On a jittery AI note, the year in music is coming to an end, stealing the country music crown. Breaking Rust, with over 2.7 monthly listeners on Spotify, walked an AI walk, delivering the song Walk My Walk.
Compared to any Johnny Cash or Kris Kristofferson number, this is low-energy, low-effort prompting, delivered with plenty of help from an app like Suno. If that is the case, how can this be one of the crowning moments of the year?
The chart it is number one on is Country Digital Song Sales, which means asking how many downloads it entails. Who buys downloads? It is possible to buy downloads from the iTunes Store. In a recent article in Billboard magazine, there was a reference to the song, giving 3,000 as the number of copies sold. The article said: “It’s Breaking Rust’s second song to reach the ranking, one week after Livin’ on Borrowed Time hit number five. It’s also one of multiple artificial intelligence-assisted compositions experiencing chart success.”
Music download business
If a download from iTunes costs $0.99, it means the track needed to earn around $3,000 to reach the top. In India, the track costs ₹15 to download and the EP on which it is featured, Resilient, costs ₹75. Amazon also has an online music store.
The Country Digital Song Sales chart is not the same as the main country charts, which have plenty of Morgan Wallen, Ella Langley and Shaboozey songs. If Billboard Hot Country Songs is a reflection of truth, songs by Wallen, Luke Combs, Russell Dickerson and Lainey Wilson do the walking. Those are the real charts.
Don’t Tread on Me by Cain Walker, another AI-assisted country artist, made it to number three after selling around 2,000 downloads. That’s all it takes to top a genre download chart these days.
Looking at the broader picture will reveal that downloads form a small part of the music industry now. In 2024, downloads accounted for $329 million, according to the RIAA or around 2 per cent of US recorded music revenue. It is down 86 per cent from 2015, when downloads generated $2.3 billion and represented 34 per cent of the US market, according to Billboard. Revenue from subscription streaming platforms climbed 860 per cent to $11.7 billion over the same time span.
It would be misleading to say that downloading music is disappearing. Taylor Swift’s The Fate of Ophelia sold 29,000 copies. It may not be the 636,000 units that Adele’s Hello moved in 2015 but there is an audience.
Being number one on a lesser-known chart offered by a reputed organisation like Billboard is just a small part of the story, though large enough to make musicians and listeners around the world take notice. That doesn’t explain why the “artiste” has over 2.7 monthly listeners on Spotify. There is even a verified tick against the name. Maybe the answer is that many listeners don’t care about the distinction between human and AI artistes because for them music could just be something that always plays in the background or at cafés.
AI prompters want you to talk about the technology, want us to write about the technology. Being “number one” on any kind of chart gives them a ticket to the news cycle.
Lyrics worthy of
AI slop
If country music is one of the targets of AI music, a deeper look at what’s been happening for the last decade or so is needed. In general, country top 10 has sounded a bit like AI slop for 10 years.
There have been exceptions, like Eric Church singing about a decayed America in Stick That In Your Country Song or March March from The Chicks (formerly Dixie Chicks). Then there is Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter.
Yet, mainstream country has, lately, largely depended on musicians like Luke Bryan singing about drinking, Justin Moore singing about drinking, and Morgan Wallen singing about drinking some more. The writing has been so formulaic that it has become fodder for AI. Further, the production is easy to mimic for AI chatbots.
Sidelining Black music, which was essential in its formation over a long period of time, hasn’t helped. It has, as The New York Times writes, largely aligned itself with contemporary conservative values and has consistently sidelined the contributions and concerns of non-white and non-male performers. Personal stories of hardship and the simple life have taken a backseat to musicians singing about tractors.
But it’s good to see a hip-hop and R&B biggie like T-Pain writing country songs. Earlier this year, rapper Snoop Dogg joined singer Ernest to put out a country music duet. Helping fight AI country music are good old terrestrial country radio stations in the US that have kept the likes of Breaking Rust out of airplay. Most listeners don’t like the idea of AI voices.
A voice on YouTube recently commented, “I hate EDM, it’s just people tweaking knobs. (With AI), now the knobs tweak themselves.”
Heartfelt lyrics and more complex arrangements are the need of the hour, not just for country music. Listen closely, and most AI voices sound as if a creepy person is whispering in the back. It’s time to fight it before things get spookier. Taking liberties with the Dolly Parton song Jolene, let’s sing:
Machine, Machine, Machine, Machine…
I’m begging you, slow down and let us sing.
Machine, Machine, Machine, Machine…
Country wasn’t built on code and wiring.
Monthly listeners on Spotify for AI slop
Breaking Rust, 2,737,059
Enlly Blue, 1,508,564
Xania Monet, 1,374,257
Juno Skye, 492,996
The Velvet Sundown, 199,848
(Figures from December 5)