AI-generated Drake song up for Grammy nomination

A hit track made from an AI-generated vocal track of the rapper Drake has been submitted to the Recording Academy for Grammy nomination in two categories.

A viral track from the anonymous producer “Ghostwriter” using an artificial intelligence (AI)-generated vocal track of the rapper Drake has been submitted for consideration for a Grammy award, according to a Sept. 5 New York Times report.

The track “Heart on My Sleeve” has been submitted by the Ghostwriter team to the Recording Academy, the organization behind the Grammys, for nomination in Best Rap Song and Song of the Year, a representative told the NYTs.

Listen to this AI generated song featuring Drake & The Weeknd.

It goes so damn hard.

It's by "Ghostwriter977" on TikTok and it's blowing up on socials + streaming platforms.

UMG, which controls around 1/3 of the global music market, has already asked streaming platforms to ban… pic.twitter.com/roz2EfI48M

— Roberto Nickson (@rpnickson) April 16, 2023

In both of those categories, the award is attributed to the songwriter, who was also confirmed by the Ghostwriter representative to be a human. 

Earlier this year the Grammys updated its policy for awards in the upcoming award season saying that music with AI-generated components is eligible for an award. The catch is that the category for which the track is nominated must be for a human-created portion of the song.

The CEO of the Grammys, Harvey Mason Jr. confirmed this saying music with AI elements is “absolutely eligible” for Grammy nomination. He reiterated that to the NYTs regarding the Ghostwriter AI-Drake track saying:

“As far as the creative side, it’s absolutely eligible because it was written by a human.”

He also pointed out that the Academy also looks at whether or not the song was commercially available, which is a component of Grammy rules that says a track must have “general distribution” to be eligible, which includes availability on streaming platforms. 

Related: AI can be a ‘creative amplifier’ — Grammy chief exec Harvey Mason Jr.

However, “Heart on My Sleeve” was removed from all major streaming services, despite industry experts saying that its use of AI fell into a “legal gray area.”

Cointelegraph reached out to the Recording Academy for further comment on the situation. 

Back in April, Universal Music Group, one of the industry’s most prominent record labels, sent out a mass email to major streaming services, including Spotify and Apple Music, requesting they block AI services from harvesting melodies and lyrics from copyrighted songs and remove songs in violation of copyright. 

Shortly after, Spotify was reported to have ramped up policing of tracks in violation of copyright infringement on its platform, as well as blocking artificial streaming of songs to increase listen count.

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