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AI Music's Creative Evolution: Beyond the Ethics Debate with Ezra Sandzer-Bell (AudioCipher)
Guest: Ezra, Founder of AudioCipher TechnologiesTopics: AI Music Workflows, Creative Tech Stacks, Film Scoring, Industry Ethics
About
Musicians wrestling with AI's place in their creative process will find practical frameworks here. Ezra breaks down how serious producers are building "tech stacks" with Suno, Udio, and ElevenLabs—moving beyond one-click generation toward intentional creative workflows. This isn't about replacing musicians; it's about understanding how AI tools fit into existing production pipelines.
Key Insights & Practical Takeaways
The Creative Tech Stack Approach
* Suno excels at style transfer: Upload your rough ideas, transform them across genres with sophisticated prompt engineering
* Udio dominates extension work: Superior at maintaining musical timbre and creating film score-style dynamic compositions
* ElevenLabs offers licensed alternative: Text-to-music with commercial licensing, though less control than competitors
Workflow Innovation in Practice
Sophisticated production techniques: generating ambient loops in Udio, then conditioning Suno with unrelated prompts to create unexpected hybrid outputs. This "cross-pollination" approach demonstrates how creative professionals are developing personal AI methodologies beyond basic prompting.
The Licensing Landscape Reality Check
The ethical debate is evolving faster than anticipated. While UMG's lawsuits against Suno/Udio created initial friction, ElevenLabs' partnerships with Cobalt and Merlin are establishing new industry standards. The question shifts from "is this ethical?" to "how much are artists actually earning from these licensing deals?"
Film Scoring: The Creative Frontier
AI music's future lies in multimedia storytelling, not pop music generation. Film scoring offers creative freedom across multiple styles within single projects—exactly what AI tools enable. Ezra demonstrates how composers can leverage AI's stylistic range while maintaining the deep musical literacy that drives meaningful narrative scoring.
Notable Perspectives
On AI Music in Public Spaces: "I've been in dozens of cafes running 12-hour Suno playlists. It's functional music with no care given to sonic branding—this is where AI music risks poisoning public spaces."
On Creative Authenticity: "There's a silent minority of serious producers actually experimenting with these tools, not just clicking 'generate' but investing time to understand where AI fits their artistic mission."
On The Matrix Score Easter Egg: The film's composer embedded 12-tone serial music matrices within the soundtrack—the music literally reflects the movie's mathematical reality concepts, demonstrating the depth possible in multimedia storytelling.
The Bigger Picture
This conversation cuts through typical AI music discourse by focusing on practical application rather than existential concerns. For creative technologists, the value lies in understanding these tools as part of broader production ecosystems—not replacement technologies, but specialized instruments requiring the same musical literacy and taste-making skills that have always defined great music production.
Essential listening for anyone building creative workflows with AI tools, particularly those interested in multimedia storytelling and film scoring applications.
Mentioned
* Futureproof episode with Ezra
* AI Song Contest
* Music for Computers
* Udio Prompt Guide
* Tools: Stable Audio Open, Suno, Udio, Eleven Music, Veo3, Midjourney
* the AI-Generated Ripoff Songs That Got Udio and Suno Sued
* N. Korea’s AI Nukes
* Twelve Tone Matrix
* AudioCipher’s Ad
* Feltzine Instagram
* Music and Artificial Intelligence: Artistic Trends (Paper)
Follow Ezra Sandzer-Bell
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ezra-sandzer-bell/
AudioCipher: https://www.audiocipher.com/
Music
R. Tyler - raise ValueError()
Get full access to softmax at redito.substack.com/subscribe
View all episodes
By Mark ReditoGuest: Ezra, Founder of AudioCipher TechnologiesTopics: AI Music Workflows, Creative Tech Stacks, Film Scoring, Industry Ethics
About
Musicians wrestling with AI's place in their creative process will find practical frameworks here. Ezra breaks down how serious producers are building "tech stacks" with Suno, Udio, and ElevenLabs—moving beyond one-click generation toward intentional creative workflows. This isn't about replacing musicians; it's about understanding how AI tools fit into existing production pipelines.
Key Insights & Practical Takeaways
The Creative Tech Stack Approach
* Suno excels at style transfer: Upload your rough ideas, transform them across genres with sophisticated prompt engineering
* Udio dominates extension work: Superior at maintaining musical timbre and creating film score-style dynamic compositions
* ElevenLabs offers licensed alternative: Text-to-music with commercial licensing, though less control than competitors
Workflow Innovation in Practice
Sophisticated production techniques: generating ambient loops in Udio, then conditioning Suno with unrelated prompts to create unexpected hybrid outputs. This "cross-pollination" approach demonstrates how creative professionals are developing personal AI methodologies beyond basic prompting.
The Licensing Landscape Reality Check
The ethical debate is evolving faster than anticipated. While UMG's lawsuits against Suno/Udio created initial friction, ElevenLabs' partnerships with Cobalt and Merlin are establishing new industry standards. The question shifts from "is this ethical?" to "how much are artists actually earning from these licensing deals?"
Film Scoring: The Creative Frontier
AI music's future lies in multimedia storytelling, not pop music generation. Film scoring offers creative freedom across multiple styles within single projects—exactly what AI tools enable. Ezra demonstrates how composers can leverage AI's stylistic range while maintaining the deep musical literacy that drives meaningful narrative scoring.
Notable Perspectives
On AI Music in Public Spaces: "I've been in dozens of cafes running 12-hour Suno playlists. It's functional music with no care given to sonic branding—this is where AI music risks poisoning public spaces."
On Creative Authenticity: "There's a silent minority of serious producers actually experimenting with these tools, not just clicking 'generate' but investing time to understand where AI fits their artistic mission."
On The Matrix Score Easter Egg: The film's composer embedded 12-tone serial music matrices within the soundtrack—the music literally reflects the movie's mathematical reality concepts, demonstrating the depth possible in multimedia storytelling.
The Bigger Picture
This conversation cuts through typical AI music discourse by focusing on practical application rather than existential concerns. For creative technologists, the value lies in understanding these tools as part of broader production ecosystems—not replacement technologies, but specialized instruments requiring the same musical literacy and taste-making skills that have always defined great music production.
Essential listening for anyone building creative workflows with AI tools, particularly those interested in multimedia storytelling and film scoring applications.
Mentioned
* Futureproof episode with Ezra
* AI Song Contest
* Music for Computers
* Udio Prompt Guide
* Tools: Stable Audio Open, Suno, Udio, Eleven Music, Veo3, Midjourney
* the AI-Generated Ripoff Songs That Got Udio and Suno Sued
* N. Korea’s AI Nukes
* Twelve Tone Matrix
* AudioCipher’s Ad
* Feltzine Instagram
* Music and Artificial Intelligence: Artistic Trends (Paper)
Follow Ezra Sandzer-Bell
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ezra-sandzer-bell/
AudioCipher: https://www.audiocipher.com/
Music
R. Tyler - raise ValueError()
Get full access to softmax at redito.substack.com/subscribe