Copyright nltimes
Ranking in DJ Mag's Top 100 for four years, Cuebrick is no stranger to the electronic music industry’s competitive landscape. In a revealing interview during Amsterdam Dance Event, the Mannheim, Germany native discussed his 15-year climb to success, and his surprisingly positive take on artificial intelligence (AI), while also reflecting on the intense industry pressure that contributed to the tragic death of Avicii, the 28-year-old Swedish electronic music sensation who committed suicide in 2018. Cuebrick's antidote to the stress that comes with success in the music industry comes from the resilience of grandmother, who passed away earlier this year exactly 100 years and one hour after she was born. "I try to reflect on myself a lot, and try to not take things as seriously as I sometimes should," Cuebrick told Zack Newmark, the host of the Dam Yankee podcast. "This maybe sounds dumb or stupid, but my grandma always said, 'We're not coming out of this alive.' You know what I mean? And I then realized that this is a great journey I am on, and I have to be grateful for what I already achieved." The confidence to take a step back is relatively new, coming out of time spent with a close friend during the coronavirus pandemic. When his path was on a clear upward trajectory, lockdowns suddenly led to the cancellations of every show the DJ had booked. To that point, he "always" felt as if he was in a hamster wheel, "running, running, running, searching for the next opportunity." And then suddenly, there was nothing. Cuebrick and his friend, a festival owner, would take hikes in the woods, drink wine, and just spend time together as "best friends" lucky enough to enjoy nature. "But we realized it's maybe also an opportunity if you have this forced stop to rethink what you're doing, maybe get sorted, maybe also find a way towards a better process." Since then, when problems arise like show cancellations, or the poor reception of the draft version of a piece of music, he is better able to take a moment to reflect and find appreciation for what he has accomplished, not to mention his close friendships, strong relationship, and "that I’m not struggling for food daily,” the DJ explained. It is vastly different from his outlook before the pandemic. Cuebrick and Avicii would both be the same age today if the Swede were still alive. Cuebrick believes Avicii's rapid ascent also brought intense stress from those closest to him in the industry. "There's a lot of pressure on you, especially if you're a guy like Avicii, putting out that great music on that level. There's a team with you on your payroll that is pushing you. Because they also know if Avicii starts to go down, maybe three of them cannot work with him anymore," Cuebrick continued. "The bigger you grow, there's so many more responsibilities you have to other families, because they are employed by you," he continued. And how do you protect yourself from that? How do you insulate yourself from that?" he wondered. Cuebrick also said he is convinced that AI's rapid advancement is a positive development for creativity in music production, particularly in improving the quality of top lines, the melodies and lyrics typically written by singer-songwriters for dance tracks. He believes the pace of development is "incredible," noting, “AI is right now at a point where it's better than a lot of not so good singer songwriters." Cuebrick argues that for artists to thrive in a constantly evolving environment, they "have to go with the time," comparing the necessary embrace of AI to past shifts like moving from cassettes to streaming or from physical instruments to computer-based production. "AI will push the singer-songwriter scene to really improve, improve, improve. Because they were in a really delicate position the last years. Because when you're a top-tier singer-songwriter, everybody wants your stuff," he said. That means the singer-songwriters can make obscene demands, like 90 percent of the production rights because "they know they are so good," Cuebrick added. "It will make top lines more affordable, I think, also for younger producers, because they always have the free option," meaning the ability to use AI to create an alternative choice. Listen to the entire episode of Dam Yankee on all major podcast platforms, or watch the full videos on YouTube. Cuebrick also talks about his future plans in music and other trends happening in the music industry. He mentioned his presence on social media, particularly Instagram, where you can find him @cuberick_dj.
