I was initially skeptical—maybe even a little creeped out—by AI’s role in music. But my curiosity quickly overtook my doubts, and I found myself asking, “Where is all of this going?”
So, I decided to dive in. I began experimenting with AI tools to create songs beginning with refining my lyrics and building the music 30 seconds at a time, downloading the tracks, mixing and mastering. The results were surprisingly impressive.
Before long, my Facebook timeline was flooded with AI music and voice generation sites—Facebook seemed to know I was into this and started feeding me more. I even found a platform where you could use your voice to create instrument sounds, which AI would transform into a full orchestra. It’s fascinating to think that entire bands can now be generated just from the sound of your voice.
What truly surprised me were the comments on AI-generated songs. People shared how certain tracks helped them cope with the loss of a loved one, and even knowing the songs were AI-made, they still felt deeply moved. It made me realize that AI is capable of creating meaningful, emotional connections, even if it’s not human.
When I heard a major Country Music artist and hit songwriter admit that, as talented as he is, AI will beat his songwriting abilities every time, it really hit home. If AI can create music that resonates so deeply, and if the legal landscape doesn’t dramatically change to curve its use, AI-generated songs are here to stay.
The truth is, AI is everywhere, and it’s only growing more integrated into our lives. Many of us have been using tools like ChatGPT for all sorts of things—but at the end of the day, these tools still need to reflect the creator’s intent. Whether it’s crafting a script, writing a letter, or penning song lyrics, I see AI as a tool that must be mastered by us, the individual user.
So, what’s my take on all this? The implications for the music industry are huge. AI-generated royalty-free song libraries could eliminate the need for licensing fees, and AI-powered music apps and radio stations will emerge, driven by cost-saving incentives. But beyond business considerations, this shift empowers DIY music creators to build custom libraries, enabling listeners to curate original content. The way we create and consume music is being fundamentally disrupted.
I predict that it won’t be long before AI-generated songs go viral in a major way on social media. One of these tracks will gain massive attention, and soon others will follow. We could even see AI Music Awards in the future, and yes—radio stations will start playing AI-generated music.
AI song creation also raises important questions for organizations like the Christian Music Preservation Project, a nonprofit I am part of, which is dedicated to preserving Christian music. As AI continues to shape this genre, we must consider at some point whether there is value in curating and archiving standout AI-generated songs as part of the Christian music legacy.
These are my thoughts, but I’m curious to hear yours. How do you see AI influencing music in the near future?
Ron Maxwell is an Audio/Video Content Producer, Remote Voice-Over Talent/Local & Syndicated Voice Tracking, and a consultant for Internet Radio Streams Christian Life Radio, Cape Christian Radio, Beyond Country and Apps, Programming and Music Royalty Licensing Reporting. He also serves as President of Christian Music Preservation® , a not for profit 501(c)(3) of Community Net Vision.
Ron can be reached at CommunityNetRadio@gmail.com
Hi Ron,
Thank you for your recent article, “Is Your Radio Station Playing AI-Generated Music?”—it was incredibly informative. I’ve been experimenting with AI-generated music myself lately and have started to recognize the distinct qualities in some of these songs, just as you mentioned.
Growing up, I was never offered music lessons. At 16, I experienced a nervous breakdown, and much of what I had learned up to that point seemed to fade. For some reason, guitar and piano lessons never quite stuck, though I never stopped writing lyrics. I’ve been writing songs since the 1970s, but for a long time, I had no way to fully express or share them—until now.
I believe God is in my writing and the music. Through AI tools, I’ve been amazed at how often the generated tunes match the melodies I’ve always imagined in my head. It’s given my lyrics a voice at last.
You can hear some of my original lyrics set to music on Suno: suno.com/@cprudell182
Thanks again for your insight and your work in this evolving space.
Warm regards,
Chris e Fowler
Yes this was written by AI too I need help with language skills
Hi Ron,
Very perceptive article indeed. As a trained musician in my 70s I have been experimenting with a.i. music for the last year releasing a number of albums in different genres, a few smooth jazz tracks actually receiving airplay from djs who know my work in a previous band.
As to your comment about emotional connection, our dear neighbor was in his last few days, dying of cancer so I decided to write a tribute song for him in his favorite style of music “Southern Rock”. I had a number of lyric ideas to include and asked his wife for some more. I mentioned I would use a.i. With the help of chat gpt and udio I put the song together and when they played the song one of the neighbors texted me saying he had tears in his eyes,
I like knowing there’s a warm blooded human behind the voice. That being said, we play country gospel videos often for our special needs daughter that we’ve since figured are AI generated. It was disappointing when that reality hit, however!!!!
Hi Ron.
I feel Ai can be a great tool for demos but I also feel that the song should always be sung by real voices, and where possible the music should be real instruments.
The man problem can be seen in the first comment where they felt it was God speaking through Ai.
Music is very spiritual and I feel it needs to remain that way. Everything Ai has learnt is learnt from us, we are the creator, Ai is the mirror, without discernment. Interesting subject.
Saying by Christopher Hitchens, who said: “It has been said that alcohol is a good servant but a poor master.”
This fits well for Ai too.
Ron, the point about AI-generated songs creating real emotional responses is the part that feels most important to me too. We’re seeing the same thing: AI works best when it helps people turn lyrics or rough ideas into something they can actually hear, rather than replacing the human story behind the song.
Honestly thought this whole AI music thing was overhyped till my buddy sent me a track last month and I had it on repeat before ever checking the credits, oops lol. Been tinkering with stuff like Audio to MIDI Converter since, just to see what these tools can actually do, and yeah—the line between real and generated is getting blurry way faster than I expected.
Honestly thought this whole AI music thing was overhyped till my buddy sent me a track last month and I had it on repeat before ever checking the credits, oops lol. Been tinkering with stuff like Audio to MIDI Converter since, just to see what these tools can actually do, and yeah—the line between real and generated is getting blurry way faster than I expected.
Example of one of many netradio stations powering up in a rapid pace…I’m featured as ”The Pedlar”…
https://pureairadio.lovable.app/
The radio-programming angle raises a practical issue beyond sound quality: stations need reliable metadata about how a track was made, not a guessing game based on trained ears. Disclosure at distribution time would let programmers set their own policies while still evaluating the song itself. That kind of transparency is important for builders like us at Nafy too.
Interesting take. We’ve been building BeMusic (https://bemusic.ai), an AI text-to-music tool for original songs and instrumentals—handy if you’re experimenting with AI music workflows.
Your account of building songs in 30-second sections, then mixing and mastering them, gives a concrete example of the work behind an AI-assisted track. I’ll also leave image to 3D as a separate reference.