SHINEDOWN's Zach Myers Criticizes AI-Composed Songs
In a Primordial Radio interview, SHINEDOWN guitarist Zach Myers criticized the use of artificial intelligence to compose songs, saying "I'm not writing with artificial intelligence," and calling AI-generated music "awful," according to Blabbermouth.net. Myers said he asks ChatGPT many non-compositional questions but that he will not use AI to write songs, adding the band achieved "24 Number Ones without using a computer," per Blabbermouth.net. The article also notes that last month SHINEDOWN singer Brent Smith said "no A.I. [artificial intelligence] was used in the making of" the band's eighth studio album, "Ei8ht", as reported by Blabbermouth.net.
What happened
In a Primordial Radio interview quoted and transcribed by Blabbermouth.net, SHINEDOWN guitarist Zach Myers criticized the use of artificial intelligence to compose melodies, harmonies and lyrics. Myers is quoted saying, "That's awful... I'm not writing with artificial intelligence," and, "Don't use A.I. to do your work for you," as transcribed by Blabbermouth.net. Myers also said, "I ask ChatGPT a million questions a day. It's not 'how to write a song' or 'write a song with me'," per Blabbermouth.net. The article reports Myers added, "we got **24 Number Ones without using a computer.""
Technical details
Editorial analysis - technical context
Music-generation systems broadly use machine-learning models that predict musical sequences from training data, often producing outputs by sampling from learned distributions. Industry commentary around these systems focuses on their tendency to reproduce statistical patterns from datasets, which can yield musically coherent but stylistically derivative results. For practitioners, the distinction between tools used for ideation versus tools that produce final, publishable works matters for metadata, attribution, and rights management.
Context and significance
What to watch
Editorial analysis
Public pushback from established artists contributes to the broader debate over authenticity, authorship and the role of generative AI in creative industries. Artists' objections, like those quoted by Blabbermouth.net, influence public perception and can feed into downstream discussions among publishers, rights organisations, and platforms about disclosure and remuneration. For data scientists and product teams, these debates increase scrutiny on dataset provenance, licensing, and ways to surface provenance metadata in generative outputs.
Observers should follow:
- •whether music publishers or performing-rights organisations update guidance on AI-assisted works
- •platform policies that require disclosure of AI contribution
- •technical work on provenance tracking and watermarking for generated audio. These indicators will show how commercial, legal, and technical systems adapt to artist concerns cited in the Blabbermouth.net coverage
Key Points
- 1Established artists publicly rejecting AI-composed music increases scrutiny on provenance and rights for generative outputs.
- 2Myers distinguishes casual use of ChatGPT for questions from using AI to compose songs, highlighting boundary perception.
- 3For practitioners, emphasis shifts toward tools that support ideation, transparent provenance, and licensing-aware datasets.
Scoring Rationale
A single musician's opinion in a niche radio interview criticizing AI-composed music; it touches the broader authenticity and provenance debate relevant to creative-AI but introduces no technical advance, deployment, or regulatory action. It is a tangential, opinion-driven story, scored at the minor tier and held just at the feed's visibility floor.
Sources
Public references used for this report.
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