Is the most popular song played on Australian radio stations the product of generative AI? | Australian music

An Australian producer has gone from a little-known artist to a viral sensation in a matter of months; His hit song skyrocketed up the world charts and received thousands of radio spins.

There’s just one problem: Music experts and other musicians question whether he wrote this song. They claim that Madonna’s Like a Prayer, which is Josh Fawaz’s most popular song and reached No. 1 on the National Airplay Chart, may have been created using artificial intelligence.

While producers often use software like Bandcamp or pitch-shifting tools in their work, or use AI to mix, master, or otherwise develop tracks, the creative AI in an AI-generated song requires nothing more than a text prompt from a human.

The song lists Fawaz as the “performer”, i.e. vocalist, on Like a Prayer and all of his songs; and his uncle, Fadi Fawaz (best known as George Michael’s former partner), on synths and production.

But Sam Whiting, a senior research fellow at RMIT’s school of media and communications, and others say Like a Prayer has hallmarks of AI music creators like Suno, such as being “heavily compressed”.

“This is a very impressive vocal performance if it was performed by a human, if not, this raises some really worrying questions about what we value more in terms of human expression.”

Groundbreaking hits

“I use AI as a tool,” Fawaz said under an Instagram post criticizing his work. “What I care about [is] “I offer good music to my listeners.”

Fawaz began releasing music in the 2010s. However, he did not achieve commercial success until he returned to covers with vocals this year; first with Like a Prayer in April, and months later with her 18-track debut album Dance Like Nobody’s Watching, filled with dazzling, club-friendly re-imaginings of hits like Oasis’s Wonderwall and Cyndi Lauper’s Girls Wanna Have Fun.

Since its release, Fawaz’s version of Like a Prayer has reached 35 million streams on Spotify and topped the iTunes Electronic chart worldwide. Her album also peaked at number 18 on the ARIA Australian artist albums chart.

On July 1, a new commercial radio code of practice came into force, requiring programs to be transparent about the use of AI-generated voices on air. But this does not apply to music.

Like A Prayer’s success came as major tech companies demanded a watering down of Australian copyright laws to allow them to use Australian output to develop their own AI models, causing musicians to become alarmed.

Major commercial radio networks ARN, NOVA Entertainment and Southern Cross Austereo did not respond to requests for comment or provide their policies on the use of artificial intelligence.

Late last month, a producer and DJ who goes by the name Needs No Sleep described AI-generated content on Instagram as “the biggest problem in music right now.” He said he was speaking out because he receives royalties every time AI-generated music is broadcast or played on the radio. Additionally, artists’ works, including No Need for Sleep, are being used to train artificial intelligence models.

“If this is the future of music production… then we are truly screwed.”

Neither Fawaz nor his management company, Hallwood, responded to Guardian Australia’s questions. However, he responded to No Need for Sleep on Instagram, claiming that he was using AI “as a tool.”

“It’s not that deep,” he wrote. “[I’ve] We were streaming music long before AI was invented. What do I care about? [is] To present good music to my listeners. Maybe you should do the same.”

No Need for Sleep told Guardian Australia that he first became aware of Fawaz’s music when it arrived in his inbox from a DJ promotion service.

“I’ve been doing this for 15 years and you can tell the way AI music is produced; it has distinctive characteristics,” he said, pointing out “sloppy drums”, “artisanal” vocals and a low-quality streaming file.

“The royalties collected are taken away from other artists making real music. Artists rely on these royalties and will now compete with AI music for a smaller and smaller slice of the pie.”

A spokesperson for the Australasian Performing Rights Association (APRA) and the Australasian Association of Mechanical Copyright Owners (AMCOS), which provide royalties to musicians, told the Guardian that Fawaz has been a member of both organizations since 2021 and that how Like a Prayer was registered would not affect the payment of royalties to the “original human owners” of the copyright.

“The song Like a Prayer is a remix/cover of a musical work written by Madonna L Ciccone and Patrick R Leonard. As the original human rights holders of that musical work, they will be entitled to payment of all performance royalties in the ordinary way,” they said..

If Fawaz uses commands to make his music, he’s not the first person to do so successfully since the proliferation of AI music tools. Last year, three AI songs reached the top of the Spotify and Billboard charts; Some major record labels are even making agreements with AI music companies.

Whiting said the “TikTokification” of streaming culture and music over the past decade has “prepared” listeners for AI-generated sounds.

“The reason why AI music is not being questioned more is because listening has conditioned us all to not engage with music critically and proactively,” he said.

“And commercial radio in Australia decided to heavily promote this track without examining where it came from, who was involved or where the vocals were produced.”