Recently, it has been reported that short-form video giant TikTok has been testing a new feature called “AI Song” for some users. Powered by the Large Language Model (LLM) Bloom, the new AI function takes prompts from users to generate lyrics for a song. Users can select from suggested prompts provided by TikTok, such as “Going to concerts”, “A new beginning” or “Cuddling with pets”, as well as enter their own custom prompt.
In seconds, the app will generate the lyrics for your song based on the prompt and sync it to music. The user can select the genre of the song from options including “pop”, “EDM” and “hiphop”. According to TechCrunch, TikTok says that the AI-generated lyrics are “paired with music from a pre-saved catalogue created within TikTok”. There have been reports, however, that there are problems with the pairing, resulting in the music being offkey. As TikTok admits, “It’s not technically an AI song generator” and the name might change in the future.
AI-generated songs have been trending almost as soon as the AI boom started. An AI Drake and the Weeknd song “Heart on My Sleeve” went viral on TikTok last year. YouTube has also rolled out a feature called “Dream Track” a few months ago, where creators can build 30-second soundtracks with AI, in the voices of artists such as Charli XCX, John Legend, Sia and Troye Sivan.
Although AI-generated music, at least for TikTok, is not quite there yet, the platform is actively expanding in the music world. Last June, ByteDance, TikTok’s parent launched a music production app in the US called Ripple. TikTok itself launched a streaming service called “TikTok Music” in selected countries. The short-form platform relies heavily on music for soundtracking its content, and having more control over the rights and creation of the vital parts of its videos is an apparent step forward for the platform.
