Bridging the Gap between Human and AI in Music Creation: An Empirical Study on Stakeholder Perspectives and Industry Expectations
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Abstract
AI Music Ecosystem (AIME) refers to the integration of artificial intelligence technologies within the music industry, encompassing the creation, performance, or the generation for special voice. This type of co-creation scenario is widely being developed and is reshaping both the music industry and education. However, there is no suitable evaluation system to redefine the value of musical labor outputs under AI Music Ecosystem (AIME). This empirical study addresses this gap by conducting interviews to explore the real-world application of music generators from the stakeholders’ perspective, while also analyzing the real music output needed by music industry. Chinese musicians (n=18) participated in semi-structured interviews, and educators used thematic analysis and open coding to analyze the satisfaction levels of music outputs. The results indicated that cultural output is regarded as the pinnacle of the co-creation of human and AIME, though very few outputs reach this standard. The study highlights a significant gap between educational evaluation standards and market benchmark, with human contributions predominantly valued at the emotional level and AIME limited to technical capabilities. This is the first time that data from stakeholders in the music industry has been used as an evaluation benchmark, making it more relevant to the assessment scenarios faced by graduates. An evaluation hierarchy has been developed for the co-creation scenarios involving humans and AIME, which is more suitable for music talent assessments and offers inclusiveness.
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