Grammy Awards CEO addresses AI music controversy amid industry concerns

A viral, AI-generated song with fake vocals of popular musicians Drake and The Weeknd is said to have triggered the debate.

By: Tech Desk
New Delhi | Updated: September 2, 2024 02:26 PM IST

3 min read

While some in the music industry have expressed concerns over AI, others have been excited and optimistic about it. (Image: Pixabay)

With the issue of using generative AI to create music becoming increasingly polarising, the head of the organisation behind the Grammy Awards, the best-known music awards in the United States of America, has shared his thoughts on the potentially disruptive technology and the various concerns it poses.

Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, has said that songs which have been created using AI can be entered for Grammy Awards consideration as long as the tracks have been submitted by humans. “It’s a bit of a fine line, but that’s going to evolve,” Mason was quoted as saying by TechCrunch.

“My hope is that we can continue to celebrate human creativity at the highest level,” he said, adding that some in the music industry have expressed concerns over AI while others have been excited and optimistic about it.

The trigger

A viral, AI-generated song with unauthorised, fake vocals of popular musicians Drake and The Weeknd reportedly brought the contentious issue to the forefront as many fans liked it and the person behind the track said that they were looking to submit it to the Grammys. However, the song’s entry was rejected and taken down for copyright infringement. “That was the point at which we started having to pay close attention to it,” Mason said.

Also Read | I generated my own music with ‘Suno’ AI: Here’s how it sounds

According to the report, Mason said that AI is already being used in music and song creation processes such as mastering and equalising sounds. He reportedly pointed out that artists are currently most worried about being credited in AI-generated songs and said that there needs to be protections across the industry in order to make sure that artists are credited separately and fairly paid for AI-generated songs trained on their work.

However, Mason also said that consumers are unlikely to go through a song’s credits in order to find out if it is AI-generated or not. “As it comes to our industry and the creative community, there’s still a concern,” Mason was quoted as saying. “There’s uncertainty because there just doesn’t seem to be protections in place,” he added.

“We’ll make great music with the new technology. But I just want to make sure it’s done in a way that’s fair to the human creators,” he further said.

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