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

The track, titled 'I Run' by British electronic duo Haven, achieved widespread popularity on TikTok last October, in part due to its polished soul singing by an uncredited woman singer.

Despite its success and potential chart entry in the UK and US, the song was subsequently removed by major music services after music organizations sent takedown requests, stating it breached copyright by impersonating another artist.

Even though 'I Run' has since been re-released with completely new vocals, Smith's label, FAMM, insists it is convinced the initial recording was generated with AI trained on her body of work and is now seeking appropriate compensation.

A Broader Issue at Stake

"The situation isn't just about one artist. It's bigger than one artist or a single track," the label wrote in a recent statement.

FAMM also expressed its belief that "each versions of the song infringe on the artist's rights and unfairly take advantage of the creative output of all the writers with whom she works."

Known for songs like 'Be Honest' and 'Little Things', Smith was named Best British Female at the prestigious Brit Awards in 2019.

Suggesting that her supporters were potentially deceived by Haven's original release, the label added: "Our industry cannot permit this to be the standard practice."

Producers Acknowledge Employing AI Tools

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

Songwriter Harrison Walker explained that the initial vocals were actually his own but were extensively altered using music-generation software Suno, sometimes called the "advanced tool for music".

In addition, the second producer, Waypoint, identified as Jacob Donaghue, stated on social media that AI was used to "give our starting vocal a feminine tone".

Donaghue and Walker maintain that they composed and produced the song themselves and have even provided evidence of their source computer files.

"It shouldn't be secret that I used AI-assisted vocal processing to transform solely my voice for 'I Run'," Walker elaborated.

"Being a songwriter and producer, I enjoy experimenting with new tools, methods and staying on the cutting edge of what's happening," he added.

"In order to set the facts straight, the people behind HAVEN are real and human, and all we want to do is make enjoyable music for other humans."

Regulatory Uncertainty and Industry Implications

Although their original release of 'I Run' was blocked from major charts, the replacement version did enter the UK Top 40 last week.

FAMM has framed the entire episode as a critical test case for the music industry's evolving interaction with AI.

The label stated it had "a duty to speak up" and "encourage wider discussion", because AI is proliferating at an "alarming rate and substantially outpacing legal oversight".

"Computer-created material should be transparently labelled as such so that the audience may choose whether they consume it or not," the statement continued.

Artists as 'Collateral Damage'

Smith endorsed her label's position on her own Instagram profile.

The text cautioned that musicians and creators were turning into "collateral damage in the competition by governments and corporations towards AI dominance".

It also noted that the label would share any potential royalties with the writers behind Smith's catalogue.

"Should we are successful in establishing that AI helped to write the words and tune in 'I Run' and are awarded a share of the song, we would aim to assign every one of Jorja's co-writers with a corresponding share," it explained.

The Ongoing Rise of AI Music

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

• In June, the band Velvet Sundown gathered vast numbers of plays before disclosing they used AI to aid develop their musical style.
• Recently, an AI-generated "performer" called Breaking Rust topped a US country digital song sales chart, showing that audiences are not necessarily averse to hearing computer-generated music.
• Suno was last year taken to court for alleged violations by the world's three biggest record labels, but those cases have since been resolved.

Subsequently, Warner Music established a partnership with the firm, which will enable users to create songs using the vocal likenesses, names, and likenesses of Warner artists who opt in to the service.

However, it remains uncertain how a large number of established musicians will agree to such uses of their identity.

Just last week, a group of prominent artists including Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush released a vinyl album containing silent songs or recordings of empty studios in protest to potential changes to copyright law.

They contend these changes would make it easier for AI companies to develop models using copyrighted work without securing a license.