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RNZ News
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
Music is at the forefront of AI disruption, but NZ artists still have few protections
First published on Image of the band Velvet Sundown. Photo: Spotify Analysis: Was the recent Velvet Sundown phenomenon a great music and media hoax, a sign of things to come, or just another example of what's already happening ? In case you missed it, the breakout act was streamed hundreds of thousands of times before claims emerged the band and their music were products of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). Despite the "band" insisting they were real , an "associate" later admitted it was indeed an "art hoax" marketing stunt . Much of the subsequent commentary was concerned with fairness - particularly that a "fake" band was succeeding at the expense of "real" artists. But Velvet Sundown is only the most recent example in a long history of computer generated and assisted music creation - going back to the 1950s when a chemistry professor named Lejaren Hiller debuted a musical composition written by a computer . By the 1980s, David Cope's Experiments in Musical Intelligence created music so close to the style of Chopin and Bach it fooled classically trained musicians. Artist and composer Holly Herndon was highlighting a need for the ethical use and licensing of voice models and deepfakes several years before Grimes invited others to use AI-generated versions of her voice to make new music, and "Deepfake Drake" alarmed the major record the same time, music companies, including Warner, Capitol and rapper-producer Timbaland, have since inked record contracts for AI-generated work. GenAI-powered tools, such as those offered by Izotope, LANDR and Apple, have become commonplace in mixing and mastering since the late 2000s. Machine learning technology also underpins streaming recommendations . Velvet Sundown and the AI challenge of verifying "authenticity" #Marketing #Advertising Despite this relatively long history of technology's impact on music, it still tends to be framed as a future challenge. The New Zealand government's Strategy for Artificial Intelligence , released this month, suggests we're at a "pivotal moment" as the AI-powered future approaches. In June, a draft insight briefing from Manata Taonga/Ministry for Culture & Heritage explored "how digital technologies may transform the ways New Zealanders create, share and protect stories in 2040 and beyond". It joins other recent publications by the Australasian Performing Rights Association and New Zealand's Artificial Intelligence Researchers Association , which grapple with the future impacts of AI technologies. One of the main issues is the use of copyright material to train AI systems. Last year, two AI startups, including the one used by Velvet Sundown, were sued by Sony, Universal and Warner for using unlicensed recordings as part of their training data. It's possible the models have been trained on recordings by local musicians without their permission, too. But without any requirement for tech firms to disclose their training data it can't be confirmed. Even if we did know, the copyright implications for works created by AI in Aotearoa New Zealand aren't clear. And it's not possible for musicians to opt out in any meaningful way. This goes against the data governance model designed by Te Mana Raraunga/Māori Sovereignty Network. Māori writer members of music rights administrator APRA AMCOS have also raised concerns about potential cultural appropriation and misuse due to GenAI. Recent research suggesting GenAI work displaces human output in creative industries is particularly worrying for local musicians who already struggle for visibility. But it's not an isolated phenomenon. In Australia, GenAI has reportedly been used to impersonate successful, emerging and dead artists. And French streaming service Deezer claims up to 20,000 tracks created by GenAI were being uploaded to its service daily. There has been increased scrutiny of streaming fraud, including a world-first criminal case brought last year against a musician who used bots to generate millions of streams for tracks created with GenAI. But on social media, musicians now compete for attention with a flood of "AI slop", with no real prospect of platforms doing anything about it. More troublingly, New Zealand law has been described as " woefully inadequate " at combating deepfakes and non-consensual intimate imagery that can damage artists' brands and livelihoods. The government's AI strategy prioritises adoption, innovation and a light-touch approach over these creative and cultural implications. But there is growing consensus internationally that regulatory intervention is warranted. The European Union has enacted legislation requiring AI services to be transparent about what they have trained their models on, an important first step towards an AI licensing regime for recorded and musical works. An Australian senate committee has recommended whole-of-economy AI guardrails , including transparency requirements in line with the EU. Denmark has gone even further, with plans to give every citizen copyright of their own facial features, voice and body, including specific protections for performing artists. It's nearly ten years since the music business was described as the "canary in a coalmine" for other industries and a bellwether of broader cultural and economic shifts. How we address the current challenges presented by AI in music will have far-reaching implications. Dave Carter is an Associate Professor at the School of Music and Screen Arts, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa - Massey University Jesse Austin-Stewart is a lecturer at the School of Music and Screen Arts, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa - Massey University Oli Wilson is a Professor & Associate Dean Research at the College of Creative Arts, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa - Massey University This story was originally published on The Conversation.
CBC
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Timbaland used an independent producer's work to train AI — but without the artist's consent
Timbaland recently used hip-hop artist K Fresh's beat to train his artificial intelligence music platform, Suno — but without K Fresh's permission. This isn't the first time that the music producer has gotten into hot water around using AI in his music. But he's not the only big name using the technology to enhance his music. Fans also decried Erykah Badu and the Alchemist for using AI in the cover art of their new single together. Today on Commotion, guest host Rad Simonpillai speaks with music journalist Dylan Green and veteran music industry insider Michelle Santosuosso to discuss the Timbaland backlash and what protections artists need in the age of AI. We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player. WATCH | Today's episode on YouTube: Rad: Timbaland was claiming that he's not trying to jack this original beat from this producer, he was just trying to demonstrate the ways that AI could be used to remix an already existing composition. Is that right? Dylan: That's what he claims. But a lot of people, myself included, think it really just borders on straight-up stealing. Generative AI is a whole bag of worms that I'm sure we're going to get into here, just in the sense that this is a computer spitting back out stuff that it's already learned, as opposed to creating anything — which is very, very close to theft, at least in my opinion. Rad: Dylan, you've written some criticisms about not just Timbaland, but other high profile artists like Erykah Badu and the Alchemist, who've all been receiving their fair share for using AI, with criticisms coming, in large part, from the hip-hop world. What are people saying? Dylan: People are upset that real artists are being cut out of actual financial opportunities. The fact that these are all people that can afford to put people on, essentially, and they're just not, in a way to save as much money as they can. Being a legacy artist, and a Gen Xer in particular, just trying to get in on the ground floor of what you think is going to be the most popping thing in five years, it just reeks of laziness in so many ways, in my and a lot of people in my circles' opinion. It starts to feel predatory after a while. Because it's a difference between being on TikTok and listening to people's music and giving criticisms, giving praise and then being like, "Hmm, I like this thing, let me see what happens if I feed it into this thing without telling them." It's an abuse of trust in a lot of ways. Rad: Michelle, speaking of that abuse of trust, because I think it's interesting that Timbaland is getting all this heat for how he's using AI and how troubling it is from an ethical perspective. But when we talk about the legal perspective, his actions actually seem okay. And that's baffling to me. But tell me, why is that? Michelle: It's because there's no real legislation around it. Now, using K Fresh's music without consent, that violated Suno's terms of service. But under current law, there's nothing that you need to delete if AI learned from that actual beat, from the ingestion of it. And this is the rub: music and lyrics that are 100 per cent made by AI are ineligible for copyright protection. But the legal complications, I call it the three C's: there are no laws around consent, credit or compensation for artists who generative AI is training on. So while these systems are freely training on both copyrighted material and independent artists — which is the case with this producer — until we get legislation around credit, compensation and consent to use it in the first place, this is, I agree with Dylan, it's mostly going to disenfranchise smaller artists that are trying to come up. Rad: Ultimately, how are you seeing these tensions — between AI and then human artists and then their fan bases and just the music industry at large — playing out? Michelle: It's clearly shaping up to be a battle. And unlike streaming's pro-rata royalty problem, which was very confusing for consumers, this subject has successfully hit the radar of the music consumers. But I want to point something out to people about artists' paycheques. I want to put it out that copyright ownership has a bundle of rights with it, that each of those rights has their own income stream attached to it, and there's five of them: to reproduce the work, to distribute the work, perform the work, make a derivative work, or display it. And each one of those has an income stream attached to it. So the tech oligarchy is going to continue to try to normalize copyright theft. If you look at how music has been devalued in the digital age already — and I'm saying from filesharing Napster, company that I actually worked at — it's upwards of 90 per cent from the sales area, in terms of the devaluation of music. So we have to compensate people for the artistic endeavors that they make. And that piece is not part of law.
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Timbaland's New Artist Is Young, Photogenic — and Not Human
Legendary producer Timbaland has taken his fervent embrace of AI music production to a new level, launching a new AI entertainment company, Stage Zero — and an AI-generated 'artist,' TaTa, who will be dropping a debut single soon. Timbaland, who co-founded the company with his current creative partner, Zayd Portillo, and film producer Rocky Mudaliar, tells Rolling Stone he's had the idea for the venture since he began making music with the generative AI platform Suno last year. 'I saw the path,' he says, 'but I had to wait till everything caught up.' TaTa is intended to be the first of many personas launched by the company, and the co-founders have dreams of the characters becoming virtual influencers and even starring in movies and TV shows. 'Ultimately what Tim's here to do is to pioneer a new genre of music — A-pop, artificial pop,' says Mudaliar, who originally met with Timbaland to discuss a documentary on his career. TaTa will maintain a social media presence, with music videos generated by various AI video tools. More from Rolling Stone Timbaland's AI Reinvention: 'God Presented This Tool to Me' AI Music Is More Realistic Than Ever: Meet Suno's New Model Timbaland Embraces AI Music Production, Announces Partnership with Start-Up Suno TaTa and other potential artists from the company will have their music created via a collaborative process between human creators and the AI music platform Suno. (Timbaland is a creative adviser to that company, but Stage Zero is entirely independent of Suno.) Timbaland and Portillo have developed a workflow where they upload Timbaland demos created by conventional means to the platform, have Suno extrapolate upon them, and then insert human-written lyrics. TaTa's voice first appeared a Suno generation that caught Timbaland's ear: 'It came to a point where I'm like, 'Yo, this voice, it's amazing,'' the producer says. He's able to capture and reuse that specific voice via the platform's Personas feature, introduced last October. 'We have these stacks of music that needed to be finished,' Portillo says. 'And then it just so happened that the TaTa ones were just getting finished faster. There was just something about those songs that were just like. 'Man, this just flows.'' Stage Zero arrives as the music industry and artists continue to wage legal and cultural war against AI music tools. Major labels have filed massive lawsuits against Suno and competitor Udio over their use of copyrighted material in training data, although recent reports suggest settlement talks are underway. Artists including Billie Eilish and Stevie Wonder have signed open letters denouncing AI as a threat to human creativity. Timbaland and Portillo have suggested the backlash will die down, and Mudaliar agrees. 'It's gonna be a bit of a battle,' he says, 'but it's not going anywhere…. We were thinking about the example of the influencer itself and how ridiculous that might've sounded 10 years ago, where we're like, 'Nah, there's no way YouTubers can be bigger than actors.' And now they're the biggest stars in the world.' Best of Rolling Stone The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
The Citizen
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Citizen
The future of music as AI makes its presence felt
Spotify hosted the Soundboard event, which featured discussions on the role of AI in the music industry. Babusi Nyoni speaking about the future of music, with AI infiltrating the artform Picture: Supplied The influence of artificial intelligence (AI) has become increasingly apparent in industries such as writing and graphic design. Lowering the barriers to entry and offering people artistic and writing skills to produce high-quality work in these fields. The technology has made its way into music, with renowned US artist and producer Timbaland endorsing the tech tool by launching his own AI music label and introducing an AI artist. Last week, music streaming platform Spotify hosted the Soundboard event, which featured discussions on the role of AI in music. Zimbabwean technologist Babusi Nyoni led the conversation with a keynote address, during which he spoke about the evolution of AI in music. ALSO READ: SA Gen Z's love for new-age Maskandi and Americans' craze over Amazayoni music AI in music Babusi said AI has shortened the process of making music, in terms of mastering and mixing a song. 'I think there are opportunities outside of this AI-level conversation, to use AI in a way to propel themselves forward,' he said. However, he acknowledged the criticism that Timbaland and AI have faced in the past few weeks since the producer launched his label. Babusi mentioned that there was a period when the US producer was soliciting submissions from upcoming artists who were desperate for a big break. 'People are of the opinion that a lot of the music submissions from indie artists might have gone into feeding Suno AI's model and an unfortunate part of AI as a technology is that all the data that is used has to come from somewhere.' He said a lot of the companies driving the AI revolution primarily have their headquarters in Silicon Valley. 'Their metrics for success kind of rely on some kind of, excuse my French, fu****g over of someone else. So, what that means then is, lots of music from smaller artists is taken and used to trend because they don't have the kind of legal representation they need.' True to Babusi's words, Timbaland recently apologised for stealing a producer's beats. ALSO READ: 'All of the music I've ever made belongs to me': Taylor Swift wins long battle to own masters AI influencer marketing Babusi notes that artists like Timbaland are utilising the AI influencer marketing model to engage with their audiences. 'I think that's part of what Timbaland is doing, he's created an AI influencer to push the music that he's making through Suno AI. And I think that's the missing piece, because the music generated on the platform is a bit touch-and-go, but what people need in terms of how we connect with music is also the person behind the music,' said the tech entrepreneur. Babusi even mentioned how AI has also infiltrated the dating scene, with several people having AI partners. 'There's this idea that men around the world are so lonely and women are so inaccessible to them and a lot are paying for AI girlfriends,' Babusi said to bursts of laughter in the room. He says the sacredness of the human connection is being eroded by how much time people spend online. 'It's so easy for people to speak to an AI that they know is literally AI, but as a life partner… and because you have that, that means there is a subset of audience that is able to look at an AI influencer and just give that entity their full attention.' He foresees upcoming artists no longer needing to be the faces of music, with AI influencers flooding the market. 'I think that's very likely in the next five years. But in terms of music production right now, I see AI being used more in very practical points in the music production process, not actually as the entity making the song end to end,' he said. ALSO READ: 'It's not just music, it's a story': Showmax celebrates Kabza De Small's Amapiano brilliance Looking ahead He said things are not all doom and gloom because AI's role in music is still unfolding. 'It's a really tough conversation, but I think we have more agency than we think we do because all of this is happening right now,' he said. 'We haven't reached that point yet, it's up to us putting in place some kind of policies or ways in which we decide to, as publishers [and] streaming platforms, in how we treat AI-generated music.' NOW READ: Jazz legend Feya Faku dies while on tour in Switzerland
Calgary Herald
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Calgary Herald
'Doesn't seem right': Skateboarders feel blindsided by temporary closure of city's biggest skatepark
Article content Members of Calgary's skateboard community say they're frustrated by the temporary closure of a main section of Canada's largest outdoor skatepark, in order to prepare for an upcoming music festival. Article content Local skaters expressed outrage in an online message board Friday, after the yellow zone of the Cowboys Park skatepark was barricaded for crews to set up for next month's Cowboys Music Festival. Article content The yellow zone is the largest section of the 75,000-square-foot skatepark. Article content Article content The Cowboys Music Festival, which takes place during the Calgary Stampede, will be held July 3 to 13 at the park just west of the downtown core. The 11-day festival will feature Macklemore, T-Pain, Kim Petras, Timbaland, and other headline acts, drawing an estimated attendance of 100,000. Article content A petition urging festival organizers to reconsider their use of the space and 'free' the skatepark — which many local users still refer to as 'Millz' — had garnered more than 1,800 e-signatures as of Saturday morning. Article content 'People are upset, understandably,' said skateboarder Evan Podilek, an employee of Ninetimes Skate Shop on 12th Street S.W., just a few kilometres from Cowboys Park. Article content 'We have a limited stretch of weather to skate outside.' Article content Another employee of the shop, Jasper Westbury argued skateboarders weren't consulted ahead of time, only hearing about the closure 'through the grapevine.' Article content Article content 'I think our big thing is, Stampede gets what Stampede wants,' he said. Article content 'It would have been sick if the city and Cowboys thought about everybody that is a stakeholder.' Article content At the skatepark on Friday afternoon, a small number of skateboarders and BMX riders were limited to using either the blue zone, which is designed for beginners, or the more advanced red zone, which features bowls and ramps catering to users of a high skill level. Article content Kincaid Chan said he skates at the park a few times a week and that he signed the e-petition. Article content 'It doesn't seem right,' he said of the closure. 'From what I've read … apparently they weren't supposed to touch the skatepark. That seems to have been contravened.'
