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The record label representing Brit Award-winning singer Jorja Smith has declared its desire to claim a share of earnings from a track it claims was produced using an AI "clone" of the singer's unique vocal style.

The song, titled 'I Run' by British electronic duo Haven, gained widespread popularity on TikTok last October, partly due to its polished R&B singing by an uncredited female vocalist.

Although its success and impending chart entry in both UK and US, the song was later removed by major music services after industry organizations sent takedown requests, alleging it violated intellectual property law by impersonating another artist.

Even though 'I Run' has since been re-released with completely new singing, Smith's label, FAMM, insists it is convinced the initial recording was made with AI trained on her extensive recordings and is now seeking financial compensation.

A Larger Issue at Stake

"The situation isn't just about one artist. This is larger than one artist or one song," the label wrote in a recent announcement.

FAMM further stated its belief that "each iterations of the song violate Jorja's rights and unfairly benefit from the work of all the writers with whom she collaborates."

Famous for hits like 'Be Honest' and 'Little Things', Smith was crowned Best British Female at the annual Brit Awards in 2019.

Implying that her supporters were possibly deceived by Haven's first track, the label concluded: "We must not permit this to become the new normal."

Creators Admit Using AI Tools

The team responsible for the song have openly confirmed using AI during its creation.

Songwriter Harrison Walker explained that the original voice were in fact his own but were heavily manipulated using music-generation software Suno, sometimes referred to as the "ChatGPT for music".

In addition, the second producer, Waypoint, identified as Jacob Donaghue, stated on his accounts that AI was used to "apply our original vocal a feminine tone".

Donaghue and Walker maintain that they wrote and created the song themselves and have even provided files of their original computer files.

"It is no secret that I used AI-assisted vocal processing to convert exclusively my voice for 'I Run'," Walker said.

"Being a songwriter and producer, I enjoy using new tools, methods and remaining on the forefront of industry trends," he continued.

"In order to set the record straight, the people behind HAVEN are real and people, and all we aim to do is make great music for fellow humans."

Regulatory Gray Areas and Industry Implications

While their original release of 'I Run' was blocked from official charts, the new version managed to break into the UK Top 40 last week.

FAMM has positioned the incident as a significant test case for the entertainment sector's evolving interaction with artificial intelligence.

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

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

Artists as 'Unintended Victims'

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

The text warned that artists and songwriters were becoming "unintended casualties in the race by governments and tech firms towards AI dominance".

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

"If we are successful in proving that AI helped to compose the words and melody in 'I Run' and are awarded a share of the song, we would seek to assign each of Jorja's co-writers with a pro-rata share," it detailed.

The Ongoing Rise of Computer-Generated Music

The emergence of AI-generated music has been a topic of both fascination and anxiety for the music industry.

• In the summer, the group Velvet Sundown accumulated vast numbers of streams before disclosing they used AI to help craft their musical style.
• Recently, an AI-generated "artist" called Breaking Rust led a US genre sales chart, showing that listeners are not necessarily opposed to hearing computer-generated music.
• Suno was previously sued for alleged violations by the industry's three biggest record labels, but those legal actions have since been resolved.

Following this, Warner Music entered into a collaboration with the company, which will allow users to generate songs using the vocal likenesses, names, and likenesses of Warner artists who agree to the program.

Yet, it is uncertain how a large number of established musicians will agree to such applications of their work.

Recently, a group of prominent musicians such as Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush released a vinyl album featuring tracks of silence or recordings of quiet studios in protest to proposed revisions to copyright law.

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