ABOUT

 

     Hi, my name is TM Brown Jr., multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, creator and producer of 100 Seconds To Midnight. As a Singer/Songwriter, I had some limited success in the mid 1980’s with the studio band “Tommy & The Strangers”. Our video “Say It Isn’t Over” was aired on USA Cable’s Night Flight in an LA band segment in August 1985.  Being introduced by Graham Parker, we were the only unsigned band aired during the broadcast.  Our concept video was filmed at UCLA under the direction of Max Almy, who directed the “Abracadabra” video for The Steve Miller Band. The band went on to sign with RCA, however, I left prior to the signing and, to my knowledge, nothing ever became of the band.

​     After working 4 years on this project, I moved on and co-founded an Environmental Company, of which I managed until the early 2000’s.  In 2003, I founded Energy Events and became a professional DJ/KJ,  performing in over 2400 events, Also during this period, I operated "The Playground" Recording Studio in Costa Mesa, California and worked on projects with DCP (Dick Clark Productions) and Paramount.  In 2015 I traded hats again, becoming an Electronic Musician, founding 100 Seconds To Midnight in 2022 (the time on the Doomsday Clock by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists of that year).  The Original Project (100 Seconds To Midnight) consisted of mostly compositions made entirely of virtual instruments and commercially licensed loops/samples creating 24 albums over a 7 year period.  Changing direction again in 2024, I moved into the AI arena. Rather than creating individual albums of various genres (like The Original Project), I decided to separate genres and give them a “Project Name”.  Other than The Original Project (which is non-AI), there are 11 Projects to date.  These Projects include:

 

1. Evergrace: Christian Contemporary & Worship

2. Ghosts In The Sands: Indie Pop/Rock & Folk

3. Monsters Of Dance: EDM

4. No Coffee 4 Cats: Alternative Hip Hop, Rap & RnB

5. Of Men & Dragons: Experimental Genres & IDM Abstract

6. The Original Project (Remixes): AI Remixes of The Original Project

7. The UnChurched: Christian Hard Rock

8. Timberland: Country, Folk & Americana

9. TM Brown Jr: AI Versions of My Singer/Songwriter Compositions, Recorded Live

10. Tommy & The Strangers: Progressive, Metal & Hard Rock

11. Transcendent Planet: Ethereal Wave & Dreamcore

 

     The above works total over 60 albums and 730 songs.  Combined with The Original Project, there are over 80 albums and 1,000 songs.

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BENEFITS OF AI

 

     Each AI Project has a distinct design and concept.  Even though I believe everything is open to interpretation, I am considering going over the background/concepts for each project.  Separating genres gives me the option to take a song and remix it to another genre and include it in another project.  The idea being - good lyrics transcend genres, howbeit, some with a little tweaking. Another benefit of AI is the ability to use music/lyrics that were written years ago.  For example, songs on the first few albums of "Tommy & The Strangers" and "Timberland", were written in the early to mid 1980's. Also, many songwriters, including myself, write in different styles.  For example; songwriting classes will typically instruct on song structures and rhyming patterns for various genres, but they don’t necessarily instruct on how to write “stream of consciousness”. With AI, you can express your range.

 

PRESENT STATE OF AI

 

     As of this writing, AI music that wholly consists of AI (Words & Music) is TABOO.  In other words, you have no copyright protection, and most distributors will not touch you.  Saying you are using your own prompts don’t cut it.  You must have a HUMAN hand in the AI creation, either in words, music or both.

     Even then, music distributors like CD Baby won’t touch you.  Some Internet Radio Stations will flag you for AI content and may delete your music altogether (Amazing Radio for example).  Some AI creation providers like SUNO will say that if you create lyrics, the composition AND the music is yours. But that hasn’t been tested in court. So, here’s a quick rundown:

 

• Create AI music with your lyrics or partial lyrics.

• Copyright as “Musical Works” to protect the lyrics. It is questionable if it will protect the music (regardless of what SUNO says). Copyright only with the US Office of Copyrights.

• Find the Distributor that will accept your music. (LANDR and DITTO will, however, they will ask questions}

• Find Internet Radio Stations that will accept your music. If you don’t know – ask.

• When submitting for Opportunities – make sure they accept AI created content.

• As long as you have the musical works copyrighted – go ahead and monetize in the typical fashion. (Sorry, I’m not going into details)

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     Case in point. I subscribe to REVERB NATION and submitted via “Opportunities” for the KLOS 95.5FM Los Angeles, Heidi & Frank Show - “Stay or Go”. I was selected in July 2025.  Come to find out - they won’t accept AI Artists and nowhere in the details was that mentioned.  Big let down.  So always check PRIOR to wherever or whomever you’re submitting your AI created music to.

 

SEMANTICS

 

     I think the problem that musicians are having with AI, besides the issue of taking away jobs, is the term “AI Musician”. If that’s the case, let me clarify.  I think the term AI Artist or Creator/Generator is more appropriate.  It can be argued that by merely playing an instrument, you aren’t necessarily considered an artist.  Conversely, just because you can write a prompt that creates a certain sound, doesn’t make you a musician. The term “Artist” suggests that you express creatively through some media form.  AI Artists are creators expressing themselves through the AI technology.  This should be simple enough to understand yet there is so much push back against the use of AI at all. I think this is true of anything new or different.  I think change scares a lot of people.  What seems innocuous may become sinister.

 

     So, if I was to suggest a survey, these would be my questions:

 

1. If you like a song you’re listening to, do you care if was created by AI or not?

2. If you are a musician, are you considering the use of AI in the future?

3. As AI continues to learn and improve, how will we be able to tell the difference between human or AI content?  

4. Should the music industry embrace AI or should it be treated as a separate category?

5. Do you think AI Music is here to stay?

 

FULL AI CONTENT

 

      Current music creators are realizing that the time is rapidly approaching for full AI content acceptance. You can see examples of this in other types of media, such as: Music Videos, Social Media Content and Book Writing.  I find that there is more acceptance for AI in book writing than for music creation.  Yet for music, it seems that the “Ethical” questions always pop up.  OK, I would agree to the point that cloning the sound and/or images of famous/infamous people is unethical.  Also, the outright plagiarism and/or anything that would be deemed a “copyright infringement” is ethically wrong.  However, these are obvious infringements, especially if the AI Artist is attempting to monetize the work.  Other than that, what would be the argument if the purpose is to make music in a streamlined or timely fashion?

 

     I’ve found a great way to use full AI music content- music creation for plays and/or musicals.  I’m currently writing a book and adapting it for a musical.  I gave AI a try at creating music based on prompts from key points from the book.  The result was fantastic.  A catchy tune that would be great as an introductory song.  Try using the prompt, “catchy chorus or catchy melody” and AI delivers.  The song “Jack’s Bad Day” first track off the album “Of Men & Dragons 1” was written using only the edited synopsis from the book “Of Men & Dragons” by Steve Hayden.  Check it out for yourself.  I also include a Japanese Version of the song on the last track of the album “Of Men & Dragons 5”.

 

      So there it is on the nutshell. I think we can all agree - AI is here to stay.  Check out what the late great Prince of Darkness had to say about AI in the Osbourne's Podcast #145.  Ozzy makes some really great points.   Otherwise, I would love to hear your views and comments, praises or groans.  Whether you are an AI Artist or not, I would appreciate your comments below.

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Updated: 8/26/25

Content created by a human (or was it?)