There was a time when a band, a musician, or a singer needed someone to write a melody and lyrics for them to perform a hit song. And an album required a producer to put it all together. And you needed a studio for recording and a record label to promote it.

That was before the digital age, when electronics allowed you to add interesting effects to your electric guitar with a wow-wow pedal or use a MOOG synthesizer instead of an organ. Then digital recording replaced magnetic tape, compact discs took over from vinyl, and before long you could run an entire production studio on your laptop – with the right software.

But the big shift started with Napster, when everything went online, and soon it was ‘digital first’ with iTunes and a host of streaming services carrying music to the masses. Acoustic instruments were for live performances and unplugged versions. So-called DJs created ‘original’ albums with samplers, remixers and beat loops, among other things. And even the golden oldies were digitally remastered.

Pop and Rock stars still needed talent and good voices, and someone who could write a hit song, if they couldn’t do it themselves. Well, for a while that is. When deep fake videos and audio tracks became a thing, music was ripe for disruption once again.

Now the latest album to burn up the charts has been released by SynthAI Music. Featuring long-gone artists like Hendrix, Lennon, Mercury, Houston, Cash, Winehouse, and Bowie, it’s the hottest thing since… well, anything. And the incredible thing is the entire album was written, performed, mixed, and produced by a smart computer system. SynthAI’s artificially intelligent audio generator was trained to listen to past hits, then told to produce something “even better, guaranteed to top the charts.”

It looks like it will be the first time, ever, that a machine will sweep the awards at the GRAMMYs. But probably not the last!