(Radio Iowa) – A record store owner who’s closely followed the musical trends and passions of central Iowans for two and a half decades says last week’s landmark accomplishment for artificial intelligence is no surprise and no fluke. A song called “Walk My Walk” by a computer-generated blues-country singer called Breaking Rust hit number-one on Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales Chart. Nate Niceswanger, who opened Z-Z-Z Records in Des Moines in September of 2000, says he’s had -zero- customers come into the store seeking C-Ds or records from Breaking Rust, despite the A-I-created song reaching the very top of that music chart.

“I wasn’t that impressed with the song,” Niceswanger says. “I can see where country fans might take a liking to it, or at least maybe they’re fascinated by the concept of a song that was totally produced by AI, but overall, I didn’t think it was really outstanding. I certainly don’t see the song winning any Grammys.” He predicts A-I-generated songs will continue growing in popularity, as he notes artists have long used computers and technology to aid in their making of music.

“I think this is probably the next logical step in the process,” he says. “If you go back to the ’90s, think about Cher. She had a song in 1998 called ‘Believe’ and she was using a new technology at that time called Autotune, and they took it to ridiculous levels where basically her voice sounded like a computer.” Electronic music festivals have also seen a shift toward more tech in recent years.

(Nate Niceswanger, who opened Z-Z-Z Records in Des Moines – Radio IA photo)

“In the early days of these festivals, you would actually have deejays with turntables and they’d be manipulating the records live on stage,” Niceswanger says. “Now a lot of headliners at these festivals will just set up with the laptop and everything’s pre-programmed. They basically just hit the button to start and they stand up there and they’ll pump their fists and they’ll dance around on stage but they’re not performing any music.”

He also points to the Milli Vanilli scandal of 1989, where the pop duo was caught lip-synching to their hit “Girl You Know It’s True”. It turned out, neither of them sang or played any instruments on their own record. The Grammy award they’d won for Best New Artist was revoked.