🔗 Share this article

The record label representing award-winning artist Jorja Smith has stated its intention to receive a share of royalties from a song it claims was created using an artificial intelligence "replica" of the singer's unique voice.

The song, titled 'I Run' by British dance act Haven, achieved widespread traction on social media in October, partly due to its polished soul vocals by an unnamed female singer.

Despite its success and impending top 40 position in the UK and US, the track was later removed by leading music services after industry bodies sent copyright notices, stating it violated intellectual property law by imitating another musician.

Even though 'I Run' has since been reissued with different singing, Smith's label, FAMM, maintains it is convinced the original recording was generated with AI programmed on her body of recordings and is now seeking financial redress.

A Broader Issue in Play

"This isn't just about one artist. This is larger than a single performer or a single track," the label stated in a recent statement.

FAMM also expressed its belief that "both versions of the song infringe on the artist's rights and unjustly benefit from the work of all the writers with whom she collaborates."

Famous for hits like 'Be Honest' and 'Little Things', Smith was crowned Best British Female at the annual Brit Awards in 2019.

Suggesting that her fans were potentially deceived by Haven's first track, the label added: "Our industry must not permit this to become the new normal."

Producers Admit Employing AI Tools

The duo responsible for the track have openly confirmed using AI during its production process.

Songwriter Harrison Walker explained that the initial voice were actually his own but were heavily manipulated using AI music software Suno, sometimes referred to as the "ChatGPT for music".

Meanwhile, the other member, Waypoint, whose real name is Jacob Donaghue, confirmed on his accounts that AI was used to "give our original vocal a female quality".

Donaghue and Walker assert that they wrote and produced the music themselves and have even provided files of their original computer files.

"It is no mystery that I used AI-assisted vocal editing to transform solely my voice for 'I Run'," Walker said.

"Being a creator and producer, I like experimenting with innovative technologies, methods and remaining on the forefront of industry trends," he continued.

"In order to set the record clear, the artists behind HAVEN are real and people, and all we aim to do is make enjoyable music for other humans."

Legal Uncertainty and Broader Impact

While their first release of 'I Run' was blocked from official charts, the replacement version managed to enter the UK Top 40 last week.

FAMM has framed the entire episode as a significant precedent for the music industry's changing relationship with artificial intelligence.

The label argued it had "an obligation to speak up" and "encourage wider discussion", because AI is advancing at an "alarming rate and substantially outpacing legal oversight".

"Computer-created content should be transparently labelled as such so that the audience may choose whether they consume it or not," the message continued.

Artists as 'Collateral Victims'

Smith shared her label's statement on her own social media page.

The text cautioned that musicians and creators were turning into "unintended casualties in the race by governments and corporations towards AI dominance".

It also stated that the label would share any awarded songwriting credits with the collaborators behind Smith's catalogue.

"If we are able in establishing that AI assisted to compose the words and tune in 'I Run' and are awarded a share of the song, we would seek to allocate each of Jorja's collaborators with a corresponding share," it explained.

The Ongoing Rise of AI Music

The emergence of algorithmically created music has been a source of both interest and consternation for the music industry.

• In June, the group Velvet Sundown gathered millions of streams before revealing they used AI to help develop their musical style.
• Last month, an AI-generated "performer" called Breaking Rust topped a US country sales chart, demonstrating that audiences are not necessarily opposed to consuming AI-made music.
• Suno was previously sued for alleged violations by the world's major biggest record labels, though those cases have since been resolved.

Subsequently, Warner Music entered into a partnership with the company, which will allow users to generate songs using the vocal likenesses, names, and likenesses of Warner artists who agree to the service.

However, it remains unclear how many established artists will agree to such applications of their work.

Recently, a collective of prominent artists such as Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush released a vinyl album featuring tracks of silence or audio of empty studios in protest to proposed changes to copyright law.

They contend these changes would make it simpler for AI companies to train models using copyrighted work without obtaining a license.