30
Jul
Would AI-Generated Music Make Woody Guthrie Turn Over in His Grave?
Folk music doesn’t seem like a likely candidate for a positioning strategy marketing analysis. Isn’t its main “position” anti-establishment? Au contraire. Music is also a business, as any musician knows.
In America, folk music has a purposefully fuzzy boundary, weaving through the history of jazz, bluegrass, country, gospel, blues and other cultural music. I’m calling this the “folk penumbra.”
But you know what folk music isn’t? Artificial. In July 2025, one million fans of new folk-rock-inspired The Velvet Sundown were shocked and dismayed to learn their new favorite listen is completely generated with AI. Here are some reactions from a recent Reddit forum titled, “The Velvet Sundown Hate Thread.”
