You may not even know it, but you’ve almost certainly encountered songs made mostly or even entirely with AI. If you’ve scrolled on TikTok the last few weeks, you’ve probably heard “I Run” a few times, but there are countless others making their way around social and music platforms. AI tools in general, and Suno in particular, are becoming a big part of the music-making process. And nowhere is that more true than in the home of country music, Nashville.
How to vibe-write a country hit
On The Vergecast: Netflix takes on Paramount, AI takes over Nashville, and Times New Roman makes a comeback.
On The Vergecast: Netflix takes on Paramount, AI takes over Nashville, and Times New Roman makes a comeback.
is editor-at-large and Vergecast co-host with over a decade of experience covering consumer tech. Previously, at Protocol, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired.
On this episode of The Vergecast, Nilay and David are joined by Charlie Harding, a music journalist and professor who also cohosts the excellent Switched on Pop podcast. Charlie takes us through his reporting on how songwriters are using Suno and other tools to turn ideas into semi-polished demos. They can be in any style and sound like anyone — and while it seems everyone is using AI to help make music, not everyone is so eager to talk about it. Charlie also made us a song and gamely destroys it with our prompts.
Before that, though, the hosts catch up on a tectonic week in Hollywood. (Actually, before even that, Nilay has a smart shades recommendation for you.) Netflix is buying Warner Bros., unless Paramount can stop it. Either way, we appear doomed to years of regulatory battles, corporate infighting, and layoffs. Because whenever Warner Bros. gets acquired, layoffs seem to follow.
After that, it’s time for some AI music making. And after that, in the lightning round, we begin with a celebrity guest appearance to talk about some font drama in the US State Department, with the only person we know truly qualified to break it down. After that, it’s time for another installment of Brendan Carr is a Dummy, plus our takes on the Pebble Index smart ring, the new Disco browser, the latest in the garage door wars, and more.
If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started, first on the Warner Bros. fight:
- Netflix is buying Warner Bros. for $83 billion
- Paramount launches a hostile $108 billion bid to snatch Warner from Netflix
- Welcome to the big leagues, Netflix
- There are no good outcomes for the Warner Bros. sale
- From The Wrap: New Paramount’s Plans for Film, TV and Streaming Revealed
- Netflix CEO made a visit to the White House before buying Warner Bros.
And on Nashville’s Suno obsession:
And in the lightning round:
- Calibri is too woke for the State Department
- From Daring Fireball: The Full Text of Marco Rubio’s Directive on State Department Typography, Re-Establishing Times New Roman
- The Pebble Index 01 is a smart ring with a built-in microphone
- EU fines X $140 million over ‘deceptive’ blue checkmarks
- From TechPolicy: The EU’s Fine Against X is Not About Speech or ‘Censorship’
- Google Disco is an experimental new browser based on AI ‘GenTabs’
- Chamberlain’s new technology blocks aftermarket controllers from working with its garage door openers
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