The Independent Artist Is the Resistance Now

Every week there’s a new headline saying the same thing…AI is coming for your job.

Artists hear that and do what artists have always done when something feels threatening. They pull back. They get purist. They draw a line in the sand and say, I’m not using that. It feels principled. It’s also risky.

Because the real truth isn’t that AI is going to replace artists. It’s that artists who learn how to use it will move faster than the ones who don’t.

The head of NVIDIA said something recently that stuck with me. Over the next few years, AI won’t be the thing that takes jobs. People who know how to use it will be the ones who take opportunities first. That hits independent artists harder than anyone, because we’ve never had a cushion.

And let’s be honest. Artists have never been anti-tools. We’ve always been anti-being left behind. Auto-Tune didn’t kill music. DAWs didn’t kill musicians. Electric guitars didn’t kill acoustic ones. They just changed the landscape. AI is doing the same thing.

I’ve lived this shift myself. I went to art school. I was trained on Photoshop. For a long time, anything outside of it felt like a shortcut. When Canva first popped up, I dismissed it. Then I actually used it. And suddenly things moved faster.

I could design on the go. I could collaborate with people who didn’t have my technical background. I could get ideas out of my head and into the world without friction. Opportunities showed up that never would have if I stayed married to the old way out of pride.

That’s the part people miss. Using new tools doesn’t water you down. it gives you leverage.

Even in Terminator, the resistance didn’t fight Skynet empty-handed. They used Terminators against Terminators. Not because they loved the machines, but because they understood the moment they were in. That’s where artists are right now.

For independent artists especially, this matters. We came up in a time when being unsigned meant being shut out. Not just from deals, but from resources. It felt like if you didn’t have a full label behind you, you didn’t have a real shot.

AI changes that reality. Not because it replaces engineers, designers, or managers, but because it gives independent artists access. Access to speed. Access to systems. Access to infrastructure that used to be locked behind gates.

Two or three focused people can now do what entire departments used to handle. That doesn’t kill artistry. It strengthens independence.

So no, the resistance isn’t about rejecting technology. It’s about refusing to be frozen while the world moves forward. The real danger isn’t machines making art. It’s artists opting out of the conversation. History is unforgiving to people who sit that moment out.