The Weeknd AI-Generated song with Drake submitted for Grammy nomination

While the music industry is still finding its footing following the upheaval caused by LimeWire and filing sharing services at the turn of the century, it faced a brand new hurdle to climb as Artificial Technology, or AI, came to the forefront in 2023. Earlier this year, an anonymous ‘ghostwriter’ uploaded a song to streaming services that was promoted as a collaboration between two of the biggest artists on the planet, except that it was all fake.

As household names and frequent occupiers of the top of the music charts, Drake and The Weeknd are synonymous with success and writing anthems that inject themselves into the social fabric of the world. While the two Canadian artists have crossed paths in the past, it has been a while, and thanks to AI, an anonymous writer, known merely as Ghostwriter, used the new technology to craft the song, Heart On My Sleeve, and uploaded to streaming services. While the initial release sent shockwaves through the industry and led to UMG enforcing a ban on streaming the single, it continues to rack up listens and was submitted for the Grammy Awards in the categories of Best Rap Song and Song Of The Year. While submissions are supposed to be available in brick-and-mortar stores as well as online streaming, an issue that would disqualify it, the Recording Academy’s chief executive, Harvey Mason Jr., says “It’s absolutely eligible because it was written by a human.”

While drama and intrigue caused by Ghostwriter this year has led to a lot of positive conversations and necessary industry shifts to better contend with the rise of AI, it seems like Ghostwriter’s shot at a Grammy is already over. While Mason initially voiced support, in a more recent post, he said, “Even though it was written by a human creator, the vocals were not legally obtained, the vocals were not cleared by the label or the artists, and the song is not commercially available and because of that, it’s not eligible.”

As the industry continues to evolve with technology, Mason does seem to have left the door open for future works created in this fashion to be nominated: “I’m sure things are going to continue to have to evolve and change. But please, please, do not be confused. The Academy is here to support and advocate and protect and represent human artists, and human creators, period.”

Image Credit: Brian Ziff | License: Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)