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Ray Harmony

Ray Harmony

By: Hack Music Theory
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Summary
 The unorthodoX ideas of multi award-winning music lecturer Ray Harmony. Older episodes were co-hosted by his wife and protégé Kate Harmony. As a songwriter and producer, Ray has made music with Grammy winners and multiplatinum artists, including Serj Tankian (System Of A Down) and Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine). Join over 255,000 YouTube subscribers learning the fast, easy, and fun way to make music without using AI, cos it ain't no fun getting a robot to write “your” songs! Download Ray's free book at HackMusicTheory.com© 2026 Revolution Harmony Music
Episodes
  • AI Is Stealing Far More Than Jobs.

    AI Is Stealing Far More Than Jobs.
    Oct 29 2026
    AI Is Stealing Far More Than Jobs. Loss of career/income pale in comparison to loss of purpose. Before I read my new essay, I just wanna let you know that everything on our website is now half price. Whether you’re a complete beginner wanting to learn how to make music for the first time, or whether you’re intermediate (or even advanced) wanting to elevate your music from good to great, there’s a course or PDF to help you reach that next level. And they cover all genres, too. And just a heads up that unless the AI robots stop stealing my work, I’m going to have to close down Hack Music Theory on May 1st 2027, so if you’ve ever been tempted to learn my secret Song-Whispering method for making great music, then enroll soon! And just to be clear, I’ll still be posting regularly, but only on Substack and the podcast. So if you wanna keep following my work, then please subscribe in your podcast app (just search for “Ray Harmony”). Or you can subscribe to get my new posts sent to your inbox, which you can do at rayharmony.substack.com. It’s free to subscribe, and I don’t put any of my essays behind a paywall, they’re all free! If you want a way to support my work, though, then please give the podcast a 5-star rating in your app, and share it with someone who may find it interesting, too. A heartfelt thank-you for being here, my friend, you are deeply valued. And now here is my latest essay. Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. In my previous essay, Replaced by Robots, I shared how AI steals my intellectual property and gives it away for free. As a result of this theft, I’ve lost 90% of my income. Yes, 90%. And it was less than a high-school teacher’s salary to begin with. But, while I’m now making significantly less than minimum wage, that’s not actually the worst thing AI has done to me. Despite suffering from insomnia, I used to bounce out of bed every morning with purpose. People found value in my work. They liked the way I taught music. And they were happy to pay for my teaching. After AI began stealing my teachings and giving them away for free, though, there was no reason for people to visit my website anymore, let alone buy anything. So now, most days I don’t sell anything. Not even my book, which I’ve lowered the cost of the ebook format from 10 dollars down to a pathetic 99 cents. I only felt experienced enough to start writing that book after I’d been teaching for 20 years, and then I worked extremely hard on it for a whole year. Yet almost nobody is willing to buy it any more. Not even for 99 cents! When the world tells us that the work we’ve been doing for over 30 years is no longer of any value, there’s no reason to get out of bed in the mornings. Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. AI has brainwashed people into believing that all intellectual property should be free. This is dangerous, because the world’s most creative humans are rapidly being forced into poverty. But, AI can only steal and recycle what these humans have previously created. What does a world look like when human creativity has ended, and all we have is remixed ideas from robots? So what do you do when AI takes your job? And rest uneasy, because unless we start resisting the robots soon, AI will eventually steal everyone’s work and their purpose for getting out of bed in the mornings. So what do we do? I don’t know. I’ve been suffering from depression and anxiety for years as a result of my life’s work being devalued to the point that people don’t even want to pay 99 cents for it. So I’m afraid if you were looking for solutions, then you’re in the wrong place. All I know for sure is that we need to resist the robots, and support human creativity. So please look at your monthly budget. Where can you reallocate a little money to the arts? And when I say “the arts”, I mean all the creative ways that humans use to express themselves, from playing music to writing fiction, from dancing to gardening, and all the other wonderful ways, too! Imagine if everyone in the world who owned a smartphone simply waited one year longer than planned before buying a new phone (or any other tech gadget), and spent that money on the arts instead. That would change everything, overnight! Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. Remember, you’re voting with your dollars every day. For example, despite the fact that my income is a lot less than minimum wage, I still buy paper books. I rent a basement suite, I don’t go out, I don’t eat much, the last time I went to a restaurant or got takeout food was in 2018, my phone is 11 years old, and I haven’t bought any clothes in many years. But, there are always new books arriving at my door. Priorities! Here’s another example. You know that financial guru who’s always talking about lattes, and how if people bought index funds instead of their daily latte, they’d all be millionaires ...
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    8 mins
  • Mourning the Death of Music.

    Mourning the Death of Music.
    Nov 4 2026
    Mourning the Death of Music. Why are people in such a hurry to kill art? In my last two essays I’ve shared about how AI has stolen 90% of my income, as well as my reason to get out of bed in the mornings. I’ve been publicly speaking out against AI for over a year, though, and what I’ve consistently seen in people’s reactions is that they can be divided into two categories: Those who are sad to see human creativity being replaced by AI, and those who think AI is just a tool. I’ve already written an essay on how AI is definitely not a tool, based on the Oxford Dictionary’s definition of “tool”. If people want to call AI a tool, then they need to change the definition of “tool”. And I’m pretty sure that’s going to happen, because if there’s one thing we’ve learned over the last few years, it’s that the oligarchs love changing definitions! But, until they change the definition of “tool”, AI is absolutely 100% not a tool. Far more fascinating than the AI-is-just-a-tool groupthink, though, is the fact that our fellow humans are so aggressive towards those of us who are totally disorientated after the sudden loss of our careers, and for many of us, the loss of our purpose in life too. Despite the fact that I’ve been teaching music for over 30 years, I’m constantly being told to stop complaining and get with the times. But AI’s takeover happened so suddenly that I’m still mourning the death of music, and of teaching. Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. Why are the masses in such a hurry to tear down our past and rush headlong into a transhuman future? I don’t get it. Maybe it’s because I deleted all my social media accounts 11 years ago, so I don’t see all the viral posts that must be brainwashing the herd into believing that replacing humans with robots is a good idea. I don’t know?! Most of the time I feel like I’m living in a sci-fi dystopia, and I’m longing to return to a time when people actually looked up. Do you still look up? To return to my question, though: What’s the hurry? Why are people in such a rush to replace humans with robots? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments. I’m genuinely interested in trying to understand what’s behind this aggressive push. If their 30-year career was stolen by AI, wouldn’t they want some time to mourn that loss? Or would they be happy for everyone to tell them to stop complaining and get with the times? As with all technology, though, once it’s adopted, it’s here to stay. These are permanent changes, which can’t be undone. I find a great deal of inspiration from the Amish way of dealing with technology. They’re often misunderstood as being anti-technology. They’re not. They consider each new technology and whether it would improve the relationships between members of their community, as well as their relationships with God. If it would, they adopt it. Otherwise, they reject it. Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. I also find inspiration from Wendell Berry (RIP) and his legendary essay: Why I Am Not Going to Buy a Computer. He was happy to start using a computer if it would’ve improved his life and his writing. But as he explains in this eye-opening essay, too much is lost when humans adopt this technology. And it’s totally fine to disagree with him, that’s not the point. The point is that we should all pause and consider each new technology, and whether adopting it would improve our life. However, this only works if we’re actually honest with ourselves. Otherwise it’s a pointless exercise. And if we’re honest, it’s usually not as clearcut as we’d like to think. Let’s take telephones as an example. I don’t mean smartphones, I mean those old-school gadgets with the cable that needed to be plugged into the wall. The Old Order Amish decided to reject them, which might seem extreme to us. But the telephone was the beginning of our isolation, our loneliness. It was the beginning of the lie about being more connected. If we’re honest with ourselves, we can see that telephones never connected people, they did the exact opposite. Before the telephone, if you wanted to talk to someone, you had to go to their house and speak face-to-face. That’s connection! Picking up the phone and calling them is not connection. You’re literally disconnected from them, otherwise you wouldn’t need the phone. Think about it. We live in an upside-down reality. The Ministry of Connection is actually The Ministry of Disconnection. Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. And yes, I know the long list of benefits. I’m a two-time immigrant, so I’m well aware that being connected to people on the other side of an ocean is not possible without phones. But at the end of the day, do the pros outweigh the cons? Once again, the point is not to agree with me, Wendell Berry, or the Amish, the point is that we all pause and reflect before ...
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    9 mins
  • Replaced by Robots.

    Replaced by Robots.
    Oct 21 2026
    Replaced by Robots. The truth is that AI has already taken over. Before I read my new essay, I just wanna let you know that everything on our website is now half price. Whether you’re a complete beginner wanting to learn how to make music for the first time, or whether you’re intermediate (or even advanced) wanting to elevate your music from good to great, there’s a course or PDF to help you reach that next level. And they cover all genres, too. And just a heads up that unless the AI robots stop stealing my work, I’m going to have to close down Hack Music Theory on May 1st 2027, so if you’ve ever been tempted to learn my secret Song-Whispering method for making great music, then enroll soon! To be clear, I’ll still be posting regularly, but only on Substack. If you wanna keep following my work, then please subscribe at rayharmony.substack.com. It’s free to subscribe, and I don’t put any of my posts behind a paywall, they’re all free! Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. Enjoy, and now here’s my latest essay, which explains the reason for having to close down Hack Music Theory after being in business for 10 years. Thanks for reading, and a heartfelt thank-you for being here. You are deeply valued. There’s been a lot of talk recently about the alleged over-reaction to threats of AI stealing jobs and replacing people, but in reality, AI has already stolen countless jobs and replaced countless people. This is not speculation, it’s recent history. I can personally confirm this, because I’ve been replaced by robots. Have you been replaced, too? If so, please share your experience in the comments. It’s vital to speak out about this, as it seems most people don’t know that this has already happened for many of us. Or maybe they’re just in denial? I guess it’s all fun and games until the robots come for their jobs. Then they’ll believe us. So why is there all this talk about people over-reacting? Well, it’s a textbook gaslighting campaign. If you’re like me, then you can spot these a mile away nowadays. Same technique, different details. Welcome to Animal Farm. Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. They need us to deny our senses, because we’re looking around at the world and can see all the robots that have already replaced humans. Just look at the checkouts in stores. They’re almost all self-checkout robots. There are hardly any checkout staff any more. And when you email most companies now, you get a reply from an AI agent. That’s at least one or two humans replaced by robots in small companies, and tens or even hundreds in big corporations. The evidence is everywhere. We can all see it (and verify it) for ourselves. So, this essay is my attempt to counter the gaslighting campaign, and to acknowledge all my fellow brothers and sisters who’ve also been replaced by robots. I see you, and I see your suffering. Please know that you’re not alone, and you’re definitely not crazy. We are indeed living in a world where humans (and humanity) are rapidly disappearing. And please know that you’re in the right for not being happy with how things are unfolding. Here’s some more evidence, from my experience. Google analytics emails me a report every month for the Hack Music Theory website. When I compare the numbers from 2021 to 2026, Hack Music Theory turned up in a similar amount of searches. There are still almost 100K people every month being offered my teachings in their search results. But (and it’s a massive but), the number of people who actually end up on our website has decreased by about 90%. And in turn, our income has also decreased by about 90%. And for the record, we weren’t making tons of money before the AI era, we were getting less than a high-school teacher makes. Subscribe to get the latest posts in your inbox. So when all these AI fanboys on all these podcasts are saying that AI won’t steal jobs, please know that they’re lying. AI has not only stolen countless jobs already, it continues to violate copyrights and steal intellectual property every second of every day and night. When people ask AI about music theory, it comes to my website and YouTube channel (as well as other teachers’ websites and YouTube channels) and steals our teachings, then gives it to the person who searched, as if the robot wrote that explanation itself. And now that the person has that explanation right there on the same screen, there’s no need for them to visit our website. Every day and every night AI continues to steal our intellectual property and give it away for free. How is this legal? And yes, I’ve heard all the defenses and excuses and arguments, and how I just need to get with the times and change how I do things. But I’m a teacher. I’m in my late 40s, and teaching is the only thing I’ve ever done. After high school, I moved to Los Angeles to study music, then moved to London where I was a college...
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    10 mins
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