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The music company representing Brit Award-winning singer Jorja Smith has declared its intention to receive a share of royalties from a song it claims was produced using an artificial intelligence "replica" of the performer's unique voice.

The song, titled 'I Run' by UK electronic duo Haven, achieved massive traction on social media last October, in part due to its smooth R&B vocals by an unnamed woman vocalist.

Although its success and potential top 40 position in the UK and US, the song was later banned by major music services after industry organizations sent copyright notices, alleging it violated copyright by impersonating another musician.

Even though 'I Run' has now been re-released with completely new singing, Smith's label, FAMM, maintains it believes the initial version was made with AI trained on her extensive work and is now pursuing financial redress.

A Broader Issue in Play

"This is not only about one artist. It's bigger than a single performer or one song," the label wrote in a public statement.

FAMM further expressed its belief that "each versions of the song infringe on Jorja's legal rights and unjustly 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 Best British Female at the annual Brit Awards in 2019.

Implying that her supporters were possibly deceived by Haven's original track, the label concluded: "Our industry must not permit this to become the new normal."

Producers Acknowledge Employing AI Technology

The team behind the song have openly confirmed utilizing AI during its production process.

Songwriter Harrison Walker clarified that the initial vocals were actually his own but were extensively altered using music-generation platform Suno, often referred to as the "advanced tool for music".

Meanwhile, the other producer, Waypoint, identified as Jacob Donaghue, confirmed on social media that AI was used to "give our starting vocal a feminine quality".

Donaghue and Walker assert that they wrote and created the music themselves and have even shared files of their original computer files.

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

"As a songwriter and producer, I like using innovative technologies, methods and remaining on the cutting edge of what's happening," he added.

"To set the facts clear, the people behind HAVEN are actual and human, and all we want to do is make enjoyable music for other humans."

Legal Gray Areas and Industry Impact

Although their original release of 'I Run' was blocked from official charts, the replacement version managed to enter the UK Top 40 last week.

FAMM has framed the incident as a significant precedent for the music industry's changing interaction with AI.

The label stated it had "a duty to voice concerns" and "encourage wider discussion", 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 choose whether they listen to it or not," the statement added.

Creators Become 'Collateral Damage'

Smith shared her label's position on her own social media profile.

The text warned that artists and creators were turning into "collateral damage in the competition by governments and tech firms towards AI dominance".

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

"Should we are successful in proving that AI assisted to compose the lyrics and melody in 'I Run' and are granted a share of the song, we would seek to allocate each of Jorja's co-writers with a pro-rata share," it detailed.

The Continuing Rise of AI Music

The emergence of algorithmically created music has been a source of both interest and consternation for the entertainment world.

• In the summer, the group Velvet Sundown accumulated vast numbers of plays before revealing they used AI to aid develop their sound.
• Recently, an AI-generated "artist" known as Breaking Rust topped a US country sales chart, showing that listeners are not necessarily averse to consuming AI-made music.
• Suno was previously taken to court for copyright infringement by the world's three biggest record labels, though those legal actions have since been settled.

Subsequently, Warner Music entered into a partnership with the company, which will enable users to create songs using the vocal likenesses, names, and images of Warner acts who agree to the program.

However, it is uncertain how many well-known musicians will agree to such applications of their work.

Just last week, a collective of renowned artists including Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush issued a vinyl album containing tracks of silence or audio of quiet studios in protest to proposed changes to intellectual property regulations.

They argue these amendments would make it simpler for AI companies to develop models using copyrighted work without obtaining a permission.