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The record label representing Brit Award-winning artist Jorja Smith has stated its desire to claim a portion of royalties from a song it claims was produced using an AI "clone" of the performer's unique vocal style.

The track, titled 'I Run' by UK electronic duo Haven, achieved massive popularity on TikTok last October, partly due to its smooth R&B singing by an unnamed woman vocalist.

Although its momentum and impending chart position in both UK and US, the track was later banned by leading streaming platforms after industry organizations issued copyright requests, alleging it breached copyright by imitating another musician.

Although 'I Run' has now been re-released with completely new vocals, Smith's label, FAMM, maintains it believes the original version was made with AI trained on her extensive recordings and is now seeking appropriate compensation.

A Larger Principle in Play

"The situation is not only about one artist. It's bigger than a single performer or a single track," the label stated in a recent statement.

FAMM further stated its belief that "each iterations of the song violate the artist's legal rights and unfairly take advantage of the work of all the songwriters with whom she works."

Known for hits like 'Be Honest' and 'Little Things', Smith was named British Female Solo Artist at the annual Brit Awards in 2019.

Suggesting that her fans were possibly misled by Haven's original track, the label added: "Our industry must not permit this to become the new normal."

Producers Admit Using AI Technology

The duo behind the track have openly confirmed utilizing AI in its creation.

Songwriter Harrison Walker explained that the initial voice were in fact his own but were extensively altered using music-generation software Suno, often referred to as the "ChatGPT for music".

In addition, the second producer, Waypoint, identified as Jacob Donaghue, stated on his accounts that AI was used to "give our original vocal a female quality".

Donaghue and Walker maintain that they wrote and produced the song themselves and have even shared files of their original computer files.

"It shouldn't be secret that I used AI-powered vocal processing to convert solely my voice for 'I Run'," Walker elaborated.

"As a creator and producer, I enjoy using innovative technologies, methods and staying on the cutting edge of what's happening," he added.

"To set the facts straight, the artists behind HAVEN are actual and human, and all we aim to do is make great music for fellow humans."

Legal Uncertainty and Broader Implications

Although their first version of 'I Run' was suspended from major charts, the new recording managed to enter the UK Top 40 recently.

FAMM has framed the entire episode as a critical test case for the music industry's changing relationship with AI.

The label argued it had "a duty to speak up" and "stimulate public discourse", because AI is advancing at an "rapid rate and substantially exceeding regulation".

"Computer-created material should be clearly labelled as such so that the public may decide whether they listen to it or not," the statement added.

Artists as 'Unintended Damage'

Smith endorsed her label's position on her own social media page.

The post cautioned that artists and creators were becoming "collateral damage in the competition by governments and tech firms towards AI dominance".

It also stated that the label would distribute any awarded royalties with the writers behind Smith's music.

"Should we are able in proving that AI helped to compose the words and tune in 'I Run' and are awarded a portion of the song, we would aim to allocate every one of Jorja's collaborators with a corresponding share," it detailed.

The Continuing Growth of Computer-Generated Music

The emergence of AI-generated music has been a topic of both fascination and anxiety for the music industry.

• In the summer, the group Velvet Sundown accumulated millions of plays before revealing they used AI to aid develop their musical style.
• Recently, an AI-generated "performer" called Breaking Rust led a US genre sales chart, showing that listeners are not always averse to hearing AI-made music.
• Suno was previously taken to court for alleged violations by the world's three largest record labels, though those cases have since been resolved.

Following this, Warner Music established a partnership with the company, which will allow users to generate songs using the voices, names, and images of Warner artists who opt in to the service.

However, it is uncertain how a large number of well-known musicians will consent to such uses of their identity.

Just last week, a collective of renowned musicians including Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush issued a vinyl album featuring tracks of silence or audio of quiet studios in opposition to potential revisions to intellectual property regulations.

They argue these changes would make it easier for AI companies to develop systems using copyrighted work without securing a permission.