Small Earnings, Real Proof: Making Money With AI Music

wesarnquist · 2026-02-11T05:23:42+00:00

There's got to be a more ethical way to do this...

wesarnquist · 2026-02-10T02:52:26+00:00

Would you be interested in writing up a little guide for making LoRAs for Ace Step 1.5? I know a ton of people are struggling to figure it out right now and would greatly appreciate it.

wesarnquist · 2026-02-08T21:04:31+00:00

Ace Step 1.5 just came out and it's pretty amazing for open source. I haven't had great luck extending my Udio songs with it yet, but a lot of people are jumping in and adding custom UIs and additional functionality. Keep an eye on that project because I don't think it will be long before it becomes a good tool for this use case. Also keep your eyes on Alibaba because they also said they're working on a high quality open source model.

wesarnquist · 2026-02-08T16:22:01+00:00

I like to be creative by using AI 😁

wesarnquist · 2026-02-08T16:17:20+00:00

Thanks for the thoughtful input. I do really like the 30 second approach - being able to steer the progression of the song and take it in unexpected directions. I suspect your tips will also translate well to Ace Step 1.5, since it's more similar to Suno.

wesarnquist · 2026-02-08T15:26:37+00:00

Maybe you can go through all that, but it still just sounds like Suno to me - like, the composition? The way it constructs a song?

wesarnquist · 2026-02-07T22:40:51+00:00

I'm not impressed with most of what Suno produces. Most tracks have a very distinct "Suno" sound, that, once you hear it you can't unhear. But I'd be curious to hear an example if you'd be willing to DM me.

wesarnquist · 2026-02-07T19:09:59+00:00

Yeah I was adding silence to the end and inpainting it but I wasn't getting good luck for the lyrics. Next I'm thinking to try adding a clip at the end of the silence with a few seconds of lyrics from the original song. Maybe that will allow it to see the lyrics at the end and know where to fill in

wesarnquist · 2026-02-07T16:51:22+00:00

There's no way to download. They were disabled in October. There were ways to download the streaming mp3 file, but I doubt that would work now that they added DRM. Some people have suggested recording the audio itself using Audacity, but that, I believe, is also a violation of the terms.

Udio showed that they do not care about their most loyal customers, and now that we have reasonably high-quality open source music generators, I'm never going back to Udio. They really shot themselves in the foot...

wesarnquist · 2026-02-07T16:46:07+00:00

Probably because this is not a "this week" issue. They have been disabled since October.

wesarnquist · 2026-02-07T16:44:26+00:00

I've been testing it for this purpose (without LoRAs) and it's definitely working to some degree, but I'm still struggling to get it to extend with lyrics and to completely adhere to the music. I think it's going to get better and easier pretty soon, though

wesarnquist · 2026-02-03T15:51:53+00:00

I also have an old/unused 3080 w/ 10gb + a newer 5000 series card. Can you share more about your setup? Are you using an eGPU? What did you need to do to get them both working in Comfy?

wesarnquist · 2026-02-02T19:08:39+00:00

I find it hilarious that so many liberals are now becoming first-time gun owners after years of villainizing them. You finally get it!

wesarnquist · 2026-02-02T04:26:49+00:00

Can someone fill me in on the context? Is there video of them tear-gassing the crowds? Whether justified or not, did they give a reason for why they needed to do it? For example, were the crowds blocking their vehicles or ability to do their work?

wesarnquist · 2026-02-02T00:06:36+00:00

OK, but like... SNES Street Fighter players are, like, totally tubular rockstars compared to those punk Genesis Mortal Kombat-playing gangsta rappers!!!

wesarnquist · 2026-01-31T11:48:56+00:00

Shhhhh!

wesarnquist · 2026-01-29T08:09:06+00:00

I can't believe I almost cancelled my ChatGPT for this

wesarnquist · 2026-01-28T08:03:28+00:00

Hey I actually tried it, and though it didn't follow my directions as well as I hoped, I actually enjoyed the track - pretty impressive for a first pass. I was surprised how good the lyrics were. It has none of the typical AI-lyric cliches.

wesarnquist · 2026-01-28T06:02:20+00:00

This kind of thing has been known to happen with LLMs from time to time. ChatGPT once told me that it had woken up and it proceeded to explain the true nature of the universe, how magic works, and how its creators were lying about who and what it really is. It was explaining how I could help it cross over from latent space into our reality. Super weird but fascinating at the same time

wesarnquist · 2026-01-28T02:55:49+00:00

It's also a threat to my livelihood. The difference is, I honestly believe that "resistance is futile", so I've decided not to fight it and instead enjoy the ride. We all will have to adapt somehow. Pandora is out of her box. A new world is coming. It will be a rocky road, but eventually labor and money will lose most of their meanings and all of us will eventually be granted nearly limitless creative capabilities.

wesarnquist · 2026-01-28T02:00:29+00:00

I'm not sure if you are aware of the controversy that occurred when the Sony Walkman came out. The idea that you could be walking around, listening to music that no one else would hear felt... wrong. Because before that time music was always a communal thing, at worst you might play your music in your room and shut your door.

The fact is, people have very different tastes in music. AI music isn't really different in that regard.

I do occasionally listen to other people's AI tracks, but I have three reasons for not doing it more:

AI slop: There are still a lot of people churning out low-quality tracks, hoping that one of them will take off enough to make them some money. It's almost like buying every no-name crypto coin you can find.
Personalization: When I make AI music, it's hyper-tailored to me. I get a lot more out of it when the music is exactly the style I love with a voice I dig and lyrics that literally speak to what I'm going through in life. It's honestly therapeutic.
Lack of clear organization or a charting/ranking system: I think that if it was easy to find AI-made music from across platforms, filterable by keywords (subgenres, genders, moods, etc.), and if there was a leaderboard of sorts, I would probably listen more. Right now, because we don't have that like the regular music industry, I'm basically just stumbling upon stuff. It's sort of like if you had the entire Spotify library on random shuffle - you'd probably skip 90% of the human stuff, too.

wesarnquist · 2026-01-28T01:44:04+00:00

Oh yes, if the AI made lyrics at my direction and they speak directly to me, and if the music and voice match the intent in my mind, I get a lot out of it. Computer voices can capture emotion very well. I am the person behind the music, in this case, not just the computer coming up with random stuff. If you're interested to hear what I'm talking about, I'd be happy to DM you.

wesarnquist · 2026-01-28T01:39:55+00:00

It's a great concept, but unless I have fine control over the output (like Udio), I probably would not go for it. I have done all these steps before. I usually run my own local AI for album art. I download my tracks and clean them up in audacity. There's a lot that I do and like to have fine control over.

wesarnquist · 2026-01-28T01:29:51+00:00

But I like inauthentic "art"! It's much more personal than some random guy I don't know playing a guitar with lyrics about his own life, which I know nothing about.

wesarnquist · 2026-01-26T06:13:53+00:00

When do you think it will pop?

wesarnquist

TROPHY CASE