Songs created with the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) have been banned from Australia’s music charts as a new prohibition enforced by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) launched this week.
ARIA’s decision to modify its Code of Practice and ban AI-generated tracks comes after a cover of Madonna’s 1989 hit song Like a Prayer by Queensland-based DJ Josh Fawaz hit the top of the Australian music charts in July after spending weeks in the top 20.
The cover, released earlier this year, features AI-generated vocals and drums — prompting fierce backlash in Australia against the artist, who reportedly added an AI disclaimer in the song’s credits in response to the criticism.
The BBC reports that the controversial cover song has since then become a “staple” in Australian radio stations, with over 48 million streams in Spotify alone.
In response to the controversy, ARIA imposed a ban on AI-generated songs from its charts. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) detailed that, as per the terms of the new rules, songs whole generated with Artificial Intelligence will not be eligible for the Australian music charts — however, tracks featuring AI in a supporting role will reportedly remain eligible.
Said tracks, the ABC explained, must be “substantially human-made” and raise “no stream or chart manipulation concerns.” Artists must also disclose if AI was used in a song. The changes will apply to ARIA’s upcoming August 31 charts.
“These changes reflect our intent to remain dynamic and promote the human nature of artistry in what is, to say the least, a rapidly developing space,” ARIA chief executive Annabelle Herd said in a statement, per the BBC.
“Artists already use AI tools in their work, the charts can and should evolve to keep room for that, but music generated wholesale by services built on artists’ recordings is a different matter,” she continued, and added, “A chart that rewards unlicensed AI output would undercut the very basis of the recorded music we exist to represent.”
As part of the new changes, ARIA may refuse to accept a recording, reposition or remove a track from the Australian music charts, and withdraw any awards if it is later revealed that a song was largely generated with the use of AI. Artists may challenge these decisions should they decided to do so.
Australian music producers and artists have expressed vocal criticism on the emergence of AI-generated tracks into the nation’s music charts. The Guardian reported in June that several Australian musicians elevated their protest after it was discovered that millions of tracks — including vast catalogues from Australian artists — were scrapped off the internet to train AI music models without due permission.
The AI-generated cover of Madonna’s Like a Prayer, which is attributed to ARIA’s new rule changes, drew fierce criticism from local artists after it hit the top of the charts in July. Music producer Mitch Thomas told ABC at the time that’s biggest issue on the subject is how AI music is made from training a dataset of of music and copyrighted materials taken from artists who never consented to have their works scraped.
“We dislike when people use steroids and cheat in competition because we acknowledge that that’s unfair and I think the same is true in music,” Thomas said in July.