- Album art/booklet art
- Promotional materials
- Lyric videos
- Samples generated with AI used in background of song/as a clip
- Some kind of modulator for a synth which JR uses which employs AI
I would be completely fine with using AI for all of the things listed here. It's easy to make something with AI, but it's not so easy to make something
good or
fresh with AI that doesn't immediately have that generic generative look to it. Using AI really well is almost an artform in its own right. So if they hire someone who knows what they're doing, and if they are guided by some sort of artistic vision, there's no reason AI artwork can't be as cool as anything else. DT album covers have a pretty low quality standard anyway, so even a descent AI cover would likely be an improvement in my book.
I would not be okay with the music itself being written by AI of course. That's the product I'm here for, Dream Theater's music. Not an amalgamated immitation of Dream Theater's music.
I simply can't comprehend an artist of any discipline thinking AI art is acceptable. I will not buy the album if there is any AI art on the cover. I'll stream it, but I won't buy it. This goes for anyone, no matter the size. Why should I pay for your art if you don't think artists are worthy of being paid? It's ridiculous. A snake eating its own tail.
I understand this comment to some degree but also disagree in specific cases. As I said above, doing really good AI art isn't as simple as people may think, and if you don't spend some time on it, it's going to have that generic look. But beside that, I'd say it comes down to what an artist does or what their budget is for production. For example, I am not a graphic designer or a visual artist of any sort, but I make a lot of music. I don't really feel like I have the budget in my at-home productions to pay artists all the time to do artwork to go along with my stuff. AI has given me and people like me the chance to generate original artwork to accompany our work without hiring artists. It still takes time, and is definetely a creative process unless you just type "cool metal album cover" and just go with the first result you get. But again, that cover is going to look hella-generic.
A lot of people will react negatively to "without hiring artists," which is understandable. But my point is that, without AI, it's not like I would be hiring artists anyway. I would probably just search google for a generic non-copywrite image that fits good enough and use that. AI enables people who previously would not create any visual art at all to at least have something. And if you really work a lot with it, it can become pretty cool.
Dream Theater are obviously not in that situation. They can easily afford to pay an artist to hand craft their visual companion art. But I'm just saying that it's not as black and white in my mind.