When Oliver McCann sits down to make music, he doesn’t reach for a guitar or sit at a piano. Instead, the 37-year-old British creator, who goes by the stage name imoliver, opens an AI chatbot and starts typing. McCann’s tracks span genres from indie-pop to electro-soul and even country-rap, but there’s one crucial difference setting him apart from traditional musicians: “I have no musical talent at all,” he admitted, according to the Associated Press. “I can’t sing, I can’t play instruments, and I have no musical background at all.”
Yet, despite a lack of formal training, McCann’s AI-generated music has made waves. Last month, he signed a contract with independent record label Hallwood Media after one of his tracks racked up three million streams—a historic first for an AI music creator. The deal thrust McCann and the growing world of AI-generated music into the spotlight, igniting heated debates about the future of the music industry, the role of human creativity, and the legal gray areas that come with this technological revolution.
McCann’s journey began as a visual designer looking to boost his creativity and bring some of his lyrics to life. He started experimenting with generative AI tools—software akin to ChatGPT, but designed to produce music and lyrics. AI music generators like Suno and Udio have made it possible for people with no musical background to create songs with just a few text prompts. This burgeoning movement was perhaps most visibly highlighted by Velvet Sundown, a fictitious group that went viral with songs, lyrics, and album art all produced by AI.
According to Deezer, a major music streaming service, about 18% of songs uploaded to its platform every day are now purely AI-generated. However, these tracks account for only a small fraction of total streams, suggesting that while AI music is flooding in, most listeners are still tuning into human-made hits. The global recorded music market is valued at $29.6 billion, with streaming making up about $20 billion of that sum. But the true impact of AI on these numbers remains murky, as other platforms like Spotify have yet to release any data on AI-generated music.
Josh Antonuccio, director of Ohio University’s School of Media Arts and Studies, described the rise of AI music as a “total boom. It’s a tsunami.” He predicts the amount of AI-generated music will “only exponentially increase” as younger generations grow up with AI and become more comfortable using it as a creative tool. “Just think about what it used to cost to make a hit or make something that breaks,” Antonuccio told AP. “And that just keeps winnowing down from a major studio to a laptop to a bedroom. And now it’s like a text prompt—several text prompts.”
But this new era hasn’t arrived without controversy. The ability of generative AI to spit out seemingly unique content has divided the music world. Musicians and industry groups argue that AI models are being trained on recorded works without proper consent, threatening both copyright protections and the value of human artistry. Record labels, meanwhile, are caught between fending off the threat to their revenue streams and exploring ways to profit from the technology.
Last year, three major record companies—Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Records—filed lawsuits against Suno and Udio, accusing them of copyright infringement. In June 2025, both sides reportedly entered negotiations that could go beyond settling the lawsuits and potentially set new rules for how artists are paid when AI is used to remix their songs. In Germany, the royalty collection society GEMA also sued Suno, alleging the AI generated music too similar to hits like “Mambo No. 5” by Lou Bega and “Forever Young” by Alphaville.
Not all musicians are against the rise of AI. More than 1,000 artists, including Kate Bush and Annie Lennox, released a silent album to protest proposed changes to UK laws on AI that they fear would erode their creative control. Yet others—like will.i.am, Timbaland, and Imogen Heap—have openly embraced AI as just another tool in the creative arsenal. “Music producers have lots of tools in their arsenal to enhance recordings that listeners aren’t aware of,” said Scott Smith, whose AI band Pulse Empire was inspired by 1980s synth-driven groups. Smith, like McCann, never learned to play a traditional instrument but spends hours generating different versions of songs until they match his vision.
McCann revealed that he often creates up to 100 different versions of a song by prompting and re-prompting the AI system before he’s satisfied. AI song generators can churn out lyrics as well as music, but many experienced users prefer to write their own words. “AI lyrics tend to come out quite cliche and quite boring,” McCann admitted. Lukas Rams, a Philadelphia-area resident who makes songs for his AI band Sleeping With Wolves, echoed this sentiment, saying AI lyrics are often “extra corny” and repetitive but can help get the writing process started. Rams, who used to play drums in high school bands, now uses AI to create albums that blend metalcore and EDM, even designing CD jewel cases and album art to go with his digital releases.
The debate over AI in music is reminiscent of past arguments about new technology, such as the backlash against AutoTune, drum machines, and synthesizers—tools that eventually became staples in modern music production. “People complain that you’re using a computer to do all the work for you. I don’t see it that way. I see it as any other tool that we have,” Smith told AP.
Still, the legal landscape remains unsettled. Antonuccio compared the current situation to the “Wild West” days of file-sharing sites like Napster, which upended the music business more than two decades ago and paved the way for today’s streaming giants. As the industry grapples with how to protect artists’ rights and fairly distribute revenue, creators like McCann are hopeful about the future. “I think we’re entering a world where anyone, anywhere could make the next big hit,” he said. “As AI becomes more widely accepted among people as a musical art form, I think it opens up the possibility for AI music to be featured in charts.”
For now, the music world finds itself at a crossroads—torn between the promise of democratized creativity and the challenges of protecting human artistry. As AI-generated tracks continue to multiply, the industry must navigate uncharted territory, balancing innovation with respect for the musicians whose shoulders it was built upon.
