SYDNEY, Aug 25: Australia’s official music charts will no longer include songs that are predominantly or entirely generated by artificial intelligence (AI) under new rules announced on Tuesday and due to take effect on Friday, reported German Press Agency (dpa).
Recordings that use AI only as a tool will remain eligible.
The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), which runs the country’s official music charts, has amended its code of practice to require recordings to be “substantially human made.”
Songs must also not have been pushed up the charts through artificially generated streams or other manipulation.
A recent focus has been Australian DJ and producer Josh Fawaz’s cover of Madonna’s Like a Prayer.
The track became the most-played song on Australian radio in July and reached number four on the ARIA charts, but it later emerged that the vocals and drums had been generated with the help of AI.
Under the new rules, such use of AI could make a song ineligible for the charts, an ARIA spokesperson told Australian broadcaster ABC.
ARIA will be able to decline to accept ineligible songs for its chart survey, exclude or remove them from the charts, either prospectively or retrospectively, adjust chart positions and withdraw accreditations.
Artists and their representatives will be able to contest an exclusion and provide evidence supporting a recording’s eligibility.
The music industry has long criticised the use of artists’ recordings to train AI systems without the consent of rights holders.
At the same time, AI has become a common tool for many musicians during the production process, including for composing, arranging and mixing.
ARIA said it would keep the code under review as AI policy and technology develop.
— BERNAMA-dpa