Grimes approves producers to use her voice as AI, offers 50% royalties to successful tracks

In recent months, Artificial intelligence has become one of the most groundbreaking and controversial topics to dominate the content creation community. What started as a fun tool to instantly create digital works of art with little to no effort has now spread to other creative trades such as writing and producing music.

AI technology has received harsh criticism from all forms of content creators for potentially taking away from their hard work in the name of convenience, and has also exploited a grey area in current copyright laws, that pave the road for uncertainty in terms of who owns the intellectual property rights of AI-generated content. On the contrary, it has also received praise from other artists, such as Grimes, who recently embraced her voice as another collaborative tool in the world of art. She had this to say on Sunday in an announcement via Twitter:

“I’ll split 50% royalties on any successful AI-generated song that uses my voice. Same deal as I would with any artist I collab with. Feel free to use my voice without penalty. I have no label and no legal bindings.”

Later adding to this statement, she also set some ground rules:

“Ok hate this part but we may do copyright takedowns ONLY for rly rly toxic lyrics w grimes voice: imo you’d rly have to push it for me to wanna take smthn down but I guess plz don’t be *the worst*. as in, try not to exit the current Overton window of lyrical content w regards to sex/violence. Like no baby murder songs plz.”

For most artists, the opportunity to feature a high-profile vocalist such as herself is something that is normally reserved for producers that have achieved a similar level of influence in their craft, which makes it a very difficult partnership to obtain for artists that are not as established. However, with Grimes’ offer, the door is now open for endless artistic possibilities with talent of all levels.

In conclusion, there is a mountain of work to be done concerning artificial intelligence regarding the legal precedence it sets as the newest form of intellectual property. This debate has occurred almost every time a new creative platform has emerged, and it is once again taking place as AI makes waves across all branches of the entertainment industry. It happened when DAWs such as Ableton, Logic, and FL Studio first started replacing expensive analog consoles and tape recordings, and it is happening again as imitated computer lyrics appear in song after song. With that being said, the reality is that new technology should always be embraced as an extension of the artist, while also being taken with a grain of salt and used in a way that doesn’t replace human creation.

What do you make of Grimes and her statement on AI? Be sure to stay updated via her Twitter account for more news as this develops.

Talking with my team: if u register music with us we can collect & pay out royalties direct to anyone who uses A.I. Grimes vocals using smart contracts!? The future rly is now! this is so cool.

Working on a way to register and easily access vocals thru https://t.co/7OEKD2WDZF

— ?????? (@Grimezsz) April 24, 2023

Image credit: Jordan Uhl via Flickr