AI is a tool, won't remove creativity from music: Deadmau5
There are growing concerns about how AI will impact the music industry. In an interview from the Cannes Lions International Festival, producer and DJ Deadmau5 tells Yahoo Finance that he sees AI as a tool for the industry, but admits he is remaining "blissfully agnostic" to the technology.
Video transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
BRAD SMITH: Everyone, you're watching Yahoo Finance. Brad Smith here with Brian Sozzi, and we are joined by the one, the only Deadmaus. Thank you so much for taking some time here with us today.
DEADMAUS: Awesome.
BRAD SMITH: We're here at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, and there's a whole lot of creative folks here, but a lot of them look up to you. The significance of a festival like this and being able to be part of, not just the entertainers, the business profiles, but having all of them look at Deadmaus and say, that's the guy we wish we could all be.
DEADMAUS: I don't know. Yeah. I mean, I'm sure you'd all exchange some moments to be on stage for a minute, but I don't think any of us would trade places on that flight here.
BRIAN SOZZI: What is getting you excited? Your creative juices, as someone who has watched your career, what is getting excited about music today?
DEADMAUS: Honestly, like, trying new things, like not even musically. I took up surfing recently, like wakesurfing. And that's been fun.
BRAD SMITH: Yeah.
DEADMAUS: So that's my new-- that's my new hobby. So, yeah, like, just doing new dumb things, learning new things, whether it has to do with music, or art, or not. It just kind of keeps me like sated mentally, I guess.
BRAD SMITH: You think about new things that keep you excited right now, and it's one of those things, perhaps. Of course, a lot musicians have to be at the cutting edge of technology to know what might be coming in the future.
DEADMAUS: No. Yeah. I mean, yeah, sure, technology plays a huge role in, like, kind of, moving forward and, kind of, progressing your sound, if you like. But honestly, music is so rudimentarily basic, that you don't really need a lot of new technology to do that.
Like, I mean, we've been doing that since the turn of the first century with the piano and stuff like that. So we're still rocking them. So musical ideas, not so much, but just the DSP, the processing, the sculpting, the sound, those tools are the ones that are always changing. So I like to stay on top of that stuff, too.
BRAD SMITH: And so, when you hear people talking about things like generative AI, do you think that is going to remove the creativity from music?
DEADMAUS: No. No.
BRAD SMITH: No? Why is that?
DEADMAUS: It's a tool.
BRAD SMITH: Yeah.
DEADMAUS: You know? I mean, I can't even count to four. So, I mean, it's-- I don't know. I'm not really the authority to talk about how AI is impacting this, and that, and that, and the other thing because I really don't know [BLEEP] about it. I'm remaining blissfully agnostic to the whole thing, and then we'll see if he either takes over or goes the way, like the NFT. I know you know. I don't know.
BRIAN SOZZI: We saw-- I mean, the pandemic really hit the touring industry hard. I mean, when you're back on the road, are the crowds back? What are you seeing out there?
DEADMAUS: Yeah. Yeah. They're coming back crazy. I mean, it's been a couple of years now, I think, since they declared it over. So, yeah. No, it's been cool. The energy, kind of, came back, had a little spike. And now, it's just, kind of, back to business as usual, and going out, and playing events, and meeting new people and stuff like that. So it's been pretty cool.
BRAD SMITH: You've got a lot of friends that are out here tonight. You were telling us about one of them-- Dave Grohl. Of course, everybody knows the name Dave Grohl, whether it's drum battles--
DEADMAUS: Yeah, the biggest in LA.
BRAD SMITH: Yeah. Biggest DJ in LA. Talk about that relationship. I mean, both of you, viral in your own sense, brilliant in your own sense. What's that friendship like?
DEADMAUS: I'll tell you something that funny. It's pretty funny because I used to do this touring circuit with Dave at all these big, like, kind of, rock/EDM festivals when that was coming to fruition. And they would always, invariably, put me on at the same time as the Foo Fighters.
And it would drive Dave crazy because it's like just sound bleed city, right? And me, too, right? Because I can hear him trying to play hero, and I'm trying to play ghost and stuff. And it's like, shut up Dave. And he's like, shut up, Deadmaus. And so, we became friends. Actually, through mutual friends a while ago.
But then, we traveled together for a period in summer of-- I think, it was like 2016, '17, and it was just the ongoing joke that, like, we would always be playing together. And lo and behold, tonight, he's playing downwind about 400 meters away. And I have faith in my PA is going to overcome his tonight so that should be fun.
BRAD SMITH: Well, we're going to--
DEADMAUS: I'm going to hear about it. I know it.
BRAD SMITH: We're going to pump it that much louder.
DEADMAUS: Good.
BRAD SMITH: Yeah. When we think about music catalogs right now, there's a lot of talk about how artists are cashing in on some of their music catalogs. Is that something that you've ever had to think about? Have you thought--
DEADMAUS: Well, I don't have to. I don't have to do anything. I don't have to get out of bed, but I do, you know? But it's an interesting thing, you know? [BLEEP] I have no opinion of it, really. Like, I had a conversation with a, quote, unquote, "rock star," who shall not be named, who was, like, basically telling me his whole big story about how he sold his publishing and on and on.
And he's like, basically, the follow up to the end of his whole big story was, so how much did you sell yours for? And I'm like, well, I didn't. You're stupid. Why did you do that? You could have done that. And I'm like, well, I don't want to. You know, like, I don't-- why?
And he's like, oh. And it was such a badgering and a beating. And then-- and then, that didn't-- like, think, maybe, hey, I should do that. But if I do, I am focusing on anything this year, it's retaining all my rights back from all these other things. So that's actually just, kind of, all starting to come together this month, which is, like, a really cool thing to finally have all ownership of my stuff.
How would I want to do with it later down the road is fine. Like, I'm only like 42, so, like, you know? I got a-- I got a good bit of time and creativity in me before I need to go out and sell the farm, so to speak. You know what I mean?
BRAD SMITH: It shows that you have good lawyers, and the lawyers are doing their job.
DEADMAUS: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's the right company.
BRIAN SOZZI: That's a tip you could use.
DEADMAUS: You guys want to buy it? You want to buy my catalog?
BRIAN SOZZI: Before we let you go, I know you're prepping for the Yahoo Beach Party. What's next in your career?
DEADMAUS: What?
BRIAN SOZZI: What's next in your career?
DEADMAUS: Oh, geez, I don't know. I-- an album, I guess. I got to do another album.
BRIAN SOZZI: Yeah.
DEADMAUS: But I got to get some time to do that. So, like, this summer is, probably, like just like a little bit of touring, do some Europe run, back in the States, do some of that. Festival season, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then things, kind of, tend to cool down after Halloween. And then, I'll probably have some time at home to, like, just, kind of, do an album.
BRAD SMITH: A lot of people were using that time at home during the pandemic to create new albums to really dive into their creativity.
DEADMAUS: Yeah, I couldn't do [BLEEP]. No, I didn't do anything. I worked-- I worked in-- I worked in tech a lot, like that, during that whole time. Like, I do software development, and game design, and stuff like that. So I worked with Unreal Engine for a solid two years there and got ahead with that so that when the next tour comes up, I'm going to have this new, like, cool real-time technology I can start implementing into the show and stuff like that. So that'll be fun.
BRAD SMITH: That's awesome. Deadmaus, thank you so much for taking the time here with us. We really do appreciate it. Everyone, you've been watching Yahoo Finance here at Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.
- Big thanks to Deamaus and, of course, our very own Brian Sozzi and Brad Smith.
