For those who dangle round musicians lengthy sufficient, you’ll hear two contradictory takes about AI: “It’s ruining music,” and “It saved my combine at 3 a.m. and I’ll by no means dwell with out it.”
Each will be true.
However based on new analysis from LANDR’s world neighborhood, one factor isn’t up for debate anymore: artists are utilizing AI… quite a bit.
So what are musicians really doing with AI? What are they frightened about? And the place is that this headed?
Let’s break it down for the skimmers, the skeptics, and the secretly curious.
AI Is Formally A part of the Workflow (Sure, Yours Too)
Right here’s the headline: 87% of artists already use AI someplace of their workflow.
However AI isn’t monolithic—artists use it in numerous methods relying on what they want.
Technical duties are the gateway drug
Suppose: mastering, stem separation, restoration, timing correction. 79% of artists attain for AI in these areas. It’s quick, it’s correct, and it handles the tedious bits no person brags about on Instagram.
Artistic duties aren’t taboo anymore
Previous narrative: “Actual artists don’t use AI to jot down.”
New narrative: 66% do.
However, artists aren’t utilizing it to generate full songs practically as a lot as they use it to generate components of a tune.
Instruments that assist fill out preparations with generated vocals, drums, guitars, bass and different instrumentals have been extra well-liked than full tune turbines in LANDR’s examine.
From melody variations to chord progressions to arranging tough sketches into full songs, musicians more and more deal with AI because the session musician who by no means misses rehearsal.
Promotion is the sleeper class
Greater than half (52%) use AI for the a part of music-making virtually everybody hates:
cowl artwork, bios, captions, analytics, content material concepts, the infinite promo treadmill.
30% generate cowl artwork and practically 1 in 5 use AI simply to give you social publish concepts.
That is the primary massive shift AI has triggered: Artists aren’t ready round for a staff, they’re constructing one.
How 29% of Artists Use AI Creatively
The stereotype is that AI songwriting means urgent one button and praying the output slaps. However the actuality is extra modular and far more sensible.
Based on the information, right here’s the place creators lean in hardest:
- 18% generate lead vocals
- 16% generate drum patterns
- 16% generate instrumental components (piano, strings, horns, and many others.)
- 14% organize sketches into songs
- 13% generate melodies and chord progressions
In different phrases: AI isn’t changing songwriting, it’s dashing up the components that block songwriting.
Want a fast guitar riff as a result of yours seems like elevator music? Or vocal placeholders as a result of your singer is in Bali? How about 5 melody variations to select the one which doesn’t annoy you?
AI is filling the gaps so people can keep in move. And that aligns with the #1 motive artists say they use AI: to fill ability gaps, adopted intently by the necessity to work sooner.
Promotion: The AI Gold Rush Artists Didn’t Count on
While you zoom into future curiosity, one thing jumps out:
The strongest demand for AI isn’t in songwriting, it’s in promotion.
Throughout 52 potential makes use of examined, the best urge for food was for:
- Understanding audiences (84%)
- Analyzing social and launch stats (83%)
- Translating content material (82%)
- Getting social content material concepts (82%)
- Advising on rising fanbases (81%)
Musicians aren’t simply utilizing AI to sound higher, they’re utilizing it to compete.
As a result of between TikTok churn and the ever-hungry Launch Algorithm Gods, artists want each edge they will get.
That is the place instruments like LANDR’s ecosystem match naturally: AI mastering, vocal processing, sensible distribution, cowl artwork, promo steerage, multi functional place. It’s not hype anymore, it’s infrastructure.
So What’s Stressing Artists Out? (Right here’s the trustworthy half.)
Artists aren’t blindly optimistic. They’re excited and frightened, typically in the identical breath.
Prime considerations:
- Soulless or generic output (46%)
- Ethics and consent of coaching information (43%)
- Changing into too depending on tech (34%)
- Takedown guidelines (30%)
- AI changing people (29%)
The through-line:
Musicians need AI that looks like a software, not a shortcut that dilutes creativity or crosses moral traces.
That is precisely why initiatives like LANDR’s Honest Commerce AI Program matter: transparency, consent, and respect for inventive work. These are issues that shouldn’t be non-obligatory.
For those who’re inquisitive about how LANDR is making AI instruments ethically whereas serving to artists discover new methods to monetize their music, be taught extra about it right here!
The Divide Is Rising
Right here’s probably the most telling stats in the entire report:
- 69% of artists are already utilizing extra AI instruments than final 12 months
- 90% of that group plans to extend once more subsequent 12 months
- Amongst these not growing utilization, 76% plan to remain that means
That is the rising cut up:
- AI adopters: shifting quick, levelling up, increasing expertise
- Traditionalists: holding their floor, however changing into a minority
Neither facet is improper, however they’re positively not shifting on the similar velocity.
So… The place Is AI in Music Truly Going?
For those who zoom out past the new takes, three massive shifts are already underway:
1. Creators have gotten extra self-sufficient
The brand new music stack: DAW + plugins + distribution + AI helpers.
It’s all making a leaner, sooner ecosystem the place fewer duties require hiring specialists.
2. AI is changing into a part of the inventive course of, not a alternative
Consider it like synths within the ’80s: first controversial, then unavoidable, now a staple.
3. Promotion is the place AI will explode subsequent
Each artist can also be a marketer now, and AI is the assistant they by no means had.
Artists Aren’t Afraid of AI, They’re Strategic About It
The report makes one factor clear: musicians aren’t selecting between “human” and “AI.”
They’re selecting instruments that assist them make higher music, sooner, with fewer roadblocks.
AI isn’t changing the inventive spark. It’s clearing the litter round it.
And for many artists in 2025, that’s not scary, it’s empowering.
