tech

Even before President Joe Biden announced that he was dropping out of the 2024 presidential race on July 21, extremely online millennials and Gen Zers had started posting memes on social media in support of Vice President Kamala Harris, who many hoped (and assumed) would take over for Biden after his disastrous debate performance in late June. And after Harris replaced him as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, it seemed the entire internet became completely coconut-pilled.

Along with traditional text- and image-based memes — which are nothing new — musical memes have also proliferated on short-form video sites like TikTok, Reels and Shorts, with users mashing up Harris quotes with popular songs using AI or more traditional methods of remixing. But these playful — or, in some cases, just plain strange — songs are more than just digital fun and games. The overwhelmingly pro-Harris memes are reaching millions of potential voters, and might help Harris mobilize the previously discouraged young voters she needs in order to win in November. 

One audio, which has over 1.1 million likes on TikTok, pairs Harris’ memeable quote “do you think you just fell out of a coconut tree?” with the instrumental for “360” by Charli XCX. Another pitch-alters the same Harris quote over “The Star-Spangled Banner.” One anti-J.D. Vance audio pastes the Republican VP candidate saying “I’m a Never Trump Guy” over “Freek-a-Leek” by Petey Pablo. (After that clip went viral, the @KamalaHQ account also made its own video using the sound.)

There are also pro-Harris AI tracks, like one that replaces the lyrics to a Beyoncé song to make Queen Bey seemingly sing “you exist in the context of all in which you live,” another heavily memed Harris quote. A different AI track splices a Harris soundbite over DJ Johnrey’s viral track “Emergency Budots,” with an AI deepfake video of Harris and Pete Buttigieg dancing under a palm tree. 

Beyond its political ramifications, this content also offers a glimpse into the future of music — one where we don’t just play our music, but where we play with it. In a sense, it’s the culmination of a trend that’s been brewing for decades. As music lovers have embraced sampling, remixing, the digital audio workstation, the Splice royalty-free sample library, Kanye West’s stem player and sped-up/slowed-down song edits, they’ve demonstrated a desire to have more control over static recordings than the traditional music consumption provides. And AI innovations can help to further facilitate this customizable listening experience.

Some music AI experts, including Suno’s CEO Mikey Shulman, are betting on a future where “anyone can make music” at the click of a button — and that everyone will want to. Often, I’ve heard folks who espouse this view of AI music compare it to photography, given photography is an art form which went from being something conducted by trained professionals in proper studio settings to being a ubiquitous activity aided by smartphones.

These entrepreneurs aren’t totally misguided — it’s clear based on user interest in Suno and Udio that there is a place for songs that are completely new and individual. But right now, it seems predictions about this technology’s role in the future of music consumption are too bullish. Music fans still crave familiarity, community and repetition when listening to music. It’s also scientifically proven that it takes multiple listens to form bonds with new songs — which is way more likely to happen with hit songs by artists you know and love, rather than individualized AI-generated tracks. 

Instead, I think the average music listener will be way more interested in using AI to tweak their favorite hits. Listeners could use AI stem separation tools to create more bass-heavy mixes, for example, or some form of AI “timbre transfer” to make a song’s guitars sound more like a Les Paul than a Stratocaster (you could also go even further and change a guitar to be an entirely different instrument), or AI voice filters to change the lyrics of a song to include their best friend’s name.

Of course, there are still serious legal hurdles to customizing copyrighted sound recordings and songs if users share them publicly. Right now, any of the artists whose songs were used in these pro-Harris remixes could get them taken down upon request, citing copyright infringement. The NMPA has also expressed that it is willing to fight back against Spotify if it ever rolled out customizable song features on its platform. In a cease and desist letter, the NMPA warned the streaming service, saying, “We understand that Spotify wishes to offer a ‘remix’ feature…to ‘speed up, mash up, and otherwise edit’ their favorite songs to create derivative works. Spotify is on notice that release of any such feature without the proper licenses in place from our members may constitute additional direct infringement.”

So for now, edited songs will remain on social media platforms only, at least until they receive takedown requests. Still, consumer interest in music customization is only growing, and the popularity of pro-Harris campaign remixes serve as proof.

This analysis was published as part of Billboard’s new music technology newsletter ‘Machine Learnings.’ Sign up for ‘Machine Learnings,’ and Billboard’s other newsletters, here.