Turn down the volume! How AI music platforms carry out epistemic injustice and silence African traditions

Abstract

The music industry has increasingly been transformed by artificial intelligence (AI), assisting artists in composing music, mixing and mastering, lyric writing, and voice generation. Debates about how this technology will shape the music sector are rising, but a discussion often omitted in this conversation is how AI affects African Indigenous knowledge systems. Utilising Miranda Fricker’s theory of epistemic injustice, this paper argues that AI generative music platforms are often trained on Western datasets, lack culture neutrality but carry inherent epistemological values. Therefore, as these technologies are increasingly adopted, they bear the risk of erasing Indigenous African knowledge systems embedded in African musical traditions. This is because music, for many African communities, cannot be reduced merely to entertainment but is an important repository of Indigenous knowledge. Drawing on primary and secondary literature, this paper uses an integrative literature review and makes a valuable, novel contribution to the field by discussing how AI generative platforms embed epistemological frameworks within societies in the Global South, particularly in African contexts. The findings of this study show that with the rise of AI-based music systems, Western bias and musical practices are increasingly perpetuated, while cultures in some African communities are left vulnerable to epistemic injustice. These technologies silence non-Western knowledge systems and reshape cultural production. This paper contributes to debates on AI ethics, cultural perspectives, and the culturally inclusive design of AI.