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Brain-generated music

Ray Kurzweil, Books and essays, 1999, published 1999-01

Interactive brain-generated music, which creates a resonance between the user’s brainwaves and the music being listened to, is another popular genre.

Source

Verdict

missTwo blind graders agree (D7, rule D16). Not in the audit sample (D11).

Grader A: miss

Brainwave-driven music was not a popular genre in 2009 or by 2014. EEG music stayed an experimental art practice (from Alvin Lucier in 1965). Consumer EEG headsets appeared around 2009 but did not create a music genre.

Test: Share of listeners using brain-interactive music: well under 5% by 2014.

Brain-computer interface (Wikipedia) (2026-09-28): EEG music mentioned only as Lucier's 1965 experimental work; Emotiv EPOC used for robot control in 2009; no music adoption.

Grader B: miss

Brainwave-driven interactive music was not a popular genre in 2009 or by 2014. EEG music remained an experimental art practice, going back to Alvin Lucier's 1965 'Music for Solo Performer'. Consumer EEG headsets (Emotiv EPOC around 2009, NeuroSky later) were novelties used by researchers and hobbyists, with no measurable music genre.

Test: Test: 5% or more of music listeners use brainwave-interactive music. 2009-2014: near 0%; experimental and research use only.

Brain-computer interface (Wikipedia) (accessed 2026-09): The only music BCI noted is Lucier's 1965 experimental piece; the Emotiv EPOC appears in 2009 hobbyist robotics use, not music.

All captured fields

rank: 113
kind: decade_prediction
section: The Arts
subject: Brain-generated music
target year: 2009
timing: in
position: Chapter 9, "2009"; item The Arts 8 in Kurzweil 2010, p. 95
confidence: high
note: Wording as reproduced by the author in "How My Predictions Are Faring" (2010); book page not given there. Subject label is the essay's own item heading.