🔗 Share this article

The record label representing award-winning singer Jorja Smith has declared its intention to receive a share of royalties from a track it claims was produced using an artificial intelligence "clone" of the performer's unique voice.

The song, titled 'I Run' by British dance act Haven, gained massive traction on TikTok in October, partly due to its smooth R&B vocals by an unnamed woman singer.

Despite its momentum and impending top 40 entry in the UK and US, the track was later removed by leading music services after industry organizations issued takedown requests, alleging it breached intellectual property law by imitating another artist.

Although 'I Run' has since been reissued with completely new singing, Smith's label, FAMM, maintains it is convinced the initial version was generated with AI programmed on her body of recordings and is now seeking financial redress.

A Larger Principle in Play

"The situation isn't just about one artist. This is larger than a single performer or a single track," the label wrote in a public statement.

FAMM also stated its belief that "each versions of the song infringe on the artist's legal rights and unfairly take advantage of the creative output 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 supporters were possibly misled by Haven's first release, the label concluded: "Our industry cannot permit this to be the new normal."

Producers Acknowledge Employing AI Technology

The team responsible for the track have publicly admitted using AI in its production process.

Songwriter Harrison Walker explained that the initial voice were in fact his own but were heavily manipulated using music-generation software Suno, sometimes referred to as the "advanced tool for music".

Meanwhile, the second member, Waypoint, identified as Jacob Donaghue, confirmed on his accounts that AI was used to "give our original vocal a feminine quality".

Donaghue and Walker assert that they wrote and produced the song themselves and have even shared files of their source computer files.

"This shouldn't be mystery that I used AI-assisted vocal editing to convert solely my voice for 'I Run'," Walker elaborated.

"As a creator and maker, I like using innovative technologies, methods and remaining on the forefront of industry trends," he continued.

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

Regulatory Uncertainty and Broader Implications

Although their first version of 'I Run' was blocked from official rankings, the replacement recording managed to enter the UK Top 40 recently.

FAMM has positioned the incident as a significant precedent for the music industry's changing relationship with AI.

The label stated it had "a duty to speak up" and "encourage public discourse", because AI is proliferating at an "alarming rate and significantly outpacing legal oversight".

"AI-generated 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 endorsed her label's statement on her own social media profile.

The post cautioned that artists and creators were becoming "unintended casualties in the competition by policymakers and tech firms towards AI supremacy".

It further stated that the label would share any potential royalties with the writers behind Smith's catalogue.

"Should we are able in proving that AI assisted to compose the words and melody in 'I Run' and are awarded a share of the song, we would aim to assign every one of Jorja's collaborators with a pro-rata share," it explained.

The Ongoing Growth of AI Music

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

• In the summer, the band Velvet Sundown accumulated millions of streams before revealing they used AI to help develop their musical style.
• Last month, an AI-generated "performer" known as Breaking Rust led a US country digital song sales chart, showing that listeners are not always averse to hearing AI-made music.
• Suno was last year taken to court for alleged violations by the world's three largest record labels, though those cases have since been settled.

Subsequently, Warner Music established a partnership with the firm, which will enable users to create songs using the voices, names, and likenesses of Warner artists who agree to the service.

However, it remains unclear how a large number of well-known artists will agree to such uses of their work.

Just last week, a collective of renowned musicians such as Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush released a vinyl album featuring silent songs or recordings of quiet studios in protest to proposed revisions to copyright law.

They argue these changes would make it simpler for AI companies to train models using protected work without securing a permission.