Let’s get this out of the way: AI-generated music sucks, but admittedly is getting better. It’s soulless, derivative, and sounds like everything and nothing at the same time. If you’re using AI to write your songs or produce your tracks, you’re doing it wrong.
But here’s the thing nobody talks about: AI is really fucking good at the boring administrative work that eats your day. The research. The tracking. The organizational bullshit that has to get done but doesn’t require your creative brain.
You shouldn’t let AI make your music. But you should absolutely let it do your homework.
Why AI Sucks at Music
AI doesn’t understand intention. It doesn’t know why a song should build tension in the bridge or why a certain chord progression hits emotionally. It’s pattern-matching based on millions of songs it’s analyzed, and the result is technically competent but creatively dead.
I’ve heard AI-generated tracks. They sound fine. They sound like background music for a commercial. They sound like something you’d hear in an elevator and forget immediately.
That’s not music. That’s audio wallpaper.
If you’re a musician, your job is to make something that matters. Something that connects. Something that only you could make because it came from your experience and your perspective and your particular combination of influences and fuck-ups.
AI can’t do that. It can only approximate what’s already been done.
So don’t use it for that.
Why AI Doesn’t Suck at Everything Else
But tracking gear deals? Searching for sync opportunities? Monitoring submission deadlines? Generating a list of playlist curators who are actually accepting submissions right now?
That’s not creative work. That’s research. And AI is great at research.
You’re not asking it to be original. You’re asking it to scan the internet for specific information, filter out the noise, and give you something actionable. That’s what it was built to do.
And if you set it up right, it does it automatically while you’re sleeping or making music or doing literally anything else.
What AI Tasks Actually Look Like
Here’s the deal: ChatGPT and other AI tools now let you schedule recurring tasks. You write a prompt once, test it until it works, then schedule it to run daily or weekly.
It’s like setting a Google Alert, except the AI actually processes the information instead of just dumping a list of links on you.
Here are ten tasks you can set up that actually help:
Daily Music Industry News Digest
Search for the top 20 questions asked yesterday about music distribution, sync licensing, Spotify playlisting, or music marketing and identify patterns. What are other musicians struggling with right now? What’s changing that might affect how I release my next track or where I should focus my energy?
This keeps you informed without losing two hours in Reddit threads where the same arguments repeat forever.
Upcoming Music Events & Opportunities
Search for music submission deadlines, sync opportunities, playlist submission windows, and music conferences happening 30-60 days from today that I could actually submit to or attend. Filter out the major label stuff I don’t qualify for. Give me realistic opportunities with links and dates so I can plan my calendar.
You stop missing deadlines because you forgot to check that library’s website or didn’t see the Instagram post about submissions closing.
Social Media Content Calendar Generator
Search for music holidays, artist anniversaries, and industry events happening 14 days from now. For each one, give me 3 angles I could use for my own content: something I could share about my process, a post that connects to my story, or a behind-the-scenes moment that makes sense for that day.
You still have to create and post, but at least you’re not staring at Instagram at 9pm wondering what the hell to say.
Gear Deal Tracker
Search for legitimate deals on the specific gear I’m watching: plugins I’ve had my eye on, interfaces in my price range, microphones I’ve been considering. Filter out subscription services and fake “sales” that never end. Show me real discounts with expiration dates.
You stop paying full price for that compressor plugin that goes on sale every six weeks. You stop missing the one day a year that interface you want actually drops to a price you can afford.
Sync Licensing Opportunity Scanner
Search for music libraries that are accepting submissions in my genre, TV shows and films in production that need music like mine, and production companies posting briefs I could actually fulfill. Skip the ones that require exclusive publishing deals or major label representation.
This helps you find places to submit your music without paying for databases that might be six months out of date. You’re building a list of real opportunities, not just hoping someone discovers you.
Release Strategy Researcher
Search for case studies of indie artists in my genre who successfully released music in the last 30 days. What platforms did they prioritize? What marketing actually worked for them? What did they try that failed? Give me the honest takeaways I can learn from.
You’re learning from what’s working right now for artists in your situation, not what worked for someone with a label budget three years ago.
Playlist Pitch Tracker
Search for active Spotify playlist curators in my genre who are currently accepting submissions. Give me their contact info, playlist sizes, follower counts, and submission requirements. Update this weekly because curators open and close submissions constantly.
This beats spending hours on SubmitHub or DMing curators who stopped accepting music four months ago. You get a current list of people who might actually listen to your track.
Music Marketing Trend Spotter
Search for what’s actually working in music marketing right now for indie artists. Not guru promises or “buy my course” bullshit. What are artists with small budgets doing that’s getting them real results? What tactics are people trying that are failing?
You separate real strategies from noise. You find out what’s worth your limited time and money, and what’s just someone trying to sell you something.
Work Opportunities
Search for remote session work, collaboration requests, and “musicians wanted” posts from the last 48 hours that match my instrument and skill level. Filter for gigs that actually pay. Skip the “great exposure” offers and rev-share fantasies.
You find paid work without scrolling through dozens of posts from people who think your time is worthless because you’re a musician.
Administrative Task Reminder
Weekly reminder to handle the business stuff I always forget: update my streaming stats, check how my music is performing in those sync libraries, review which social posts actually got engagement, backup my project files before my hard drive dies, update tour dates on my website, check for copyright issues, follow up on collaboration offers I haven’t responded to yet.
The boring maintenance that keeps your music career functional but gets buried under the creative work you’d rather be doing.
Want the actual prompts you can copy and paste? I’ve put together 10 ready-to-use AI task prompts for musicians. Grab them here: https://e88.me/jlJX3
How to Actually Use These
Pick one prompt. Just one.
Copy it into ChatGPT or whatever AI tool you’re using.
Run it manually a few times. See what you get.
Adjust it until the output is actually useful.
Then schedule it: “Please schedule this as a task that runs daily at 7am” (or weekly, or whatever).
Don’t set up all ten at once. You won’t check them. They’ll pile up. You’ll ignore them.
Start with the one that would save you the most time right now. If it works after a week, add another one.
Want to Level This Up?
Once you’re comfortable with basic AI tasks, you can connect them to automation tools like n8n, Zapier, or Make. Instead of just getting notifications, you can have results automatically sent to Google Docs, added to spreadsheets, or dropped into your calendar.
For example: your gear deal tracker could auto-populate a price-sorted spreadsheet. Your sync opportunities could feed directly into a tagged database.
It takes more setup, but it’s not complicated. I’ll write a separate article walking through it if there’s interest.
For now, start simple. Get one task running. Then we can talk about making it completely hands-off.
What This Isn’t
This isn’t AI making your creative decisions. This isn’t AI writing your songs or producing your tracks or pretending to be you.
This is AI doing the research and organizational grunt work that doesn’t require your talent or your perspective. The stuff that takes time but not creativity.
You’re still the musician. The AI is just handling the administrative bullshit so you can spend more time making music.
The Real Question
Do you want to spend three hours today manually tracking sync opportunities and gear deals and submission deadlines?
Or do you want to spend three hours making music while the AI does that work for you?
AI sucks at making music.
But it doesn’t suck at making your life easier so you can focus on what actually matters.
Set up one task. See if it saves you time. If it does, set up another.
And then get back to your actual job: making something that only you can make.
Which of these tasks would save you the most time? Or are you already using AI for something I didn't mention?
Hey, great read as always. You totally nailed the distinction between AI's pattern-matching genius and its lack of true creative spark. Got me thinking what if AI handling all the admin 'bullshit' actually frees us to be even more creative The original art we'd make then, wow.