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The music company representing Brit Award-winning artist Jorja Smith has declared its intention to claim a portion of royalties from a track it claims was produced using an AI "replica" of the singer's distinctive vocal style.

The song, titled 'I Run' by British dance act Haven, gained widespread popularity on social media in October, partly due to its smooth soul singing by an unnamed woman vocalist.

Despite its success and potential top 40 entry in the UK and US, the song was subsequently banned by leading music services after music bodies sent takedown notices, stating it breached copyright by impersonating another artist.

Although 'I Run' has since been reissued with different vocals, Smith's label, FAMM, maintains it is convinced the initial recording was made with AI trained on her body of work and is now pursuing appropriate compensation.

A Broader Issue in Play

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

FAMM further stated its belief that "each iterations of the song violate Jorja's legal rights and unjustly take advantage of the creative output of all the songwriters with whom she collaborates."

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

Implying that her fans were potentially deceived by Haven's original release, the label concluded: "We cannot allow this to be the standard practice."

Producers Acknowledge Using AI Tools

The team responsible for the song have openly admitted utilizing AI during its production process.

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

In addition, the other producer, Waypoint, whose real name is Jacob Donaghue, stated on his accounts that AI was used to "give our starting vocal a female tone".

Donaghue and Walker maintain that they wrote and created the song themselves and have even provided files of their source production sessions.

"This is no mystery that I used AI-powered vocal editing to convert solely my voice for 'I Run'," Walker elaborated.

"Being a creator and producer, I like using new tools, methods and staying on the cutting edge of what's happening," he continued.

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

Regulatory Gray Areas and Industry Implications

Although their original release of 'I Run' was blocked from major charts, the new recording managed to break into the UK Top 40 recently.

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

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

"AI-generated content should be clearly identified as such so that the public may choose whether they listen to it or not," the statement added.

Artists as 'Unintended Victims'

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

The post warned that musicians and creators were turning into "unintended casualties in the race by policymakers and corporations towards AI supremacy".

It also noted that the label would distribute any potential royalties with the collaborators behind Smith's music.

"If we are successful in proving that AI assisted to compose the lyrics and tune in 'I Run' and are granted a portion of the song, we would aim to assign every one of Jorja's co-writers with a corresponding share," it explained.

The Ongoing Growth of Computer-Generated Music

The emergence of algorithmically created music has been a topic of both fascination and consternation for the entertainment world.

• In the summer, the group Velvet Sundown gathered vast numbers of plays before revealing they used AI to help develop their musical style.
• Recently, an AI-generated "artist" called Breaking Rust led a US country sales chart, demonstrating that audiences are not necessarily averse to hearing computer-generated music.
• Suno was last year sued for copyright infringement by the world's three biggest record labels, though those cases have since been resolved.

Subsequently, Warner Music established a collaboration with the company, which will enable users to generate songs using the vocal likenesses, names, and likenesses of Warner artists who opt in to the service.

Yet, it remains unclear how a large number of well-known musicians will consent to such uses of their identity.

Just last week, a collective of renowned musicians including Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush issued a vinyl album containing tracks of silence or recordings of quiet studios in opposition to proposed changes to intellectual property regulations.

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