How artists can overcome \u201cadmin fatigue\u201d and use AI chatbots as a 24\/7 brainstorming and organizational assistant for small but crucial tasks.<\/p>\n
Musicians are spending a lot of time debating whether AI can make songs. Meanwhile, most of us are drowning in emails, social media, scheduling, and trying to remember whether we already followed up with that venue in Portland about our blue M&Ms request.<\/p>\n
What I don\u2019t hear much about is musicians using AI for arms-length career advice. Ironically, AI might be better at helping musicians organize their careers than replacing them creatively.<\/p>\n
Any of us working in music suffer from \u201cadmin fatigue.\u201d <\/strong>Musicians spend half their time being unpaid marketing departments and contract lawyers. Just about everybody in music has to wear 10 hats to keep momentum going. Does this seem familiar to some of you?<\/p>\n Some bands have professional help, while there is an avalanche of free advice on the web. But even solid advice can leave musicians with too many options, decision paralysis, and massive to-do lists that don\u2019t seem to end up booking more shows with more people showing up.<\/p>\n So, why not seek out the help of AI as an unofficial music business consigliere?<\/p>\n It’s not like musicians need more advice, but AI is actually very good at collating <\/em>what’s out there and summing it up, giving you more time to internalize it and adjust. So while AI shouldn\u2019t be your manager <\/em><\/strong>per se, it can’t hurt to use Gemini or ChatGPT for second opinions on what to do next.<\/p>\n Go ahead; dump the most tedious and boring parts of band admin work on AI. Have it draft those emails to bookers and draft some social media posts. Notice I said \u201cdraft,\u201d<\/em> we\u2019ll get back to that later.<\/p>\n +Read more:<\/strong> <\/em>“AI Stole My Client\u2019s Song \u2014 Then Its Version Went Viral.”<\/em><\/p>\n You really can use Claude <\/strong>or ChatGPT<\/strong> for most of your music-related tasks short of practicing the guitar, warming up your voice, or writing songs. Let\u2019s say you\u2019re releasing an EP. You\u2019re likely overwhelmed by a to-do list that needs doing. Asking Gemini or Claude to help can go a long way: \u201cI have an EP of original songs I\u2019m releasing later this year. Give me a rollout plan.\u201d <\/p>\n Whatever it gives you is better than a blank legal pad and Advil.<\/p>\n If you have an upcoming release, the mess is always the same. A half-finished rollout plan, a stack of emails you don\u2019t want to write, a bio you\u2019ve rewritten six times already. This is exactly where AI actually helps. Not by solving everything, but by giving you something usable enough to react to.<\/p>\n Whether you\u2019re wanting to reach out to reviewers, radio, playlists, or any group, AI can supply you with EPK drafts, lists of contacts, and an email template.<\/p>\n Sometimes the greatest value isn\u2019t the quality of the advice. It\u2019s simply having something to react to instead of staring at an impossible to-do list. AI won\u2019t carry your amp, settle band arguments, or rewrite the bridge that isn\u2019t working. But it is<\/em> available at 2am when you just hear that next Friday\u2019s show is canceled. <\/p>\n AI will absolutely nail a press release one minute \u2014 then say something unbelievably stupid the next. That’s kind of the gamble. The more specific you are with your prompts, the better the results you get. But don\u2019t take that to mean that you need to use technical language or perfect spelling.<\/p>\n Talk to AI in your own voice. \u201cWe should appeal to fans of Future Islands,\u201d \u201cMake a social media post involving the Minnesota Vikings,\u201d \u201cRewrite that text copy but 80% less awful.\u201d<\/p>\n You get the point \u2014 and that brings me to my next<\/em> point. You can\u2019t just ask \u201cplan us a tour.\u201d More effective is \u201cwe have a budget of $4k and four weeks available in July to tour, what\u2019s an effective way for us to play shows in front of new audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n It gives you 8 next steps when you only asked for one. If it does this, remind them you only were prompting for one issue.<\/p>\n ChatGPT is the guiltiest offender, but they all tend to over-praise you. If you like this validation from a robot, keep it. But lots of us prefer truth over flattering motivational language. <\/p>\n The AI companies want you to engage for as long as possible; they often suggest something like \u201cI can pick your hotels for you on the tour\u201d out of the blue after you were asking to draft your booking confirmation email.<\/p>\n This is going to seem like crazy advice, but when the AI assistant is bugging you or not getting it right, go ahead and yell at it. Use ALL CAPS if you like or swear at it if that makes you feel better. It will adjust. I know this prompt of mine made me feel better and gave me the answer I wanted:<\/p>\n +Read more: <\/em><\/strong>“Why College Radio Matters More Now Than It Has in a Generation”<\/em><\/p>\n Here\u2019s something very important \u2013 if anything smells incorrect, push back on it. AI often sounds dead confident when it’s absolutely wrong. So don\u2019t defer to it.<\/p>\n AI assistants can absolutely hallucinate. You can ask it \u201cwhat 3 venues should we look at playing in Seattle?\u201d and it may spit back \u201cSunset Tavern, Barboza, and Phoenix Club\u201d \u2014 only that there is no such venue as Phoenix Club. ChatGPT is such a people pleaser; it\u2019s programmed to help with improvements so much that it might flat out make something up. <\/p>\n AI will often give you a perfectly polite but completely forgettable outreach email. That\u2019s fine as a starting point, but a human who also loves music is reading this. Don\u2019t bore them with generic descriptions of a two-guitar roots rock band. Rewrite it or push back on it until it sounds like your band. If your band is humorous, say something funny; if your music is dark, use some emotional language.<\/p>\n All AI \u2014 and especially ChatGPT \u2014 might not be aware of things that took place in the last 1 to 6 months.<\/p>\n Claude won\u2019t have a fun fact to share, and its attempts at levity are going to make you groan. If their version reads boring, you need to add the human or funny touch.<\/p>\n When AI proofreads for you, it can rewrite whole sentences or insert jokes without your permission.<\/p>\n AI isn\u2019t replacing your manager. It\u2019s not replacing your voice when communicating with people in the industry. What it really is, is a free, 24\/7 brainstorming assistant that can stop the paralysis and help artists move faster creatively and professionally.<\/p>\n Artists get stalled out all the time. Most artists don\u2019t need more ambition; they need momentum.<\/p>\n Just ask the AI assistant, \u201cWhat should I do next for the band?\u201d and it\u2019s going to start the conversation. After 3 or 4 laps of prompts and responses, I can almost guarantee that it\u2019s going to get you off your ass and making progress.<\/p>\n Essential news & insights for artists and live music pros.<\/p>\n Subscribe for free to get weekly content delivered to your inbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How artists can overcome \u201cadmin fatigue\u201d and use AI chatbots as a 24\/7 brainstorming and organizational assistant for small but crucial tasks.","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5632,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"csco_display_header_overlay":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[515],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tech-innovation","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"yoast_head":"\n