Our Approach — AkunaMedia

First position — for review and iteration This is a proposed stance drawn from the DNA statement and ethics discussions.

TODO — Rajeev to review and iterate [[Sharpen: your position on model training sources; whether to name specific tools (Suno, Udio, etc.); how strongly to assert AI-as-art vs. remain questioning.]]

Here is what we believe.

Connection, quality and innovation are in our DNA.

We commit to communicate with genuine connection to an audience — the same audience we have served on community radio since 1992. Quality in writing and production is sacred to us. Innovation is how we honour both.

The words are human. The judgement is human.

Every piece we release begins with words a person wrote and ends with a person deciding it is good enough to carry our name. Behind this studio are fifty years of lyric and poetry craft. AI composes; it does not author. It is an instrument in a musician's hands, not a replacement for the musician.

We take the hard questions seriously — we don't dodge them.

Generative music raises real and unsettled questions: about the sources these models learn from, about what it means to call AI-made work "art," about the artists whose craft sits upstream of every tool. We don't pretend these questions are closed. Our answer, for now, is a practice built on human authorship, editorial judgement, transparency, and respect for the traditions we draw on. We would rather be honest about an open question than confident about a false one.

A real audience keeps us honest.

The truest test of any music is whether it moves the person it was made for. Our work is validated not by a claim about technology but by listeners — on air for three decades, and in a hall in Jaipur that rose to its feet. That is the standard we compose to.

We will keep revising this page as the technology, the law, and our own understanding evolve. If you want to talk about any of it, we'd welcome the conversation.

AI & craft disclosure

How we use AI in commissioned work

We compose using AI music tools as part of a human-led process. The words, the creative direction, and the final editorial judgement are ours; the AI is an instrument, not the author.

We're transparent about this because we think honesty is part of good craft. The process behind every Songumentary commission: words written by a person, nine-stage dramatic and aural design by a person, AI-assisted composition, final quality review and acceptance by a person.

The work you receive is made for your story. The technology is the instrument, not the point.

For music commissions → Songumentary