Should Artists Admit They Use AI? (ft. Dr. Joel Carnevale)

What happens to an artist's reputation the moment they admit they used AI? Does admitting how they used AI make a difference? New research suggests the stakes are higher than most realize, and the answer is far from simple.

This week on the podcast, Dr. Joel Carnevale, assistant professor of Management at Florida International University, joins Dmitri to break down the findings from his recent article in The Conversation that put that question to the test. Using a music composition scenario with Hans Zimmer asa stand-in for established reputation, Joel and his co-authors designed experiments to find out how disclosure affects the way listeners evaluate a creator's competence and credibility.

The conversation covers why authenticity is at the heart of the debate, what different types of AI disclosure actually signal to audiences, and why how you disclose may matter more than whether you disclose Dmitri and Joel also explore what all of this means for a music industry where nearly every working producer is already using AI in some part of their process.

The news

• Global recorded music revenues hit $31.7B in 2025, up 6.4% YoY; users of paid music subscriptions reach 837M

• Why Mark Cuban Thinks Music Is (Basically) 'the Worst Industry Ever' for Investors

• Live Nation Employees Bragged About 'Gouging' Customers and 'Robbing Them Blind' In Dozens of Leaked Exchanges—Here's a Look at the Unsealed Documents

The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!

Get Dmitri's Rock Paper Scanner newsletter.