Dave Stewart of Eurythmics: Musicians Must Harness AI, Not Fear It
Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart has called artificial intelligence an “unstoppable force,” urging musicians and artists to accept its inevitability and proactively license their music to generative AI platforms.
These platforms use AI to analyze existing songs and tracks, leveraging this data to create entirely new music on demand. For example, a user could ask an AI to generate a song about a rowdy party in the style of a Britpop band, and it would produce its own composition by drawing on songs with similar sounds and themes.
In recent weeks, companies like Universal and Warner have entered partnership agreements with AI platforms Udio and Suno, respectively. These deals allow anyone to create music based on the works of artists signed to these labels or to alter and remix existing songs.
“Everybody should be selling or licensing their voice and their skills to these companies,” Stewart stated. “Otherwise, they’re going to take it anyway.”
This approach is countered by corporations and major labels, which have indicated that their artists will need to consent to such services, after which they would receive royalties for the use of their work by AI companies.
Stewart, who has nine top-10 albums and an equal number of hit singles with Eurythmics in the UK, predicts significant upheaval in the music industry driven by AI and other factors, even following the disruptions of piracy and streaming in recent years. “There’s going to be a dismantling of the huge corporations that control their artists,” he said.
He made these remarks while launching Rare Entity, a new venture that aims to be part of this transformation. Stewart explained that artists are typically at the “bottom of the pile” in corporate structures, often pressured into accepting deals that are “usually terrible.” Rare Entity seeks to provide creatives across various fields with full control and ownership of their work, rather than ceding rights to record labels or other companies. In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, the swift advance of AI serves as a clear warning to artists about the critical importance of owning their work and, consequently, controlling how it is used by AI platforms and other entities—or if it is used at all.
Founded by entrepreneurs Dom Joseph and Rich Britton, Rare Entity offers financial backing for developing projects and ideas that may need creative and commercial support. The company does not seek to own intellectual property but instead takes a share of the revenue generated by the funded project. An example of its initiatives is Planet Fans, a platform where artists and their teams can engage with fans regarding ticket purchases, merchandise, and more.
Stewart revealed that the idea originated in the early 1980s when he and Annie Lennox had to take out a £5,000 bank loan to launch Eurythmics. The concept began to fully take shape in 2002 when he organized a meeting in Deutsche Bank’s boardroom in New York. “I invited different people,” Stewart recalled. “Lou Reed, Stevie Wonder, Dr. Dre, Dr. Dre’s lawyer. I explained that with the internet’s rise, artists needed to start thinking differently, to create their own world and reclaim control over everything they could.”
A long-time advocate for creative autonomy and a believer in technology’s transformative power, Stewart says he is less apprehensive about generative AI than some of his peers. In skilled hands, much like his first drum machine, it should serve as a tool for creativity—never a complete replacement for it.