YouTube reportedly wants record labels to let it use famous voices for AI-generated music
“Baby Shark” sung by Hozier?… YouTube is hoping to strike a chord with the music industry via a new AI tool that would allow users to have their favorite artists sing any song — even made-up ones (Billie AI-lish, anyone?) — Bloomberg reports. YT is apparently trying to sign licensing deals with major labels like Sony Music, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group. Meanwhile, unlicensed genAI content is spreading faster than a Doja Cat song on TikTok.
Existential: In April, a viral AI-generated song mimicking Drake and The Weeknd was pulled from streaming services like YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music. The track, “Heart on My Sleeve,” was submitted to this year’s Grammys.
Collab: YouTube recently rolled out an AI initiative with UMG that established a set of AI music rules. A group of UMG artists say they’re going to experiment with YT’s music tools and give feedback.
Change of tune… Decades ago, industry execs resisted the transition from CDs to digital and paid the price, losing billions to piracy sites like LimeWire before streaming emerged. Now it's trying to avoid the same fate with AI. Last week, UMG sued OpenAI rival Anthropic over copyright infringement, alleging it illegally trained its chatbot on protected works including Katy Perry’s “Roar.” Last month, Spotify boss Daniel Ek said the company wouldn’t ban all AI content, but would pull songs that impersonate artists without their permission.
No one wants to be the guinea pig… Music execs are said to be having problems finding top artists who want to license their voices to YouTube’s AI tool (though Grimes has welcomed the tech). After metaverse concerts and song NFTs failed to become the future of music, artists are hesitant to be a test subject for AI. Also: Hollywood writers and actors have warned how companies could use AI to erase jobs and replicate works in perpetuity.