🔗 Share this article

The record label representing award-winning singer Jorja Smith has stated its desire to receive a share of royalties from a track it asserts was produced using an artificial intelligence "replica" of the singer's distinctive voice.

The track, titled 'I Run' by British electronic duo Haven, achieved widespread traction on TikTok in October, in part due to its smooth soul singing by an uncredited female singer.

Despite its success and impending top 40 entry in both UK and US, the track was later removed by major music services after music bodies sent takedown notices, stating it violated copyright by imitating another musician.

Even though 'I Run' has now been reissued with completely new singing, Smith's label, FAMM, maintains it believes the initial recording was generated with AI programmed on her extensive work and is now pursuing financial redress.

A Larger Principle in Play

"This is not only about one artist. This is bigger than one artist or one song," the label wrote in a recent statement.

FAMM further stated its belief that "both iterations of the song violate the artist's legal rights and unfairly benefit from the work of all the writers with whom she collaborates."

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

Suggesting that her supporters were possibly misled by Haven's original track, the label added: "We must not allow this to become the standard practice."

Producers Admit Employing AI Tools

The team responsible for the song have openly confirmed using AI during its production process.

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

In addition, the second producer, Waypoint, whose real name is Jacob Donaghue, confirmed on social media that AI was used to "give our original vocal a female quality".

Donaghue and Walker assert that they composed and produced the music themselves and have even provided files of their original production sessions.

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

"Being a songwriter and maker, I like using innovative technologies, methods and staying on the forefront of industry trends," he added.

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

Regulatory Gray Areas and Industry Impact

While their first version of 'I Run' was blocked from official rankings, the new version managed to break into the UK Top 40 recently.

FAMM has positioned the entire episode as a critical precedent for the entertainment sector's changing relationship with AI.

The label argued it had "a duty to speak up" and "stimulate public discourse", because AI is advancing at an "rapid rate and substantially exceeding legal oversight".

"Computer-created content should be transparently identified as such so that the audience may decide whether they listen to it or not," the statement continued.

Artists as 'Collateral Damage'

Smith shared her label's position on her personal social media profile.

The text cautioned that musicians and creators were turning into "unintended casualties in the competition by policymakers and tech firms towards AI supremacy".

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

"If we are successful in proving that AI assisted to write the words and melody in 'I Run' and are granted a portion of the song, we would aim to allocate every one of Jorja's co-writers with a pro-rata share," it detailed.

The Continuing Growth of AI Music

The emergence of AI-generated music has been a source of both interest and anxiety for the music industry.

• In the summer, the group Velvet Sundown accumulated millions of streams before revealing they used AI to aid develop their sound.
• Last month, an AI-generated "performer" known as Breaking Rust led a US genre sales chart, showing that audiences are not necessarily averse to hearing AI-made music.
• Suno was previously sued for copyright infringement by the world's major biggest record labels, but those legal actions have now been settled.

Following this, Warner Music entered into a collaboration with the firm, which will allow users to generate songs using the vocal likenesses, names, and images of Warner artists who agree to the service.

However, it is unclear how many well-known musicians will consent to such applications of their work.

Recently, a group of renowned artists such as Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush released a vinyl album featuring silent songs or audio of quiet studios in opposition to potential revisions to copyright law.

They contend these changes would make it easier for AI companies to develop systems using copyrighted work without obtaining a license.