A song featuring AI-generated voices of Drake and The Weeknd has been submitted to next year’s Grammy Awards, further fueling an existing controversy over the use of AI in music and piracy.
The song “Heart On My Sleeve” was created by an artist known as Ghostwriter.truck caught a virus Immediately after its release in April, it became popular on TikTok and has been played over 230,000 times on YouTube and over 625,000 times on Spotify.
However, the song was revealed to have been created using artificial intelligence and has been removed from streaming services such as Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal and Deezer. The song reportedly mimics two Canadian singers’ voices with astonishing accuracy.
Also read: Grimes plans to share 50% of profits with AI songs using his voice
Are AI songs eligible for Grammy Awards?
now, ghost writer We submitted our “Heart on My Sleeve” track to the Grammy Awards for Best Rap Song and Song of the Year, the coveted awards in the music category. according to to the New York Times.
The proposal comes at a time when the industry is still figuring out how to adapt to the threat of AI-generated music that could affect human producers and songwriters. There is also the question of whether AI songs are even eligible to compete for awards in the first place.
“It’s written by a human, so it absolutely qualifies,” Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. told The Times.
“As soon as I heard the record, I knew.” [the AI version of Heart on My Sleeve] It was going to be an issue that had to be addressed not only from the academy’s point of view, but also from the music community’s and industry’s point of view. ”
Mason Jr. clarified that despite its creative eligibility, the song still had to meet the Grammy rules for “general distribution.”
That means Heart on My Sleeve needs to be released widely and made “available nationally through physical stores, third-party online retailers and streaming services.” The Times reported that the ghostwriter “was aware of the commercial availability requirement.”
take down the heart on my sleeve
Drake’s collaboration with The Weeknd isn’t the first time artificial intelligence has been used in songwriting, but it’s one of the most compelling. The two artists exchanged lyrics about Selena Gomez, who was previously dating The Weeknd.
In the two-minute song, The Weeknd’s clone targets allegations against Gomez, singing, “Like Selena’s baby, I’m cheating (sic).” In the opening lyric, “Drake” raps, “You end up dating your ex, like Selena bending and bumping Justin Bieber.”
The song was an instant internet hit, but Universal Music Group, the publisher of both artists, said using AI to clone their songs and distribute them to digital service providers like Spotify was a “breach of contract.” and is a violation of copyright law.” ”
The song is now viral on all platforms.
But I think this is all a genius marketing ploy…
Not by Drake, but by a SaaS startup.
Here’s a 30 second rundown of AI Drake’s song and my predictions about who’s behind it. 👻 pic.twitter.com/puklgqjElZ
— Mitchell Cohen (@MitchellLandon) April 16, 2023
By the end of April, the company will send emails to music streaming services like Spotify, YouTube and Apple Music, warning them that they “will not hesitate to take steps to protect our rights and those of our artists” regarding the use of AI-generated songs. did. .
Heart on My Sleeve was quickly removed from streaming services. In a statement earlier this year, the Academy of Music said that at the Grammy Awards, “a work that does not contain human writings is not eligible in any category.”
Later Mason Jr. pronounced He assumed a new position in July and said:
“What we wanted to say is that AI-powered material can also be submitted, but only the human part of the composition or performance can be awarded or considered for a Grammy.”
“So if an AI modeling system or app builds a track, i.e. ‘writes’ the lyrics and melody, it is not eligible for a musical score award. However, if a human writes the track and AI is used for voice modeling, creating new voices, or using someone else’s voice, the performance is not covered, but the track’s writing and lyrics or topline Fully covered. for the prize,” he added.
