Fake AI-generated Drake and The Weeknd song will not be eligible for Grammy consideration
An AI-generated collaboration featuring vocals mimicking Drake and The Weeknd will not be eligible for Grammy consideration, the Recording Academy has ruled.
According to a report in The New York Times, earlier this week, the song – ‘Heart On My Sleeve’, which was was written and produced by the anonymous producer Ghostwriter, was submitted for Grammy consideration in two categories: Best Rap Song and Song Of The Year – both of which go to the writer of a song, not the performer.
The Recording Academy’s chief executive, Harvey Mason Jr., was also believed to have said the song could be eligible on creative grounds and that it is an original composition written and recorded by humans. Because of that, Mason added: “It’s absolutely eligible because it was written by a human.”
But one of the requirements for submission was that the track must be “available nationwide via brick-and-mortar stores, third-party online retailers and/or streaming services” which could act as a stumbling block because it was banned by the Universal Music Group shortly after it first surfaced earlier this year.
Now, Mason Jr. has set the record straight in an Instagram post and confirmed it will not be eligible for Grammy consideration.
“I’m sorry, but I have to clear up some of this bad and really inaccurate information that’s starting to float around,” he said. “This version of ‘Heart On My Sleeve’ using the AI voice modelling, that sounds like Drake and The Weeknd, it’s not eligible for Grammy consideration.”
“Let me be extra, extra clear, even though it was written by a human creator, the vocals were not legally obtained, the vocals were not cleared by the label or the artists and the song is not commercially available and because of that, it’s not eligible,” Mason continued.
He added, “I take this [AI] stuff very seriously. It’s all complicated, and it’s moving, really, really quickly. I’m sure things are going to continue to have to evolve and change. But please, please, do not be confused. The Academy is here to support and advocate and protect and represent human artists, and human creators period.”
The track, blew up in a matter of hours and reached 13 million views on TikTok alone when it first surfaced earlier this year.
On popular DSPs like Apple Music, Spotify, and Tidal, the song also had hundreds of thousand streams – with over 100,000 views before it was pulled.
AI has been criticised by a number of artists recently including John Lydon, Stereophonics frontman Kelly Jones and Nick Cave who called ChatGPT and AI songwriting “a grotesque mockery of what it is to be human”.
Smashing Pumpkins‘ Billy Corgan, however, said “AI will change music forever” since others can “game the system” and “not going to spend 10,000 hours in a basement.”
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Damian Jones
NME
