The Napster Script: Why History is Repeating Itself
The music industry spent years and millions of dollars trying to sue Napster out of existence (looking at you Metallica). They won the lawsuit. And they lost the war.
MP3s didn’t go away. Digital distribution didn’t stop. Eventually, the labels adapted...streaming made them profitable again...but they wasted a decade fighting the inevitable instead of building towards it. The ones who adapted early inherited the earth. The ones who hid behind lawyers were swallowed whole before they could figure out how to click "play."
We are watching the exact same script play out right now with AI music.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
Every week brings a new headline. Another lawsuit. Another open letter. Another coalition of labels, lawyers, and legacy gatekeepers demanding that AI be stopped, regulated, banned, or controlled. They aren’t wrong to have concerns. But they are asking the wrong question.
The question isn’t "𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?" The question is "𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦?"
I test AI music tools for a living. Every week a new platform hits my radar: Suno, Mureka, ElevenLabs. The technology isn’t slowing down; it is accelerating. It is getting better at a pace that should terrify anyone whose primary strategy is "wait and hope it goes away." (Someone at NAMM said AI stands for "Attorney's Incoming"...that pretty much sums up the Gatekeeper's position).
𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗢𝗯𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲
Here is what the gatekeepers refuse to understand: The creators are already here - I know cause I have thousands of them as customers. They aren't waiting for a blessing from a boardroom. They are writing lyrics, directing production, registering copyrights, and releasing music. Right now. Every single day. And oh yeah, it's really great music too!
These aren’t teenagers "spamming" playlists. These are songwriters, poets, and veterans who finally have access to tools that let them finish what they started. These are people who kept 40 years of lyrics in a dusty notebook with no way to hear them as a song, until now. We should embrace that, it's beautiful.
𝚈̲𝚘̲𝚞̲ ̲𝚍̲𝚘̲𝚗̲'̲𝚝̲ ̲𝚐̲𝚎̲𝚝̲ ̲𝚝̲𝚘̲ ̲𝚌̲𝚕̲𝚊̲𝚒̲𝚖̲ ̲𝚖̲𝚘̲𝚛̲𝚊̲𝚕̲ ̲𝚜̲𝚞̲𝚙̲𝚎̲𝚛̲𝚒̲𝚘̲𝚛̲𝚒̲𝚝̲𝚢̲ ̲𝚓̲𝚞̲𝚜̲𝚝̲ ̲𝚋̲𝚎̲𝚌̲𝚊̲𝚞̲𝚜̲𝚎̲ ̲𝚢̲𝚘̲𝚞̲ ̲𝚠̲𝚎̲𝚛̲𝚎̲ ̲𝚋̲𝚘̲𝚛̲𝚗̲ ̲𝚋̲𝚎̲𝚏̲𝚘̲𝚛̲𝚎̲ ̲𝚝̲𝚑̲𝚎̲ ̲𝚝̲𝚘̲𝚘̲𝚕̲ ̲𝚎̲𝚡̲𝚒̲𝚜̲𝚝̲𝚎̲𝚍̲.̲
𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗖𝗮𝗻’𝘁 𝗦𝘂𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲
You can sue the creators. You can shame the users. You can write 10,000-word open letters about the "soul" of music. But you cannot put this back in the box.
The labels that figure out how to empower AI-assisted creators will own the next decade. The ones still sending cease-and-desist letters will be the subjects of future case studies on how to go extinct. The artists who embrace AI as a critical tool for their toolbox will prevail.
The industry spent millions trying to kill the MP3, and all they did was hand the keys of the Kingdom to Apple and Spotify. If they aren't careful, they’re about to do the same thing with AI.
Stop hiding. Start building.
