In the music sector, the use of artificial intelligence is reviving fears of the replacement of artists by algorithms. What push the Grammy Awards to position itself upstream of its next edition.
The Recording Academy, the professional organization that hands out these music awards each year, recently updated Grammys eligibility rules to protect human creation. They now stipulate that only artists in the flesh can compete for a gramophone. According to these new criteria, a “work that does not contain a human author is not eligible in any category” of the Grammy Awards.
The American association, however, stipulates that musical works containing “AI elements” can claim a gramophone, but under certain conditions. Thus, “the contribution of the human author in the work submitted for approval must be significant and more than minimal” and it must also be “relevant” for the category in which this same work competes. In other words, a track competing in the Songwriting category must have “significant and more than minimal human authorship” with respect to its music and/or lyrics.
At a time when songs generated by artificial intelligence raise many questions about respect for intellectual property, the new rules of the Grammys indicate that the creator(s) of these algorithms are not eligible for a gramophone.
These new eligibility criteria will be in effect for the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, to be held next year in Los Angeles. For the time being, no nominee has yet been announced and no one knows if artificial intelligence will interfere in the most popular award ceremony in the music industry.
Fad or true revolution?
However, there is no doubt that the intrusion of this new technology is already disrupting the sector. A fake song by Drake and The Weeknd, composed by artificial intelligence, has generated millions of views on TikTok, while French DJ David Guetta used two AI tools to write a song mimicking the voice and style of the American rapper Eminem. He posted a short snippet of it on social media for fun, while stating that he has no intention of commercializing the track.
Should we see a fashion effect or the sign of a real revolution in musical creation? The question is still debated. By all accounts, no song produced by AI software rivals those composed by human artists. But they come to swell the catalogs of music streaming platforms, to the great displeasure of artists who are already struggling to be visible and, above all, listened to.
The prospect of an AI-dominated music industry is pushing artists, record labels, streaming services and professional organizations to step up. In March, the Recording Academy was one of the signatories to a high-profile open letter calling for a six-month “pause” in AI software development. A symbolic step which underlines the need to regulate the use of these programs in the music industry, according to Harvey Mason, director of the Recording Academy. “AI will undoubtedly shape the future of our industry. The idea of being caught off guard and not caring about it is unacceptable,” he said in an interview posted on the Grammys website.