Slipknot Clown Openly Defends Use of AI in Music Creation Process

Slipknot staff and founder, M. Shawn Crahan aka Clown (Instagram @mshawncrahan)

JAKARTA - The development of artificial intelligence or artificial intelligence (AI) technology continues to trigger sharp polarization in the global music industry, not least for the legendary Iowa metal band, Slipknot.

One of the founders of Slipknot, M. Shawn Crahan or better known as Clown, openly expressed his support for the use of AI in the creative process of writing songs.

The 56-year-old musician even admitted that he had adopted the technology massively for efficiency and wider art exploration.

Clown admitted that he applied AI in his activities. He gave an analogy that the technology was like a professor in his pocket who just wanted to do whatever his master ordered.

"I've been using AI my whole life," Clown said in a recent interview with The Escapist.

Currently, he is adapting the lyrics he wrote with the help of this technology. He emphasized that AI was not used to replace the originality of his work, but as a tool to find new perspectives in terms of vocal delivery.

"These are my words. Don't change it. Don't change it. But show me some different ways to sing it," Clown said explaining how he instructed the AI to process his lyrics.

In addition to artistic reasons, Clown also touched on the financial side of music production. He felt it made more sense to use an AI-based "pocket producer" than to dig into his pocket up to 150,000 US dollars (about Rp2.3 billion) to pay a producer whose results were not necessarily satisfactory or only provided limited options for his musical vision.

However, Clown's optimistic view is the opposite of the attitude of Slipknot vocalist Corey Taylor. In an interview with Kerrang! in 2023, Taylor actually slammed the trend of using AI which is considered to kill human talent.

According to Taylor, relying on something that doesn't even exist physically to create something new is a big mistake.