Drake (Paul R Giunta-Invision-AP)
*The artificial intelligence-generated song “Heart on My Sleeve,” which mimics the voices of Drake and The Weeknd, was submitted for Grammy consideration by the anonymous artist named Ghostwriter.
The track was submitted for Best Rap Song and Song of the Year. Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. told The New York Times that the deep fake single is “absolutely eligible” for Grammy consideration because it “was written by a human.”
“A work that contains no human authorship is not eligible in any Categories,” the Music Academy said in a statement earlier this year.
When “Heart on My Sleeve” was released in April, Drake and The Weeknd’s record label Universal Music Group had it pulled from streaming platforms, TMZ reported. Both artists have been boycotting the Grammys for years.
As The Independent reports, Mason clarified the Academy’s new AI policy in July, telling Variety: “We’re not going to be giving a nomination or an award to an AI computer or someone who just prompted AI. That’s the distinction that we’re trying to make. It’s the human award highlighting excellence, driven by human creativity.
This song is VIRAL on all platforms right now.
But I think it’s all a genius marketing stunt…
Not by Drake, but by a SaaS startup.
Here’s a 30-second summary of the ai Drake song and my prediction of who’s behind it. 👻 pic.twitter.com/puklgqjElZ
— Mitchell Cohen (@MitchellLandon) April 16, 2023
“What we intended to say was that material using AI can be submitted, but the human portion of the of the composition, or the performance, is the only portion that can be awarded or considered for a Grammy Award,” he stated.
“So if an AI modeling system or app built a track – ‘wrote’ lyrics and a melody – that would not be eligible for a composition award. But if a human writes a track and AI is used to voice-model, or create a new voice, or use somebody else’s voice, the performance would not be eligible, but the writing of the track and the lyric or top line would be absolutely eligible for an award,” he explained.
The Weeknd attends the Music in Action Awards Ceremony hosted by The Black Music Action Coalition at 1 Hotel West Hollywood on September 23, 2021, in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
In April, Drake took to Instagram to react to an AI-generated cover of him rapping Ice Spice’s hit song “Munch.”
“This is the last straw,” he said of the AI-generated song trend.
Universal Music Group sent an email to all music streaming platforms in March demanding they block AI versions of their artists.
“We will not hesitate to take steps to protect our rights and those of our artists,” UMG wrote, BBC reported.
“We have a moral and commercial responsibility to our artists to work to prevent the unauthorized use of their music and to stop platforms from ingesting content that violates the rights of artists and other creators. We expect our platform partners will want to prevent their services from being used in ways that harm artists,” a statement from UMG reads.
READ MORE: Fans React to Timbaland’s AI-Generated Track of Notorious B.I.G.
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