Christopher Wieduwild started as a musician in a garage band, toured the US, and worked with world-class producers. Later, he scaled a startup to $150K a month, collaborating with brands like Lufthansa, Goodyear, and L'Oréal. Now, he helps musicians navigate AI through his company, The Music AI Musicpreneur, offering tools, education, and a community for artists.
In this episode, Christopher talks about how AI is transforming music, from creative tools to promotion strategies. He shares insights on text-to-MIDI plugins, automated organization tools, and the impact of AI on networking and community building. He discusses how musicians can effectively use AI to grow their audience, engage fans, and streamline their workflow without losing focus on creativity.
The episode also explores the rise of microcultures in music, the challenges of independent artistry in the digital age, and the balance between algorithm-driven content and authenticity.
Transcripts
Speaker:
So I'll do a short introduction of you first, Chris.
2
:
So today we have Christopher Wiedewild, who started in a garage band at 15 and then toured
the US and worked with world-class producers.
3
:
Later, he scaled the startup to 150k a month and collaborated with brands like Lufthansa,
Goodyear, L'Oréal and Porsche.
4
:
And now he's using that experience to help musicians navigate AI.
5
:
And his company, The Music,
6
:
AI Musicpreneur offers tools, education and a community for artists who want to stay ahead
in the industry.
7
:
And in this episode, we'll talk about AI music tools, what's out there, how they work and
which ones you should check out.
8
:
So, so nice to have you here, Christopher.
9
:
And as a start, you have a kind of an interesting personal journey because you started out
as a struggling musician, then you've pivoted into entrepreneurship.
10
:
Maybe you could tell your backstory.
11
:
Just to dig into details a bit here, you said you moved to the UK or to London and tried
making it, I guess.
12
:
How did that look for you?
13
:
Do you remember your first day?
14
:
great point regarding community.
15
:
I just listened to a podcast this morning with an evolutionary psychologist I think who
was talking about connection being like the main thing for humans.
16
:
So to survive in the wild it's really important to have a connection with other humans so
that you can cooperate and this evolutionary mechanism.
17
:
guides us in lots of different ways as well, particularly in music.
18
:
And it's often said that if you want people to show up to your gigs, for instance, the
best way to do that is to attend other people's gigs and also to get people to listen to
19
:
your music, you have to listen to their music.
20
:
yeah, it's still kind of an old fashioned way of networking and building connectivity to
people, it seems like.
21
:
So you've gone through the stages of being a struggling musician, probably done your fair
share of sending out booking emails and trying to get gigs or trying to get a label to
22
:
release your music and all that kind of stuff.
23
:
And then you've kind of pivoted over to more of the managing side yourself.
24
:
How did that happen?
25
:
and then somehow you discovered using AI tools in that endeavor.
26
:
Yeah, it's an evolving thing for sure.
27
:
A lot of people in research also say that some concept they had for five years ago would
make people laugh at them today, since it's evolving so fast in the industry.
28
:
But yeah, you have experienced with using tools to helping artists and
29
:
and what are the most interesting tools out there today?
30
:
I mean, you could probably now go on.
31
:
I've followed you on LinkedIn for some time and I know we have made like whole plackets of
categories of different kinds of tools and stuff.
32
:
And obviously there are some tools that are designed more for the general public, such as
text to audio,
33
:
apps like sudo or unio but in my experience musicians tend to want more control than these
apps offer so i was wondering if you have any any insights on on what the most interesting
34
:
tools for musicians are right now
35
:
So the last one you were talking about, Fort, was that a categorization of sound files?
36
:
Or what was the purpose of the plugin?
37
:
So if you were to record in a professional studio, you would probably have a recording
engineer do that work for you.
38
:
Like labeling, naming stuff, stripping silence and then sending it on to mixing.
39
:
But if you do it at home or you're an amateur maybe, are not probably, you don't have a
routine for doing those kinds of things.
40
:
So then you could use fort instead or the mixer could use it if you get
41
:
a lot of unlabeled files.
42
:
Yeah, so that's So that's FORT.
43
:
You mentioned AudioCypher, which was a plugin for a DAW.
44
:
Is it text to MIDI?
45
:
Yeah and regarding at least the stereotypical whimsical musician getting some help in
organizing is probably a good idea.
46
:
So that sounds nice.
47
:
Yeah.
48
:
Let's see.
49
:
So those are some tools for musicians.
50
:
You were mentioning audio cipher.
51
:
I haven't tried that yet, so I'll have to check that out.
52
:
At CreateMe, the center I work for, I have this team of students who go in different
directions in different kinds of projects.
53
:
something they spend a lot of time doing is checking out different kinds of AI plugins and
see what they do and if it's any fun to work with.
54
:
in a couple of weeks we're doing this AI song contest where participants get to use two
different plugins, XL1 Life and Synth Plant 2.
55
:
I don't know if you're familiar with those plugins, but they're sort of more for
inspiration than replacing.
56
:
So it'll be interesting to see what they get out of it.
57
:
Yeah.
58
:
So I could just briefly mention what they're about, because XLN Life is where you can
transform any sound input into a drum beat.
59
:
So like a dog barking, for instance.
60
:
And so you can get kind of crazy results out of it.
61
:
And then Synth Plant 2 is an audio to synth synthesizer.
62
:
you feed it an audio and then you get a synth based on that audio.
63
:
Not exactly like a sampler because it's re-synthesized the sound.
64
:
So sometimes it's very similar to the sound that you feed it and sometimes it's not.
65
:
And that's kind of where the fun happens when it's something in between a mistake and the
original intent.
66
:
But those were tools for making music and my impression is that you deal more with tools
aiding in more the back-end function for musicians promoting and stuff like that.
67
:
it would be really interesting to hear your thoughts on...
68
:
First of all...
69
:
What is a good promoting strategy in 2025?
70
:
And what strategies do you recommend for artists to effectively use AI in building and
engaging fanbases?
71
:
Yeah, that's a great insight.
72
:
I also find it fascinating that when talking about it, you say fighting the algorithm.
73
:
You don't have to fight the algorithm all the time.
74
:
And I hear people talking about the algorithm in this way all the time.
75
:
It's kind of interesting that we've already gotten to the point where we feel like AI is
an entity.
76
:
which we have to fight.
77
:
I don't know what that says about the time we're living in right now, but I just find it
interesting.
78
:
Also the newsletter thing.
79
:
I have heard loads of people talk about the newsletter and it sounds boring, but it works.
80
:
So you're saying you attract audiences.
81
:
That's the top of the funnel and then you convert them.
82
:
into Patreon or newsletter or something and then you get your loyal fan base or super
fans, some people refer to them as, to buy stuff from you.
83
:
And in all of these different funnels, I guess there are different strategies within each
funnel as well.
84
:
So if you take it from the top one, how would you...
85
:
as an artist attract audiences on let's say you're a band and you release some music and
your main portal is Instagram for instance.
86
:
How would you go about getting more views and likes and engagement and what kind of AI
tools would you use to leverage this process?
87
:
I've heard people give tips on how to make successful reels on Instagram or TikTok and a
common theme among these people is that they give the tips of checking out similar content
88
:
creators to you and then seeing
89
:
then finding outliers in the videos so that you see which videos have received a lot more
views or likes than other videos and then do the same, basically steal the recipe from
90
:
that outlier video and make a similar kind for yourself.
91
:
And then just insert your own storyline or as you were mentioning, there are different
kinds of categories.
92
:
content you can create if it's telling a story or more educational approach as you were
saying I guess some some commonalities between those is that the audience gets something
93
:
out of it yeah there's also the thing of pleasing the algorithm as people say to get
94
:
people engage there are some approaches that kind of leverage the limbic system or the
lizard brain also referred to as rage bait.
95
:
How do you feel about rage bait and click bait kind of videos?
96
:
Do you think it's a good idea to follow that recipe just to get attention?
97
:
Have you seen any hook templates recently that have caught your attention?
98
:
That's a great point.
99
:
One hook template I've noticed probably because I play guitar.
100
:
I see you also play guitar because I see some guitars on your wall behind you.
101
:
But and I think this kind of hook hacks into people's insecurities because I've seen a lot
of hooks that sound like this.
102
:
three ways to know that you're an intermediate guitar player or 10 signs you've not yet
made success or something similar to that which kind of hacks into people are maybe
103
:
because people are playing more at home than before and they don't get as much feedback
from peers and stuff so people are sitting at home wondering how good am I really?
104
:
And then a video makes the promise that it can tell you if you're good or not.
105
:
Which maybe plays into what you're saying about authenticity, because if you then watch
that video and whether you find out if you're an intermediate guitar player or not, if
106
:
that person making that content is then trying to sell you their pop album, for instance.
107
:
Maybe that connection between the content of that post and the content they're trying to
sell isn't strong enough, so it doesn't seem authentic.
108
:
So I think that's a great point you're making that you're all in favor of making hooks,
but the hooks have to kind of make sense and be authentic to the artist.
109
:
Yeah, you have noticed that about your website and your LinkedIn as well that you give a
lot of information out for free.
110
:
Maybe that reflects your background as a musician as well.
111
:
In the beginning, you were probably traveling around gigging for free and hoping for
monetization after a while.
112
:
I mean, it's kind of a beautiful thing as well to give out information freely because...
113
:
Maybe the giving out of information isn't that costly for you, but it's a real value for
the recipient.
114
:
And then when the recipient experiences that value, then they want to give you something
of value back as well.
115
:
guess it's the good old karma thing, maybe.
116
:
And of course, one overarching theme when it comes to using AI tools to leverage promoting
or booking or whatever is there's a lot of pressure on independent artists to do more and
117
:
more of the backend work themselves.
118
:
in for like maybe 30 years ago or something you had promoters or booking agents and
managers and A &Rs and all that kind of stuff and now a lot of musicians have to do
119
:
everything by themselves.
120
:
That might be something AI can help with but I guess there's a duality there as well
because when there is a possibility of doing
121
:
all by yourself then you maybe will tend to do even more and what started as being a time
saver leads you to just do back end work and promoting and social media all the time and
122
:
not having the time to perfect your craft or making songs and the stuff you were really
doing.
123
:
Where do you feel we are at this moment in time when it comes to the axis of doing it all
yourself and actually having time to focus on art?
124
:
And where do you think we're headed?
125
:
That's kind of how there is a business to be made by doing the stuff you do as well.
126
:
That there's an entire jungle of new things coming out all the time and it's very time
consuming to go around testing everything.
127
:
So I guess this is a kind of a small commercial for the musicpreneur LinkedIn because you
have a weekly...
128
:
weekly newsletter where you list the five major AI things that have happened the last
week.
129
:
For me that's a great way to stay up to date on what's happened.
130
:
So yeah, so check that out.
131
:
I think that's a good idea.
132
:
Let me give you some examples of some workflows I have in making podcasts and maybe you
can tell me how I can improve upon it.
133
:
So, after this podcast is finished recording, I will transcribe it.
134
:
Since we're doing it in Riverside, it has its own transcription function which works well.
135
:
If I record in person, then I would use another transcription model based on Whisper AI,
because I have it locally on my computer, then I don't have to wait for the service to be
136
:
available.
137
:
But then I would upload that transcript into a custom GPT that I've made, where the first
15 episodes or so of the podcast, I did everything manually.
138
:
but then I've uploaded all the transcripts and all the show notes and stuff in that custom
GPT and made some instructions on how to make questions and how to make show notes and
139
:
intros and titles and stuff like that based on my style.
140
:
So then I'll just upload the transcript of the episode into that custom GPT and get it to
generate show notes and intro and title.
141
:
And then it's always an iterative process, but...
142
:
But usually I get it down in about maybe 15-20 minutes or so.
143
:
Whilst before I had to spend maybe two hours on it.
144
:
But after laying down the groundwork of the 15 first episodes, it kind of gets my voice in
writing pretty decently.
145
:
And also when I prepare for podcast episodes, I usually also use...
146
:
the same custom GPT to make questions and then just feed it the information about the
guests.
147
:
then of course I also, I always have to check the source to see if it's actually correct,
but it's been a real time saver.
148
:
And yeah, and when I edit the podcast, I use isotope and sonnable plugins in Logic, which
has some really powerful.
149
:
spectral analysis and noise removal and also use Sonnibal to just set a basic template for
a voice profile and it can automatically adjust the EQ parameters.
150
:
If for instance I have two guests using the same microphone, if we're recording live then
it automatically adjusts the EQ profile.
151
:
after who is talking, which is pretty great.
152
:
Yeah, I guess that's it, I think.
153
:
Is there anything that pops out?
154
:
Should I do more?
155
:
You
156
:
I usually have to ask it a second time because even though in the instruction of the GPT
I've specified that it should write in the style of its knowledge base on the first try it
157
:
never does so I always have to specify again in the style of or else I only get the
generic standard chat GPT response
158
:
How do you find interesting cases?
159
:
or news.
160
:
Something that came to mind when you were speaking about the style of writing in the voice
of ChatGPT.
161
:
It has a certain kind of style in how it makes questions and uses a lot of adjectives and
stuff like that.
162
:
I usually tend to avoid those...
163
:
formulations but when I was preparing for this episode and making questions I found myself
coming up with a question in the style of chat GPT but it was it was me that made the
164
:
question so I guess it's influencing me right now okay listen to this question you can
completely hear the the chat GPT style
165
:
Or it's not really a question, it's more like a headline.
166
:
From Warner Music to Rick Beato, the rise of microculture.
167
:
So there you have it, the rise of and what I'm not sure if you're familiar with the
YouTuber Rick Beato.
168
:
Have you checked him out?
169
:
Yeah, so he's a music educator and also now kind of a curator of artists as well.
170
:
And he had this guest on a few months back called Ted Gioia, who was talking about the
term microculture, which I found really fascinating.
171
:
Kind of a global trend right now is that the power is going from large institutions over
to individuals So there are less and less large music labels for instance and there are
172
:
more individual tastemakers curating audiences through Playlists or through interviews or
platforms on YouTube or tik tok or whatever?
173
:
and
174
:
I guess that could be, or that is a good thing in many ways in terms of democratization.
175
:
Maybe it's a bad thing in terms of music and art being a glue of society because we won't
have that many common references anymore.
176
:
But I was wondering how do you feel about microculture and how do you feel...
177
:
AI can assist in in microculture development.
178
:
One argument that's often made in terms of arguing the position of art in society is that
art can serve as the glue in society.
179
:
And one example of this is at least in Norway we have a large growth of dementia choirs.
180
:
That is people with dementia singing in choir and that is kind of a music therapy method.
181
:
And the reason why it works is because the way musical memories are stored in the brain is
different from other kinds of memories.
182
:
So even though people have lost the ability to speak or can't remember their name even,
183
:
They still remember hymns or songs that they listened to when they were kids or in their
formative years at least.
184
:
But in the age we're living in now, there probably won't be any dementia choirs 50 years
in the future because nobody's listening to the same music.
185
:
They're just falling in their own little microculture.
186
:
Or maybe, of course, you could have dementia choirs, but they're only in one.
187
:
small microculture so that you would probably have to do it globally and maybe meet up
with the 10 other dementia patients from Sri Lanka and something to get the same music.
188
:
And I find it interesting that in the age of globalization as we've lived through for a
while now
189
:
The rise of the microculture and also perhaps the AI kind of sends us back into something
similar to tribes or tribalism.
190
:
And this is of course a very large philosophical question, but I often find myself
thinking about it if that's a positive thing or not.
191
:
Because of the positive sides of course, democratization and the ability to choose and
larger autonomy.
192
:
And on a personal level, I really love it because I totally prefer to choose my own TV
series or music instead of someone else choosing it for me.
193
:
But after a while, if you get kind of tangled up in some person with a lot of charisma,
you might not have that much autonomy.
194
:
left.
195
:
I see the clock is ticking and I think we need to start wrapping it up soon.
196
:
one last question for you, Kristoffer.
197
:
For musicians hesitant about adopting AI, what guidance would you offer to help them
integrate these tools in their creative and promotional efforts?
198
:
Yeah.
199
:
And of course you could also use musicpreneur as a filter to narrow things down so you
don't get overwhelmed.
200
:
So I'll post a link to your website and your LinkedIn page, Christopher, so people can
