The Catalog Came First

Some of Rocket Horse’s catalog was created through traditional musician and studio workflows. Some of the newer work uses AI-assisted production.

That puts Brian in a position I think more musicians are going to find themselves in over the next few years.

Not choosing between “human music” and “AI music.”

Figuring out what happens when both exist inside the same creative career.

There is independent public history behind that distinction. A 2022 FVMusicBlog interview documented Rocket Horse as an active songwriting project years before the current AI-music wave, with Brian credited for lyrics and melodies and collaborators contributing instrumentation and vocals. Read the earlier interview →

The Question Is Bigger Than the Tool

The interesting question here is not whether AI can participate in making a song. We already know it can.

The more useful questions are:

• What changes when a songwriter with an established catalog starts using new production tools?
• What stays protected?
• Which parts of the process become easier?
• Which compromises are not worth making?
• How do rights, sync, pitching and disclosure decisions change when different songs in the same catalog were made differently?

Those are not theoretical questions for Brian. They are part of the work he is doing now.

Two Chapters of the Same Catalog

Brian describes Rocket Horse as increasingly having two chapters.

The older material came through traditional recording and musician collaboration. Newer material may include AI-assisted production while, according to Brian, the underlying songwriting—lyrics, melodies and creative direction—remains his.

That distinction matters because a song may be appropriate for one opportunity and not another. One outlet may accept AI-assisted production. Another may have a policy that excludes it.

A creator therefore needs to understand not only how a song was made, but how to document it, describe it and decide where it belongs.

Listen: “Monster Kid”

A recent independent interview with Brian specifically highlighted the visual direction around “Monster Kid,” so it is a useful glimpse at the broader Rocket Horse project while we wait for the deeper Creator Spotlight.

The Industry Is Already Forcing the Question

Brian says Rocket Horse is currently seeing growing activity around radio, playlists, interviews, publishing conversations and sync opportunities. He also says he has encountered both sides of the industry’s developing response to AI-assisted music: opportunities that welcome it and others that specifically do not.

I am intentionally not unpacking all of those examples here. They are more useful as part of the fuller conversation about how he is separating the catalog, pitching different material and deciding what belongs where.

A recent Rock The Joint interview independently documents Rocket Horse’s current genre range, Brian’s openness about using AI-assisted production, and the fact that the project had a substantial traditional catalog first. Read the Rock The Joint interview →

The Part I Want to Explore Next

Brian gave me the clearest framing himself: he does not see this as human music versus AI music.

He sees it as a songwriter trying to determine which tools help the songs, which compromises are not worth making, how rights and sync realities affect those choices, and how to preserve the human identity of a long-running catalog while the technology changes around it.

That is where the full Creator Spotlight is going.

Listen: “Good Girls Party”

Brian included “Good Girls Party” as one of the current Rocket Horse examples when he first reached out.

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This Is the First Look

This article is intentionally an introduction. Brian gave me much more than I have used here, and I want to save the strongest parts for the full Creator Spotlight, where the emphasis shifts away from my initial perspective and much more toward Brian himself—his experience, opinions, workflow and what he has learned.

Create What You Love | Love What You Create.