25th Anniversary Of The World Soundtrack Awards: Orchestra Music Optimism Amid AI Onslaught

World Soundtrack Awards (Instagram @worldsoundtracktrackawards)

JAKARTA - The World Soundtrack Awards (WSA) is celebrating its 25th birthday as a milestone in appreciating the global contribution of film and television composers.

This prestigious event was born from the smart initiative of Fest Ghent Film in Belgium, which in the 1980s realized the need for differentiation from same-sex film festivals. The focus of the festival on film music has finally accelerated to become a WSA and its parent organization, the World Soundtrack Academy, which officially established in 2001.

Despite celebrating the past, WSA also faces future challenges. Dirk Brossé as Director of Fest Ghent Film Music expressed concern about industrial saturation (oversaturation).

"Currently, professional film composers are booming," said Dirk Brossé, quoted by Variety, Thursday, October 2.

"When we started, the number of composers who had careers was limited. But now, you have a film school everywhere," he added. Every conservatory now has a film department and, with AI (artificial intelligence artificial intelligence), more people have access to tools to create soundtracks."

The Belgian conductor also compared the film's music industry before the electronic era, which really needed training as a composer because everything came out of mind.

Since the emergence of synthesizers, computer programs, and now AI, even people with very low music education can access tools to translate their own fantasy into soundtracks. So, competition is huge," he said.

But specifically for dealing with AI in this industry, Brossé emphasized that the WSA has a very clear message.

"Our goal and our statement is to provide a platform to people who write for acoustic instruments and orchestration. That doesn't mean we exclude others, but our main goal is to encourage young people to continue writing for orchestrates," he stressed.

This view is also supported by Wim De Witte, Director of Fest Ghent Film Program, who said that WSA will always focus on music.

With AI and other technological developments, you can imagine the difficulties that composers are experiencing, but we will always defend composers who write original music for any instrument they choose. We will always try to find ways to present it at the festival," said De Witte.

However, AI remains a hot topic. Hanne Schelstraete as the Coordinator of the WSA Music Project leading the industry program warned that some composers were tired of talking about AI because it made them a bit depressed.

Bross\'e closed with an optimistic tone, reminiscent of the synthesizer era in the 1970s and 1980s, where everyone was scared and thought it was the end of everything.

"Then John Williams returns with an orchestra for the Star Wars film and restarts the whole movement. As long as humanity tries to live as humans, there will always be interest in art created by humans," concluded Brossé.