Borrtex

Dear Friends,

I’d like to share with you a few of my honest thoughts on the current state of the music industry. Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be an artist in a world that is changing faster than ever.

I’m not against innovation or technological evolution, not at all. I understand that the ongoing progress is inevitable, and part of our future. But I do struggle with the current conditions surrounding art, music and creativity.

I think there are a few points that need to be addressed.

As many of you have probably noticed, the amount of content generated by artificial intelligence is rapidly increasing.

This raises imporant questions.

A significant portion of today’s generative AI tools have been built by scraping the work of millions of real artists. Those come from years of dedication, patience and unique personal expression. This was taken, without the copyright holders’ consent, with no legal responsibility, only to be later used for AI model training, to build commercial products for sale.

No permission, no ethics, no compensation, no respect, no apologies.

All of this within a legal grey zone where companies were not required to disclose what data was used to train their models, leaving authors with no way to defend their work, or challenge the process.

Watching this has deeply changed how I feel about releasing new projects right now.

Music has a very special place in my life. I consider creativity to be a deeply human process. It is an act of taking fragments of sound and shaping them, through intention and care, into order, harmony, and meaning. I love composing music.

But today, we live in a time when you can press a button and generate tracks in seconds. All that without skills, without hours of practice, without any meaningful relationship to musical instruments. It’s just as easy as it gets.

I can understand why this fascinates people, but personally, I struggle with a world where creation and generation are increasingly treated as the same thing.

It is not.

What bothers me even further, is the neutral approach of large music streaming platforms.

These billion dollar companies are surprisingly quiet. I appreciate the opportunities they have provided over the years, they helped me connect with many of you, and for that I’m deeply grateful. But I believe now is the right time for them to take a clear stand and support the creators who built their ecosystems, especially when many artists feel vulnerable in this new environment.

So far, I don’t see that happening.

In fact, Bandcamp is the only major music platform to have made a public statement about AI. It was a brave move, and a very appreciated one. Thank you.

Meanwhile, the space is becoming increasingly flooded with synthetic content. It’s everywhere now. I simply refuse to compete for your attention and engagement in a place like this. It isn’t fair to artists, and it isn’t fair to listeners either. And of course it has nothing to do with art or real creativity.

If we look back throughout history, the music industry has gone through many transformations. From physical records to piracy websites, and online streaming. From analogue synthesizers to digital pianos, sample libraries and more. Progress is to be expected and welcomed.

Change itself is not the problem. Responsibility is.

Today’s streaming platforms are growing their business, increasing subscription prices, and generating significant revenue. With that level of success comes responsibility. As of 2025, streaming accounted for roughly 67% of global recorded music revenue.

These platforms clearly have the financial resources to introduce transparency tools, features that would allow listeners to distinguish between human-made and AI-generated content, features that would improve the music listening experience, and filter out the synthetic noise.

I’m just wondering, why does such an option still not exist?

Under current conditions, I think it’s going to be extremely hard for artists to just continue releasing new music and pretend like nothing has changed.

For this reason, I feel it’s important to take a step back and reflect on what is happening. I need time to get a better perspective. Maybe I will not release any new music soon, maybe I will. I’m not sure, definitely not as sure as I used to be.

Music will always be part of my life though. I still play the piano every day, it brings joy, inspiration, fulfillment, purpose and positive energy to my everyday world. You see, music has this incredible power, as long as it remains authentic.

The connection between creator and listener has always meant a lot to me. Through music, I feel we share a language beyond words. Almost a transcendental experience.

Something that cannot truly be replaced.

In due time, I will come back and release new music, but for now I think I need some time off. And that’s okay.

Thank you for supporting real artists, and for listening to real human music. And keep in mind that music has always been about connection, and that connection just isn’t going anywhere.

Love, Daniel