The future of AI-generated music is a hot topic these days and a bit of a moving target regarding just what impact it will have on traditional music production paradigms. Questions revolving around authorship, intellectual property rights, and sources for machine learning algorithms, are ongoing areas of concern.
Royalties for composers and players have long been seen as an annoying and unnecessary cost of business by visual media producers. Yet, they remain an important and sustaining income stream for creatives. While profits have soared for production companies, work-for-hire arrangements, dark dates, and other non-union recording gigs are commonplace and intended to leave music creators out of the profit-sharing equation.
In this article, I’ll have a look at the history of one of the most iconic and recognizable TV themes that has stood the test of time, and consider how the composer was compensated and how AI music generation will affect the industry.
THE TWILIGHT ZONE THEME
As a child of the 60’s, I can recall many TV show themes including those from Mannix, Hawaii Five-O, Hogan’s Heros, Mission Impossible, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, etc. It’s undeniable that a good theme song can outlive any of the actual narratives of the shows themselves.
While many might recognize the composer of the Mission Impossible Theme (Lalo Schifrin) or Hawaii Five-O (Morton Stevens – covered by The Ventures), the history of the Twilight Zone theme is often credited in error to Bernard Herrmann. While Herrmann did indeed write the original theme which aired in the first season, the well-known guitar line immediately identified with The Twilight Zone was actually written by Romanian-born French composer, Marius Constant. Listen to each theme below:
Bernard Herrmann theme
Marius Constant theme
Personally, I would argue that Herrmann’s theme is more elegant and subtle. But the producers at the time opted for Constant’s music, no doubt influenced by the fact it was royalty-free and written as a work for hire.
Constant was paid $200 to write a collection of cues and promised $500 more if the music was used. In today’s dollars that translates to about $7,303. A tidy sum for a stock music library piece, but a mere pittance considering how many times the show has aired since 1960, not to mention video, streaming, and new uses. It was a union-busting, cost-cutting strategy used by then music director, Lud Gluskin that would end up saving CBS countless dollars in royalties for decades to come.
Gluskin spliced together two stock music pieces by Constant (Étrange No. 3 and Milieu No. 2) to form the music that would become the dissonant and unsettling sound we all know and love. At the time Constant was in his mid-30 and was involved with Pierre Schaeffer’s Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète. He went on to conduct and write numerous ballets and other classical works. He wasn’t even aware his music had been used in The Twilight Zone until years later.
The main motif (Étrange No. 3) is quite simple–a series of dissonant intervals with a repeated upper note (see below). The score is written for 2 guitar parts but it could have been played by one as double-stops:
Major 2nd – Minor 2nd – Major 2nd – Tritone
The line starts on the “and of 4”, not on the downbeat, adding to the unnerving quality of the music.
Rosar, William. (2013). Knowledge Organization in Film Music and its Theatrical Origins:
Recapitulation and Coda. Journal of Film Music. 5. 10.1558/jfm.v5i1-2.207.
The guitar part, played by studio musician and jazz guitarist Howard Roberts, was followed by swelling flutter-tongued brass, bongos, and flutes that enhanced the suspense.
The second part of the theme extracted from Milieu No. 2 by Constant, is a bit more subdued and ominous, effectively anticipating the eerie story to come. It is a 4-beat pattern of 8th notes followed by a quarter rest to create a 5-beat idea that starts on 2, but continually shifts its starting point in the bar since it is a 5-beat phrase in 4/4 time. See piano reduction below:
The eerie nature of the Frankensteined theme fit well with the show and CBS stuck with it for the rest of the run.
TIP OF THE HAT TO HOWARD ROBERTS
Howard Roberts: Andrea Augé (source)
Howard Roberts was a first-call studio player whose guitar can be heard on many other classic shows like “I Dream of Jeanie, the Andy Griffith Show, Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, Dragnet, and many more”. (source)
He was part of a group of first-call session players known as the wrecking crew. “The name was in common use by April 1981 when Hal Blaine used it in an interview with Modern Drummer. The name became more widely known when Blaine used it in his 1990 memoir, attributing it to older musicians who felt that the group’s embrace of rock and roll was going to ‘wreck’ the music industry.” (source)
Roberts later co-founded the Musicians Institute in Hollywood in 1977.
THE FUTURE OF AI-GENERATED MUSIC
The story of the Twilight Zone theme illustrates the long-standing notion that the entertainment business cares little about properly compensating intellectual property and the creative contributions of artists or even acknowledging authorship if it can get away with it. The very concept of “work for hire” is brutally exploitive in my view, even though it is and has been a common practice for decades. I believe everyone involved with creating the music for a project including composers, players, music preparation professionals, and audio engineers should get a piece of the pie as that project continues to generate income. For union gigs that is normally the case, but with so-called dark dates and recording sessions in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, producers continue to do all they can to circumvent fair and just compensation for creatives and skilled professionals.
Now, the nature of AI-generated music has added yet another kink to an already damaged system. How this new technology will play out is not fully known. Production music composers will surely feel the sting of “progress”. Copyright laws, based on obsolete paradigms, are verging on irrelevance. Will artists, whose creative work is being used to train AI music generators, ever be compensated or even recognized?
Here is AI-generated music from loudly.com based on the prompt: “Theme music for a show called The Twilight Zone. Suspenseful, ominous, and dissonant.”
Listen to one result below called Saga of Noble Nomads:
Perhaps a little more tweaking of the prompt would have yielded a better title (LOL). I’ll leave it to the reader to decide the value of the resulting track.
loudly.com claims to embrace Ethical AI. From their website:
“By following strict ethical AI guidelines, Loudly guarantees that its proprietary music dataset has been carefully developed via consent, transparency and copyright compliance. This ensures that we can safely transfer music rights of usage to our customers while respecting artists’ rights and their intellectual property.”
It is unclear exactly how the company is ensuring consent and from whom. In their license agreement, the company grants certain rights to the generated music based on three different subscription plans but in all scenarios, the company retains the copyright:
“Loudly holds all copyrights and neighbouring rights in and to the music Catalog and is the sole rights holder in respect of the Audio Tracks”. (source)
The big question is–will production music composers eventually be replaced by AI music generators? I went to the source and asked Chat GPT that very question. Its response was disturbingly lucid:
ChatGPT’s Response to the prompt: Will production music composers eventually be replaced by AI music generators?
AI music generators are certainly making strides, but whether they will replace production music composers entirely is complex and depends on several factors. Here are some aspects to consider:
1. Automation of Basic Music Tasks
AI can now generate royalty-free tracks that are widely used for background music in videos, ads, and games. For simple or generic tracks—where the music is mostly about creating ambiance without strong emotional or narrative demands—AI is already a viable, cost-effective choice. This type of production work is where AI may gradually replace composers, especially when budgets are tight or timelines are short.2. Customization and Personalization
Production music often needs to be tailored to fit very specific moods, scene transitions, or brand identities. While AI can be trained on large datasets to recognize patterns, human composers are generally still better at creating music that aligns with the nuanced needs of a specific project. Human understanding of cultural references, subtle emotional cues, and artistic expression adds a layer that’s hard to replicate with AI.3. Creativity and Innovation
While AI excels at generating music based on patterns, human composers bring unique creativity and personal style. AI music generators often follow established patterns, and while they can “mimic” certain styles, they’re not inherently creative. Composers can innovate with new styles, instrumentation, and musical narratives—something AI, at least for now, struggles to achieve.4. Collaboration and Real-Time Adaptation
In film scoring, game music, and some commercial work, composers frequently work alongside directors, editors, and other team members, adjusting the music to enhance the visual experience in real-time. The ability to respond to complex, evolving creative demands and the nuance of a collaborative process is an area where human composers excel.5. Emotional Depth
One of the most significant roles of a composer is to create music that elicits deep emotional responses. While AI can simulate emotions in music, many listeners feel that human-composed music still has a greater depth and subtlety. The ability to create emotionally resonant music that connects with audiences on a profound level is a distinctly human skill that’s tough to replicate with algorithms alone.6. Industry Demand and Legal Implications
AI-generated music raises legal and ethical questions, especially around originality, copyright, and compensation for AI-produced work. These issues may delay or limit AI’s integration into certain fields until clearer industry standards are developed.Conclusion
AI will likely replace some production music jobs, especially where generic, ambient music is required on a large scale. However, for high-stakes, deeply customized, and artistically complex music, human composers will likely remain in demand. Over time, composers might increasingly use AI tools to enhance their creative processes, blending human artistry with AI efficiency to open up new creative possibilities rather than being replaced entirely.
FINAL THOUGHTS
If AI-generated music was a reality when The Twilight Zone premiered in 1959 would the producers have opted for its use? Who can say? It can’t be denied that the utility offered by AI has value. Generating temp scores in different genres or styles is one example. And AI in music production is everywhere now in terms of audio processing, mastering, and various AI-assistant functionalities that can speed up workflows. Many developers such as Output, have insisted on the value of AI as a collaborator, not a replacement for creative talent. Composers, music producers, and engineers must remain cognizant of the AI landscape which is advancing at a phenomenal rate.
The industry is in an agitated state of flux. In film, television, streaming, and gaming the stakes are high as are the profits. As the world embraces a resurgence of fascist ideologies the future looks bleak. Attacks on education, diversity, and multiculturalism are in full swing. And while the corpocracy tightens its grip on society, I have little faith that the rights of creatives will be prioritized. It is a time for solidarity among artists in all media and disciplines to ensure that new compensation structures and intellectual property laws are fair and equitable and reflect the rapidly-changing nature of technology.
REFERENCES
Dessem, Matthew. “A Brief History of the Theme from the Twilight Zone.” Slate Magazine, Slate, 8 Apr. 2019, slate.com/culture/2019/04/twilight-zone-theme-jordan-peele-grateful-dead-korn-marius-constant-bernard-herrmann-manhattan-transfer.html.
Featured Image – Still from The Twilight Zone episode – “The Brain Center at Whipple’s”
Wallace V. Whipple (foreground, played by Richard Deacon) pokes at his beloved computer
(“The Brain Center at Whipple’s,” 1964). Copyright CBS (source)
“The Enduring Legacy of ‘the Twilight Zone.’” The New Atlantis, 26 May 2021, www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-enduring-legacy-of-the-twilight-zone.
The Twilight Zone, www.filmscorerundowns.net/herrmann/twilight-zone.pdf. Accessed 16 Nov. 2024.
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