🔗 Share this article

The record label representing Brit Award-winning artist Jorja Smith has stated its intention to claim a portion of earnings from a song it claims was created using an AI "clone" of the singer's unique voice.

The track, titled 'I Run' by British electronic duo Haven, achieved massive popularity on social media last October, in part due to its polished R&B vocals by an uncredited woman vocalist.

Despite its success and potential chart position in both UK and US, the track was later banned by leading streaming platforms after industry organizations sent copyright notices, stating it violated intellectual property law by impersonating another musician.

Although 'I Run' has since been re-released with completely new vocals, Smith's label, FAMM, insists it believes the initial version was generated with AI trained on her extensive work and is now pursuing financial redress.

A Larger Issue in Play

"This isn't just about Jorja. It's larger than one artist or one song," the label wrote in a public announcement.

FAMM also stated its belief that "each iterations of the track violate Jorja's rights and unjustly benefit from the creative output of all the writers with whom she works."

Known for songs like 'Be Honest' and 'Little Things', Smith was crowned British Female Solo Artist at the prestigious Brit Awards in 2019.

Suggesting that her supporters were potentially deceived by Haven's first release, the label concluded: "We must not allow this to be the new normal."

Producers Acknowledge Employing AI Technology

The duo behind the track have publicly admitted using AI during its creation.

Producer Harrison Walker explained that the initial vocals were actually his own but were extensively manipulated using music-generation platform Suno, often referred to as the "advanced tool for music".

In addition, the second member, Waypoint, identified as Jacob Donaghue, stated on social media that AI was used to "give our starting vocal a female quality".

Donaghue and Walker maintain that they composed and produced the music themselves and have even shared files of their source production sessions.

"This shouldn't be secret that I used AI-powered vocal processing to convert solely my voice for 'I Run'," Walker elaborated.

"Being a songwriter and producer, I enjoy using innovative technologies, techniques and remaining on the forefront of industry trends," he added.

"In order to set the facts straight, the artists behind HAVEN are real and human, and all we aim to do is make great music for fellow humans."

Legal Uncertainty and Broader Impact

Although their original release of 'I Run' was suspended from major charts, the replacement version did enter the UK Top 40 last week.

FAMM has positioned the entire episode as a critical precedent for the music industry's evolving interaction with AI.

The label stated it had "a duty to voice concerns" and "stimulate public discourse", because AI is advancing at an "alarming rate and significantly outpacing regulation".

"AI-generated material should be clearly labelled as such so that the audience may choose whether they listen to it or not," the statement added.

Creators Become 'Unintended Victims'

Smith endorsed her label's position on her own social media page.

The post cautioned that musicians and songwriters were turning into "unintended casualties in the race by policymakers and corporations towards AI supremacy".

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

"Should we are successful in proving that AI assisted to write the words and tune in 'I Run' and are granted a portion of the song, we would seek to allocate each of Jorja's co-writers with a corresponding share," it detailed.

The Continuing Growth of Computer-Generated Music

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

• In the summer, the band Velvet Sundown gathered millions of streams before disclosing they used AI to aid craft their sound.
• Recently, an AI-generated "performer" known as Breaking Rust topped a US genre sales chart, showing that audiences are not necessarily opposed to consuming AI-made music.
• Suno was last year taken to court for alleged violations by the industry's three biggest record labels, but those cases have since been resolved.

Subsequently, Warner Music established a collaboration with the company, which will enable users to generate songs using the voices, names, and likenesses of Warner acts who agree to the program.

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

Just last week, a group 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 potential changes to intellectual property regulations.

They argue these amendments would make it simpler for AI companies to develop systems using copyrighted work without securing a license.