Musicians are really tired of this AI clone “nonsense”.

This is how musicians, producers, and others in the industry describe the continuing spread of AI clones. Of course, counterfeiting using AI is nothing new, but as scammers become bolder, artists are responding with increasing anger.

We tasted it again in 2023 with Multiple tracks for Drake’s AI. But the problem has worsened in the past two years. Everyone from Beyoncéfor the experimental composer William Basinski They have fake songs, likely AI-generated, that appear to be streaming next to their names. And this week King Gizzard and the Lizard Sorcerer She found herself the final target. Frontman Stu McKenzie responded with anger, but also resignation, tellingly Music“We are truly doomed.”

Spotify has taken steps to address the issue, formalizing its policy against impersonation and Removed 75 million unwanted paths Who served her? But the scale of the problem and the way the current system works has made it difficult to curb. Dezer says so 50,000 AI-generated paths It’s uploaded to its library every day, accounting for more than 34 percent of the music it receives.

Bad actors take advantage of the fact that music doesn’t upload directly to Spotify and many other streaming programs; Instead, it passes through a Third party distribution service Like Destroked. It’s not clear what, if any, checking is done to ensure that someone uploading a song is who they claim to be. (DistroKid did not respond to a request for comment.)

That’s how an AI-generated reggaeton song appeared on the Spotify page of William Basinski, an artist who specializes in ambient tracks built around the sounds of colliding black holes, crumbling tape loops, and shortwave radio broadcasts. “It’s complete nonsense,” he said. Edge. “Luckily my brand and distributors are keeping an eye on this crap…what a mess.”

Reply from Luke Temple Here We Go Magicwhose dormant squad was reactivated by AI rogues, was similar. Here We Go Magic hasn’t released any new music since 2015, but only after an AI-powered track landed on the band’s Spotify page, Temple said. NPR “It’s so terrible,” he said. Likewise, when an AI-generated song called “Name This Night” appeared on Toto’s Spotify page in July, the guitarist… Steve Lukather He described him as “rude” in a statement to The ultimate classic rock.

Now, some of these fakes are probably not AI, but AI makes them much faster and easier to produce. Even though Suno is designed to ignore artists’ prompts, it’s still easy to do so Generate entire songs With just a few words.

Breaking Rust is not a clone of a specific artist, however Blanco Brown He accused the creator of his determination to sing it. Brown said AP About someone texting him letting him know that “someone typed your name into the AI ​​and created a white version of you. They only used Blanco, not Brown.”

Brown’s manager, Ryan McMahan, took over LinkedIn“AI can manage an equation,” he says. “It cannot recreate Blanco’s life experience from which he draws. It cannot recreate the humanity, the conviction, or a lifetime of emotions that shaped his artistic voice.”

Breaking Rust generated interest by climbing to the top of the Billboard Country Digital Song Sales chart, spawning the single “Breaking Rust”. Misleading titles About artificial intelligence, which tops the country’s charts. But these are not the Country Streaming Songs or Hot Country Songs charts. The Song Sales chart measures things like iTunes purchases, and since hardly anyone buys songs on iTunes anymore, “Walk My Walk” managed to reach the top with just 3,000 purchases. He could simply be the one behind the song Bought their way to the top.

Solomon Ray, another creation of the AI ​​gospel, achieved similar chart success and sparked backlash. Christianity today Ray saidHe has no soul“, a sentiment echoed by the Christian artist Forrest Frankwho said on Instagram that “AI doesn’t have the Holy Spirit inside of it… It’s a really weird thing to open your soul to something that doesn’t have a soul.”

While Solomon Ray does not appear to be a direct clone, there is a real person, Solomon Ray, who is also a singer and worship leader. Ray (the real one) said. Christianity today“How much of your heart do you pour into this? If you have an AI to create it for you, the answer is zero.”

In addition to authoring with AI, some are trying to capitalize on the growing hype. Product called Haven It went viral after inaccurately suggesting that the song containing AI-manipulated vocals was an unreleased Jorja Smith song. Of course, the votes weren’t actually Smith’s; It was processed with Suno, and the track has been removed from streaming services.

Harrison Walker (the man behind Haven) tried to cash in on re-recording the song and even tried to recruit Smith for a remix. Now, so is Smith and its FAMM brand Claim royalties From Haven. In a statement on Instagram“Innovators are collateral damage in governments and companies’ race toward AI dominance,” FAMM said.

The Union of Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW) has made no secret of its position, calling AI music “to exploitsaid organizer Joey La Nieve DiFrancesco Edge “AI has given Spotify and major labels the ability to completely exclude human artists and the royalties owed to them. The streaming giant and major labels have already struck deals with AI music companies.”

While some Biggest labels Like Warner Warming up for generative AI companiesmusicians have found an ally in iHeartRadio. Company President Tom Polman said on Instagram “Music is a uniquely human art form; creativity, storytelling, and spirit that no algorithm can truly emulate.” He pledged that the company would “never play AI-generated music with artificial singers pretending to be humans,” and “will never use AI-generated on-air personalities or podcasters.” “Sometimes you have to choose a side, and we stand with humans,” he concluded.

Holly Herndon She feels more comfortable with artificial intelligence than most musicians, having used it extensively, including on her album Proto. But even she warned artists against exploitation. In an episode of The most interesting thing about artificial intelligence, She said she had taken many of her concerns about training data and artists’ rights to some AI companies, and was “flabbergasted that they didn’t really think about this issue, and didn’t think people would be upset about it.”

“It’s clear we need regulation to force streaming services to identify AI content and remove it from streaming rights pools,” DeFrancesco says. The United Musicians and Allied Workers Union is pushing for congressional passage Living Wage for Musicians Actwhich says it will “protect artists from corporate AI exploitation,” by creating new fees paid directly to musicians, through streaming platforms that “will only be paid to human artists.”

Right now, it’s up to artists and their fans to be vigilant. Because, just like videos and photoMusic should be treated with a grain of salt in the age of artificial intelligence.