I can't remember exactly how long ago I wrote this, but I do remember it is the result of a coffee-fuelled expression of exasperation after reading yet another article about some kind of A.I.-driven startup tech bro claiming to 'solve' music.

I enjoy writing manifestos because, just for a little while, you get to pretend that you feel certain about something. This is less manifesto, more of a provocation. A first draft. It might end up getting appropriated by 65LABS at some point. It seems to have that kind of energy.

THE MUSIC ABOLITIONIST PROVOCATION

THE TERRAIN

1. THE AI EVANGELISTS ARE COMING FOR MUSIC AND THEY ARE GOING TO WIN.
2. NOT BY TEACHING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO MAKE THE THING WE CALL MUSIC. THIS WILL NEVER BE POSSIBLE, BECAUSE MUSIC IS NOT WHAT THEY THINK IT IS.
3. INSTEAD, THEY WILL BLUDGEON THE CONCEPT OF MUSIC INTO A SHAPE THAT FITS SOMETHING THEIR COMPUTERS CAN CHURN OUT ENDLESSLY IN SERVICE OF CAPITAL.
4. ONLY THE DISMANTLING OF CAPITALISM CAN TRULY BRING ABOUT A NEW CONCEPTION OF MUSIC.
5. THIS SITUATION IS NOT REFORMABLE. MUSIC AS A PRODUCTION OF CAPITAL MUST ULTIMATELY BE ABOLISHED.
6. UNTIL THEN, MUSIC IS A BATTLEGROUND WHERE WE HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO FIGHT IN AND THROUGH THE ENEMY’S FRAMING.
7. LET THEM TAKE THE MELODIES, THE SCALES, THE WAVEFORMS, THE TEMPORAL STRUCTURING OF SOUND AND FEED THEM INTO THEIR ALGORITHMS. THESE THINGS ARE NOT PRECIOUS - WE CAN PLUCK THEM FROM THE AIR BY LITERALLY PLUCKING THE AIR! THESE PRETTY VIBRATIONS ARE THE TINIEST PART OF WHAT MAKES MEANING IN MUSIC.

THE TERRAFORMING

1. WE MUST PUSH OUR COMPOSING IN OPPOSING DIRECTIONS WITH EQUAL CONVICTION: INTO THE JAWS OF NOSTALGIA TO DEFEND OUR TERRITORY, AND INTO THE JAWS OF THE FUTURE TO SEEK OUT NEW FORMS FOR MUSIC.
2. NOSTALGIA SHOULD NEVER BE TRUSTED. BUT OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH IT MUST BECOME MORE NUANCED, FOR IT CAN NOW BE USED AS BALLAST. AS FRICTION. A DRAG ON THE DEATH DRIVE CALLED PROGRESS. A REMINDER OF PATHS UNTAKEN THAT MIGHT YET REMAIN OPEN TO US: N(E)OSTALGIA.
3. IT IS VITAL TO PRESERVE AND ILLUMINATE THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN NEOSTALGIA AND A CYNICAL RETREADING OF OLD, SAFE GROUND. THE LATTER SERVES ONLY THE MUSICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX. THE FORMER DEMONSTRATES THAT WE DO NOT LACK THE TOOLS WE NEED—THEY HAVE BEEN HERE ALL ALONG. LET'S WRITE NEW HISTORIES AND BUILD UPON THEM.
4. THE JAWS OF THE FUTURE ARE EQUALLY TREACHEROUS BUT FOR DIFFERENT REASONS. WE MUST REACH INTO THE FUTURE TO PULL OFF ITS MASK OF INEVITABILITY, BUT BE CAREFUL NOT TO FALL INTO IT. FORWARD IS PROGRESS, FORWARD IS GROWTH, FORWARD IS COLLAPSE.
5. BUILD ANCHORS. COMPOSE FRICTION. BECOME A DRAG ON PROGRESS. CONSTRUCT NEW DIRECTIONS OF TRAVEL. GET NONLINEAR.

THE HOPE

1. DESPITE THE MUSICAL FEUDALISM OF THE CULTURE INDUSTRY, ANY ACTUAL MEANING IN MUSIC CAN EMERGE NON-HIERARCHICALLY, HORIZONTALLY.
2. IN THIS WAY MUSIC CAN BE A KIND OF COMMUNISM.
3. THE PRIMARY INTUITIVE CREATIVE ACT OF A MUSICIAN IS NOT MAGICAL AND BY NO MEANS RANDOM. IT IS A SUBCONSCIOUS PROCESSING OF SOCIAL RELATIONS INTO CREATIVE PRODUCTIONS.
4. THE MUSICIAN MIGHT BE LUCKY IN THAT THEY HAVE A TALENT FOR RE-PRESENTING THESE RELATIONS IN WAYS THAT RESONATE WITH OTHERS, BUT THEY DO NOT BELONG TO THE MUSICIAN. THEY ARE PART OF ALL OF US.
5. EVEN AS THEY EMERGE, SEEMINGLY UNBIDDEN, INTO THE MUSICIAN’S HEAD, BEFORE THEY ARE EVER TURNED INTO SONGS OR RHYTHM OR MELODY, THEY ARE NOT PRIVATE PROPERTY. THEY ARE MUSICAL FRAMEWORKS ASSEMBLED THROUGH TIME BY ALL OF HUMANITY.
6. MUSIC CAN SURVIVE ITS OWN ABOLISHMENT BECAUSE COMPOSITION IS A PRODUCT OF ALL HUMAN INTERACTION AND SO MUSIC CAN AND DOES EXIST IN EVERYTHING.