Why the music industry is changing its tune on AI

"Last month, "Walk My Walk" hit number one on Billboard's Country Digital Song Sales chart. The moody stomp-clap tune, with lyrics like "Every scar's a story that I survived, I've been through hell, but I'm still alive," has been played more than 8 million times on Spotify. The song wasn't performed by a human artist - Breaking Rust, despite having the face of a handsome, rugged man in a cowboy hat on its Spotify profile, is an AI project."

"When some of the first AI-generated tracks started racking up listens two years ago, music labels went to battle, threatening and filing legal action to stop AI generators from training on and using their artists' voices and music stylings. Universal Music Group (UMG) pushed to have a YouTube video where Eminem's voice rapped about cats taken down. Spotify removed AI slop songs that were listened to by bots to reap the streaming earning pool, and UMG also got streaming platforms to remove a viral "Drake" song that wasn't by Drake and The Weeknd at all, but a song written by Ghostwriter, an anonymous artist that uses AI to produce music and appears publicly only when cloaked in white and dark glasses."

"It's the latest example of ways that AI-generated music, with its opaque origins, can create confusion around who really made a song just as easily as it can create a hit. AI-generated music that sounds a lot like your faves but was made with a few prompts has been going viral, spreading far and wide and more quickly than music labels can always have it removed. The person behind Breaking Rust did not respond to a message I sent asking about the origin of the sound."

An AI project called Breaking Rust released "Walk My Walk," which reached number one on a country digital sales chart and accrued over 8 million Spotify plays. Blanco Brown claims the track imitates his country-rap style, while the person behind Breaking Rust did not respond to inquiries about origins. AI-generated songs that closely resemble established artists have spread rapidly, sometimes aided by bots, prompting music labels to pursue takedowns and legal action. Universal Music Group and streaming platforms have removed viral AI tracks that used emulated voices. Labels are now beginning to engage with AI music generators rather than only fight them.

Read at Business Insider