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Could AI replace your favourite singer?

Part of Other Side of the Story

Drake and The Weeknd.

How does AI make music?

Who do you think will be the next major star in the music world? Well, AI seems to be causing quite a stir!

Yes, that’s right, Artificial Intelligence (AI) – computer software that allows machines to think and learn in a ‘human’ way - is composing tunes and writing lyrics, and the results are amazing!

AI does this by analysing huge amounts of musical data, using existing samples, styles and genres and can learn to create something completely from scratch. There are lots of different AI Music generators out there, including Boomy, and AIVA.

Drake and The Weeknd.

Is AI the future of music?

AI music has been circulating online with users creating songs that contain cloned voices of artists such as Rihanna, Ariana Grande, and Kendrick Lamar.

An online creator named ‘ghostwriter’ made the song ‘Heart on My Sleeve’, featuring the cloned voices of Drake and the Weeknd. It managed to rack up over 600,000 Spotify streams and 15 million TikTok views, before Universal Music Group successfully petitioned for it to be taken down. They stated that the song ‘infringes content created with generative AI’.

Have a go at our AI quiz here!

AI and Copyrights

There are currently no clear laws surrounding the creation of AI music. Whether AI music can be copyrighted is still under debate, with The US Copyright Office’s current ruling stating that AI music cannot be copyrighted as it is "not the product of human authorship".

Opinions about what the laws should be are divided.

According to the Financial Times, Universal Music Group wrote to streaming services asking them to block AI software from using their services to train its AI on copyrighted songs.

Stanford Law professor Mark A. Lemley and attorney Bryan Casey argue that AI should be allowed to train on copyrighted material, not with the aim of copying or reproducing music, but in order to learn about facts and structures.

What do artists think about AI music?

Some musicians are happy to embrace AI and want to use it to enhance their music.

DJ David Guetta told the ±«Óătv that he is "sure the future of music is in AI
but as a tool".

Sting believes that there’s "going to be a battle we all have to fight in the next couple of years: Defending our human capital against AI". He urged artists to be wary saying "the tools are useful, but we have to drive them".

Singer Grimes seems enthusiastic about the introduction of AI music, with Rolling Stone reporting that she said people should "feel free to use [her] voice without penalty" and that she’ll "split 50 [percent] royalties on any successful AI generated song that uses [her] voice".

What do you think? Are you happy to listen to music created by AI?

Find out what the rules are about using AI for homework here!