The musician and author examines artistic identity, commercial pressure and the cost of effortless perfection in a novel about a struggling performer whose success comes with a troubling trade-off.
What happens when a musician finally gains the ability to create the music they have always imagined, only to question whether the work is still their own?
That dilemma drives Smarter, a novel by musician and author Dave Montano, whose story follows Tommy Reeves, a struggling performer whose fortunes change after he begins using artificial intelligence-enhanced glasses. The technology appears to offer a shortcut to musical success, but its growing influence raises questions about creative ownership, personal agency and the price of becoming better at everything.
For Montano, the idea emerged from his own experiences using artificial intelligence in professional work and music. As he explored the technology, he began considering what might happen if a person could suddenly excel at almost anything — and what that ability might cost.
“I chose a struggling musician because music is such a personal form of expression,” Montano told RaptureStone. “If a machine can make you a better guitarist, a better singer, or a better songwriter, at what point does the music stop being yours?”
Rather than present AI as an uncomplicated threat or an unquestionable benefit, Montano wanted to explore the experience of living with a technology capable of changing both a person’s abilities and their relationship with their work.
Tommy’s transformation becomes increasingly unsettling as the distinction between technological assistance and dependence begins to blur. His success may be real, but he becomes less certain about how much of it reflects his own abilities.
“The tragedy isn’t simply that Tommy might be taking credit for something he didn’t create,” Montano said. “It’s that, somewhere along the way, he risks losing the ability to create anything on his own terms.”
When the tool becomes the creator
The questions raised by Smarter have relevance beyond its fictional world. The music industry is exploring ways to incorporate generative AI into music creation while negotiating concerns over copyright, consent, compensation and the rights of artists whose work may be used by these systems.
In May 2026, Spotify and Universal Music Group announced licensing agreements intended to allow fans to create AI-generated covers and remixes using songs from participating artists and songwriters. The companies said the arrangement would be built around consent, credit and compensation. The announcement illustrates one effort to bring AI music creation into licensed commercial channels, although it does not resolve the broader questions surrounding the technology. (“Reuters reported on the agreement” (https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/spotify-strikes-deal-with-universal-music-to-let-premium-users-create-ai-covers-remixes-4704538).)
Montano does not believe that using technology automatically diminishes the value of creative work. He acknowledges that artists have long adapted to new tools and that originality often involves reworking existing ideas.
The difficulty, he argues, is determining when assistance begins to replace the artist’s own judgment.
“I don’t think using a tool automatically diminishes the value of what someone creates,” he told RaptureStone. “But I do think there’s a difference between using technology to realize your vision and allowing technology to determine what that vision should be.”
For Montano, that distinction matters because creative expression is not simply about the quality of the final product. It also involves the experiences, decisions and curiosity that shape the work.
“It’s that we might eventually stop recognizing the value of having our own ideas in the first place,” he said of his concerns about AI.
The business of musical success
Smarter also examines the relationship between artists and the commercial systems surrounding them. As Tommy becomes more valuable, the interests of those around him begin to take precedence over his independence.
Montano is openly critical of the music business, arguing that commercial priorities can turn performers into products whose talent, image and popularity are valued primarily for their earning potential.
“I think the music industry is terrible,” he said, describing a business he believes gives too much power to commercial gatekeepers and does not adequately reward many of the artists whose work sustains it.
That is Montano’s assessment, rather than a description that applies equally to every label, platform or industry relationship. His broader concern, however, is central to the novel: technological advances may increase an artist’s commercial value without giving that artist more control over their career.
AI could intensify that tension if greater productivity and marketability become the principal measures of an artist’s worth.
For Montano, the danger is not commercial success itself. Musicians naturally want their work to reach an audience, and there is nothing inherently wrong with earning a living from it. The problem arises when external approval becomes more important than the desire to express something personal.
“I think the most important thing an artist can do is decide what success means to them,” he said. “And then go do that.”
Why imperfection matters
Despite the concerns explored in Smarter, Montano does not want young musicians to interpret the novel as an instruction to reject AI.
He encourages them to experiment with new tools while remaining conscious of why they began making music in the first place. Technical improvement can be valuable, but it should not necessarily replace the experience of learning, taking risks and discovering an individual creative voice.
His position is shaped partly by his own use of AI. Montano says the technology helps him explore song ideas, experiment with lyrics and decide more quickly whether an idea is worth developing. He compares the debate surrounding AI with earlier changes in music technology, including drum machines and pitch correction.
He expects musicians to adopt different approaches over the coming decade, with some embracing AI, others rejecting it and many finding a position between the two.
What matters to him is that artists retain control over their work and have a say in how their music, voices and identities are used.
That concern extends into the novel’s treatment of human relationships. Tommy’s struggle becomes more than a question of whether he can create music without technological assistance. It becomes a question of whether he can trust his own decisions and maintain meaningful connections as his sense of identity begins to fracture.
Montano sees the freedom to fail, disagree and make imperfect work as an essential part of remaining human. The pursuit of effortless perfection, he suggests, can come at the expense of the very qualities that make creative expression personal.
Reclaiming the freedom to create
The novel’s final chapter, titled “Real”, leaves the reader questioning how much of Tommy’s experience happened as he understood it. Montano deliberately leaves the question unresolved, inviting readers to consider how technology might influence not only what people create but also what they perceive and believe.
He is interested in the possibility that control could become difficult to recognise if a system can shape a person’s understanding of reality.
That uncertainty gives the novel a broader theme: the preservation of individual agency in a world increasingly shaped by technologies capable of influencing creative and personal decisions.
Asked what he would tell a young musician considering how much to rely on AI, Montano avoids prescribing a single answer. Instead, he encourages artists to experiment, make mistakes and continue listening to their own instincts.
“Because ultimately, the most important thing you bring to your music isn’t your technical ability,” he told RaptureStone. “It’s you.”
His closing thought captures the paradox at the heart of Smarter. After everything Tommy and the other characters endure, Montano says, their greatest triumph is regaining the freedom to play “really shitty music”.
The deliberately irreverent conclusion is also the novel’s clearest statement about creative independence. The freedom to make imperfect work, without surrendering control over the process, can matter more than producing something technically flawless.
For Montano, the question is not whether AI can help musicians create. It is whether artists can use it without losing sight of what they want to say — and the freedom to decide for themselves.
