AI is on everyone's lips, also within music. We see AI music being produced for all kinds of purposes, but does it sound good enough, and can it capture the soul of a company in a meaningful audio identity?
First of all, I am not against AI. It's a great tool for many things. But using it to create music for a brand without any audio branding skill, or the skills of a musician or producer, is not the way to go for brands and corporations.
The biggest challenge for companies is actually ownership and music rights. If a brand uses AI-generated music without any human contribution, the risk of infringement is real. Works created solely by AI cannot be copyrighted, they fall into the public domain. But most importantly, since AI is trained on vast amounts of existing music data, there's a real risk the output ends up sounding too close to something that already exists.
A tool, not a replacement
Playing professional music since I was 21, I have experienced the technology shifts within the music industry over many years. Drum machines didn't eliminate drummers, they expanded what was musically possible. Today, live drummers still play alongside that same technology, proving the two can coexist. AI can spark alternatives and rapidly explore directions for different music purposes. But it can't replace the craft itself.
In production, we sometimes feed one of our own composed tracks into a closed platform to explore stylistic variations or ideas. But we always start from music we've written ourselves, ensuring the right insight and artistic intent is baked in from the start, and just as importantly, so we can own the copyright and secure the ownership our clients need.
Audio identity is not just sound, it's meaningful UI infrastructure
Crafting a powerful audio identity and cohesive sound systems involves many different skills and a solid process: music experience, brand insight, research, product and user journey understanding. Effective audio strategy still depends on human understanding and collaboration. Real musicianship, insight into brand touchpoints, and an understanding of the user journey remain essential for the nuance, emotional intent, and fine-grained adjustments that AI cannot consistently deliver.
This is something I've learned working with brands across very different industries, from shipping to banking to products to beer. Their sound has to live inside real user journeys, real touchpoints, and create real emotional meaning in all moments, not just sound good in isolation. Strategy, human emotional understanding, and genuine craftsmanship are what turn sound into a meaningful audio experience, and real value for the client.
Where AI genuinely helps
I'm not one to dismiss a tool just because it's new. AI has a real place in our process, as long as it knows its place.
I believe AI-powered user testing and panels can be a genuine asset when making decisions. Not as a replacement for human testing, but as a way to get a fast read on how sound and music land with an audience. Getting that answer instantly, instead of waiting weeks for a proper study, can speed up a project without cutting corners on quality.
As AI keeps getting better, I also see real potential in remixing or reworking an existing audio logo or piece of brand music to create new, distinct assets from something that already carries meaning. That excites me, because it means we can build on a brand's existing sonic DNA rather than starting from nothing. But this only works with a skilled musician in the room to guide it, shape it, and make sure the result actually holds up. AI can give you a hundred directions in a minute. It still takes a trained ear to know which one is worth pursuing.
Used this way, AI becomes what any good tool should be: something that removes friction, not judgment.
We don't need more sound
My personal ambition isn't to make the world sound louder, it's to make it sound better. We live by a simple philosophy at Sonic Minds: when we choose to break the silence, it has to create more meaning than the silence itself. Otherwise, we're just making noise.
AI hasn't changed that philosophy. If anything, it's made it more important, because the easier it becomes to generate sound, the easier it becomes to forget why you're making it in the first place.
So whenever you're about to use sound or music, ask yourself: what should the listener think, feel, or do when they hear this? And does that match how we actually want our brand to be experienced?
Karsten Kjems is a judge for the Brand Impact Awards 2026. If you have a standout branding project from the last year that you think deserves recognition, you need to enter the BIAs. You can do so on the Brand Impact Awards website.
