It’s Right There

The French streaming service Deezer regularly shares stats that reverberate through the music industry. Now, half of all tracks uploaded daily – that is, 90,000 songs – are fully AI-generated.

What are we doing with this information? Turns out, about 85% of all AI tracks are fraudulent and are removed from the service. That is a problem with the business model of the streaming services, not with music in general. That leaves us with 13,500 AI-generated songs that are created and uploaded, presumably in good faith. Every day.

Why is anybody even doing that? AI music accounts for only up to 3% of all streams, so the chance of going viral and receiving an unexpected windfall is no better than winning the lottery. Maybe it is fun to have Suno & Co generate some songs¹, distribute them, and brag about having an “album” out there, even though, in many cases, not even the person who made it listens to it.

The industry feels the need to do something about it and wants to label AI tracks. Is that to attract or deter listeners? It is a little like the warning labels on cigarettes: we know they are bad, but we still happily sell them to you.

Also, there could be artistically valuable uses for AI in music. I would not go as far as Suno, which claims its service allows people without musical talent to express themselves musically. But consider a songwriter who lets AI generate a bassline. Is that worse than using a downloaded sample or drawing it on a computer? If that requires an “AI-assisted” label, AI-haters will probably discount the song at face value. So musicians better check their tool chain for AI-powered features².

It’s much simpler than that: you just need to look at the artist behind the song. If they are hidden behind layers of anonymity, the music is impersonal, AI-generated, AI-assisted, or created by other means. If you want to engage with music on a personal level, there needs to be an artist with a real-life story that makes you feel you’re listening to an actual human³.

Live shows are also a great way to ensure human connection. Two of the artists in our Discovery of the Week feature we know personally and have seen perform on stage. The third, I’m almost sure we ran into while living in Ridgewood, Queens.

Discovery of the Week

When you feel despair about the state of music, you just need to turn to new independent artists to see that the human spirit is still fully alive (which is what we want to do with this newsletter). Here are three new albums that bring fresh sparks to indie rock.

Lauren Lakis - Deadlights

Lauren Lakis is originally from Baltimore, has spent time in L.A., and is now based in Austin, Texas. With her latest album Deadlights, she goes full-on shoegaze, but her previous work reveals an interesting musical arc. We saw her live at a memorable daytime show in the dark basement of Berlin Under A in New York’s East Village during New Colossus 2023.

Beck Zegans - Engraving of Armor

Beck Zegans’s debut record Engraving of Armor spans an interesting musical range from indie folk to rock, with some electronics thrown in. Her vocals have this irresistible, calm softness that reminds me of Suzanne Vega.

Slow Fiction - dollhouse

We have been running into members of Slow Fiction since they were founded in 2021. Five years later, they are releasing their excellent debut album dollhouse, which shows how persistent hard work pays off in music. It is also impressive that they have stuck together as a band, which is rare in the scene, where musicians often switch loyalties when better opportunities arise.

Cover Song of the Week: U2 - Neon Lights

Long before it became reality, the German band Kraftwerk imagined that machines could make music on their own. Their 1979 album Man Machine included “The Robots” and “The Model,” along with an unusually romantic track, “Neon Lights,” that runs for almost 9 minutes. The 2004 U2 cover, hidden away as the B-side to “Vertigo,” counters Kraftwerk-ish minimalism and Ralf Hütter’s deadpan vocals with organic sounds and Bono’s expressive voice. But they add enough subtle sonic references to the original to keep it an homage rather than a rework.

This Week in glamglare history

1 Year Ago: Dutch Mustard - Life

We picked UK-via-The Netherlands singer Dutch Mustard five times since 2021, three times Elke, and two times me. In other words, we love her music.

5 Years Ago: Grant Swift - I Just Can’t Honestly

New York singer/songwriter Grant Swift released his album First Elephant in 2021, and we premiered the single. Since then, he has pivoted to a “One Man Band” and can be booked for events through his website.

10 Years Ago: Hildur - Bumpy Road

10 years ago, we prepared for our first visit to Iceland Airwaves, and singer-songwriter Hildur was on our must-see list. From there, we met her several times in Reykjavik and New York, where she visited for a show and a video shoot. Her most recent releases were three singles in Icelandic in 2024.

Song Pick of the Day

Listen to all seven songs on YouTube, or follow our daily updated Song Pick playlists on YouTube, Apple Music, or Spotify.

• Soft Loft - Wednesdays
• Gloria de Oliveira - Fading Faces
• Annabell - Power Over Me
• IAN SWEET - Wild Heart
• George Bloomfield - Sun Soaked Skin
• Eva McBel - Consider Me
• Lora Mouna - The Difference

We publish one Song Pick of the Day every day. You can subscribe to receive them by email.

Nine Photos: Summer, After All

This July has been so wet that two more rainy days were almost enough to make me forget what summer in New York can be like. Looking back at this week’s photos, though, they tell a much sunnier story. The past seven days—minus those two, of course—were filled with sunshine and plenty of time spent outdoors.
On Thursday evening, after work, Oliver and I met for a picnic in Bryant Park.

Then, on Saturday, we took our rekindled love for Governors Island a step further with another picnic there. We also got a closer look at the new New York Harbor School, which has started to dominate the island’s skyline. You can even spot the building from Wagner Park at the southern tip of Manhattan (see photo 9). See if you can find the other places where it appears throughout this week’s photos. The school is set to open in September.

I also can never walk past Sheila Berger’s delightful bird sculpture without stopping for a photo. And then there’s the island’s “glamping” site, offering everything from relatively simple tents to luxurious accommodations. If you’re looking for an unforgettable overnight stay in New York, it’s certainly worth a look.

1. I gave Suno a spin, and while it is technically impressive, I would call neither the process nor the result “fun.” ↩︎
2. Apple’s Logic Pro offers the generation of musical parts, like drum and bass lines. At some point they advertised it as AI – does this count as AI-assisted? ↩︎
3. Yes, you can deep-fake all that, but doing that believably would already be a different kind of performance art. ↩︎