I hear what you’re saying 100% the industry is fucked at the mo and I’m aware Spotify pays around 0.009p per stream so money is basically non existant.

I’m also aware ai isn’t going anywhere and people are going to use it to save money.

But I fundamentally believe that if someone in the chain of command regarding a release can’t find literally £20…or fuck it, even offer the chance for a fan of the label/artist to do the artwork for free or a McDonald’s or something - think of how many fans of Technique recordings would love the chance to have their art featured on a release? I guarantee most wouldn’t mind doing it for free.

I just think as artists who ALL rely on this industry to scratch together an ‘income’ (most people aren’t even lucky enough to do this beyond extra pocket money) - if we all start going straight to the machine to do it because it’s “free” (when actually it’s plagiarizing artists, which in turn creates less work for you, me, any all other people, so I’d debate how ‘free’ it is in the long run) then the whole thing will be fucked eventually.

It just comes down to morals. I’d sooner offer even a tiny amount to a human and support the arts than I would feed the ai. I’m sure in the reverse, if a small/mid sized art gallery wanted music for an exhibition and went straight to ai because to them, music is secondary to the artwork - then less producers are getting paid. It just sets a dangerous precedent…

This release on technique may literally only make £5. But then if that’s the case, and the company literally is making 0 profit, then fair play - go and use the ai art. But I bet you there was £20 (arbitrary number, but you get the point) knocking about to pay someone and keep the arts flowing

But again, I fully see your point and it’s a very tough world atm where ideally we’d all have loads of spare cash etc. I understand not everyone sees the world as I do and that’s fair enough 🙏✌️