A statement from Bear Cole
Our Stance On A.I.
Humanity and art come first.
I am Bear Cole—the creator of 1st Drop Music and the person behind all of the music you hear across this project.
The music
Every word. Every song. Made by a person.
Artificial intelligence has taken the music world by storm. My perspective comes from a life spent equally close to music and technology. I have worked in technology for most of my career, I am asked to use A.I. professionally, and I study it every day. I believe deeply in new tools—but I believe even more deeply in putting humanity and art first.
As a musician and as a project, 1st Drop Music has always pushed toward the next idea, the next sound, and the next piece of technology. But our position is clear: we do not use A.I. to write, produce, perform, or record music. We never have. I write every word, produce every song, and create the music released through 1st Drop Music.
A lifetime of practice
The work is the point.
Music is my life's work. I began making it in the 1990s and have spent decades learning the craft: earning degrees in Audio Engineering, making beats, writing songs, recording vocals, learning instruments, and experimenting with analog gear, synthesizers, drum machines, modular systems, and DAWs.
I plan to keep making music the way I learned to make it—through listening, practice, experimentation, performance, and thousands of hours of human decisions. I have no intention of handing that process over to a machine.
One disclosed exception
The Remix Experiment
The only exception was a clearly identified research project called the Remix Experiment. It was created to learn how distributors, streaming platforms, and other music-industry systems would respond to A.I.-generated material. Releasing it was much easier than expected.
All music from that experiment has been taken down and is no longer available. A detailed article about what happened, what I learned, and why it matters is coming soon.
Remix Experiment article · Coming soonThe visual work
Some visuals may use A.I. We will never hide it.
1st Drop Music is a one-person project. I am a musician, songwriter, producer, web developer, and I.T. professional—not a working visual artist. I have a degree in Graphic Design, but I have never considered visual art my primary craft.
Because the ten artist identities inside 1st Drop Music are all created by me, I may use A.I.-assisted graphics, visuals, or video to help give those worlds a distinct visual language. Some artwork uses it; much of it does not. When it is used, we will not conceal that fact.
As the technology expands and we learn more—especially about its environmental costs—I have begun moving away from overproducing A.I. graphics. No flood of daily posts. No visual noise for its own sake. Our approach is increasingly simple: less, more intentional, and used much less often.
The promise
A.I. may sometimes help frame the world around the music. It will never make the music.
The songs are what I love. I produce them, write them, perform them, and record them. That part is human, and it will stay human.
Questions and conversation
Ask me directly.
If you have questions about this position, the music, or how technology is used within 1st Drop Music, email me. I also discuss A.I. in music regularly on the From the 1st Drop Podcast.