At a glance, this op‑ed article by Ran Geffen Levy (published August 18, 2025) in Music Business Worldwide makes a very bold claim: we’re standing on the edge of a new era in songwriting, one defined less by training and more by sheer conviction.
What the Article Says
Charli XCX, while accepting Songwriter of the Year at the Ivor Novello Awards, offered a simple yet powerful mantra: “dare to suck.” That, Levy argues, is the guiding north star in the AI age, creativity rooted in identity and perspective, not perfection.
He calls this “Vibe Songwriting” starting off the songwriting process with a feeling or spark, then using whatever tools that are available (be they phone memos or AI) to shape it.
Here, the tech isn’t the star, it’s the enabler.
He honors projects like The Velvet Sundown and Aventhis, not for their polish, but for their conviction and distinct voice.
Levy doesn’t stop there though. He introduces a model he calls “Cluster Creation.”
Rather than sprawling writing camps where many hands dilute ownership, these are tight, purpose-driven teams that own the full creative stack, from songwriting to visuals to AI training data.
In other words, they aren’t just making songs, they’re owning the entire creative pipeline.
His rallying cry? Don’t beg for scraps in a broken system. Instead, build your own ecosystem, with full ownership and creative control.
Songwriting 2.0 isn’t just a term, it’s a call to creator-led clusters, radical self‑reliance, and building your own rules.
My Take
For me, this piece hits home in a way that feels really fresh.
Think of songwriting not as a recipe, you don’t hand me the instructions and I follow them but as cooking by instinct. Vibe songwriting says, “Let your gut lead, let the tools follow.”
That’s powerful.
And Cluster Creation? That’s like a band in today’s terms, but smarter.
A small crew with varied skills, each with a stake in the whole. Instead of farming out lyrics, production, visuals and letting others take the rewards, this model keeps it all in the family (your creative family, that is).
In an age where anyone can hum into a phone and conjure a track with AI, what separates songs with staying power is voice, identity, integrity. Using AI to express your truth rather than trying to chase algorithmic perfection, that’s the art.
Wrapping It Up (And a Little Push)
If you’re navigating today’s music world, whether you write, produce, or dream of being heard, then this isn’t an era to passively watch from the sidelines. It’s an era to step into the room (virtual or real), spark something, and own your story from start to finish.
Curious to read the full article? Check it out at Music Business Worldwide, there’s more depth, and I guarantee it’ll leave you with ideas buzzing.
It did for me.
Let me know if you want to explore how you might form your own creative cluster? Or riff on what “vibe songwriting” could look like in your world? Let’s build, not beg.
Enjoy the read and don’t worry about “sucking.” Sometimes that’s where the best art begins.
