How musicians can use AI without losing their edge

Lessons from experts on privacy, creativity, and the business of music

This week’s Friday Find is a little different. Long time client, colleague, and friend, Judy Rodman gave me permission to share this value-packed discussion. One of the panelists is my AI Success Club partner, Andy O’Bryan, known for his passion for bridging the gap between technology and humanity.

I consider artists to be business owners. More often than not, in addition to their creative work, they run their own small business. So, when I tuned into a panel discussion hosted by

Judy Rodman

on her All Things Vocal podcast about AI and music, I had to share it with you.

If you’re not a musician, you’ll still get value by applying the ideas and lessons to your creative business.

While the fear of “robot songwriters” came up, the real lessons were practical. If you’re building a music career on your own, you’ll want to watch this video (summarized by five takeaways below).

Guard your ideas

Peter Rodman, a creative technologist, warned that when you share lyrics, vocal methods, or business plans with public AI tools, you may be training the model with your work. That means pieces of your process could show up later in outputs for someone else. For musicians, where originality is everything, that’s a risk you don’t want to take lightly.

Don’t confuse patterns with emotion

That risk ties into another problem. As author

Andy O'Bryan

explained, AI systems are starting to “eat their own leftovers.” The more AI-generated material that shows up online, the more these tools recycle it. The result is sameness.

O’Bryan put it simply: AI can deliver endless patterns, but it can’t deliver the goosebumps that come from a human voice breaking at just the right moment.

Put AI to work on the business side

If sameness is the creative risk, the counterbalance is to use AI where it creates real leverage: behind the scenes. Christopher Wieduwilt, who calls himself an “AI Musicpreneur,” shared how artists are already using these tools to lighten the workload. Think about turning a memo into a rough demo, drafting an artist bio, setting up a tour schedule, pitching to playlist curators, or building a release plan. The real win here is time.

When AI takes on the grind, you get more space to do what only you can do: make the music.

Outsmart the system

Of course, using AI wisely requires some protection. Wieduwilt pointed out that AI training is set up as opt-out. If your songs or content are online, they’re likely already part of the data pool, and there’s no way to remove them.

That reality calls for smarter strategies. Some artists are building private, offline models trained only on their own material. Others use “creative prompting,” stripping out sensitive details when they ask public tools for help. Both paths let you experiment without giving away your best ideas.

Turning change into your advantage

The panel made one thing clear: AI isn’t going away, and artists who learn how to use it will have an edge.

Peter Rodman told a story about Rick Nielsen from Cheap Trick, now in his sixties, who has gone all-in on experimenting with AI for photography and video.

It reminded me of the shift from film to digital. The artists who held back missed out, while those who adapted gained new ways to share their work.

For musicians today, the opportunity is to let AI carry the weight of admin and promotion so you can focus on creating.

If the tools free up hours every week, what could you do with that time to make more music, connect with fans, or sharpen your craft?

Be sure to check out the end at 00:49:08
BONUS ENDING: 15 specific, actionable AI strategies for music artists.

Cast of Brainstormers:

Host – Judy Rodman

Cohost – Mark Thress

Expert guests:

• Christopher Wieduwilt (The AI Musicpreneur)

• Andy O’Bryan (author of The Humanizers)

• Peter Rodman (Creative technologist)