Who the REAL Users of AI Music Tools Are
The dominant narrative about AI music is wrong. I have the receipts.
There’s a story being told about AI music right now, and it’s a fairy tale for the fearful. It goes something like this: AI tools are used by lazy teenagers and scammers who want to flood Spotify with garbage, steal from "real" musicians, and destroy the industry from the inside.
It’s a clean story. It’s an easy villain. And it’s completely wrong.
I know it’s wrong because I run the lab. I’ve published over 200 AI-assisted tracks. I’ve sold thousands of guides on professional AI production. I don’t have to guess who is using these tools—I can see them.
They aren’t who you think they are.
The Faces of the Revolution
Stephen A. left a review on my book Unlock Suno: Studio Edition this week. Here is what a "cheat" looks like in the real world:
"Music technology is evolving daily. I’ve been recording music (live and in studio) for 60 years. And every week, I realize how much less I know. 'Unlock Suno Studio Edition' has cleared much of the AI fog and kept me in the game. Thank you for this crucial insight!"
Sixty years. Stephen has been making music since the mid-1960s. He’s survived every technological upheaval the industry could throw at him—from reel-to-reel tape to digital, from analog mixing boards to DAWs, from vinyl to streaming. He adapted every single time.
He’s adapting again now. Not because he’s lazy. Not because he wants to "shortcut" the craft. He’s doing it because that’s what real musicians do: They master the new instrument.
Stephen isn’t an outlier. He is the new standard.
The Data Tells a Different Story
While the critics scream about "kids these days," here is what my actual customer demographics look like:
85% of my buyers are 45 years old or older. These aren't college students looking for a hack. These are adults—many with decades of musical experience—investing real money to master a new craft.
My single largest demographic? 65 and older. These are retired musicians, lifelong hobbyists, and creative professionals who finally have the time to manifest the music they’ve been hearing in their heads for half a century. They finally have a tool that lets them produce at a professional level without needing a $50,000 studio or a five-piece band.
They aren’t replacing anyone. They are finally becoming the people they were always meant to be.
The Paralyzed Creator
I built this business to serve a specific person: The Paralyzed Creator.
They love music. They’ve spent years—sometimes decades—respecting the craft. They see AI emerging and they feel a rush of excitement, followed immediately by a wall of anxiety. They hear the online noise calling AI users "frauds," and it paralyzes them.
Eric M. described this shift perfectly: "It shifted my mindset from seeing AI as a threat to seeing it as a powerful creative partner."
That is the transformation. It isn’t taking a "non-musician" and making them a "musician." It’s taking a musician who was frozen by gatekeeper rhetoric and giving them a roadmap to produce again.
Two Lanes, One Road
The conversation right now is broken because the critics treat two completely different behaviors as if they are the same thing. They aren't.
Lane 1: The Spam Lane. Fully automated, zero-human-input, mass-uploaded "slop" designed for royalty farming. No direction, no curation, no soul. This is what the critics are angry about—and they should be.
Lane 2: The Artist Lane. This is where my customers live. Human-authored, AI-assisted production. They write the lyrics. They direct the melody. They curate the outputs, assemble the arrangements, mix, master, and make hundreds of creative decisions.
The AI is the instrument. The human is the conductor.
What the critics miss is that Lane 2 requires Earned Taste. When someone like Stephen picks up an AI tool, he is applying 60 years of knowledge to the output. He knows when a bridge needs to breathe. He knows when a vocal sits wrong. The AI doesn’t know that. Stephen does.
Furthermore, this "Human in the Loop" approach is the only one that matters legally. Under current U.S. Copyright Office guidance, meaningful human authorship—selection, arrangement, and creative direction—is what establishes protectable rights. My customers aren't just making music. They are making music they own.
The Invitation
If you’ve been watching from the sidelines—curious but hesitant—I want you to know something:
You are not a cheat. You are a creator who is adapting, just like every generation before you.
The electric guitar was going to "destroy" music. The synthesizer was going to "destroy" music. The drum machine, Auto-Tune, and the DAW were all predicted to be the end of artistry.
Music is still here. And so are the musicians who were brave enough to learn the new tools.
If you want to learn how to use this instrument the right way—transparently, professionally, and with real craft—the door to the Lab is open.
[Join the AI Music Library →] 75+ founding members and counting. Build the future. Let them stay in the past.
— Josh
