Compelling framework comparing Suno to Pirate Bay and Live Nation as existential threats. The distinction you draw about control vs disruption is sharp - Pirate Bay decentralized distribution, Live Nation centralized live performance, and Suno is attempting both simultaneously by democratizing creation while monopolizing the infrastructure.
The critical insight is in your final section about human curation becoming the bottleneck. We're already seeing this with Spotify's AI-generated 'wellness' and ambient playlists - the content is commoditized, but the curatorial authority (playlist placement, editorial features) remains the scarce resource. Suno's model essentially seeks to own both the commodity layer AND the curation layer through their marketplace.
What's particuarly interesting is how this differs from Spotify's early positioning. Spotify disrupted distribution but still needed major label catalogs to function. Suno doesn't need any legacy IP - they can generate infinite content and rely on network effects to establish their platform as the default marketplace. The comparison to ByteDance's content pipeline is apt.
One question: do you see the 'celebrity problem' you mention (Taylor Swift's scarcity value) as permanent, or will AI eventually commoditize celebrity itself through synthetic parasocial relationships? That seems like the next frontier.
I think trad models for marketing still hold here. Someone with IP and money puts ads where eyeballs are. The new kid on the block will be AI “ask” engines (supplanting Google “search.”) They, too, will prioritize “ask” results that pay for visibility (or knowability).
Gary Vee agrees with your premise here as well. The future of brand is the individual (or band or collective) with IP and community.
I like how the music sounds exactly like a human with talent and resources but no imagination or desire to create something original. Could AI invent a genre? Could it, for example, invent a satisfying new trend like reggaeton and create enough canonical exam[ples to seed a genre?
This argument seems a bit melodramatic and assumes that music is ONLY a commodity to be traded on the “free market.” I think this is a rather narrow view and misses the greater value of human culture. You can get a McDonald’s hamburger that tastes great but it’s not the same as cooking a meal for your family.
Spotify *is* threatening the existence of musicians. They host a lot of crappy AI slop that is likely owned/created by them. And it’s all over niche playlists. So they don’t have to pay out.
Compelling framework comparing Suno to Pirate Bay and Live Nation as existential threats. The distinction you draw about control vs disruption is sharp - Pirate Bay decentralized distribution, Live Nation centralized live performance, and Suno is attempting both simultaneously by democratizing creation while monopolizing the infrastructure.
The critical insight is in your final section about human curation becoming the bottleneck. We're already seeing this with Spotify's AI-generated 'wellness' and ambient playlists - the content is commoditized, but the curatorial authority (playlist placement, editorial features) remains the scarce resource. Suno's model essentially seeks to own both the commodity layer AND the curation layer through their marketplace.
What's particuarly interesting is how this differs from Spotify's early positioning. Spotify disrupted distribution but still needed major label catalogs to function. Suno doesn't need any legacy IP - they can generate infinite content and rely on network effects to establish their platform as the default marketplace. The comparison to ByteDance's content pipeline is apt.
One question: do you see the 'celebrity problem' you mention (Taylor Swift's scarcity value) as permanent, or will AI eventually commoditize celebrity itself through synthetic parasocial relationships? That seems like the next frontier.
I think trad models for marketing still hold here. Someone with IP and money puts ads where eyeballs are. The new kid on the block will be AI “ask” engines (supplanting Google “search.”) They, too, will prioritize “ask” results that pay for visibility (or knowability).
Gary Vee agrees with your premise here as well. The future of brand is the individual (or band or collective) with IP and community.
I like how the music sounds exactly like a human with talent and resources but no imagination or desire to create something original. Could AI invent a genre? Could it, for example, invent a satisfying new trend like reggaeton and create enough canonical exam[ples to seed a genre?
yep
This argument seems a bit melodramatic and assumes that music is ONLY a commodity to be traded on the “free market.” I think this is a rather narrow view and misses the greater value of human culture. You can get a McDonald’s hamburger that tastes great but it’s not the same as cooking a meal for your family.
Spotify *is* threatening the existence of musicians. They host a lot of crappy AI slop that is likely owned/created by them. And it’s all over niche playlists. So they don’t have to pay out.
Yeah but that all comes from AI created music which wasn't the dispute a decade ago.