Virtual Vocals

How Artificial Intelligence-Generated Songs Pose a Threat to the Music Industry

By: Julia Koontz ‘25

In News:

The song “Heart on my Sleeve” by the world-famous artists Drake and the Weeknd has recently received vast attention on TikTok, but sometimes ears can deceive.

The song, which has been submitted for the Grammys, was never performed by either pop star, but it quickly rose to fame under their name (1). The quick-to-trend audio is just one of the many examples of artificial intelligence being used to produce fake songs or covers, raising questions about how the music industry will adapt to the technology

Firstly, it’s important to establish how much of the song is actually generated by AI. While it is easy to believe a claim that the lyrics, instrumentals, and vocals were all AI, the truth is that only the vocals were AI-generated. A real person under the pseudonym “Ghostwriter” made this song by producing instrumentals, writing lyrics, then performing them, but overlaid the voices of Drake and the Weeknd onto it using a program called sovits-svc (1) So-vits-svc is a publicly accessible program that can be downloaded and run by anyone to access an advanced deep learning system.

All the user has to do is provide so-vits-svc with samples of someone’s voice, which the program breaks down into “frequency bands” This sample data allows the computer to recreate a person’s voice by teaching it to recognize certain characteristics of their vocals. This data is then encoded and masked over the original vocals of the recorded lyrics to produce the final audio file (2).

Although this may seem like a harmless way to listen to something new or to make a funny parody, the act of doing so raises many questions about the legality and ethics of using AI to replicate an artist’s voice.

The song, which was released on streaming platforms such as Spotify, was immediately taken down by the record label of both artists (3). Universal Music Group was quick to voice its stance on the use of such technology, begging the question, “Which side of history all stakeholders in the music ecosystem want to be on: the side of artists, fans and human creative expression, or on the side of deep fakes, fraud and denying artists their due compensation” (3). The main question surrounding AI-generated music is about who owns the rights to it, which becomes even more complicated when using another person’s voice This raises concerns about using a notable figure’s voice to say something controversial Regardless of the exact issue, many fear that with the speed of advancements being made in this technology, lawmakers will never be able to fully adapt (4).

While this might instill fear into the minds of some artists, the idea of essentially renting out one’s voice is appealing to others. Some artists have even pioneered ways to evolve with this technology and be compensated for their collaboration with it. The artist Grimes, for example, has released a software called “Elftech” that allows anyone to transform their voice into something resembling her own The final products, or “voiceprints”, can be used in any original song, as long as GrimesAI is credited as the main or featured performer.

Grimes asserts that she would split the royalties on any successful song that used her AI voice because she believes her voice should be available to anyone who wishes to access it (5)

Amid quarrels surrounding deep fakes, AIgenerated art, and AI vocalizations, it’s easy to feel like AI is stripping away pieces of people’s identities and commodifying them. While the legality of AI-generated music or performances is still heavily debated, it is up to individuals and artists to decide what the next step is. While some artists have jumped ahead of the game and begun working with AI and deep learning models to reproduce their voices, others are attempting to wait out the storm

Works Cited

1 Tyagi, A (2023, May 19) How To Turn Your Voice Into Any Celebrity’s (so-vits-svc 40) Medium https://mediumcom/@amaltyagi/how-to-turn-your-voice-intoany-celebritys-so-vits-svc-4-0-e92222a287e2

Shanfeld, E (2023, September 6) Ghostwriter’s “Heart on My Sleeve,” the AIGenerated Song Mimicking Drake and the Weeknd, Submitted for Grammys Variety https://varietycom/2023/music/news/ai-generated-drake-the-weekndsong-submitted-for-grammys-1235714805/

2 Coscarelli, J (2023, April 19) An AI Hit of Fake “Drake” and “The Weeknd” Rattles the Music World The New York Times

3 Veltman, C (2023, April 21) When you realize your favorite new song was written and performed by AI NPR https://wwwnprorg/2023/04/21/1171032649/aimusic-heart-on-my-sleeve-drake-the-weeknd

5 https://wwwnytimescom/2023/04/19/arts/music/ai-drake-the-weeknd-fakehtml

4 IV, A P (nd) Grimes Helps Artists Distribute Songs Using Her AI Voice If They Split Royalties Here’s How It Works Forbes Retrieved January 20, 2024, from https://wwwforbescom/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2023/06/12/grimes-helps-artistsdistribute-songs-using-her-ai-voice--if-they-pay-royalties-heres-how-it-works/? sh=540d584b49ae