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The music company representing Brit Award-winning singer Jorja Smith has stated its desire to receive a share of royalties from a track it claims was created using an AI "replica" of the singer's distinctive vocal style.

The track, titled 'I Run' by UK dance act Haven, gained massive traction on TikTok last October, in part due to its smooth R&B vocals by an uncredited female singer.

Although its momentum and impending chart position in both UK and US, the song was later banned by major music services after industry bodies sent copyright notices, alleging it breached copyright by impersonating another artist.

Even though 'I Run' has since been re-released with different vocals, Smith's label, FAMM, maintains it is convinced the original recording was generated with AI trained on her extensive work and is now seeking financial redress.

A Broader Issue in Play

"This is not only about one artist. This is bigger than one artist or a single track," the label wrote in a public announcement.

FAMM further stated its belief that "each versions of the track violate the artist's legal rights and unfairly take advantage of the creative output of all the songwriters with whom she collaborates."

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

Suggesting that her fans were possibly misled by Haven's original release, the label added: "Our industry must not allow this to become the standard practice."

Creators Admit Employing AI Technology

The duo responsible for the track have openly admitted utilizing AI during its creation.

Producer Harrison Walker explained that the initial vocals were actually his own but were extensively manipulated using music-generation software Suno, sometimes referred to as the "advanced tool for music".

Meanwhile, the second member, Waypoint, identified as Jacob Donaghue, stated on social media that AI was used to "give our original vocal a feminine quality".

Donaghue and Walker assert that they wrote and created the music themselves and have even shared evidence of their source production sessions.

"This is no secret that I used AI-powered vocal processing to transform solely my voice for 'I Run'," Walker said.

"As a songwriter and producer, I like experimenting with new tools, techniques and remaining on the cutting edge of what's happening," he continued.

"In order to set the facts clear, the artists behind HAVEN are actual and people, and all we aim to do is make great music for other humans."

Legal Gray Areas and Broader Impact

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

FAMM has positioned the entire episode as a critical precedent for the entertainment sector's changing relationship with artificial intelligence.

The label argued it had "an obligation to speak up" and "stimulate wider discussion", because AI is proliferating at an "rapid rate and significantly outpacing legal oversight".

"AI-generated material should be transparently identified as such so that the audience may choose whether they listen to it or not," the message continued.

Creators Become 'Unintended Damage'

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

The text cautioned that musicians and songwriters were becoming "unintended casualties in the competition by policymakers and corporations towards AI dominance".

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

"Should we are successful in establishing that AI assisted to compose the lyrics and tune in 'I Run' and are granted a share of the song, we would aim to allocate every one of Jorja's collaborators with a corresponding share," it detailed.

The Ongoing Rise of AI Music

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

• In June, the band Velvet Sundown gathered vast numbers of plays before disclosing they used AI to aid develop their sound.
• Recently, an AI-generated "performer" known as Breaking Rust topped a US genre sales chart, showing that listeners are not necessarily opposed to hearing AI-made music.
• Suno was previously taken to court for alleged violations by the industry's three biggest record labels, though those cases have now been resolved.

Following this, Warner Music entered into a collaboration with the company, which will enable users to generate songs using the vocal likenesses, names, and images of Warner acts who agree to the service.

Yet, it remains uncertain how a large number of well-known artists will agree to such uses of their identity.

Just last week, a collective of prominent musicians such as Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush issued a vinyl album featuring tracks of silence or recordings of quiet studios in protest to potential changes to intellectual property regulations.

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