Half of Gen Z think that AI is unlikely to replace artists according to a recent survey by FIMI, the Italian recorded music industry association. The study conducted in association with the Municipality of Naples and the Giffoni Innovation Hub were presented at the Giffoni Film Festival at the end of July 2023. The investigation was launched at the Digital Music Forum in Naples on the 20th June this year and set out to explore the musical consumption of younger generations, regarding their listening habits and opinions on the future of music, new technologies, and artificial intelligence.
A total of 2,790 users (65% women, 33% men, and 3% others) were surveyed; 70% of them belonging to Generation Z. Half of the Gen Z respondents (49%) do not think that artists will be replaced by AI in the future, as art is only a human prerogative; this figure rises to 70% in adults. A large group of under-34s (37%) think that artists will be replaced to the detriment of creativity, a position that in adults stands at 25%. The replacement of artificial intelligence for the benefit of the music industry is found in only 14% of young respondents and in 5% of over-34s. All the interviewees said that they do not recognize an AI as a musical artist; adults also said that only humans can create art.
And to the question “Would you use AI to create music?” the balance between the negative and positive answer is equal in both age groups. Interestingly, 10% of under-34s said that they have already used AI to create music.
Enzo Mazza, CEO of FIMI said “The survey confirms not only the attention that the theme of artificial intelligence receives among music fans but also how much human creativity is considered fundamental and irreplaceable.”
Other survey findings
- Music discovery – Under 34s rely on social media, music apps and friends/relatives, while over 34s like music apps the most, followed by YouTube and voice assistants. All age groups prefer the smartphone as the main device for listening to music; Spotify, YouTube and Amazon Music are GenZ’s favourite platforms, while for adults the order is YouTube, Spotify and Amazon Music.
- Creating playlists – To the question “How do you create your playlists?” all users responded in the following order of preference: I select the songs, rely on the app’s recommendations and use friends’ playlists; no one uses different platforms according to musical genres. What influences the choice of genre, in addition to the state of mind, in GenZ are trending hits, in the over 34s the period of the year.
- Disposable music – Each age group interviewed said that they saw music enjoyment changed for the better with streaming platforms, also arguing that the algorithms used by the streamers affected their listening habits. Older adults believed that technology had positively influenced the creativity of artists with younger listeners concerned about opportunities for ‘musical contamination’.
- Live streaming – Half of GenZ have done it (92% of them would do it again), while 80% of adults say they haven’t ever interacted. 60% of young people would go to a concert in the metaverse (of which 20% do so on a regular basis), only 4% of over 34s have already done so. On the theme of the impact of new technologies on the future of music, half of the under 34s (46%) said that it had a neutral contribution to music with over 34s (36%) worrying about technology distorting the artistic component of music.
