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The music company representing award-winning singer Jorja Smith has stated its desire to receive a share of earnings from a track it asserts was created using an AI "clone" of the singer's distinctive vocal style.

The track, titled 'I Run' by UK dance act Haven, achieved widespread traction on social media last October, in part due to its smooth R&B singing by an unnamed woman vocalist.

Although its momentum and impending chart entry in the UK and US, the track was later removed by major streaming platforms after industry bodies issued takedown notices, stating it violated copyright by impersonating another musician.

Although 'I Run' has since been re-released with different singing, Smith's label, FAMM, insists it believes the original recording was made with AI trained on her extensive work and is now pursuing financial compensation.

A Larger Principle in Play

"The situation is not only about one artist. It's bigger than one artist or one song," the label wrote in a public announcement.

FAMM also stated its view that "both versions of the track infringe on the artist's rights and unfairly take advantage of the work of all the songwriters with whom she works."

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

Suggesting that her supporters were possibly deceived by Haven's original track, the label concluded: "Our industry cannot allow this to become the new normal."

Producers Acknowledge Using AI Technology

The team responsible for the song have openly confirmed utilizing AI during its creation.

Producer Harrison Walker explained that the initial voice were actually his own but were heavily altered using music-generation software Suno, often referred to as the "ChatGPT for music".

Meanwhile, the other producer, Waypoint, identified as Jacob Donaghue, confirmed on social media that AI was used to "apply our starting vocal a female quality".

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

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

"Being a songwriter and producer, I like experimenting with new tools, methods and staying on the forefront of what's happening," he added.

"To set the facts clear, the people behind HAVEN are real and people, and all we aim to do is make great music for fellow humans."

Legal Gray Areas and Industry Implications

While their original release of 'I Run' was suspended from official charts, the new recording did break into the UK Top 40 recently.

FAMM has positioned the incident as a significant test case for the music industry's changing relationship with artificial intelligence.

The label argued it had "an obligation to voice concerns" and "stimulate wider discussion", because AI is proliferating at an "alarming rate and substantially outpacing regulation".

"AI-generated content should be transparently identified as such so that the audience may choose whether they consume it or not," the message added.

Artists as 'Collateral Damage'

Smith shared her label's position on her personal Instagram page.

The post warned that artists and creators were turning into "unintended casualties in the race by governments and tech firms towards AI supremacy".

It further noted that the label would share any awarded royalties with the writers behind Smith's music.

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

The Continuing Growth of Computer-Generated Music

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

• In the summer, the band Velvet Sundown accumulated vast numbers of plays before disclosing they used AI to help develop their musical style.
• Last month, an AI-generated "performer" called Breaking Rust topped a US genre sales chart, showing that audiences are not necessarily opposed to consuming computer-generated music.
• Suno was previously taken to court for copyright infringement by the world's three largest record labels, but those cases have now been settled.

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

Yet, it is uncertain how many well-known musicians will consent to such applications of their identity.

Recently, a group of renowned artists such as Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush issued a vinyl album featuring tracks of silence or recordings of quiet studios in protest to proposed changes to copyright law.

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